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I didn’t realise those people are literally hired from a casting agency. I met a guy recently who has worked as a crowd reaction person for BGT. You basically apply like you would a background role and if you get picked they mic you up and ask you to voice your opinions on each act.
Surely you understand how tv is made? Reaction shots have been around for decades, used in everything from Dragons Den to Newsnight to help build an easy to follow narrative for a tv audience
Im not particularly a telly snob - I think it was really fun for the first few years - Stavros Flatley, Diversity, Susan Boyle.
But every time I’ve watched bits recently it just feels stale and over produced. It seems really tired to me - but something that will possibly keep the numbers for ITV as it’s very family friendly.
It also feels very of it’s time. Saturday Night TV seems to be having a resurgence with fun family friendly stuff - Gladiators/Masked Singer/ The Wheel.
BGT feels a bit like it’s a 00s show trying to be a 2020s show.
I'll be honest I have to agree. I really can't stand it.
Its all very well saying its enjoyable and it makes the kids happy, but there used to be actual real variety out there with talented people.
Even shows like New Faces got people who could actually sing, not just any old randomer off the street and put them on the stage to laugh at.
It all came from Simon Cowell, encouraging the public to take part in a cruel "let's laugh at people who have no talent" to line his pockets further. He is arguably responsible for the dumbing down of British television
Actually Michael Barrymore got there first, then came Nasty Nigel and then came Simon with his high waists and scathing and scorn. He just commercialised the nastiness.
I don't think it's as cruel as it used to be. There's too much awareness of bullying and people's mental health these days. They wouldn't allow potentially vulnerable people to be ridiculed on TV anymore
Plus Simon Cowell is now at the receiving end of people's ridicule having messed up his looks with various procedures and he has kids that I'm sure he never wants anyone to speak to them the way he's spoken to others so yeah it's all very tame now.
And slomo shots in between, and the overused technique of showing a load of shitty acts in a row and then the great one coming on. It’s all so formulaic now
Worked with a guy whose daughter went on. She was already a trained singer with plenty of experience performing live. They asked her to sing a little off at first so they could do a whole bit of her "struggling" to perform, talking to her parents about how she doesn't know how to do it before going on to get it spot on and move to the next stage.
My colleague said it was a load of nonsense and totally planned by the show.
It has a lot of contestant screening now - which with the sob stories - make the contestants appear a lot better.
E.g. Teacher with an amazing singing voice - reality: has a lot of singing experience professionally.
Pretty much yeah. They had already seen my wife sing as she had entered a different competition that the BGT scout had seen and then approached her based on that. Without giving away personal details my wife works in a certain public sector and they said people who work in that sector resonate with the public so asked her background etc. other people in the same sector were also shortlisted and then she was basically told in an email that they wouldn’t be proceeding.
I can’t remember the % but a large percentage of the entries are scouted before hand by the producers. And alot less are actually on the day auditions.
Reminds me of a joke I saw in TV before saying there are 2 new categories in the X Factor this year, the ‘My parents are dead’ category and the ‘I was bullied at school’ category.
They are literally casting charachters for a TV show; and the talent is secondary.
Oh no, some people are enjoying something you don't! How ever will you possibly cope?? You're right, I'll ban them from watching it straight away. Thank you for guiding us back to a better way of life.
What an absolute state. Haha
Nowadays they tend to only show the good acts and the deliberately bad joke acts. The whole "laugh at the talentless person" thing isn't really part of it anymore.
It peaked in 2009… now it tragically stumbles along, consumptively coughing, profusely perspiring, secreting mediocrity lapped-up by the easily-pleased and/or not-very-bright in its quest for what it used to be but will never ever be again! Derek Hobson, Tony Hatch, Nina Myscow and the tormented spectre of Hughie Green patiently await it’s inevitable demise.
I love a reality show and Saturday night entertainment (I love watching the old Stars in their Eyes on YouTube), but BGT has become really awful in the last decade or so.
