Programme names have been changed, and we have Andrew Neil saying he won't be using long words.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
I'm not certain that the BBC can claim to be making a wide enough range of distinctive programmes to make the case convincingly.
It was regarded as a responsibility of the BBC to provide programs which have a broad spectrum of interest, and if there was a hole in that spectrum, then the BBC would fill it.
The BBC has the obligation to think big. And at the moment, that clarion call sounds an uncertain note to me.
There is still an element of the BBC that feels it is somehow wrong, or it will be open to criticism, if it makes more money.
Bob Hope was totally regimented. I go in and say a line like, 'Hi Bob' and I'd have to do it five times, and then Bob would take me to the writers to say the line different ways. He wouldn't let me ad-lib.
It was a shock to my system leaving 'The West Wing' and going to 'Psych.' I remember being like, 'What are you doing?' when James Roday first started improvising. Steve and the writing staff write it that way. They leave gaps.
You can trust a Neil Simon script. Every dot. Every dash; that pause means something. He takes all the jokes out, practically.
There is no point in putting out 'The Complete BBC Sessions,' and someone's growling that you missed something.
What comes with a job as a staff member of the BBC is a certain self-censoring that you get utterly used to. You don't say everything you think. You hold back on some things.
We never let go. Ever. Even with punctuation. It's frightening. I can't see anyone from any record company ever writing an email to Neil and not getting it back, with corrections.