Some shows go on seemingly forever: Doctor Who's a good example, as is The Sky At Night. Sometimes there's a good reason: the quality of the show, interesting scripts, the fact it's a soap opera and so on.
Then there are some shows that go on forever where it's really hard to understand why. In the US, there's Law and Order, which has been going on for the best part of 20 years now. Then there's New Tricks in the UK, as well as Heartbeat and I'm sure Last of the Summer Wine is still out there somewhere. Why?
The obvious answer is ratings. The shows still get plenty of viewers. The question again though is why? Why do people watch these shows?
Suggestions on a postcard to the usual address. Or you could save yourself a stamp and a tree by leaving a comment.
April 17, 2008 | Reply
New Tricks is good and has no place in such a discussion.
I guess a lot of it, in the UK in any case, is that the age of the viewing populace is increasingly scewed upwards and any attempt to funk the BBC up for a digital age has to be countered by appeasing to folk like my mother, who doesn't watch anything that didn't start before 1990 unless it has Bruce Forsyth in it. What's scary is that I now find the odd thing on TV a little alienating and maybe a little too 'young' for me. I have this fear I may be on a slippery slope away from modernity. Give it a few years and Last of the Summer Wine will star Chris Morris , Armando Iannucci and Dylan Moran I'll be sitting in slippers telling a grand child 'now THEY were funny'.
April 17, 2008 | Reply
One old Scottish football manager used to sign youngsters on very lengthy one-sided contracts so he could ensure his club got the money if the player was transferred. I guess Roy Clarke used that bloke's lawyer and the Beeb have been trying to find a way out of it since Open All Hours finished.
April 17, 2008 | Reply
TV, like music, will soon approach the moment where 'happy hardcore' ('3 Pints of ...'?) will constitute nostalgic joy for the population.
*shudder*
I put it down to sofa-itis or channel selection inertia...
April 20, 2008 | Reply
Goodness me, you're right! I just did a quicky Wiki and see that "Last of the Summer Wine" is coming up to its 29th series. I had no idea! I'd assumed that it had passed away in its sleep sometime in the 1990s.
Well, perhaps it'll keep going until I'm old enough to appreciate it.
cheers
Vin