The question I ask is what types of programmes would appeal to 8 to 14 year olds that are currently scarce or nonexistent on TV screens? Do you think that there are any older children's programmes that would still have strong appeal but broadcasters aren't interested in showing or producing updated versions of them?
Renford Rejects was shown on T4 for a brief while as well I seem to remember.
It was certainly shown on The Bigger Breakfast - not 100% sure it made it to T4, though looking at the dates (1998-2001) it aired a bit later than I thought so it is possible, and T4 did take over the school holiday slots when The Bigger Breakfast was dropped (actually it was 15 years yesterday since the short lived 2001 revamp of The Big Breakfast which saw The Bigger Breakfast quietly dropped).
I would have been around 2001 or 2002 the time I saw it on T4, so that fits.
And the 2001 Big Breakfast revamp is something I remember well, along with Crimewatch Daily it's what I watched in the mornings during the 3 weeks or so I was off school with a severe bout of the flu!
Stuff for teens on TV pretty much stopped around 2006, 2007 maybe. Everything just seemed to stop around that point. Byker Grove finished, Grange Hill got dumbed down, suddenly focusing on Year 7's, Dick and Dom finished too, and ITV pretty much stopped making children and teen's shows all together.
Grange Hill and Byker Grove had become stale. ITV might have almost completely ceased making children's programmes but they still have a huge back catalogue in their archive from their past decades apart from the stuff produced by TVS.
I have wondered why ITV has failed to repeat Children of the Stones (an HTV production) although it is available on DVD. It was last broadcast in the UK in 1978. One criticism that has been levelled at CITV is that it prefers to show new stuff rather than repeats from its back catalogue despite many parents of children today being familiar with these older programmes.
CBBC's the same though. The CBBC Channel did show some archive stuff when it was new (as did CBBC On Choice before it), but I think it's a long time since they have.
You have to think what would be relevant today. Would children who have access to a wide library of programmes via the mass amount of channels and online content want to watch a programme from 1978?
This discussion amuses me, seriously, in my time, if you hadn't migrated virtually entirely, during term time, at 11 to adult programming you'd have been thought borderline retarded. The odd look back at Blue Peter maybe and the obligatory pre News five minute filler otherwise it'd be homework and then onto 'Adult' TV.
You have to think what would be relevant today. Would children who have access to a wide library of programmes via the mass amount of channels and online content want to watch a programme from 1978?
You can't give a definite yes no answer to this question. Some programmes stand the test of time better than other programmes and it also depends on the tastes of individual viewers.
Something to bear in mind is that there is a thriving circle of enthusiasts of children's programmes from the 1970s, 80s, and 90s and a high proportion of them are parents of children, so they often watch them as well. My nephew absolutely loves Ulysses 31 and the Mysterious Cities of Gold, yet when I discussed why they weren't being broadcast about 10 years ago the reply I received was that they were sadly old fashioned. There was certainly enough enthusiasm to persuade the producers to release MCoG on DVD and create a sequel to it.
This could get a bit contentious on this forum but it has to be taken into account that the demographics of the under 14 age group have changed since the 1970s and a much higher proportion (estimated around 20%) are now of foreign rather than indigenous British origin. The figures are higher in certain towns and cities. This will have an impact on the overall appeal of certain older (and more recent) programmes for children and teenagers. I make an intelligent guess that educational programmes and many cartoons are generally unaffected because they are culturally neutral but I think that some dramas and other entertainment programmes have less appeal with children and teenagers of foreign origin because they are designed for people with culturally British tastes.
This discussion amuses me, seriously, in my time, if you hadn't migrated virtually entirely, during term time, at 11 to adult programming you'd have been thought borderline retarded. The odd look back at Blue Peter maybe and the obligatory pre News five minute filler otherwise it'd be homework and then onto 'Adult' TV.
What were the 'early teenage' offerings in your day?
This could get a bit contentious on this forum but it has to be taken into account that the demographics of the under 14 age group have changed since the 1970s and a much higher proportion (estimated around 20%) are now of foreign rather than indigenous British origin. The figures are higher in certain towns and cities. This will have an impact on the overall appeal of certain older (and more recent) programmes for children and teenagers. I make an intelligent guess that educational programmes and many cartoons are generally unaffected because they are culturally neutral but I think that some dramas and other entertainment programmes have less appeal with children and teenagers of foreign origin because they are designed for people with culturally British tastes.
Sorry, that's rubbish. The Muslim/Pakistani-British family next door one way to me when I were growing up on the same diet of Teletubbies, Tweenies and Tracey Beaker that my (White/British) younger brother was and the family of African origin family across the road were. Pretty sure all 3 had no interest in television in their teens too - I struggle to see how ethnic origin has anything to do with it.
