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| September | 27 |
| 2006 |
Oh dear, I do so hate to see money wasted.
The BBC has spent £1.2 million on a series of new logos:
It's good to see the back of the risible dancers. But why the need to spend any money? Back in August I revealed that a new logo had already been designed:
Surely the BBC would be better off sticking with this. It's catchy, clear and bang-on accurate.
What a contrast with this drivel from Peter Fincham, the Controller of BBC1:
We thought the circle had a resonance. We come together in circles to watch things so this feels like a symbol of togetherness...BBC One is about programmes but the identity is very important in a multichannel world. I hope that the circle films are warm, fun and magical — they tell the viewer that something remarkable is about to happen.
Run that one by me again. 'Something remarkable'?
This is today's BBC 1 schedule:
6:00 am Breakfast
9:15 am To Buy or Not to Buy
10:00 am City Hospital
11:00 am Homes Under the Hammer
11:30 am Bargain Hunt
12:15 pm Cash in the Attic
1:00 pm BBC News
1:28 pm BBC London News
1:40 pm Neighbours
2:05 pm Doctors
2:35 pm Diagnosis Murder
3:20 pm BBC News
3:25 pm Bodger and Badger
3:40 pm Mona the Vampire
3:50 pm Mona the Vampire
4:05 pm Pitt and Kantrop
4:30 pm Kerching!
5:00 pm Blue Peter
5:25 pm Newsround
5:35 pm Neighbours
6:00 pm BBC News
6:28 pm BBC London News
7:00 pm Celebrity Masterchef
7:30 pm Airport
8:00 pm Vet Safari
9:00 pm Who Do You Think You Are?
10:00 pm BBC Ten O'Clock News
10:35 pm National Lottery Midweek Draws
10:40 pm Give Me Shelter
11:20 pm Film Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead
1:10 am Weather View
1:15 am Ancient Rome: The Rise and Fall...
2:15 am Are We Being Served?
2:45 am Fred Dibnah's World of Steam, Steel...
3:15 am BBC News 24
All sorts of words spring to mind - words such as 'crap', 'pile' and 'of'.
'Remarkable', however, is - remarkably - not one of them.
MessageSpace
This is all so but part of a deeper malaise in that a public body must throw hundreds of thousands down the drain to justify itself. Example. Mill Hill East tube. Nothing open at morning peak, no little men, no timetables, no tube plans but a rack filled to the brim and spilling all over the concourse, of glossy pamphlets stating what they were doing for us. They were even too glossy and of such printing quality that they couldn't be used at the other end either. Nature of the beast - you can see the BBC minions playing around with logos whilst the Beeb itself totters into oblivion.
Not to worry, BBC2 comes up with the goods. Why, there's 2 Pints of Lager and a Packet of Shit at 10pm. Tonight, Jonny finds himself a new girlfriend. Gaz challenges David to a drinking contest for Donna. A book called Piggy Goes Oink changes Louise's life.
Get used to "comedy" of this standard because that's all that's been comissioned for the next 75 years. Enjoy!
What's remarkable about these programs is that the BBC is still getting away with forcing us to pay for this drivel!
I was mildly amused two years ago when standing in the one remaining gas chamber at Auchwitcz. I was with an english-speaking party being given the grizzly details by a robust and rather appropriately humourless Polish woman. She explained that the Jews had smuggled in radios and took comfort in the BBC, who gave the only reliable news service. I felt a small swelling of pride until a fellow Brit broke the silence with: "They were lucky - now, they would only send more gas".
No schedule including the excellent 'Who do you think you are' can be described as completely worthless. You picked the wrong day's viewing to make that point. The idents do look rubbish though.