Emmerdale props up flagging ITV schedule
If it wasn't for the soaps and drama which are produced to a reasonably high standard, ITV would have probably sunk without trace by now. That is the stark fact that seems to elude Nigel Pickard and his colleagues who seem to blame everything else (MediaGuardian journalists, journalists in general, politicians, the existence of 300+ channels, mobile phones, global warming, famine, OK I made the last two up...) except themselves.
I may be sounding like a stuck record by repeating this for what seems like the umpteenth time, but ITV seems to have transformed "head in the sand" syndrome into a fine art as opposed to the actual programme making. Innovation has deserted the ITV schedules in deference to formulaic trash designed to obtain a certain minimum ratings criteria in an often vain attempt to keep both advertisers and shareholders happy.
It is sobering to reflect that television isn't given the same level of importance in many other countries as it is in the UK, primarily because it's rubbish no matter how you look at it. Unfortunately ITV is proving the theory that UK television's excellence was developed over time due to innovation and regulation, not blindly copying what everyone else does as deregulated commercial channels tend to do.
And it is only the BBC and Channel 4 (and Five to a small extent) that is helping to ensure that British television is still of a higher standard overall than most of its continental cousins.
