Well, New York had the draft riots during the Civil War. That's something. But I got the impression that the show was going to be set later than that, more like 1880s or 1890s.
BBC Anerica Announced First Original Programming
- Thread starter Bob The Skutter
- Start date
Copper could be interesting. Certainly the presence of a couple of Homicide: Life on the Street producers is promising.
Still, it staggers me that BBC America is mostly just filled with reality shows while The Catherine Tate Show still has yet to be aired on our shores! I thought the idea was supposed to be importing the best of British television, not the cheapest.
This. A hundred times this.
Copper could be interesting. Certainly the presence of a couple of Homicide: Life on the Street producers is promising.
Still, it staggers me that BBC America is mostly just filled with reality shows while The Catherine Tate Show still has yet to be aired on our shores! I thought the idea was supposed to be importing the best of British television, not the cheapest.
Well you see the thing is a lot of shows airing on BBC now are made by independent producers, so they may not have the international rights to a lot of shows, and of course it seems to be making business sense for them, otherwise they wouldn't have the money to start producing new shows themselves.
Says 1860s in the press release and I don't see how they could avoid the draft riots if they're doing a show about Irish immigrants in NY during that decade. Shit, that's the only thing I knew the Irish did in NY in the 1860s.
Shit, that's the only thing I knew the Irish did in NY in the 1860s.
They also drank...
"Manly" is too narrow a definition, really. It's more about "Man Tasks" as May sees them - ranging from disarming a bomb to making a fish-finger sandwich. And that's just in the first episode.James May is gonna show American men how to be more manly? That oughta be good.
Mmm Fish Finger sandwiches.
Do fish have fingers?
Seriously, I like Graham Norton & Richard Hammond and would give both of those shows a try.
Depending on the actual format & finished product will see if I continue watching them.
Shit, that's the only thing I knew the Irish did in NY in the 1860s.
They also drank...
I can't help but think the drinking was an integral part of the draft riots.
I have my fingers crossed that Copper does well. Aside from the fact I will always favor a scripted show over another piece of reality TV garbage, I've always hoped for BBC America to be the fall-back if the mothership ever has to cut Doctor Who free due to budgets or whatever. Rather BBC America than Starz or Sci-Fi. (BTW I'm not knocking Torchwood: Miracle Day; I'm loving it, but Doctor Who without some aspect of the BBC involved just ain't Doctor Who.)
Alex
Alex
What does Doctor Who have to do with this topic? Copper is more likely inspired by the trend on cable towards historical dramas, what with Boardwalk Empire on HBO and AMC launching Hell on Wheels in the fall. It's good, I'm sick of everything needing to be post-WWII. When someone is bold enough to give something a try and it works, that makes everyone else a bit more likely to follow.
^Probably because Doctor Who is co-produced by BBC America, and Skidoo has a boner for the BBC going under for some reason.
How could the BBC go under? Isn't it funded by the gubmint?
Anyway they can keep doing the big-ass-house historical dramas like Downtown Abbey till the cows come home. Bet they make big bucks off that stuff. I tried watching that one, but damn, I felt like I was just seeing the same scenes from other series, just rearranged in different order. Bet that cuts down on the scriptwriting costs, all you need is a pair of scissors and some tape.
Anyway they can keep doing the big-ass-house historical dramas like Downtown Abbey till the cows come home. Bet they make big bucks off that stuff. I tried watching that one, but damn, I felt like I was just seeing the same scenes from other series, just rearranged in different order. Bet that cuts down on the scriptwriting costs, all you need is a pair of scissors and some tape.
^Downton Abbey isn't a BBC show, it's ITV a commercial network, apparently they're keen to keep it going for another 6 series. It's written by Julian Fellowes, I think he won the best original screenplay oscar for Gosford Park and apparently he's writing a Titanic series for ITV for next year.
BBC are funded by Royal Charter, the government don't fund it directly but they set the rules by which the funding is made. So they've set the rules so the licence fee is set for the next 6 years, so they take a real terms cut in funding. Skidoo seems to have this fantasy whereby the BBC are so out of touch they lose public favour and the funding is cut altogether, because they won't tell him when Doctor Who is gonna be airing next year.
