Music On TV - Documentaries/Live Performances

Interesting article about BBC Four and arts on tv:
https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/arts-...arts-on-tv

Status Quo double bill of repeats tonight on BBC4, though the Three Degrees repeat at 7 is repeated a lot less often.

Best videos of 1989 on 5 around 11. A fairly solid series, though many omissions (not that I expected them to discuss Boys (Summertime Love) or Love in an Elevator, if I'm honest)

TOTP story of 1995 tomorrow night

I don't know how Sabrina Salerno and the 'Boys' video could be omitted!?

Addendum: the video is the last to appear in the first programme I recorded from Now 80s, when it first started transmitting on 'Freeview' and YouView, few summers ago: Simon Bates New Golden Hour: 1988

BBC4 tonight has Johnny Mathis at 7, TOTP still in 1992 at 8, then repeats from the Carpenters and the Everly Brothers. I mean, the Mathis show is a repeat too but not as frequently shown as the others.

Sky Arts resumes its Video Killed the Radio Star series with Kate Bush at 7 and Snow Patrol at 7.30. Then repeats with Classic Albums on Bat out of Hell at 8 and Joan Jett's Bad Reputation from 9.

(29-04-2022 13:51 )Doddle Wrote:  BBC4 tonight has Johnny Mathis at 7, TOTP still in 1992 at 8, then repeats from the Carpenters and the Everly Brothers. I mean, the Mathis show is a repeat too but not as frequently shown as the others.

Sky Arts resumes its Video Killed the Radio Star series with Kate Bush at 7 and Snow Patrol at 7.30. Then repeats with Classic Albums on Bat out of Hell at 8 and Joan Jett's Bad Reputation from 9.

In a link in a previous post, the piece started with the line referring to BBC 4 as 'A place to think', this is no longer a requirement when viewing it I get the feeling (call me cynical) that, given the programming currently making its way onto the channel, the BBC are showing both contempt for the viewer, and spite (like a little kid who has had his toys taken away and told ' off to bed with you') in using it now for such down market output. It feels like it is a case of 'Well you wouldn't allow us to pull it off air when we wanted too, so we will trash it instead'! Instead of keeping us up to date with the current music scene, we get well worn episodes of previous TOTP - as one such example, and other 'populist' (although not universally popular by any stretch) output, from by - gone eras.

I actually quite like the repeats when they're less familiar ones. There was a good run of OG Whistle Tests before Christmas which allowed for some lesser names, eg Dr Hook, to get a look out for once. Much as I respect the bloody Everly Brothers, there are better American acts they must have archive on.

"Everybody needs a place to think".. but not necessarily BBC4, so much, anymore!
Given the budgetary reasons for changing it into an 'archive' channel, its days are probably still numbered.
As I thought, when a lot of the programmes that it would be expected to show, started appearing on BBC2, and reinforced since the TOTP story of the year programmes have been airing there.
TOTP2 did originally appear there, making it not too much of a shock.. but bear in mind that TOTP2 hasn't been showing as a regular programme, for probably over a decade!

The return of BBC Three to tv, suggests its budget has increased.
Although, its being only on iplayer, was in parallel with BBC radio's reorientation towards accomodating online non-live listening, in recent years, which probably meant BBC Three's budget didn't change too much.
However, I was surprised when I saw 'Weird Science' in the BBC Three schedule, as I would have thought that film was more towards BBC Four's targeted age group, but it's probably cheap to show.

The halcyon days of my childhood, and late teens, from the 1980s, into the 90s, when BBC2 and Channel 4 brought many and various things to my working-class home, which I might not have discovered so young, if at all, otherwise, are long gone. http://k-punk.abstractdynamics.org/archives/011486.html
Many of those things might be more "accessible", via the Web, these days, but I think there was something gained by the effort to look harder for them, and the time to think harder about them.

There are other channels to indulge my nostalgia, especially for music, with Now 80s, and That's TV Music, on Freeview.
However, BBC's archive of music tv might have few matches.
Albeit, for me, re/watching TOTP reruns has made me wonder how such a flawed programme, seemingly consistently made by people for whom the music wasn't the primary consideration, lasted so long, and remained so important, for so much of its time.
ITV's music archive, which is no small thing, has been mined for Sky Arts, in series presented by Elbow frontman, and 6Music broadcaster Guy Garvey.
It could earn the BBC some £€$ if it opened its archives to an independent company to make similar series.

(01-05-2022 03:14 )seducedx6 Wrote:  ITV's music archive, which is no small thing, has been mined for Sky Arts, in series presented by Elbow frontman, and 6Music broadcaster Guy Garvey.

I see a 3rd series of this is starting a week on Friday

Jazz-type night on BBC4 from 9 onwards, with Deep Purple on SA from 8 onwards.

(03-05-2022 20:24 )Doddle Wrote:  

(01-05-2022 03:14 )seducedx6 Wrote:  ITV's music archive, which is no small thing, has been mined for Sky Arts, in series presented by Elbow frontman, and 6Music broadcaster Guy Garvey.

I see a 3rd series of this is starting a week on Friday

1st episode was quite good, a few lesser-seen treats from America, amidst very familiar faces from over here.

SA are repeating "Oil City Confidential" tomorrow night at 9, which IIRC is Julien Temple's tribute to Dr Feelgood, and well worth a look even if you hardly know owt about the band, Wilko Johnson is a legend.