Why aren’t we screaming?

Okay, so its Saturday night and most people are out on the town, but there are quite a few million who aren’t. Tonight’s UK TV schedule is a complete joke, farce, insult, yawn and travesty. Don't believe me? Read on.

If you don’t believe me, consider these examples: ITV has Simon Cowell’s pop talent show ‘The X Factor’, which I admit to enjoying, especially the deluded auditionees in the early programmes. But tonight we have it from 7.15 to 9.15 and then for another 45 minutes at 10 (the results). I call that OTT.

Channel 5 can’t congratulate itself either. 7.30 – 9.30 NCIS, followed by CSI, Law and Order and Crime Scene Academy. Could it be a theme? Little joy elsewhere either. On the BBC, once the pride of Britain, we have amusing prime time scheduling. At twenty to nine: 50 years of Blue Peter. The blurb tries to enthuse us about this tribute to the world’s longest running children’s show, but at the end of the day (literally) this is not what the average adult wants to watch on a Saturday night. Doesn’t matter if it launched before the Battle of Agincourt.

Channel 4, usually my favourite, is also showing traces of either ennui, or viewer contempt. 8-9 is a prestigious architectural award ceremony. I’d watch it on a Wednesday. Then there’s an Arnie movie (Collateral Damage) – not my bag but fair enough. At last, 11.50 something worth watching – Sam Peckinpah’s classic, Straw Dogs, which I’ve never seen.

Ok so there is a movie, and I could take in one of the programmes in Five’s crime extravaganza, plus a bit of X Factor (but not three hours worth thanks). But it’s hardly scintillating. It’s only two days a week I’d like to cabbage during the day. I wouldn’t mind so much if the entire day hadn’t been filled with wall-to-wall sport.

Enough whining. I will dream of a downloading programmes from the net . Not with this computer alas, though it gives me an alternative when I’m stuck at home on a Saturday...