Ross leaving the BBC

[Zulu Romeo]

^^ His humour is very tongue in cheek (for example he has turned the phrase "Meg Ryan is a helicopter pilot" into a metaphor of Tamarian proportions to describe a certain type of actor who he feels is wholly unconvincing in a certain stock character role ), which is why I'm not sure if it'll translate well to Film 2010 audiences, and I think he'd be better off sticking to his radio shows and The Culture Show. (And in the latter he can also talk about his other love, playing the double bass.)


Also, you'd be surprised at the sort of films he does like. He does have a lowish view of certain genres (and a hatred of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies in particular which is baffling, as I liked the first one a lot), but by understanding the limitations of a genre, he can safely say if it'll be a good film for us, and that has led to some interesting recommendations from him, such as Basic Instinct 2.

But one thing he doesn't like is the increasing need for movies to be in 3D - he feels that if the movie works just as well in 2D then the 3D "pointy-pointy"aspect (as he describes it) is unnecessary, and argues that he has yet to see a good movie that uses 3D to its fullest potential that it becomes necessary to see it in that dimension. Having only ever seen one film in 3D (an Alton Towers thrill exhibit back when I was 11) I can't really comment on that.

 

[Bob The Skutter]

^ I guess I'll give the radio show a listen and at least watch a few Film 2010 if he takes over. But I guess I just find it hard to get past my initial impression of him as a middle class git who's a cultural snob.

On the 3D front, I personally think after we get through this gimmicky phase (and with the advent of 3DTVs) we'll see films differentiate and there'll be made for 3D and made for 2D films, rather than ones that have to work in both formats, and 3D will just become another tool like surround sound, widescreen, CGI, etc. and just like we get Black & White films for the aesthetic and style, we'll get 3D and 2D films based on what works best for the film.
I think so far Christmas Carol and Avatar have been the films that have best used 3D and Final Destination 3 the worst.

 

[Zulu Romeo]

I still think Andrew Collins should take over as Film 2010 host, personally.

And as for a replacement for Friday Night.... I can think of worse people than Graham Norton.

 

[Bob The Skutter]

Never really watch chatshows. Only on the odd occasion when I hear there's someone on who I like and would like to see an interview with them, but then the interviews tend to be a bit shit anyway. So I don't really care about Friday Night, but reliable film reviews are something I'm interested in.

 

[Starkers]

I'm not saying they should be exempt from FOI but I don't see why they should print what each individual gets paid as a matter of course. Not only will it add time and expense compiling the data to be published, but it'll give knowledge to competitors.

So by the same token MP's expenses shouldn't be routinely released either? And again I come back to what competative advantage? As if ITV won't know what people are earning.

[Kirk] Let them die [/kirk] And let them pay the money. At the end of the day they're paying it out of their own funds not the public purse. Just because they pay out ridiculous money does not mean the BBC have to as well. Should the NHS pay money to compete with BUPA?

I'm not suggesting for one moment that the BBC become a third world broadcaster, but I would suggest some kind of salary cap, and if that means they lose the odd big celeb then I don't see what the major problem is. In footballing parlance I'd let ITV etc be the Chelseas of the TV world, but BBC can be Arsenal, a top team run along exceptionally good business lines.

Jonathan Ross said not long ago he would gladly take a pay cut and it was never about the money. Various tabloids have some how manage to shift that to "he left because they wanted to give him a pay cut" or "The BBC were going to let him go, so he jumped before he was pushed."
Now I wouldn't be surprised if it was true that he jumped before he was pushed because since the whole "sachsgate" thing the BBC have become pussies and seem to give in at the slighted media pressure.

Lets be honest, if you were Ross wouldn't you have said that as well about a pay cut? I mean seriously only a moron would do anything else. And maybe the BBC were going to push him because he isn't actually as popular as he once was, he's getting tired and stale and basically isn't worth what he's want paying, even with a pay cut.

It's nothing like with MPs, you don't have a competitive political structure where you're going to get the best politicians syphoned off in to "private politics" because they pay better.

Like I said I'm not suggesting the BBC should be more open and wiser in their spending, but it does offer an advantage to competitors when they just know the talents pay without having to negotiate at all. Come the end of someone's contract they can just offer a better deal without having to even having to ask them, knowing the BBC won't be able to pay more because it will be under public scrutiny.
Some will moan the BBC spent so much money to keep them, or alternatively complain they didn't fight to keep a good presenter and a good show.

