New Years Eve ratings

This is all so much nonsense.

Faking a competition winner is an entirely different kettle of fish.

Its not "deception" to pre-record a programme then refer to the day it is supposed to be broadcast. It's television. When Des and Carol banter about "yesterday's show" or "on Friday..." its exactly the same thing.

If you are doing a Christmas special or a New Year show the audience want to be caught up in the spirit of the day. They expect a countdown to the bells and they want to see people charging their glasses (like they are doing at home) and shouting "Happy New Year".

Must we really be subjected to the musings of pinheads who complain about these things?

The people who make these complaints should be forced to work in the media for a week and see how they feel about morons complaining about the most pedantic points on a regular basis. On their last day they should be forced to spend a day on a complaints desk.

They should also be forced to work days they'd rather be at home with their families (such as Hogmanay) instead of pre-recording, and made to go to the studio every day of the week when they could make three episodes of something a day and get the weekend off.

Like I say - pinheads.

Then they should be shot.

Oh for gods sake - I suppose the BBC should be axed too for Strictly Come Dancing not doing their Christmas show live?

... or Doctor Who not actually time travelling...

... or EastEnders not featuring real people from the East End?


It's TV - it's there to entertain, not to broadcast live around the clock - and unless there are elements where being live is crucial, there is no reason why a show can't be recorded live for the time which it is commissioned.


And you didn't have to watch - you could have opted for the live coverage on BBC1 or ITV1.


If this blows up I hope Jool's tells the BBC where too stuff their hootenany?


P.S. The Queen didn't do her Christmas Day speech live either - should she be deported?

Your words, not mine. As I said in my previous post, I don't care if things are live or not. I just wondered why they pretend things are live when they are not. Do you know the answer?

Using your Strictly Come Dancing example, was it easier/cheaper/more entertaining to pretend the Spice Girls were live in the studio during the otherwise live final? I'm not even saying they should point out the recorded bits or even start the show by saying 'This isn't live' but on the other side of things, why lie and say that it is live when it isn't?



Correct. The Jools Holland thing being a good example of this so why pretend otherwise?



I did. I watched BBC One. Like I said previously, if Jools Holland wasn't 'pretend live' with references to the time and date then they could repeat it and I could get a chance to watch it at a better time for me (I know its on Iplayer).

Surely the point is that, whether it is live or not, if you're watching the TV on Hogmanay/New Year's Eve, you would prefer to see someone going through the bells with you. Whether that is live or not. Should it just be a normal edition of Jools' programme in case someone gets the wrong idea?

Now I personally in the rare occasions prefer to go with the BBC Scotland offering on the basis that it is live (if it wasn't I'm quite sure they could iron out the technical glitches on either side of the bells, and elsewhere in the programme).

Now what is the alternative option for BBC2? Either Jools has a programme consisting of five unsigned bands desperate enough to be on the air on New Years' Eve, or he gets some decent acts in and has to constantly say 'this is not live, this is not live' all the way through the programme.

More to the point, how far do we take this? It goes as far as the Queen not being live on Christmas Day, any editing on any programming whatsoever being pointed out as we go, etc etc. Do we really need to go that far?

Before the quiz show fiasco - which was a disaster and did con the viewers financially - we let stuff like this go because it contributed to entertaining programming. Are we going to go back to the 1950s where you had to point out exactly when recorded programming was shown, when an edit was made, etc.

Or do we (God help us all) credit the viewers with some intelligence?

Why should he have to though - it's never suggested it is live, so why should the show be completely ruined due to a few idiots who don't understand how TV works.

Their aim is to make good TV - not to be 100% honest.