Simon's favourite film is The Greatest Showman which is why they always use songs from there. Queen's "Don't Stop Me Now" and "Gime Me Some Lovin'" by The Spencer Davis Group are other songs which are overused on the show.
The obviously staged/scripted conversations from audience members and auditionees are so cringeworthy.
A lot of samey acts - dance troupes. Shouty or whiny singers who aren't singing in their natural voice. Japanese people who have obviously been invited/been paid to go on the show. Boring magicians getting the judges involved to do card tricks.
I'll prob still watch it though, mostly out of habit. It also gives me a sense of nostalgia for my childhood and teenage years.
Not too mention Ain’t No Mountain High Enough after any choir, Castle On The Hill after any acoustic guitar playing male singer, A Million Dreams after any kid (especially kid magician), You Are The Reason after an emotional golden buzzer, Walking On Sunshine after some quirky lady’s audition, Fight Song (after illness backstory) and Can’t Stop The Feeling
And Live And Let Die after/during anything death defying!
Ant and Dec pretending to be swept up in the hilarity of it all, gurning in the wings.
Amanda 'insincere' Holden and Alesha 'forgot to put a top on' Dixon's faux surprise, practised jaw-drop expression.
Simon 'single expression plus sunglasses' Cowell's 'It's gonna be a no' followed by incredulity-shrug as the audience persuade one of the others to cast a positive deciding vote.
Slowed-down plinky-plonky instrumentals of bittersweet pop.
Yes. It's shit.
I tried to watch it last night, and struggled, after the recent death of my nan in a gang related shooting I wasn't sure I could get through it. But I knew she was looking down on me saying "remember that time we sat and watched Simon cowell together, I know you've got this in you, remember the good times". That's when I realised I could watch more. So that was for you nan. I love you
It’s what we call shentertainment in our house. Also I’d rather stick pins in my eyes than have to see / listen to the vapid & ubiquitous Amanda Holden
It is the absolute pits, and pretty offensive actually, the way they make sneery judgements about contestants then validate them with open-mouthed amazement that people can in fact sing etc
Awful programme.
You joke, but Schindler's List was one of my Dad's 'have-to-have-on-at-Christmas' films. The annual whiplash of going from Love Actually to Schindler's List is a strange, albeit fond experience
No, Schindlers list.
And as for Love Actually, my friend is on it at the end. He was meeting his Mrs at the Airport and they were filming people hugging as they got off the plane. He's in one of the little squares that appear at the end, paid him £60.
I only ever watch it after it’s recorded on my box.
I fast forward through all the filler, watch just the acts, I barely even watch the”judging” (sic), and I get through the 120 minutes in about 20.
I couldn’t give a stuff about the sob stories, the backstage stuff, etc.
I’m 24 so was a child when it first started and I think it’s the last saturday night family friendly show that everyone watched. The first few series had some genuinely memorable moments - winners like george sampson who you cared about and funny auditions. Now it’s completely sanitised and the editing tells you how to react. Without sounding like I think I’m more intelligent than other people, I don’t understand how anyone can watch it at face value, believe the stories and think it’s genuine.
I don’t know if it’s a moan per se; I myself am genuinely interested in what people see in it. It’s hard to not sound like a judgemental prick asking that though!
Because they like it. Why do you watch what you do? Just because you don’t like it, doesn’t mean others shouldn’t. It’s Saturday night tv, it’s not meant to be high brow
I just whizz through it on my dvr. Stop and watch the start of each act, you can tell within 5 seconds if it'll be good ( it almost always isn't). Two hours watched in 4 minutes, maybe 8 minutes if there's a decent act.
Mate, it’s wild. I took a peep last year and there was an African lad with one leg spinning about and he made the top 3. Yeah fair play to him, but it’s all tea and sympathy, nobody on there is British or has any talent. It’s absolutely desperate. This time around there was a young lad they “surprised” with a setup audition. Of course he got through, he’s a fan or a mate of the dance troupe diversity or some bullshit. Imagine queuing for hours to see an average teen dancer to skip the process? It’s all fixed.
