East Enders and the ilk

SimonAH

Inform, educate and entertain, yes, but…..

Why the hell are we paying for Eastenders (and similar programs) through the licence fee? Now it could be argued that the program fits in with the ‘entertain’ aspect (although I would personally rather spot-weld my danglies to the radiator) but surely something like this has no place on the BBC?

It’s a strong enough franchise to sell / license to the private sector where it can be supported by advertising revenues from no-win-no-fee solicitors, companies that want to buy your mobile phone, online bingo firms and the Lambrini corporation.

The money saved and generated could pay for Attenborough to look at whelks for an hour a week, or perhaps some educational kids programmes, or (I don’t know) have Colin Firth get down to his skimpies in something Edwardian. Which can all then also be sold to raise further revenue, and reduce the license fee (or up the quality, or boost radio or…)

Discuss……..

davis

Yup. Burn it. I'd love more choice about how the license fee is spent. I'd go back to just two BBC channels, and if the program's crap, simply don't make the bloody thing. Obviously I'd be in charge of deciding what's crap and what's not.

asprilla

BBC sells Eastenders (along with all the other stuff you mentioned) to reduce the licence fee anyway.

No idea on the relative amounts that are bought in since the likes of Attenborough are generally pre-invested for rights in a specific geography rather than bought after the fact.

EKE_38BPM

Bored at work or just wanting to whinge?

notsoblue

Theres plenty of stuff on the BBC that doesn't interest me or I can't stand. But I'll gladly pay the license fee so long as theres Radio 4, The Breeze Block on Radio 1, pretty much any and all Natural History and Science programmes, and BBC News (R4 or TV).

Given that the corporation has to make something to please everyone (and has a great degree of success with this) its pretty churlish to only focus on the stuff you don't like because you're almost guaranteed to find lots of it.

CiB

The BBC has to appeal to as broad a church as possibe, to justify the universal licence fee. So for every Eastenders that you [and I] can't bear, there's "some poncy twonk looking at bats in a cave" that's giving some small-brained CD1 equal cause for complaint. Live with it.

hatbeard

balls I just remembered my license is up for renewal soon

edit: whew last day of march, so 2 more pay days to go yet

tailwindhome

" Are you D D D?"
" Are you D D D? "
" Are you DDD in disguise?"

davis

CiB wrote:

...small-brained CD1...

Eh? CD1 isn't exactly a Googleable phrase, either.

suzyb

If it's a choice between paying some money for the BBC (specifically BBC Scotland) or putting up with the crap on the free STV I'd much rather stump up the money.

rjsterry

CiB wrote:

The BBC has to appeal to as broad a church as possibe, to justify the universal licence fee. So for every Eastenders that you [and I] can't bear, there's "some poncy twonk looking at bats in a cave" that's giving some small-brained CD1 equal cause for complaint. Live with it.

This. Although I do wonder who some of the stuff on BBC3 is aimed at. Even people getting back from the pub after a heavy night must struggle to sit through 'Snog, Marry, Avoid' and the like.

SimonAH

TailWindHome wrote:

" Are you D D D?"
" Are you D D D? "
" Are you DDD in disguise?"

Haha!, nope, but bored at work does fit (listening to a reeeeeaaaaalllllly boring conf call at the moment!)

No, it was just a dinner table conversation from the other night, and sometimes it's fun to toss in a firecracker.

shm_uk

I don't like Eastenders and its ilk one bit.

But, the BBC has to produce a variety of stuff that appeals to it's broad viewer base, so generally the stuff I like has always been outweighed by what I don't.


What bugs me is when a soap opera, like Eastenders, tries to pretend it's being all socially responsible with its storylines, 'dealing with important issues in a responsible manner', 'raising the profile of x' bla bla bla

It's only an entertainment programme for goodness' sake.

And quite how much bad stuff can be happening to the people of one street, all of the time, is beyond me.

Certainly I believe it's not healthy to 'get into' something like Eastenders because it's a very negative programme.

EKE_38BPM

I would happily pay the licence fee for Radio 4 alone. Anything else is a bonus.

DonDaddyD

I like

Being Human
Family Guy
Top Gear
Match'o'd'day

And the wild life programs.

Just saying.

Mr Sworld

SimonAH wrote:

It’s a strong enough franchise to sell / license to the private sector where it can be supported by advertising revenues from no-win-no-fee solicitors, companies that want to buy your mobile phone, online bingo firms and the Lambrini corporation.

They already do, it called BBC Worldwide...

http://www.bbcworldwide.com/[/code]

nich

Just browsing the radiotimes...

Pleasure and Pain with Michael Mosley
10:35pm BBC1, BBC1 HD

Michael Mosley subjects himself to the likes of leg waxing to explore the biology behind these sensations and why they are both integral to our survival.

Leg waxing is integral to survival? :shock:

deptfordmarmoset

nich wrote:

Just browsing the radiotimes...

Pleasure and Pain with Michael Mosley
10:35pm BBC1, BBC1 HD

Michael Mosley subjects himself to the likes of leg waxing to explore the biology behind these sensations and why they are both integral to our survival.

Leg waxing is integral to survival? :shock:

I think it's worse than that, leg waxing and Michael Mosley are both integral to our survival.

Drysuitdiver

davis wrote:

CiB wrote:

...small-brained CD1...

Eh? CD1 isn't exactly a Googleable phrase, either.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NRS_social_grade

ThatBikeGuy

I'm sure i read somewhere that they were trying to scrap the TV licence because of the viewings on the basic channels that you pay for. Personally i wouldn't lose any sleep over not having the BBC on anymore because the programmes would simply be aired on other channels and i don't watch that much TV anyway. :roll:

Mr Sworld

ThatBikeGuy wrote:

I'm sure i read somewhere that they were trying to scrap the TV licence because of the viewings on the basic channels that you pay for. Personally i wouldn't lose any sleep over not having the BBC on anymore because the programmes would simply be aired on other channels and i don't watch that much TV anyway. :roll:

You probably read that in the Daily Mail...

shouldbeinbed

notsoblue wrote:

Theres plenty of stuff on the BBC that doesn't interest me or I can't stand. But I'll gladly pay the license fee so long as theres Radio 4, The Breeze Block on Radio 1, pretty much any and all Natural History and Science programmes, and BBC News (R4 or TV).

Given that the corporation has to make something to please everyone (and has a great degree of success with this) its pretty churlish to only focus on the stuff you don't like because you're almost guaranteed to find lots of it.

Agree but eastenders is a steaming pile of horse doings

shouldbeinbed

ThatBikeGuy wrote:

I'm sure i read somewhere that they were trying to scrap the TV licence because of the viewings on the basic channels that you pay for. Personally i wouldn't lose any sleep over not having the BBC on anymore because the programmes would simply be aired on other channels and i don't watch that much TV anyway. :roll:

Bbc iplayer, radios 1-7, local stations in every area of the country, world service, a huge and extremely good web presence, spin offs such as my BBC History. Magazine subscription....... theres more to it than telly.