BBC are funded by Royal Charter, the government don't fund it directly but they set the rules by which the funding is made. So they've set the rules so the licence fee is set for the next 6 years, so they take a real terms cut in funding. Skidoo seems to have this fantasy whereby the BBC are so out of touch they lose public favour and the funding is cut altogether, because they won't tell him when Doctor Who is gonna be airing next year.
The BBC could shore up their finances by doing a bunch of shows where people in big-ass houses from 100 years ago worry about keeping their big-ass houses safe from the upcoming proletarian revolution-slash-nanny state and also marrying off their daughters who are turning 17 and therefore in peril of being old maids and dealing with their relatives who are always dying on the Titanic. That shit always sells.
Plus the reality crap, which we may all hate, but I'll bet it's wildly profitable.
Plus the reality crap, which we may all hate, but I'll bet it's wildly profitable.
There's a Canadian police drama called Rookie Blue that was almost called Copper.
The BBCs most profitable shows seem to be Doctor Who, Top Gear and Merlin.
Re: BBC America Announced First Original Programming
I understand why a reality show is cheaper to produce, therefore it might outnumber the scripted programming in terms of total episodes. However, that still doesn't explain why reality shows get all the reruns too!
It's kinda fun when the principle of cheap over quality bites the networks in the ass, like NBC's disastrous experiment with The Jay Leno Show a couple years back.
I understand why a reality show is cheaper to produce, therefore it might outnumber the scripted programming in terms of total episodes. However, that still doesn't explain why reality shows get all the reruns too!
It's kinda fun when the principle of cheap over quality bites the networks in the ass, like NBC's disastrous experiment with The Jay Leno Show a couple years back.
^The thing with reality shows and profitability is if you come up with the format it's easy to sell. Who Wants to be a Millionaire is made in about 90 countries now, some even share studios to make it cheaper. Wipeout same deal only they all use the same courses in Argentina. So you create the format and it has massive potential to be a cash cow. As well as once people are in to the format, Top Model, Biggest Loser, Idol or X-Factor, then they'll be quite interested in the US version or the UK version or the Australian version, so you can sell the international rights too, because there's versions everywhere and now there's an established audience for your show too.
The other thing is if it's a show that relies on audience votes, well the amount of money to be made from phone calls, texts, etc is huge.
The other thing is if it's a show that relies on audience votes, well the amount of money to be made from phone calls, texts, etc is huge.
Re: BBC America Announced First Original Programming
That was very gratifying! Now NBC has done a 180 and brought on a honcho from cable, with the apparent goal of trying to burnish their destroyed brand and bring it back up to some acceptable level of quality.
Reality crap is okay as an easy way to make money, but unless you've got some quality scripted programming, your brand goes into the toilet. Ratings aside, keep in mind that advertisers are all about brand image.
If NBC = cheap crap, then why would Ford want to advertise and risk their product being associated with cheap crap? (I'm sure they're capable of associating their product with being cheap crap without any additional assistance from NBC.)
Sure, NBC could charge them lower rates because their production costs are lower, but there's a point where the lowball strategy will turn around and bite you in the ass. That's a lesson I certainly hope Detroit in particular has learned.
That was very gratifying!
Now NBC has done a 180 and brought on a honcho from cable, with the apparent goal of trying to burnish their destroyed brand and bring it back up to some acceptable level of quality.Reality crap is okay as an easy way to make money, but unless you've got some quality scripted programming, your brand goes into the toilet. Ratings aside, keep in mind that advertisers are all about brand image.
If NBC = cheap crap, then why would Ford want to advertise and risk their product being associated with cheap crap? (I'm sure they're capable of associating their product with being cheap crap without any additional assistance from NBC.
)Sure, NBC could charge them lower rates because their production costs are lower, but there's a point where the lowball strategy will turn around and bite you in the ass. That's a lesson I certainly hope Detroit in particular has learned.
News on Copper...