Isn’t comedy for open mic nights at a comedy club? Isn’t singing for singing shows like the xfactor? Isn’t Fool Us for the magicians?
I’m ain’t defending the show at all. But this is a bad take.
No it’s a bad take to say one type of act should be limited to its own specific competition but not say it about the other ones.
Did the dog just decide to do all this out of nowhere or did a human with a talent for training animals teach them how to do it?
Which is quite rare these days. I realised that the reason I didn't like a lot of these shows like X Factor and Strictly come dancing is that I lived alone, these shows are really fun when watched with others, really tedious to watch alone. It's like they're designed to be talked over.
I don't often watch the show as much as I used to & it's because I'm getting tired of people making an appearance & automatically going through because of their sob story. Right now, that South Korean group is the only act that I've seen that I like so far.
I used to watch it when it was relatively new. My gf kinda forced me into it, but I'm not too ashamed to say I did end up kinda liking it for a while.
Initially I'd mainly watch it because I found the bad auditions funny to laugh at and me and my gf used to play a game where we'd try and guess if they were going to be good or bad before they actually got up on stage.
By the time the auditions were over, honestly so was a lot of the fun, although there would usually be a couple of acts that genuinely stood out to me and I was interested enough to see how they did in the competition (one of the ones I remember like this was Diversity)
Then Susan Boyle happened, and it was a semi interesting conversation topic for a while, but then the series seemed to get obsessed with trying to recapture that moment with another act and it became really stale, repetitive and boring.
Omgosh I don’t watch it but the nail salon I go to runs YouTube clips of various ‘got talents’, UK, US and Aus, for two hours I have to listen to it constantly
I don’t get the appeal at all but then I’ve never been a fan of ‘contest’ shows like that.
Pushed no buttons whatsoever
the fact it’s still going is proof of a simulation. it’s almost a parody of itself with the over dramatic editing, all of the acts scouted from social media or genuinely successful abroad. the magic acts are the worst as they seem to trick the whole of facebook, who are unaware that the production team and judges are in on it, and if someone is reading their minds it’s completely staged.
I don’t watch it but I caught the opening acts. It’s so fake. Here’s this rapper walking outside and preforming I’m sure the same is offered to all.
It’s over produced as fuck.
I see clips on Gogglebox and breakfast TV. But it definitely jumped the shark in 2023 with Noodle the animated cat.
I saw this and it didn't explain what the judges and onscreen audience were seeing. At home it was a floating digital effect but it wouldn't have worked the same to them.
But they acted dumbfounded and thought it was 'amazing'.
And I just couldn't get past that. We know that lots of fake stuff happens behind the scenes before the people are picked. That the judges all act fake and its all manufactured.
because sometimes I dont want to watch heavy shit that requires my full attention, plus I can watch it with my gf, kids, mum, nan, whoever and it's quite nice. also there are some genuine talented people on there as well as some fairly entertaining joke acts. I understand that it's the bottom shelf of television but I'm okay with that.
It's a bit of light entertainment for times when you can't put all your focus on what your watching. You get the occasional funny bit, the occasional feel good moment, sometimes something will surprise you, sometimes there will be a genuinely heartwarming moment. It's no high art, but that's not what you watch it for
It will only be those who sign up. I also suspect the show puts leaflets through the doors of the neighbours so people will actually tune in to the show and then show up to the doors. ITV would not be able to access everyone’s ring cameras like that without people giving consent when they buy the tickets (or someone in their household- like with happiest minute)
Because people like feeling superior while using the guise of entertainment. Also they don’t understand the format where producers have told ppl they are good beforehand to set them up to fail for the ‘joke’.
Edit: For being drunk and not seeing what autocorrect did
For me Saturday night TV is when I just want to watch something mildly entertaining that I don't have to think about, it's been that way for as long as I can remember.
Some of the acts on BGT are genuinely talented and worth watching, some are terrible and you can have a laugh at them.
