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I have been looking on Digiguide and that Christmas TV website to see what "goodies" we will be expected to see on the box this Christmas, and I can understand what people are saying with regards to the scheduling - the fact that even BBC 1 and 2 have so many repeats this year, but of course, I have assumed that this is due to the difficult year we have had due to COVID-19 - tightening one's belts and annoying those who have to pay the Licence Fee. Of course, there will never be a brand new Morecambe and Wise, and come to think of it, other double acts have been lost this year as well.
From what I call the "framework" Christmas scheduling such as the religious output, Big Ben striking midnight, and the Queen's annual 3.00 pm stint, (and some would regard the soaps in that bracket as well), there are some highlights such as a new Worzel Gummidge (not to be confused with the repeats from last year also being scheduled). Blankety Blank seems to have made its way back to BBC 1 from ITV where it was four years ago under D Walliams' guise - its heyday was definitely in the 1980s when Wogan and Dawson hosted. The RI Christmas Lectures have three different people doing each lecture for the first time, including the first black person to do them - I do think that they worked better when the same person did the entire series to be honest.
For the first time, ITV have scheduled an edition of This Morning on Christmas Day - the programme isn't on in its regular slot in the days running up to 25th December, but it seems bizarre to do that as I always think of it as a run-of-the-mill weekday programme which is on when most people are at work or school - it is like having a Christmas Day edition of Homes Under the Hammer on (in which thankfully, the Christmas Morning Service is in that slot). The fact that Bank Holiday Monday scheduling has became more "normal" in recent years is a sign that it is almost spreading towards Christmas scheduling as well.
Films are like a wildcard of scheduling, and old favourites are just as good as movie premieres - I noticed that The Never-ending Story from 1984 (where a film cannot get any more 1984 than that) is scheduled for Wednesday 23rd December with another showing the following week, and the original Grease film from 1978 has a Boxing Day outing - fair enough, it is good to see again and again, although I do spend some of Boxing Day at relative's. ITV has a 2017 version of Wonder Woman on Tuesday 29th December straight after Emmerdale, taking up the remainder of the evening before a belated News at Ten comes on - pity that it clashes with one of the RI Lectures on BBC Four which should repeated the following day anyway.
Christmas is the only time when the Total TV Guide, Radio Times and TV Times are all purchased at the same time for the TV listings, and some publications giving a variant number of stars for film reviews - this year is different for all the obvious reasons but it would be interesting what people think.
What do you think about Christmas television this year, if you seen the schedules already? - I suppose that there are other things that one can do such as eat food and play games...
From what I call the "framework" Christmas scheduling such as the religious output, Big Ben striking midnight, and the Queen's annual 3.00 pm stint, (and some would regard the soaps in that bracket as well), there are some highlights such as a new Worzel Gummidge (not to be confused with the repeats from last year also being scheduled). Blankety Blank seems to have made its way back to BBC 1 from ITV where it was four years ago under D Walliams' guise - its heyday was definitely in the 1980s when Wogan and Dawson hosted. The RI Christmas Lectures have three different people doing each lecture for the first time, including the first black person to do them - I do think that they worked better when the same person did the entire series to be honest.
For the first time, ITV have scheduled an edition of This Morning on Christmas Day - the programme isn't on in its regular slot in the days running up to 25th December, but it seems bizarre to do that as I always think of it as a run-of-the-mill weekday programme which is on when most people are at work or school - it is like having a Christmas Day edition of Homes Under the Hammer on (in which thankfully, the Christmas Morning Service is in that slot). The fact that Bank Holiday Monday scheduling has became more "normal" in recent years is a sign that it is almost spreading towards Christmas scheduling as well.
Films are like a wildcard of scheduling, and old favourites are just as good as movie premieres - I noticed that The Never-ending Story from 1984 (where a film cannot get any more 1984 than that) is scheduled for Wednesday 23rd December with another showing the following week, and the original Grease film from 1978 has a Boxing Day outing - fair enough, it is good to see again and again, although I do spend some of Boxing Day at relative's. ITV has a 2017 version of Wonder Woman on Tuesday 29th December straight after Emmerdale, taking up the remainder of the evening before a belated News at Ten comes on - pity that it clashes with one of the RI Lectures on BBC Four which should repeated the following day anyway.
Christmas is the only time when the Total TV Guide, Radio Times and TV Times are all purchased at the same time for the TV listings, and some publications giving a variant number of stars for film reviews - this year is different for all the obvious reasons but it would be interesting what people think.
What do you think about Christmas television this year, if you seen the schedules already? - I suppose that there are other things that one can do such as eat food and play games...
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