And to be honest I don't actually care all that much about Ross going, I hardly watch Friday Night, I do like Film because I often agree with his review, and I don't listen to his radio show at all, so I don't really care whether he goes or stays, but it just seems to me like this is another step in the pussification of the BBC. Letting him go because it'll make life easier for them, give people one less thing to moan about, but they'll just find other things for them to moan about and the BBC will just tone down more and more and avoid more and more controversy.
When we end up with (even more) bland and boring TV we'll all be complaining the BBC are shit, but we'll also be the reason they are.

Yes but as I say there are provisions already within the FOI Act to cover such eventualities (and to be fair knowing what you have paid a presenter isn't that useful commercially anyway apart from while you're in negotiations.

As for Ross I liked what Chris Evans said on the Andrew Marr show yesterday morning. Basically that it isn't just about people being paid too much, it's about people talking about how much they're being paid too much, and that's the mistake Ross made because he made jokes about it.

 

[Bob The Skutter]

^He made jokes about it because the papers wouldn't shut up about it. The way I see it, you either acknowledge it and laugh it off or ignore it and get called a cunt for it by the papers.

 

[Starkers]

^^^Where is this wonderful world were the BBC and its programming are somehow leaps and bounds above the competition, i don't see it, they offer the same as the commercial channels minus the adverts, soaps, news, a plethra of cheap ass day time TV, documentaries, and the occasional drama in all its variations, were is this wonderful BBC that people will be moaning about losing when ludicrously over paid celebs leave them?

Well the BBC have my evening telly watching pretty much sown up at the moment. Hustle tonight, Survivors tomorrow night, silent Witness Thursday and Friday and now Heroes on a Saturday. Factor in Who, Spooks, Merlin, Torchwood, Strictly,Mitchell and Webb, Waking the Dead, the news channel and, well frankly I'm quite happy to pay the licence fee for all that. I practically never watch anything on ITV, not very much on 4 apart from Peep show and the IT Crowd, and while I do watch 5 and Sky 1 this is all imports (Stargate, Flash forwards, CSI, The Mentalist etc)

The thing about especially drama on the BBC is that the quality and production values is so much better that what you get on the other channels.

That said, and whether you think he's been nobbled by James Murdoch or not, it's hard not to think the BBC has expanded beyond its original; remit. I mean buying the Lonley Planet Guides? Buying up several magazines so that they're actually publishing books and magazines as well as making TV/radio programmes.

Like I say I think the BBC plays into its enemies hands, but I really don't want to lose it.

 

[Starkers]

^He made jokes about it because the papers wouldn't shut up about it. The way I see it, you either acknowledge it and laugh it off or ignore it and get called a cunt for it by the papers.

Or you take the moral high ground and don't fan the flames. Eventually either the papers move on to another target, or else the public start to think you're being unfairly picked on. Win/win.

 

[Bob The Skutter]

^He made jokes about it because the papers wouldn't shut up about it. The way I see it, you either acknowledge it and laugh it off or ignore it and get called a cunt for it by the papers.

Or you take the moral high ground and don't fan the flames. Eventually either the papers move on to another target, or else the public start to think you're being unfairly picked on. Win/win.

They never move on to another target though, the BBC is almost constantly a target to the Murdoch papers. And I'm already a believer that they're unfairly picked on.

The thing with Lonely Planet and magazines and books etc. is that it was BBC Worldwide that bought them/publish them, BBC Worldwide are a commercial company, and what they do means any profits go back to the BBC and either improve quality or lower Licence Fees. So if it works what does it matter? Other commercial companies can out bid them, other commercial companies can buy the same rights they can buy. If there's no interest but Worldwide think they can make a profit, where is the problem?

Also their original remit was laid down in a time when there was nothing else, so of course they've gone past it, they're a media company and media companies are basically empires. Everything from ABC/Disney to ITV own and operate many different things.

 

[Bob The Skutter]

This article says a lot of what I've been thinking.

 

[Captain Shaw]

This article says a lot of what I've been thinking.

I am surprise this was allowed in the times wonder if the guy been sacked.
But he does make some good points.
The people who moan the most are the people who want every show to be aimed at them which leaves nothing but cops shows all over the place.
I don't get shows like the mighty bush but i don't mind them being on because i know the BBC is for everyone.
But i think the whole nation is with me when i say its time for my family to die.

 

[Starkers]

I love the last line of that, welcome to the long Narnian winter of Vernan Kay

I can see what she means, but you can argue that the BBC was smart to let go of a huge target given the political situation, especially given that he'd outlived his usefulness (she makes very good points about a man who obviously believed his own hype)...that's assuming rumours that it was the BBC who decided he had to go of course. Ross doesn't strike me as the kind of man who'd let the BBC off the hook if it was their decision.