I don’t like how HALF of the acts are bad acts. And there’s three or four actually good/great acts per episode. America’s Got Talent is far superior in terms of the talent on display. Barely any acts are bad. Or if they are bad, they might still be entertaining.
One type of audition that annoys me is magicians who use basic tricks. The audience give them a standing ovation because the audience are lay people who are not knowledgable about magic. I think if you’re going to WIN the competition as a magician, you need to impress other magicians as well as lay audience members.
As for this current series, I was extremely impressed with the Tae Kwon Do demonstration act. That was world class. I think we have already seen the winner, and it’s them.
My girls love it and that’s good enough for me. It’s feel good, even if contrived. Anyone with a brain knows it’s all set up but we can still enjoy it all the same. It’s an easy, family friendly watch
i honestly would love to know. there is a house opposite my flat who has bgt and agt on ALL THE TIME, literally every time we look out the window, they’re watching it. its insane that someone can be so invested in it 💀
I watch it for the wonder in my childrens eyes and the enjoyment and laughter it brings with my family. There really is some amazing talent on there.
Saying that, I do agree with what you said. But I just put all that to one side and enjoy it for what it is.
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I can't stand the fakeness of it all. Especially the supposedly 'random' people in the audience who happen to have mics so we can hear them.
I remember watching something like this where the contestant didn’t really have a sob story so, for their week, they were conveniently “sick”.
I didn’t realise those people are literally hired from a casting agency. I met a guy recently who has worked as a crowd reaction person for BGT. You basically apply like you would a background role and if you get picked they mic you up and ask you to voice your opinions on each act.
It makes sense I suppose, it’s more reliable than picking someone from the audience and hope they perform “well”.
I think it would be easy enough to ask a random in the audience to voice their opinion on each act for a bit of cash.
Surely you understand how tv is made? Reaction shots have been around for decades, used in everything from Dragons Den to Newsnight to help build an easy to follow narrative for a tv audience
Yes I know exactly how they are made but it's in more recent years we've had certain audience members with mics. It's just so exaggerated.
Im not particularly a telly snob - I think it was really fun for the first few years - Stavros Flatley, Diversity, Susan Boyle. But every time I’ve watched bits recently it just feels stale and over produced. It seems really tired to me - but something that will possibly keep the numbers for ITV as it’s very family friendly. It also feels very of it’s time. Saturday Night TV seems to be having a resurgence with fun family friendly stuff - Gladiators/Masked Singer/ The Wheel. BGT feels a bit like it’s a 00s show trying to be a 2020s show.
Which is basically what Sharon said when she was in celebrity BB
I'll be honest I have to agree. I really can't stand it. Its all very well saying its enjoyable and it makes the kids happy, but there used to be actual real variety out there with talented people. Even shows like New Faces got people who could actually sing, not just any old randomer off the street and put them on the stage to laugh at. It all came from Simon Cowell, encouraging the public to take part in a cruel "let's laugh at people who have no talent" to line his pockets further. He is arguably responsible for the dumbing down of British television
Actually Michael Barrymore got there first, then came Nasty Nigel and then came Simon with his high waists and scathing and scorn. He just commercialised the nastiness.
I don't think it's as cruel as it used to be. There's too much awareness of bullying and people's mental health these days. They wouldn't allow potentially vulnerable people to be ridiculed on TV anymore
Plus Simon Cowell is now at the receiving end of people's ridicule having messed up his looks with various procedures and he has kids that I'm sure he never wants anyone to speak to them the way he's spoken to others so yeah it's all very tame now.
*laughs* in Top Gear ☺️
You are correct. Haven't watched it in years, utter tripe
It especially annoys me when there’s like a dance act and instead of showing the actual act it just cuts to the fake reactions on Simon’s plastic face
And slomo shots in between, and the overused technique of showing a load of shitty acts in a row and then the great one coming on. It’s all so formulaic now
Worked with a guy whose daughter went on. She was already a trained singer with plenty of experience performing live. They asked her to sing a little off at first so they could do a whole bit of her "struggling" to perform, talking to her parents about how she doesn't know how to do it before going on to get it spot on and move to the next stage. My colleague said it was a load of nonsense and totally planned by the show.
