Top Of The Pops

[skelly]

Should it be stopped and taken off air now? Hardly anyone watches it anymore. It would be a shame to loose it after all this time but all good things must come to an end. Or, how can it be changed? What would make young people start watching it again?

[answerbankin]

I think people do still watch it alot. dont worry it will be on air for a long time to come.

[sft42]

Perhaps a return to only allowing musicains in the studio rather than the pretty dancin' mimers they have on most weeks........is it any coincidence that TOTP2 is steadily going up the ratings whilst the original is on the slide?

[sft42]

Oh yeah plus the fact there is the large number of other stations around these days where you can see videos of the band you like in the good old days TOTP was the only place to see your heeros now it's just one of many.

[Miss Zippy]

Classic case of it wasn't broke, but they thought they'd fix it anyway. I can't remember the last time I watched it, but I've probably only seen it a handful of times since it started broadcasting on a Friday, as I'm usually out then, which I imagine most of its target audience are too. From what I have seen of it, TOTP is trying too hard to be trendy and seems to now cater to the lowest common denominator in musical terms, i.e. your Girls Aloud and Liberty X etc, which I don't have a problem with per se, but there doesn't seem to be a balance with other musical tastes. Also, in the good old days you had 'proper' Radio 1 DJs presenting TOTP (remember Gary Davis, Jimmy Saville, Kid Jensen, Steve Wright and the 'hairy cornflake' bloke), which I think provided the programme with a sense of 'depth' and superiority, because these are people who live and breathe music and not just some bit part, flavour-of-the-month presenter.

[skelly]

Apparently in the mid 70's TOTP attracted 16 million viewers, these days it attracts 2.5 million, so on the grand scale of things there aren't alot of people still watching. I never watch it so it wouldn't hurt me too much if it was taken off air, only the nostalgia side of it would hurt me. Like sft say's, these days you don't have to wait 'till TOTP is on air to see or hear the song you like, just flick through the vast number of 24 hour music channels on digital tv or a quick search on the internet and you'll be sure to find what you are looking for. A sign of the times perhaps?

[Waterwolf]

TOTP has always been supposed to reflect the charts, so to an extent it's at the mercy of the current chart climate, which isn't that great: songs don't get the chance to build any more, and they're played to death on radio weeks before they're released, so it's not surprising if people don't care about seeing those songs being performed on TV five whole days after they charted. Having said that, TOTP (like certain radio stations) is still pretending that it merely reflects demand, when it also has the power to shape it; so the programme has brought its problems down on its own head to an extent. I think if TOTP is to survive, it needs to become more eclectic and surprising. Unfortunately, I don't imagine that's about to happen.