One of the great TV success stories in the past 2 years has been the rise and rise of the hugely talented James Corden. His nightly show on CBS Television in America has been an absolute triumph of creativity. The Late Late Show hosted by James Corden and Exec produced by his good friend and fellow Brit Ben Winston is a joy to watch. Although non of us in the UK can watch this nightly show live, the show is watched by many on social media daily in bite size chunks, in the form of regular inspired features including Carpool Karaoke and Drop the Mic. The Late Late Show with James Corden has only been running for 21 months on CBS, but already on YouTube the show has 8.2 million subscribers. Compare that to the BBC1 Graham Norton Show, this show has been running for 12 years, and on YouTube the show has 864 thousand subscribers or Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway on ITV, this show has been running for 13 series, but on YouTube the show only has 133 thousand subscribers. In the social media age I would call that a spectacular fail by both shows, a lost opportunity, especially Saturday Night Takeaway, that in the main is aimed at the social media aware demographic. How has CBS managed to create The Late Late Show while ITV are still doing (post 10pm) almost exactly the same thing they've been doing for the past 40 years? Nothing has changed. That said, I hear ITV are now planning some new stuff at 10pm in early 2017, but what I find most remarkable is why the 2 biggest UK Television Channels (ITV and BBC1) are now playing catch up. Why did it take an American Television network, a British host and a British Producer to show them the way? Many on the executive floor in this country, especially at the Commercial broadcaster, must be scratching their heads and thinking 'why didn't we think of doing a James Corden type show first, with exciting, original, social media friendly content? Content that will engage and drive audience, content that will make people watch a show even if they don't actually watch the show. Yes, exactly, why didn't you? Instead, post 10pm, we get endless repeats of Life Stories with Piers Morgan, repeats of The Jonathan Ross show and Champions League highlights from games that happened 3 hours earlier, it's not exactly inspired programming is it, especially in the Digital social media age. We have so many talented Producers, Directors, Writers and performers in this country, yet the people who make the commissioning decisions appear to be doing things exactly the same way they've done it for years, commissioning the same shows again and again and again, often well passed their shelf life. What's most extraordinary, about ITV in particular, is ITV's 4 biggest entertainment shows, the audience bankers, the entertainment juggernauts are now ALL over 10 years old (Britains Got Talent, Saturday Night Takeaway, I'm A Celebrity and X Factor). Even Strictly on BBC1 is now 12 years old. I'm not saying any of these shows should be scrapped or rested, that's for others to decide, but what I am saying is.....
If you keep commissioning the same shows and the same type's of shows with the same small group of presenters over and over again, surely you get the same mediocre results. Game show after game show is just lazy programming in my book, it lacks originality and creative thought, especially now when the audience has become far more sophisticated. The last game show that created a real buzz and got people actually talking about it at work (water cooler moments) was 'Who Wants To Be A Millionaire' and that was 1998. I can't remember the last NEW entertainment show that got people excited and had everyone talking about it. How is it, in an industry full of creative people (UK Television industry) nobody has managed to create a new entertainment juggernaut in more than 10 years. Yes, 10 years. The Late Late Show on CBS television has been brave and creative and is now reaping the rewards. It was a massive gamble by Leslie Moonves (Chief Executive Officer of CBS Corporation) to risk putting a relatively unknown (to an American audience) English presenter as main host on American television every night on The Late Late Show, but just look how that risk has paid dividends. I have always been a believer in the creative mentality of huge risk, huge results and I for one sit and applaud everyone involved in that show. It's brilliantly presented, brilliantly produced, and along with great writers it's been a huge TV success story. The timing was perfect of course, would it have become as successful without the power of social media? I suspect not. The show airs nightly on CBS at 12:35am, but who the hell watches television every night between 12:35am and 1:35am, let's be honest, not many. Embracing and totally maximising the social media generation is the single biggest factor in making James Cordens Late Late Show a triumph. Same with The Ellen DeGeneres Show, short, funny, often compelling clips makes you love the show, even if you don't watch the show. There are many entertainment shows now on British television that look old and tired. We work in a creative industry that constantly needs new, fresh, big, exciting ideas to keep it interesting for the listener and the viewer. The scheduling of TV shows also needs to change, it needs to be cleverer, not just doing it the same way it's always been done. My 2 middle kids, Andrew (19) Catherine (16) hardly ever watch traditional television anymore, choosing instead to watch bite size entertainment chunks from The Ellen Show and James Corden hosted Late Late Show on their smartphones and tablets. Many of their friends of similar age are exactly the same, choosing to watch very little, if any, normal television. This is a worrying trend for the television industry, because if you fast forward a few years, that's a whole generation who have grown up where TV doesn't matter in their lives. I'm not saying Television entertainment should suddenly become all about bite size, quick hit content, but something needs to change. Congratulations James Corden. I love creative people who take risks, it doesn't always work, but when it does, boy does it feel good.
6 Comments
chris
6/12/2016 06:02:56 am
Good read, and very true. The only show we regularly watch at weekend is "Strictly" the rest of the time we channel hop, hoping the find something on an outside channel. Sad really.
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Shane
6/12/2016 11:37:59 pm
Those late night shows don't work over here because they're overrated shit made for easily pleased yanks. If bloody carpool karaoke really is the "bold" future the golden age of television is over. Last Week Tonight with John Oliver is the show we should be emulating.
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David Renshaw
9/12/2016 05:46:35 pm
I think you're giving too much credit to CBS on this penky. Yes, they took a chance on James but, james himself undersold the show in his early press and media interviews. The bar I believe was set low, after following Craig Ferguson who was himself a unique talent in late night tv the consensus among the tv insiders I spoke with was, well if he can grab an audience especially after letterman went off the air he'd be considered a success.
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Angie
14/12/2016 10:49:08 am
I think Corden is better suited to a US audience, remember the disasters of him hosting the BRITs over here? It just didn't work. He is clearly a talented performer and actor but I think it's difficult shove him back on mainstream telly after the disaster of the BRITs that's why he went to the US?
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Angie
14/12/2016 10:51:58 am
my comments above should read "perhaps that's why he went to the US"
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