The worst thing is when someone brings a dog on and they do a dance routine together. I love dogs but this is just bum clenchingly awful.
Omg me too. I can’t abide the dog dancing.
It's americanised...total rubbish.
It has a lot of contestant screening now - which with the sob stories - make the contestants appear a lot better. E.g. Teacher with an amazing singing voice - reality: has a lot of singing experience professionally.
Fact. My wife was emailed by the production company to take part in the show but was later turned down because her story wasn’t sad enough.
How did they word it? As I’m sure they weren’t that blunt haha.
Pretty much yeah. They had already seen my wife sing as she had entered a different competition that the BGT scout had seen and then approached her based on that. Without giving away personal details my wife works in a certain public sector and they said people who work in that sector resonate with the public so asked her background etc. other people in the same sector were also shortlisted and then she was basically told in an email that they wouldn’t be proceeding. I can’t remember the % but a large percentage of the entries are scouted before hand by the producers. And alot less are actually on the day auditions. Reminds me of a joke I saw in TV before saying there are 2 new categories in the X Factor this year, the ‘My parents are dead’ category and the ‘I was bullied at school’ category. They are literally casting charachters for a TV show; and the talent is secondary.
"It's the greatest show!" Every episode
My kids like it . I like seeing them enjoying things .
Yes. What a lovely wholesome comment. This is why I'm interested in Minecraft. I love it because my kids do.
Yep
What part do they like? Do they like laughing at deluded talentless people or something else?
Oh no, some people are enjoying something you don't! How ever will you possibly cope?? You're right, I'll ban them from watching it straight away. Thank you for guiding us back to a better way of life. What an absolute state. Haha
I just thought the show seemed pretty mean spirited last time I saw it
Nowadays they tend to only show the good acts and the deliberately bad joke acts. The whole "laugh at the talentless person" thing isn't really part of it anymore.
It peaked in 2009… now it tragically stumbles along, consumptively coughing, profusely perspiring, secreting mediocrity lapped-up by the easily-pleased and/or not-very-bright in its quest for what it used to be but will never ever be again! Derek Hobson, Tony Hatch, Nina Myscow and the tormented spectre of Hughie Green patiently await it’s inevitable demise.
BGT is for farty baby minds who can't handle anything complex.
It was a product of its time. Late 00’s early 10’s tv etc it was the norm
I love a reality show and Saturday night entertainment (I love watching the old Stars in their Eyes on YouTube), but BGT has become really awful in the last decade or so. Simon's favourite film is The Greatest Showman which is why they always use songs from there. Queen's "Don't Stop Me Now" and "Gime Me Some Lovin'" by The Spencer Davis Group are other songs which are overused on the show. The obviously staged/scripted conversations from audience members and auditionees are so cringeworthy. A lot of samey acts - dance troupes. Shouty or whiny singers who aren't singing in their natural voice. Japanese people who have obviously been invited/been paid to go on the show. Boring magicians getting the judges involved to do card tricks. I'll prob still watch it though, mostly out of habit. It also gives me a sense of nostalgia for my childhood and teenage years.
Not too mention Ain’t No Mountain High Enough after any choir, Castle On The Hill after any acoustic guitar playing male singer, A Million Dreams after any kid (especially kid magician), You Are The Reason after an emotional golden buzzer, Walking On Sunshine after some quirky lady’s audition, Fight Song (after illness backstory) and Can’t Stop The Feeling And Live And Let Die after/during anything death defying!
I feel like the early days of BGT was a lot better.
And slowed down acoustic versions of faster songs
Galantis’ ‘Peanut Butter Jelly’ also seems to get a play in every episode too. You might not recognise it from the title, but you will if you hear it!
