New TV...an intellectual exercise

[Toddy]

I think you might be surprised just how few species would be missing from their diet.
The major predators might no longer be here, and perhaps a few of the raptors, but in general the fauna of the British Isles is still here. Wild boar are back, so are beavers, otters....a few new ones right enough, snapping turtles and mink and miniature deer too, but with a bit of forethought it's all doable.
There are remnants enough of the forests, and if we included the plantation pines, then again, there's a decent resource base.

The kind of people who are really capable of this endeavour aren't the ones who would really watch a reality kind of programme, but they would watch the creative crafty kind. Skills matter, intelligence matters, not the screen star wannabe's.

Could easily be brought forward too from the Mesolithic into the Neolithic and Chalcolithic.
I reckon BR would love the Chalcolithic Not just producing crops and animal husbandry but the start of real chemistry and the ways it helped change the lives of our ancestors.

cheers,
M

 

[British Red]

Reckon I would Mary

It occurs to me that pople loved stuff like the original River Cottage, Victorian Farm and even Victorian Kitchen Garden - so there is a demand for interesting "how to" stuff.

 

[presterjohn]

I have always wanted to see a show that put a person on his own either on an island or large patch of land for a year. The idea being that he could take anything with him that he could carry for one mile and would be given a decent bit of training to suit the environment he was being sent into. Think of it as a mix of Les Stroud and I'm a celebrity get me out of here, with a much more hands off attitude. Each series would be a different kind of location and environment.

It would be interesting to see how that person prospers or fails and what kit really comes into its own and what could easily have been left behind.

 

[sandbender]

In the 1930s John Reith suggested that the purpose of the BBC was to educate, inform and entertain. The Victorian Kitchen Garden covered all three and created a record of skills lost or soon to be lost that will prove invaluable to future generations.

The TV producer should have a look at the Victorian Kitchen Garden and note that intrusive incidental music, constant camera cut-aways and 'conflict' between the hosts are not needed to produce a decent TV program.

 

[British Red]

In the 1930s John Reith suggested that the purpose of the BBC was to educate, inform and entertain. The Victorian Kitchen Garden covered all three and created a record of skills lost or soon to be lost that will prove invaluable to future generations.

The TV producer should have a look at the Victorian Kitchen Garden and note that intrusive incidental music, constant camera cut-aways and 'conflict' between the hosts are not needed to produce a decent TV program.

Here, here

Harry Dodson is one of my personal heroes....what a superb show. I have the set along with Vicorian Kitchen and Victorian Flower Garden. The Kitchen Garden is the jewel though. BB hankers for a walled garden....I understand why having watched the show.

That, the original River Cottage, Tales from the Green Valley, Out of Town they inspire as well as educate - or at least they inspired me

 

[robin wood]

All good ideas and there are a few older generation TV folk that bemoan the passing of this type of production. To stand any chance with commissioners today however you have to turn the whole thing into a circus. The "how to" or proper documentary programs are still made but the market for them is not mainstream it is BBC4 and that means the budget is very limited. I thought it was quite telling that this week Delia Smith announced that she will be doing no more TV because it has become entertainment rather than education.

 

[Toddy]

I watched about five minutes of one of those everybody in a house type shows, and it was truly dire
vacuous, pitifully pathetic overblown emotional angst, and as boring as a wet day standing at an empty bus stop

I agree with Sandbender, British Red and Robin Wood; good tv and good documentary is a pleasure to absorb, inspiring and leaves the viewer hoping that there will be more programes not with a dizzy headache and the stomach lurching realisation that that was such a waste of lifetime that can't be recovered

atb,
M

 

[presterjohn]

now your talking

If the TV company is paying I would do a series on building a bush plane

I think you will find a pair of scissors and a razor a lot kinder on the skin than a plane!

 

[Swallow]

Red, if anyone has a really good idea, would they put on here to get pinched by a TV company? I'm sure Spandit for one would be particularly heartbroken by that.

All good ideas and there are a few older generation TV folk that bemoan the passing of this type of production. To stand any chance with commissioners today however you have to turn the whole thing into a circus. The "how to" or proper documentary programs are still made but the market for them is not mainstream it is BBC4 and that means the budget is very limited. I thought it was quite telling that this week Delia Smith announced that she will be doing no more TV because it has become entertainment rather than education.

There's a cost saving measure to be had here, film the raw footage, but edit it in multiple different styles and put it out in multiple different channels. You could have everything from Commercial to Sane.

 

[British Red]

You may be right - it was a moment of idle thought.....one wonders how people with good ideas do get them made?

 

[robin wood]

You may be right - it was a moment of idle thought.....one wonders how people with good ideas do get them made?

It's a bit like publishing books, you tout it round publisher after publisher dealing with rejection, you try to work any connections you have and maybe just get lucky in the right place at the right time. Mostly like publishers they play safe because it is much easier to go with proven formats that they know people watch. It's very sad, we all say we want better TV but the truth is viewing figures are very clear, most people are more likely to watch the dire stuff that we all hate and even the good programs get poor figures unless they add in a competitive drive or jazz it up somehow. That's why I don't have a TV.

 

[Toddy]

I know a few producers and directors,and I've worked wardrobe for a couple of films for heritage stuff. Basically it boils down to someone having enough push to keep pressurising and chasing for funding.
No money, no one works.

On the other hand, having some money committed usually encourages others to look at the idea and come in as a kind of partner on it. Match funding isn't uncommon. It shows commitment apparantly to be able to approach a potential underwriter with some money already on the table.

The old days of tv companies churning out doesn't happen really now. That said, I know that there are a lot of good footage programmes, that have already been filmed, that have just been sidelined.
It's one thing to get the filming and editing completed, it's another to get it shown.

The accessibility of youtube, and that successful youtubers can make money from it, has kind of swamped a lot of good stuff. Terrible amount of mince to guddle through to find the gold among the dross though.

cheers,
Toddy

 

[Swallow]

You may be right - it was a moment of idle thought.....one wonders how people with good ideas do get them made?

A brilliant idea for a thread nonetheless.

I'm assuming it depends on if you are inside or outside the system, and that, Inside would be a matter of finding an pitching to the right people. Outside would be the get a video camera and go youtube until a TV company reckons you are doing something good enough to pick up on. I would guess there's the middle one where you are known for your subject and picked up by TV company on that basis.

 

[Bushwhacker]

Probably some kind of show where I take some deprived children from the countryside into a city to show them that life ain't so bad.

 

[Toddy]

..................and today's Order of the Big Wooden Spoon........



M

 

[Bushwhacker]

Haha you should see the kids round here who think life sucks.

 

[Toddy]

I apologise wholeheartedly
I took that comment entirely the wrong way

Mary

 

[Bushwhacker]

I apologise wholeheartedly
I took that comment entirely the wrong way

Mary

No need to apologise.

 

[Tengu]

Me too.

Most country kids I know `want` to live in the city.

 

[boatman]

Saw a trailer today for a programme "Meet the Izzards" where the DNA of Eddie Izzard is the peg for putting him in the situations of his assorted ancestors.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/latestnews/2012/meet-the-izzards.html

I suppose its easier to get a programme made and aired if you are The Izzard. I am looking forward to seeing it