Earlier this week, Andrew noted an interesting theory about ITV's detective shows. It's a shame that the same theory can go for BBC comedy.
If you succesfully pitch a sitcom to the BBC, there's one of two things that will happen. It will either air on the main two channels at a late slot on a weeknight and get no advertising, or it'll air Prime Time on a digital channel and get lashing of advertisement goodness. I've been lucky to be able to find out, all on my own, about Still Game (BBC2, Thursdays at 10pm) and Not Going Out (which at the moment is Not Currently Airing, but I'll tell you when it is). These are two brilliant sitcoms with plenty of wit and humour, but not enough recognition.
On the opposite end of the scale, we have dismal The Visit (BBC3) and Grownups (also BBC3) whose adverts seem to be getting more airtime on BBC3 than the regular news updates. There's definately something wrong with that.
The problem is that the BBC are too busy advertising sitcoms on their channel that are genuinely rubbish, and never advertise the well-written ones. The latter includes all the American imports they tried to air when the Simpsons was taken off their channel. I'm just shocked that Grownups got a second series. It truly is rank.
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2 comments:
Still Game is indeed fantastic, but this series (6) hasn't actaully been up to the standards of previous series.
Try and get a hold of 1 - 5 on DVD.
Looking back, I am forced to conclude, Epic Not Going Out Pun Fail.
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