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Christmas TV is crap this year!


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Old 25-12-2016, 18:35
Zeropoint1
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I'm quite surprised at how many films are on iPlayer this year with quite a bit of family friendly stuff but good fun for adults too.

Obviously that means they've already been on TV but it's a bit of extra choice.
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Old 25-12-2016, 18:36
Paul_Culloty
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Hence why box sets do a roaring trade for the festive season.
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Old 25-12-2016, 19:26
rmc57
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Silence was the stern reply.
Isn't it always the same? Mind you this time we've had someone mention two comedians which no scheduler in their right mind would consider for a Christmas Day slot, pl;us a couple of American dramas.

As ever, it's easy to decry the schedule but a great deal harder for them to come up with workable alternatives, unless you're living in a dream world where every programme in the schedule is aimed directly at you.

It's hard to avoid the suspicion that the problem is in the limited tastes of the complainer than the scheduler.
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Old 25-12-2016, 19:43
rmc57
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Flicking through the channels and there's absolutely nothing of interest to watch. All it seems to be is old movies, soaps, repeats and kids programmes/films. I don't know why channels bother broadcasting on Christmas day tbh.
Now for the reality. Programmes which don't fall into the above lists up to 1 am:

BBC One: Christmas Day Service/Songs of Praise (this is still a Christian country), Top of The Pops, The Great Christmas Bake-Off, Doctor Who, Strictly Come Dancing, Call The Midwife, Mrs Brown's Boys, The Best of Tracey Ullman (clip show, not repeat), Have I Got More News For You (extended version, so only partial repeat).

BBC Two: Dancing The Nutcracker - Inside The Royal Ballet, University Challenge, Gospel Christmas, Victorian Bakers at Christmas, QI XL (as HIGNFY).

BBC Four: King Lear. (a major new production)

ITV: (Less fertile ground) You've Been Framed, Paul O'Grady, For The Love of Dogs, Maigret's Dead Man.

Channel 4: Travel Man, Gogglebox 2016, Alan Carr's Christmas Chatty Man,

Channel 5: (Unsurprisingly sparse): When Celebrities Go Pop

Now, you may not be interested in many or all of these but many people do, and for those wanting more specialised programming there are dozens of alternative channels, plus streaming services, Blu-Ray, DVD and simply switching the TV off and finding something else to do.

There's a huge amount of programming over Christmas that I have no interest in but by the end of the week I expect to have a bulging Tivo of programming to enjoy at leisure. If I didn't have that I do have plenty of alternatives in boxed sets and a large film and documentary library to keep me going for weeks ahead.

As I said in another posting, sometimes the problem is in the limited tastes of the complainer, not the programming. If you want endless American drama there are plenty of ways to get it without screwing up the main channel schedules for those with less limited, juvenile tastes.
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Old 25-12-2016, 21:22
howard h
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And here's what you could have watched 80 years ago.

http://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/schedules/bbctv/1936-12-25
That's unfair - look at the schedules for the day after, Rope-Spinning: The Del Rios. What MORE do you want

In those days, grandma told me, they all sat round a piano singing. A singing piano, ahead of their time in the 30's.
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Old 25-12-2016, 22:54
MR_Pitkin
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Tracey Ullman on BBC 1 sums it up for me.
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Old 25-12-2016, 23:23
Baz_James
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I don't know why channels bother broadcasting on Christmas day tbh.
If their audiences consists entirely of people like you then I don't know why they bother broadcasting at all!
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Old 26-12-2016, 00:01
solarflare
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Now for the reality. Programmes which don't fall into the above lists up to 1 am:

BBC One: Christmas Day Service/Songs of Praise (this is still a Christian country), Top of The Pops, The Great Christmas Bake-Off, Doctor Who, Strictly Come Dancing, Call The Midwife, Mrs Brown's Boys, The Best of Tracey Ullman (clip show, not repeat), Have I Got More News For You (extended version, so only partial repeat).

BBC Two: Dancing The Nutcracker - Inside The Royal Ballet, University Challenge, Gospel Christmas, Victorian Bakers at Christmas, QI XL (as HIGNFY).

