I’m not going to comment on the winners and losers, although I don’t have any real problems, aside from noting that the fact that ITV had just one winner all evening is a very sad idictment of the current state of the channel’s programming. But perhaps someone can explain why ITV felt the need to delay coverage of the ceremony by 24 hours? Surely the single reason for watching an awards ceremony is to learn who has won what awards? Yet by the time Monday evening came around, anyone who cared, already knew all the results.
I don’t agree with it, but it’s just about defensible that ITV delay The Brits because of the dangerous behaviour of the stars, but surely telly stars are a little more demure. Having said that, I didn’t think that it was a smart idea to have people sitting at tables since by the later awards, there was an audibly raucous number of people who talked their way through some quite serious awards (eg News coverage of July 7).
The ratings of the ITV broadcast last night seemed to reflect this disinterest with twice as many people watching a cop show on BBC1.
Yes, there’s an element of danger when a show goes out live (or, at least, delayed by an hour or two), but that’s what the audience wants and expects).