I still remember the first time I switched Britain's Got Talent on. Way back in 2007, the brand new Ant & Dec fronted talent contest felt like such a breath of fresh air.
By then, we'd had several series of The X Factor, which began in 2004, and the singing contest was rapidly becoming samey, bloated, and overdone.
Britain's Got Talent was just what the talent contest genre needed: not just samey singers warbling the same old tunes - but a genuine variety of different acts, from dancing troupes like Diversity to unbelievable singers like Susan Boyle. It felt interesting, it felt different.
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It felt like an event. I'm sure it was just because it was new and untested, but ITV put the show on every night for two weeks running, with auditions spread over just a few episodes, followed by live semis and the final, all in a roughly 10 day extravaganza. Like the World Cup, or the Olympics, but with magicians and dancing dogs.
Fast forward to Britain's Got Talent now, after 16 series, and it's fair to say that the excitement and energy has all but dissipated.
BGT has been left, as The X Factor before it, a bloated, oversaturated mess of self-indulgence. The final on Sunday night - where winner Viggo Venn was literally booed by the studio audience as a 13-year-old runner up was awkwardly booted off the stage - felt like watching the death of something you used to love. Like your team getting relegated.
I think the show can be saved, because at its core it's a highly successful idea - you don't get to 16 series if it isn't - but it just needs some tweaks to freshen things up.
1. Get rid of Amanda Holden and Bruno TonioliI get it, Amanda has been a BGT mainstay since the very first year. She's become part of the fabric of BGT, an ever-present on the judging panel alongside Mr Talent Show Simon Cowell himself.
Maybe I'm getting old, but I swear I don't remember Amanda ever being this unlikeable. She seems to veer from extremely forced cackling joy at the most middling of acts, to downright bizarre politicised rants. She saw a moment to start banging on about 'wokery and snowflakes' in the live semi finals - when it was live, so couldn't be edited out - and my heart sank. It just doesn't feel like it belongs in a light hearted family entertainment show.
I didn't hate Bruno as much as most seemed to. He was okay, but I didn't feel like he really gelled with the rest of the panel. That fourth seat seems cursed, and has rotated through Piers Morgan, David Walliams, David Hasselhof and many more. Personally, I'd give his seat to Rylan Clark.
As I alluded to earlier, I think BGT worked in its early days because it was snappy and didn't outstay its welcome. Inevitably, as things get more and more popular, they tend to get stretched out (£££), and Britain's Got Talent is no exception. There's too many episodes. By the time the 6th or 7th week of auditions has rolled around on a Saturday, its lost too much momentum from viewers, especially if the standard of talent is a little bit so-so, and people can't be bothered to see it through for two months.
I'd go back to the series 1 feel, and just have it take over a two week period in the summer, short sharp, smash and grab. I'm A Celebrity is only ever on for two weeks at a time, and that is still going pretty strong.
3. More British acts, less productionI always thought it was weird, right from series 1, that some acts seem to be 'flown in' just to audition. I have no problem with performers from other countries (hey, I'm a staunch Remainer), but it does feel like there's a backstage producer's handprints all over it when an act from say, Japan, or Norway, who doesn't live in the UK, and has already got thousands if not millions of followers on social media, comes over just to audition on BGT. Almost as if they were invited by show runners just to get another decent standard act who might make the final.
It tallies up with the entire feel of the show having become a bit over produced. Too many 'cameras already filming them at home before their first audition' moments. Too many rehearsed stories. Too many slow-mo shots with extremely long inserted pauses. Just strip it all back and put the focus back on the performers, not the overwrought production values.
Just my two pence, of course, and ITV might have completely different ideas. BGT's final pulled in a pretty weak 5.3M viewers, but I have no doubt we'll be back again next year. But how many viewers will?
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