'Touchy-feely' Panorama derided
This proposal to make Panorama "touchy-feely" (oh how I hate that expression but it sums everything up neatly) encapsulates everything there is to know about today's BBC scheduling and channel strategy. It's the same philosophy that schedules Junior Mastermind and Celebrity Mastermind on BBC One but puts Mastermind 'proper' on BBC Two and is to my mind the only really major flaw relating to today's BBC television.
It may seem less than obvious at times but the BBC still knows how to make serious documentaries and drama; it just believes in scheduling them away from a mass audience, leaving the masses on BBC One to watch Cash in the Attic or Changing Rooms (good as it can be) in preference to anything serious and heavyweight. And anything vaguely scientific on BBC One ends up being 'dumbed-down' to a point where anyone with a degree of intelligence ends up switching channels instead, resulting in the demise of institutions such as "Tomorrow's World".
This is also a throwback to the BBC's digital strategy of having everything that's highbrow on BBC Four with BBC Two being the "middle ground" (even Horizon hasn't escaped the dumbing down), but BBC One ought to be much more than just the dumping ground for the 'light and fluffy'. All that's really needed is for Panorama to gain a new title sequence and graphics - leaving the serious issues intact - and for it to be scheduled peak time on BBC One.
