BBC TV "WDYTYA?" Series 10 Episode 9 John Barnes

[ReadyDale]

It has nothing to do with the BBC, they just buy the program to air in the UK.

Wall to Wall are the production company and its their format thats changing.

I'd guess though that Wall to Wall produce the programme based on what the BBC wants to commission. They wouldn't just change what was a winning format off their own bat!

[mumjo]

TV broadcasters are only interested in the viewing figures, if the figures drop significantly future programmes (series) will not be bought. They aren't interested in whether the viewing public actually enjoyed the programme  (or not).
If viewing figures drop a little a slight change of content may be tried to bump the figures up, which maybe what has happened in this case.
This is just an observation on my part   

[panda40]

The John Bishop episode is to shown on December 12th. Another series of WDYTYA has been commissioned to be shown summer 2013.
Regards panda

[suey]

This programme should not be written off. The topic was completely new to me and so it opened a new historical era which I should research.

However, it was not a "genealogy programme"; it was just a history programme and a rather boring one too.

I think the BBC should take a typical member of the public and trace their ancestors back as far as possible, using certificates and documentation wherever possible. The trouble with this would be that there probably wouldn't be a "wow" factor.

Judy

Oh!, was there a "wow" factor in  this programme zzzzzzzzzz I must have nodded off and missed it 

[Parmesan]

I must I admit I zoned out during this episode.

Moderator comment: this thread has been edited.

Please keep on topic: reviewing the programme.  Thanks

[ScallyW]

Maybe the problem is that they are running out of celebrities with something of interest in their family history.  They must pre-research dozens of people in the hope of finding a handful that might have something to reveal that makes their story worthy of dedicating a whole programme to it or with enough twists and turns in it that it comes as a surprise to the celebrity.  Which, in theory, is the point of the programme even though we all know that altruism doesn't play such a big part and that tv entertainment value is their prime interest.

While I find it interesting to an extent to nod a wink to the social history of the era these descendants lived in, I would prefer the programme time to be dedicating to finding another generation or branch, but then, if there isn't anything to be found, I suppose they have to fill in the minutes somehow.

And parts of each programme are obviously contrived to build up tension.  The William Roach edition was a perfect example.  They showed him a census record with, I believe, his gt grandfather having some hitherto unknown occupation and then sent him off to some historian to explain to him what it meant and give him the occupation he evolved to later on.  Yeah, but if they had pulled up the next census record it would have shown us that anyway and we could have saved about 5 mins of airtime to explore something else.  And I know that because while the programme was on, I found the next census record myself after wondering why they hadn't done so.

[ann255]

Reply from BBC (see my reply 31)However they still have not said why they did so and so going back again to request an answer.


Thank you for contacting us regarding BBC One’s ‘Who Do You Think You Are?’ programme.
I understand you’re annoyed that episode 10 of the series featuring John Bishop has been re-scheduled for later in the year.
We realise that late schedule changes are annoying to our audience especially when a particular programme has been extensively trailed or has been singled out by the viewer as a programme of particular interest. We honestly try to keep changes to the schedule to a minimum.
Unfortunately we don’t have details at the moment of when the episode you refer to will be broadcast, may I suggest you keep an eye on the BBC’s scheduling websites as well as the programmes website as when details are available they will be posted here first:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcone/programmes/schedules/london
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b007t575
Nevertheless, I do appreciate you feel strongly regarding this, and as we’re guided by feedback such as yours, I’d like to assure you that I’ve registered your complaint on our audience log. This is a report of audience feedback that’s compiled daily and made available to staff across the BBC, including members of the BBC Executive Board, the Scheduling team, channel controllers and other senior managers.
The audience logs are seen as important documents that can help shape decisions about future programming and content.
Thank you once again for taking the time to contact us regarding this matter

[nospringchicken]

Just to say I believe that correspondence to the BBC is now dealt with by Capita, so the programme makers don't receive responses to their programmes as they come in but receive them in groups via Capita and many of the replies come from Capita operatives.

Regarding the standard of the programmes. If I was being cynical, it might cross my mind that the UK WDYTYA may have linked its fortunes to Ancestry which for the past couple of years has been being prepared for a stock exchange buy out and once it was known it was going through ( although not to Google or Facebook as originally mooted), the effort and money going into the programmes has dropped considerably. I don't pretend this is a sure fire reason but it has crossed my mind as a possibility.

[url]http://mobile.bloomberg.com/news/2012-10-22/permira-agrees-to-buy-ancestry-com-for-about-1-6-billion.html[/url]