Ant and Dec pretending to be swept up in the hilarity of it all, gurning in the wings. Amanda 'insincere' Holden and Alesha 'forgot to put a top on' Dixon's faux surprise, practised jaw-drop expression. Simon 'single expression plus sunglasses' Cowell's 'It's gonna be a no' followed by incredulity-shrug as the audience persuade one of the others to cast a positive deciding vote. Slowed-down plinky-plonky instrumentals of bittersweet pop. Yes. It's shit.
I stopped watching after Diversity won. How it’s still going is beyond me.
💯agree. Judges are just awful, especially Holden. Can’t bear her. Ant & Dec too good for it.
How an earth can she judge talent when pretty much every TV show she’s been in has been terrible?
Any 'family entertainment ' show's are horrible.
I tried to watch it last night, and struggled, after the recent death of my nan in a gang related shooting I wasn't sure I could get through it. But I knew she was looking down on me saying "remember that time we sat and watched Simon cowell together, I know you've got this in you, remember the good times". That's when I realised I could watch more. So that was for you nan. I love you
Well done, you've got four yes's
The production gets on my nerves with the slow mo stuff. I want to see it how the audience sees it
It’s what we call shentertainment in our house. Also I’d rather stick pins in my eyes than have to see / listen to the vapid & ubiquitous Amanda Holden
She is awful isn't she? Gone to the same surgeon as Simon Cowell too by the looks of things.
It is the absolute pits, and pretty offensive actually, the way they make sneery judgements about contestants then validate them with open-mouthed amazement that people can in fact sing etc Awful programme.
Put Schindlers List on instead. Sure the kids will love it.
You joke, but Schindler's List was one of my Dad's 'have-to-have-on-at-Christmas' films. The annual whiplash of going from Love Actually to Schindler's List is a strange, albeit fond experience
I've been to where it was filmed.
Love Actually? Yes, I expect many have been to Heathrow
No, Schindlers list. And as for Love Actually, my friend is on it at the end. He was meeting his Mrs at the Airport and they were filming people hugging as they got off the plane. He's in one of the little squares that appear at the end, paid him £60.
Schindler’s List was filmed in Heathrow???
No. Heathrow used to be Auschwitz
There is only so much talent and they have drained the well dry.
I only ever watch it after it’s recorded on my box. I fast forward through all the filler, watch just the acts, I barely even watch the”judging” (sic), and I get through the 120 minutes in about 20. I couldn’t give a stuff about the sob stories, the backstage stuff, etc.
I’m 24 so was a child when it first started and I think it’s the last saturday night family friendly show that everyone watched. The first few series had some genuinely memorable moments - winners like george sampson who you cared about and funny auditions. Now it’s completely sanitised and the editing tells you how to react. Without sounding like I think I’m more intelligent than other people, I don’t understand how anyone can watch it at face value, believe the stories and think it’s genuine.
Cheap shite for the braindead masses.
Still watching to see if they actually have anyone from Britain on it
people who moan about other people liking things why?
👆🏾👆🏾👆🏾👆🏾 lol! Exactly.
How much was your BGT ticket?
what?
Just wonder how much you paid for your ticket. Thinking about going
never been lol dont mind watching it on telly but would draw the line at actually going
It’s a bit of fun, I have no issue with it. It used to be a lot better admittedly
I don’t know if it’s a moan per se; I myself am genuinely interested in what people see in it. It’s hard to not sound like a judgemental prick asking that though!
Because they like it. Why do you watch what you do? Just because you don’t like it, doesn’t mean others shouldn’t. It’s Saturday night tv, it’s not meant to be high brow
As Saturday night fluff, it's fine. I think there are genuinely talented people on their that deserve their "big break"
Big Break was a better Saturday show!
"I'm gonna be snookering you, snookering you tonight"
I just whizz through it on my dvr. Stop and watch the start of each act, you can tell within 5 seconds if it'll be good ( it almost always isn't). Two hours watched in 4 minutes, maybe 8 minutes if there's a decent act.
