Although the BBC's drama reputation for the last 40 years has been built upon those serialized adaptations of classic English literature, these days they seem to be done only when the money comes in from WGBH in Boston, which is always in need of grist for the "Masterpiece" mill--and they don't seem to get the audiences they once did, particularly when on mass appeal BBC1. Thus seems to be the case with the current classic adaptation of Dickens' "LIttle Dorrit," which has been given a nightly event airing over two weeks and so far has had its ratings hat handed to it, particularly by ITV's latest iteration of "I'm a Celebrity--Get Me Out of Here!" So, last night the One pre- empted "Little Dorrit" for a special edition of its presumably high- end newsmag franchise "Panorama" dealing with the outcome of a sensational kidnapping trial that has been dominating the tabloid papers over there. Predictably, it pulled double the numbers "Dorrit"'s been getting and beat "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?" on ITV (although when "I'm a Celeb..." started halfway through the hour, it beat "Panorama"):
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008/dec/05/tvratings-television Now we assume that as long as WGBH has the money, the Beeb will continue to make the costume drama adaptations, especially if they air them on BBC2--but "Masterpiece" never got a corporate underwriter to replace ExxonMobil and I wonder how much longer CPB and PBS Station Program Cooperative funds (aka "the annual financial support of viewers like you--thank you") will be able to fund an increasingly expensive series. --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ Like TV only smarter. You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TV or Not TV" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