BBC Four: King Lear. (a major new production)

ITV: (Less fertile ground) You've Been Framed, Paul O'Grady, For The Love of Dogs, Maigret's Dead Man.

Channel 4: Travel Man, Gogglebox 2016, Alan Carr's Christmas Chatty Man,

Channel 5: (Unsurprisingly sparse): When Celebrities Go Pop
You're using this as evidence that there was indeed stuff worth watching this Christmas, but I'm just reading that list thinking all it does is argue the OP's point even more.
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Old 26-12-2016, 00:11
Mark.
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Every year people moan about how "rubbish" Christmas TV is.

To which I respond - what do you want the broadcasters to show instead?
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Old 26-12-2016, 03:32
carnoch04
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The Windsors Christmas Special was excellent. Princess Anne was one of the funniest things I have seen on TV all year!
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Old 26-12-2016, 06:00
snafu65
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Yes it is crap, especially post Christmas Day, but I don't know what the OP was expecting. It's always the same. There are other ways to amuse and entertain yourself over Christmas you know.
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Old 26-12-2016, 06:42
noise747
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Now for the reality. Programmes which don't fall into the above lists up to 1 am:

BBC One: Christmas Day Service/Songs of Praise (this is still a Christian country), Top of The Pops, The Great Christmas Bake-Off, Doctor Who, Strictly Come Dancing, Call The Midwife, Mrs Brown's Boys, The Best of Tracey Ullman (clip show, not repeat), Have I Got More News For You (extended version, so only partial repeat).

BBC Two: Dancing The Nutcracker - Inside The Royal Ballet, University Challenge, Gospel Christmas, Victorian Bakers at Christmas, QI XL (as HIGNFY).

BBC Four: King Lear. (a major new production)

ITV: (Less fertile ground) You've Been Framed, Paul O'Grady, For The Love of Dogs, Maigret's Dead Man.

Channel 4: Travel Man, Gogglebox 2016, Alan Carr's Christmas Chatty Man,

Channel 5: (Unsurprisingly sparse): When Celebrities Go Pop

Now, you may not be interested in many or all of these but many people do, and for those wanting more specialised programming there are dozens of alternative channels, plus streaming services, Blu-Ray, DVD and simply switching the TV off and finding something else to do.

There's a huge amount of programming over Christmas that I have no interest in but by the end of the week I expect to have a bulging Tivo of programming to enjoy at leisure. If I didn't have that I do have plenty of alternatives in boxed sets and a large film and documentary library to keep me going for weeks ahead.

As I said in another posting, sometimes the problem is in the limited tastes of the complainer, not the programming. If you want endless American drama there are plenty of ways to get it without screwing up the main channel schedules for those with less limited, juvenile tastes.
there are people out there that do not do streaming and do not have a DVD/blueray player and just have crapview, so how do they get anything different?

Victorian Bakers at Christmas would be about the only thing that would be of interest to me, i used to like Dr who, but do not like this new doctor, QL is awful now since that Sandi Toksvig took over.
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Old 26-12-2016, 08:25
jra
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Now for the reality. Programmes which don't fall into the above lists up to 1 am:

BBC One: Christmas Day Service/Songs of Praise (this is still a Christian country), Top of The Pops, The Great Christmas Bake-Off, Doctor Who, Strictly Come Dancing, Call The Midwife, Mrs Brown's Boys, The Best of Tracey Ullman (clip show, not repeat), Have I Got More News For You (extended version, so only partial repeat).

BBC Two: Dancing The Nutcracker - Inside The Royal Ballet, University Challenge, Gospel Christmas, Victorian Bakers at Christmas, QI XL (as HIGNFY).

BBC Four: King Lear. (a major new production)

ITV: (Less fertile ground) You've Been Framed, Paul O'Grady, For The Love of Dogs, Maigret's Dead Man.

