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behind tv
something for the weekend
Matthew Bell reports on the battle to capture Saturday night peak-time television audiences
It was great when Eric and Ernie were alive, but now it’s crap.” This pretty much sums up the popular view of Saturday night telly and it’s one that infuri- ates TV executives.
They point to the massive audiences achieved by Pop Idol and the quality of long-running dramas like Casualty and wonder what they have to do to win some praise.
Part of the problem is that viewers and critics alike insist on reminiscing about a golden age of Saturday night TV, while conve- niently forgetting all the rubbish.
Jane Lush, the BBC’s head of entertainment commissioning admits that shows like Morecambe And Wise and The Two Ronnies are hard to live up to, but adds that commissioners are under pressure in any case.
“It’s a tough part of the schedule. People have much greater expectations about Saturday night regardless of any TV history. Different rules apply so programmes have to attempt to be more special,” says Lush.
ITV controller of entertainment Claudia Rosencrantz agrees: “Saturday night is the toughest night because people’s expecta- tions are very high. They want to be entertained.” But the problem, as she readily admits, is that view- ers have different ideas about what makes up the perfect Saturday night telly. “You need to try and cater for all their expecta- tions.”
Saturday night TV appeals to a broad church more often than its critics would suggest, but noth- ing works as well as ITV1’s Pop Idol. “You can watch it as a fami- ly and everyone’s as emotionally involved as each other – you can be 90 or six and still enjoy it,” says Rosencrantz.
At the heart of Pop Idol’s suc- cess has been its cheeky-chappy
presenters Ant McPartlin and Declan Donnelly, who’ve come a long way since they starred in the kids drama, Byker Grove. Now the Geordie duo are also pre- senting ITV1’s other Saturday smash, Ant And Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway.
“On a Saturday night people want to feel at ease with their hosts,” explains Rosencrantz. “It’s only two years ago that people were asking whether Ant and Dec would make the cross-over to peaktime. Pop Idol got them out to a huge audience so by the time they hit the air with Takeaway they were very famil- iar. Being comfortable with peo- ple is a lot about familiarity.”
Presenters matter as much as formats. Although you’d be hard pressed to find anyone who admits
to having watched him, Noel Edmonds once ruled Saturday night telly from Crinkley Bottom with Noel’s House Party. But other TV naturals like Vic and Bob, who thrive elsewhere in the schedules, just haven’t cut it on Saturday night.
“There’s a lot of presenters, with very good reason, who are anxious about Saturday night. It comes with so much heritage, so much baggage,” says the head of the BBC’s entertainment group, Wayne Garvie. “It’s the most risky place on the schedule because if you bomb on a Saturday night, you really bomb.”
Garvie says that the BBC is planning to introduce some new faces to Saturday night TV this year. “If you don’t take a leap of faith in someone then the audi- ence quickly gets tired of the
"It’s the most risky place on the schedule because if you bomb on a Saturday night, you really bomb."
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Photos: (l-r)
Love On A Saturday Night
dating show host, Davina McCall; Ian Wright, the host of Friends Like These and the Lottery show, Wright Around The World