saturday nights??

[blueeyedlass]

can anyone please enlighten me as to what has happened to week end tv?? i remember a saturday night used to be the best night of the week but now theres absolutely nothing on !!!

[sparks_]

Couldn't agree more! So sick of Millionaire, Casualty etc. The Big Call is about the only thing I'm bothering to watch now. Saturday night telly has gone right down the drain :(

[smee.tracey]

Why do you think we're all here?!

[spookylad]

There are a whole host of reasons, some more important than others.

The key reason that weekend programming has changed is the the average person is less likely to watch television than, say, fifteen or twenty years ago. We, on average, have more money to spend on leisure activities, have a broader range of entertainments on offer. Audiences for television have dwindled and TV companies (particularly the terrestrial channels) are far less inclinded to spend large sums of money for niche audiences.

 

The other main factor concerns the fragmenting of the audience. A decade or two ago, when there were only a few channels, programming at the weekend, especially Saturday afternoon, tended to target family audiences and work to please the broadest of audiences. The massive increase in the number of channels available to us has directly led to specialist, or niche programming, pandering to a narrower but more clearly defined audience. (Even on the main four, you can see this - Channel 4 Friday nights are clearly targeting a very specific demographic). This, in turn, leads to less family programming, which leads to more fractured viewing tastes. The cycle carries on, and leads, inevitably, to rubbish Saturday night TV.

[alli mac]

When i was younger it was all about saturday night, my granparents would come for tea and we would watch the generation game  then the rest of the family would arrive and we would watch tv and talk all night it was fab, its just not i like to stay in every sat night but when i do i wish there was something worth watching, the only way we can save sat nights "BRING BACK ANT AND DECS SATURDAY NIGHT TAKEAWAY PURLEESE"

[blueeyedlass]

well thank you all for answering me and spookylad that was a very in depth answer thank you.

[blueeyedlass]

alli mac do you remember it used to be the generation game and big break and gladiators and noels house party on the other side ??lol see now THAT was good viewing.

[blueeyedlass]

woh dont know what happened there !!!!

all i was saying is do you remember it used to be the generation game and big break and the gladiators and noels house party on the other side now THAT was good viewing  !!!

[dothawkes]

I remember when it used to be a fight in our house at 5.15 on Saturday nights cos I was mad on Garrison's Gorillas and they were repeating it then but the BBC were running this stupid new U.S. series that my brother insisted we had to watch and we had really bad fights over which channel to watch, only one TV in the house in 1969! Anyway, I usually won, and the new U.S. series never really took off, who's ever heard of Star Trek since Eh?

[Joe Shmoe]

Well blueeyedlass I could not agree more. Since doctor Who finished the choice of viewing has been desparate.Apart from the big call Which sparks mentioned. I know much of what spookylad says is true but not everyone is in a position to go out on a saturday night or any night.Tv planners should think of this.Is it just me or is it even worse in the summer? Until things improve why not try reading or listen to the radio LBC is good.  

[smee.tracey]

Woohoo for Joe, I can't go out very often either, social services don't like you leaving a 5 year old home alone for some reason. Let's start a new policitcal party to improve tv EVERY NIGHT.

[smee.tracey]

Forgot to ask, what shall we call us (the party)?

[blueeyedlass]

" votes for couch potatoes"  ???

[jimmer]

weekend telly tends to be a little uninspiring during the summer because audiences are smaller as people leave the house more. television in the uk follows a similar pattern to that in the US. New and popular series are launched in the autum/winter and the summer is given over to repeats and cheaper programming as well as sports. All t.v. companies have a finite budget and will target the biggest portion of this budget to bring in higher ratings at key times.

jim 

[Joe Shmoe]

how about the indoor party? hehe