Channel 4: Travel Man, Gogglebox 2016, Alan Carr's Christmas Chatty Man,

Channel 5: (Unsurprisingly sparse): When Celebrities Go Pop

Now, you may not be interested in many or all of these but many people do, and for those wanting more specialised programming there are dozens of alternative channels, plus streaming services, Blu-Ray, DVD and simply switching the TV off and finding something else to do.

There's a huge amount of programming over Christmas that I have no interest in but by the end of the week I expect to have a bulging Tivo of programming to enjoy at leisure. If I didn't have that I do have plenty of alternatives in boxed sets and a large film and documentary library to keep me going for weeks ahead.

As I said in another posting, sometimes the problem is in the limited tastes of the complainer, not the programming. If you want endless American drama there are plenty of ways to get it without screwing up the main channel schedules for those with less limited, juvenile tastes.
Indeed. I've haven't got the time to watch a fraction of the programming I get with the Sky Variety package and spend a lot of it watching the documentaries on channels like Crime+Investigation, Investigation Discovery, National Geographic, Nat Geo Wild, Animal Planet, History, H2, Eden, PBS America, Discovery Science, Discovery History, Discovery Shed, True Crime, Tru TV etc. Endless documentaries.

As I like Japanese culture, there is NHK World.

For lighter entertainment there is Gold, Comedy Central, Comedy Central Extra etc.

Movie channels. Film 4, TCM, Horror Channel, Sony Movies, movies4men etc.
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Old 26-12-2016, 09:38
sparkie70
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Now for the reality. Programmes which don't fall into the above lists up to 1 am:

BBC One: Christmas Day Service/Songs of Praise (this is still a Christian country), Top of The Pops, The Great Christmas Bake-Off, Doctor Who, Strictly Come Dancing, Call The Midwife, Mrs Brown's Boys, The Best of Tracey Ullman (clip show, not repeat), Have I Got More News For You (extended version, so only partial repeat).

BBC Two: Dancing The Nutcracker - Inside The Royal Ballet, University Challenge, Gospel Christmas, Victorian Bakers at Christmas, QI XL (as HIGNFY).

BBC Four: King Lear. (a major new production)

ITV: (Less fertile ground) You've Been Framed, Paul O'Grady, For The Love of Dogs, Maigret's Dead Man.

Channel 4: Travel Man, Gogglebox 2016, Alan Carr's Christmas Chatty Man,

Channel 5: (Unsurprisingly sparse): When Celebrities Go Pop

Now, you may not be interested in many or all of these but many people do, and for those wanting more specialised programming there are dozens of alternative channels, plus streaming services, Blu-Ray, DVD and simply switching the TV off and finding something else to do.

There's a huge amount of programming over Christmas that I have no interest in but by the end of the week I expect to have a bulging Tivo of programming to enjoy at leisure. If I didn't have that I do have plenty of alternatives in boxed sets and a large film and documentary library to keep me going for weeks ahead.

As I said in another posting, sometimes the problem is in the limited tastes of the complainer, not the programming. If you want endless American drama there are plenty of ways to get it without screwing up the main channel schedules for those with less limited, juvenile tastes.
Although not all my cup of tea, BBC1 is very family orientated which being christmas should be but apart from Tracy Ullman nothing really new in primetime.

But we live in a differant world to when i grew up. People said tv was crap back then & we only had three or four channels. The VCR helped.
However i have to say the biggest differance is comedy. A differcult area but once a cornerstone in the line-up.
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Old 26-12-2016, 09:49
CappySpectrum
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It has been like that for years

My favourite is Top of the Pops, The Queen, Emmerdale, Corrie, the News and the Dramas on ITV1
What is the difference from that and the entire year. They're on everyday.
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Old 26-12-2016, 09:53
Gusto Brunt
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I mean you know how low we have sunk as a respected TV nation when the likes of Bake Off and Strictly get top billing on CHRISTMAS DAY.

Unbelievable.

In my mum and dad's day they were treated to numerous TV comedy specials like Dad's Army, Morecombe and Wise, Steptoe and Son, Likely Lads, Porridge, Rising Damp, Are You Being Served, Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em, etc, etc, ALL on Christmas Day!
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Old 26-12-2016, 16:24
noise747
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I mean you know how low we have sunk as a respected TV nation when the likes of Bake Off and Strictly get top billing on CHRISTMAS DAY.