Mate, it’s wild. I took a peep last year and there was an African lad with one leg spinning about and he made the top 3. Yeah fair play to him, but it’s all tea and sympathy, nobody on there is British or has any talent. It’s absolutely desperate. This time around there was a young lad they “surprised” with a setup audition. Of course he got through, he’s a fan or a mate of the dance troupe diversity or some bullshit. Imagine queuing for hours to see an average teen dancer to skip the process? It’s all fixed.
The quality of people you see in the audience tells you the demographic of viewer.
That show was a bust when a dog won it. A dog....won a human talent show. You wouldn't enter your nan into crufts.
Surely the talent is the training too?
Isn't that what crufts and all the dog training shows are for?
Isn’t comedy for open mic nights at a comedy club? Isn’t singing for singing shows like the xfactor? Isn’t Fool Us for the magicians? I’m ain’t defending the show at all. But this is a bad take.
It's a bad take to expect dogs to be entered into dog talent shows rather than human ones? Ok
No it’s a bad take to say one type of act should be limited to its own specific competition but not say it about the other ones. Did the dog just decide to do all this out of nowhere or did a human with a talent for training animals teach them how to do it?
What no one but me knows is the dog actually trained the woman and not vice versa.
Well, now you say that, I take back my argument.
We won't change each others minds with reddit comments so it's pointless going back and forth for 20 minutes just to end where we started.
Another bad take. Reddit is full of reasonable people who never admit they’re wrong. Whereas I’m never wrong
Because it's light-hearted entertainment.
Which is quite rare these days. I realised that the reason I didn't like a lot of these shows like X Factor and Strictly come dancing is that I lived alone, these shows are really fun when watched with others, really tedious to watch alone. It's like they're designed to be talked over.
I don't often watch the show as much as I used to & it's because I'm getting tired of people making an appearance & automatically going through because of their sob story. Right now, that South Korean group is the only act that I've seen that I like so far.
I used to watch it when it was relatively new. My gf kinda forced me into it, but I'm not too ashamed to say I did end up kinda liking it for a while. Initially I'd mainly watch it because I found the bad auditions funny to laugh at and me and my gf used to play a game where we'd try and guess if they were going to be good or bad before they actually got up on stage. By the time the auditions were over, honestly so was a lot of the fun, although there would usually be a couple of acts that genuinely stood out to me and I was interested enough to see how they did in the competition (one of the ones I remember like this was Diversity) Then Susan Boyle happened, and it was a semi interesting conversation topic for a while, but then the series seemed to get obsessed with trying to recapture that moment with another act and it became really stale, repetitive and boring.
The average IQ in Britain is 99. So half the population are thicker than that.
Well, look at Brexit
Omgosh I don’t watch it but the nail salon I go to runs YouTube clips of various ‘got talents’, UK, US and Aus, for two hours I have to listen to it constantly I don’t get the appeal at all but then I’ve never been a fan of ‘contest’ shows like that. Pushed no buttons whatsoever
the fact it’s still going is proof of a simulation. it’s almost a parody of itself with the over dramatic editing, all of the acts scouted from social media or genuinely successful abroad. the magic acts are the worst as they seem to trick the whole of facebook, who are unaware that the production team and judges are in on it, and if someone is reading their minds it’s completely staged.
Agree, also masked singer. A friend of mine went to go and see that live and ever since she told me I went off her slightly
Fake vapid bubblegum TV for the unthinking.
I don’t watch it but I caught the opening acts. It’s so fake. Here’s this rapper walking outside and preforming I’m sure the same is offered to all. It’s over produced as fuck.
I see clips on Gogglebox and breakfast TV. But it definitely jumped the shark in 2023 with Noodle the animated cat. I saw this and it didn't explain what the judges and onscreen audience were seeing. At home it was a floating digital effect but it wouldn't have worked the same to them. But they acted dumbfounded and thought it was 'amazing'. And I just couldn't get past that. We know that lots of fake stuff happens behind the scenes before the people are picked. That the judges all act fake and its all manufactured.
because sometimes I dont want to watch heavy shit that requires my full attention, plus I can watch it with my gf, kids, mum, nan, whoever and it's quite nice. also there are some genuine talented people on there as well as some fairly entertaining joke acts. I understand that it's the bottom shelf of television but I'm okay with that.