And yeah the Murdoch papers aren't going to go away, but that doesn't mean you have to descend to their level, so I still maintain that Ross did himself few favours. The best tactic is to maintain your dignity and wait for the papers to shoot themselves in the foot. Take the whole furore over Gordon Brown's mispelt condolence letter. The Sun probably thought they were onto a surefire hit there, but it backfired something chronic. I usually don't miss an opportunity to rag on Brown, but even I thought he was hard done by there.

 

[Bob The Skutter]

This article says a lot of what I've been thinking.

I am surprise this was allowed in the times wonder if the guy been sacked.
But he does make some good points.
The people who moan the most are the people who want every show to be aimed at them which leaves nothing but cops shows all over the place.
I don't get shows like the mighty bush but i don't mind them being on because i know the BBC is for everyone.
But i think the whole nation is with me when i say its time for my family to die.

I agree, I don't like a lot of BBC shows, I don't get some shows, and others I can see their good regardless of what I personally think to them, but the BBC had something like 22 million people it's got to make shows for so I understand their entire output isn't going to appeal to me.

 

[Bob The Skutter]

I love the last line of that, welcome to the long Narnian winter of Vernan Kay

I can see what she means, but you can argue that the BBC was smart to let go of a huge target given the political situation, especially given that he'd outlived his usefulness (she makes very good points about a man who obviously believed his own hype)...that's assuming rumours that it was the BBC who decided he had to go of course. Ross doesn't strike me as the kind of man who'd let the BBC off the hook if it was their decision.

And yeah the Murdoch papers aren't going to go away, but that doesn't mean you have to descend to their level, so I still maintain that Ross did himself few favours. The best tactic is to maintain your dignity and wait for the papers to shoot themselves in the foot. Take the whole furore over Gordon Brown's mispelt condolence letter. The Sun probably thought they were onto a surefire hit there, but it backfired something chronic. I usually don't miss an opportunity to rag on Brown, but even I thought he was hard done by there.

But Jonathan Ross isn't a man of quiet dignity, he's a man who says silly and funny things, he acts daft and plays around and I'd rather someone either stand up for themselves or take the piss when the papers try to bully them than sit there and take it, because just taking it can make you look bad too.

 

[Starkers]

^Yeah I get that. The oh look he doesn't even bother to defend himself that's how guilty/arrogant he is.

Even so the comments he was making didn't do him any favours with either the media or with his collegues at the BBC. Wasn't it the unions unhappy with his "I earn the same as a 1000 journalists" 'gag'?

Chris Evans seemed to be suggesting that Ross had learned some lessons from the whole matter at least.

 

[Bob The Skutter]

^Yeah I get that. The oh look he doesn't even bother to defend himself that's how guilty/arrogant he is.

Even so the comments he was making didn't do him any favours with either the media or with his collegues at the BBC. Wasn't it the unions unhappy with his "I earn the same as a 1000 journalists" 'gag'?

Chris Evans seemed to be suggesting that Ross had learned some lessons from the whole matter at least.

I don't know, but probably, especially considering it came at the same time as cutting so many jobs, but the thing is these negotiations always happen in advance and you can't predict what's gonna happen 6 months later, so the way I see it you can only hold what happens now against them, not what happened 3 years ago.

And yeah, the jokes probably did him no favours amongst people who already decided they didn't like it, but like Jimmy Carr's service men at the paralypics joke, to me it seemed to me people didn't care what the joke was they just wanted to have a pop at him.

 

[Starkers]

Weirdly I actually thought that Jimmy Carr joke made an important point so the hoo-ha annoyed me.

 

[Bob The Skutter]

Jimmy Carr himself said something along the lines of "If my silly joke brought attention to the suffering of these soldiers then I welcome it."

 

[Starkers]

'xactly, and funnily enough I'd seen a tv news article ust a few weeks before where some people who were in charge of the British paralympic team had been actively recruiting maimed soldiers because they're obviously incredibly fit and active (for the most part!)

We all know how many British troops are coming back in boxes, but the maimed get far less attention, and I suspect that's true both in the UK and the US.

 

[Bob The Skutter]

^That's another thing I dislike about the whole toning down of TV in case it's offensive. News about the wars and their consequences is so sanitised and clean you could be forgiven for not knowing anyone died or was injured by it.
There's been a couple of things to concentrate on the injured or fallen servicemen and woman over the last few years, but you don't hear much about it.