Unbelievable.

In my mum and dad's day they were treated to numerous TV comedy specials like Dad's Army, Morecombe and Wise, Steptoe and Son, Likely Lads, Porridge, Rising Damp, Are You Being Served, Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em, etc, etc, ALL on Christmas Day!
We still have flipping Morecombe and Wise on Tv on Christmas day, I did not like them back in the day, i detest their shows these days.
the others you posted I still like, even if they are old.
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Old 26-12-2016, 16:26
CappySpectrum
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It's all very well saying 'but they're classics' which is of course true, but to keep on rolling out the likes of Morecambe & Wise, Dads Army etc etc is lazy telly. I agree with others, for those that don't have families kids etc to distract them over the festive period, it's slim pickings ...
It is because it is cheap. Doesn't cost anything from the archives.
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Old 26-12-2016, 16:29
hyperstarsponge
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You know its quite shocking when a non football fan tunes in to Final Score on BBC Two.
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Old 26-12-2016, 18:57
cnbcwatcher
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Yes it is crap, especially post Christmas Day, but I don't know what the OP was expecting. It's always the same. There are other ways to amuse and entertain yourself over Christmas you know.
I know there is, but my parents seem to insist on watching TV at Christmas. They can't think of anything else to do. They try to get me interested.
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Old 26-12-2016, 19:04
BenFranklin
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It's a shame the BBC are either unable or unwilling to show must watch TV on Christmas Day, it definitely needs freshening up a bit.
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Old 26-12-2016, 19:10
ftv
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Easy to criticise - so how would you improve things ?
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Old 26-12-2016, 19:16
ThaddeusGriffin
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I mean you know how low we have sunk as a respected TV nation when the likes of Bake Off and Strictly get top billing on CHRISTMAS DAY.

Unbelievable.

In my mum and dad's day they were treated to numerous TV comedy specials like Dad's Army, Morecombe and Wise, Steptoe and Son, Likely Lads, Porridge, Rising Damp, Are You Being Served, Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em, etc, etc, ALL on Christmas Day!
You've named less than ten shows across an implied 20 year period. Yes there were some diamonds, but you also have to remember that just because many of the above were great series, they also produced duff Xmas episodes.

I completely accept that there is far less quality broad appeal comedy now - largely this is because in the multichannel era writers do not need to adapt a comic concept for mass consumption. Comedy is without a doubt the hardest genre to a 'mainstream' script for.

Finally, your comment suggests that your exploration of streaming services and series offered on services such as Sky is limited. There is a mind-boggling amount of quality TV available, more than at any point in history.
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Old 26-12-2016, 19:32
Rich Tea.
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40 years ago Boxing Day on BBC Television.

Boxing Day on BBC1 this very time in 1976 - http://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/schedules...don/1976-12-26

Boxing Day on BBC2 in '76. It didn't even start until 1.35pm! - http://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/schedules...and/1976-12-26

Not quite wall to wall classics.

Two great programmes tonight are The Royal Institution Christmas Lectures, part 1 of 3 is on BBC4 at 8pm. Also at 9.30pm on BBC2 - The Entire Universe, a comedy with Professor Brian Cox and Eric Idle.
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Old 26-12-2016, 19:32
mike65
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Christmas on tv is like Boxing Day lunch - the same as yesterdays only colder!

As long as they are content to recycle the same handful of titles then it'll never get any more interesting than it currently is - I'm sure some really do look forward to seasonal specials of various soaps, Call the Midwife, Dr Who, Strictly, Bake-off, Top Gear (oh wait!) but I suspect most of us are quietly glad when it's business as usual again.

Tonight I'll be watching the Royal Lecture about superconductivity (I think) and Bob Monkhouses last stand up performance cos I'll be watching something I've not seen previously. If familiarity breeds contempt then that's what I have for BBC One esp. That they dominate the ratings is proof of nothing much really. 7m as the chart topper tells it's own tale.
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