“It is good to see that NOEL EDMONDS has bounced back.”
October 25, 2013 8:31 AM   Subscribe

On 1st November 1988, ITV dispatched over fifty crews to chronicle the production, reception and marketing of British television, at a time when, with satellite television yet to launch, the four main networks were your only viewing choice. It became the documentary One Day In The Life of Television, which you can now watch in full on YouTube.

20,000 members of the general public also spent the day recording their thoughts and habits when it came to TV, in collaboration with the Mass Observation project, and later became a book.
posted by mippy (7 comments total) 10 users marked this as a favorite
 
Umm, there was satellite television already in 1988, with both Sky and Superchannel as pan-European general public broadcasters. It's the transformation of Sky into an UK orientated broadcaster that you're thinking about, isn't it?
posted by MartinWisse at 9:34 AM on October 25, 2013 [1 favorite]


Really its a good thing that shoulder pads died out before the advent of wide screen TV.
posted by rongorongo at 9:37 AM on October 25, 2013


Yes - I thought my use of 'British television' made it clear that I meant in terms of the UK market. I'd be curious to know how many domestic households had access to those European channels - I know that today a lot of people sign up to services that show networks from particular countries so that they can watch Tamil/Italian/Argentine TV here.
posted by mippy at 9:37 AM on October 25, 2013


“It is good to see that NOEL EDMONDS has bounced back.”

Well, that was a spectacularly tasteless way to put it.
posted by ambrosen at 9:40 AM on October 25, 2013


I presumed it was from this
posted by vbfg at 9:46 AM on October 25, 2013


It is the small background details that make it interesting for me: the advertising slot sales people at in a very pre-computerised word here or the producer almost singing the camera cues for top Top of the Pops in time with the music here. It is interesting how cheap and shabby everything often was behind the scenes - and to note that no real attempt to hide that a quiz show was being rigged was made at the edit.
posted by rongorongo at 10:13 AM on October 25, 2013 [1 favorite]


no real attempt to hide that a quiz show was being rigged

No unscripted spontaneity!
posted by Sys Rq at 10:22 AM on October 25, 2013


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