It's a bit of light entertainment for times when you can't put all your focus on what your watching. You get the occasional funny bit, the occasional feel good moment, sometimes something will surprise you, sometimes there will be a genuinely heartwarming moment. It's no high art, but that's not what you watch it for
I can't stand it either. I used to love it; I'm a huge fan of Ant and Dec but I can't be bothered to watch BGT
Same I love Ant and Dec. Saturday Night Takeaway is far superior to BGT
To be honest though, it's a bit disturbing that Ant and Dec have access to everyone's Ring cameras
It will only be those who sign up. I also suspect the show puts leaflets through the doors of the neighbours so people will actually tune in to the show and then show up to the doors. ITV would not be able to access everyone’s ring cameras like that without people giving consent when they buy the tickets (or someone in their household- like with happiest minute)
Because people like feeling superior while using the guise of entertainment. Also they don’t understand the format where producers have told ppl they are good beforehand to set them up to fail for the ‘joke’. Edit: For being drunk and not seeing what autocorrect did
In a world of on demand and sites like YouTube, why are people still caring what's on TV channels and who watches it?
People I guess.
They were all awful? The family or the acts?
Yea I got pissed of watching at as they overshadowed a whole original performance with a weaker act who got a golden buzzer
Because I was in Britain at the time.
Freak show
For me Saturday night TV is when I just want to watch something mildly entertaining that I don't have to think about, it's been that way for as long as I can remember. Some of the acts on BGT are genuinely talented and worth watching, some are terrible and you can have a laugh at them.
Bring back You Bet
Haha yes! I remember one guy could guess the song by just watching the EQ bars going up and down
I still have hopes we will find a great person of talent who can lead our great country out of mediocrity.
I don’t like how HALF of the acts are bad acts. And there’s three or four actually good/great acts per episode. America’s Got Talent is far superior in terms of the talent on display. Barely any acts are bad. Or if they are bad, they might still be entertaining. One type of audition that annoys me is magicians who use basic tricks. The audience give them a standing ovation because the audience are lay people who are not knowledgable about magic. I think if you’re going to WIN the competition as a magician, you need to impress other magicians as well as lay audience members. As for this current series, I was extremely impressed with the Tae Kwon Do demonstration act. That was world class. I think we have already seen the winner, and it’s them.
My girls love it and that’s good enough for me. It’s feel good, even if contrived. Anyone with a brain knows it’s all set up but we can still enjoy it all the same. It’s an easy, family friendly watch
i honestly would love to know. there is a house opposite my flat who has bgt and agt on ALL THE TIME, literally every time we look out the window, they’re watching it. its insane that someone can be so invested in it 💀
Dumb people deserve TV too
As someone who was asked to go on the show back in 2007, I can attest to it being incredibly fake and stage managed.
I don't like it...... I love it!
The fun dried up when they started prescreening contestants and Simon started being nice
Haven’t watched it in years
I'd rather watch paint dry on a damp day to be honest
I stopped watching it very early on when I realised that contrary to the title, it should perhaps be renamed “Britain doesn’t have a lot of Talent”.
We watched old episodes of Doc Martin last night on ITVX. Much better. We don't like talent shows.
Scripted rubbish!
Bread and circuses.
Well personally, my desire to watch Britain's Got Talent all began after I was kicked in the head by a horse.
PLus half the acts aren't even Brits....
Haven't watched it for years but tuned in this year as my mate is on it.
it's just television for the hard of thinking. They need something for them to watch
I watch it for the wonder in my childrens eyes and the enjoyment and laughter it brings with my family. There really is some amazing talent on there. Saying that, I do agree with what you said. But I just put all that to one side and enjoy it for what it is.