[JMT1985]

This may be a strange post, but does anybody else feel like programmes are ending earlier for Christmas. I ask whilst watching the Christmas special of The Graham Norton Show. With over a week to go I feel that it is strange that the Christmas special won’t be going out the Friday before Christmas. I see the Jonathan Ross Christmas Show also airs tomorrow on ITV. Is this usual and am I misrembering?

Well Graham will be back on New Year's Eve for his usual special edition

I think they feel talk shows do not pull in the big Christmas ratings.  Back in the 70s, Michael Parkinson used to be on every Christmas time. 80s saw Des O'Connor hosting a lot of Christmas night talk shows - but that landscape has changed.

[JMT1985]

I have just seen what NBC, CBS, ABC and Fox will be airing prime time this Christmas Day 2022, and it is interesting to see the US networks approach to prime time Christmas Day.

We do moan and groan about what BBC, ITV etc offer, but comparing it to the US is interesting. To me, the line up on the US networks looks like any old Sunday.

NBC Prime Time - 7pm Football Night In Ameria. 8.15pm NFL Football Live, Tampa Bay Buccaneers vs. Arizona Cardinals and ends at 11.30pm.

CBS Prime Time - 4.30pm NFL Football Live, Denver Broncos vs. Los Angeles Rams. 8pm 60 Minutes, their usual Sunday night current affairs show. 9pm East New York, a double bill repeat of the police drama series. 11pm Local News.

ABC Prime Time - 7.30pm NBA Basketball, live coverage starting with Memphis Grizzlies vs. Golden State Warriors live from San Francisco and then Phoenix Suns vs. Denver Nuggets live from Denver until 1am.

Fox Prime Time - 7pm TMZ's Merry Elfin' Christmas. 8pm The Simpsons, a repeat from a December 2021 episode. 8.30pm The Great North, a repeat from this sitcom. 9pm Bob's Burgers, a repeat. 9.30pm Family Guy, a repeat. 10pm Local News.

Now, what a dire line up. Christmas is virtually ignored. American networks all air their Christmas programming during the month of December, when ad revenue is ripe. Come December 24th, all specials have aired, as the ad revenue is at its lowest.

Very different culture. Maybe we should count ourselves lucky that BBC, ITV etc actually do try and bother to be festive.

[Steve in Pudsey]

Will they be restoring the beautiful ident of the Horse, Fox, Mole and Boy walking along the banks of a lake? It is so gorgeous it seems a shame.

I understand why it was not shown a few days ago, but the argument towards a permanent shelving is odd. Imagine if BBC1's ident was a Christmas Tree and a tragedy occurred involving a Christmas Tree. Would they then pull that Tree ident?

I would say yes as the tree is a prominent feature.

Regarding Christmas specials, it's annoying when shows get given them when they are only starting out. For me, you have to earn it. The Green Green Grass got a Xmas Day slot right out of the block and it totally flopped.

Green Green Grass is perhaps an exception to the rule where you can justify taking a punt on a new show, being a spin off from one of the all time great sit coms with the same writer and many of the same cast. On paper you can understand why it would have been expected to do well.

[tellyblues]

Very different culture. Maybe we should count ourselves lucky that BBC, ITV etc actually do try and bother to be festive.

Normal programming has popped up at times. Who can forget Changing Rooms on Xmas Day in 1998? If the BBC tried similar today they would get absolutely slaughtered - and rightly so.

The now customary online guessing game of what will be shown perhaps takes the shine away from what is shown but people are mostly always right because it has been that way more or less for 10+ years now. There's the usual talk of "rose tinted specs" and how Morecambe and Wise and The Two Ronnies ran for years and years but what isn't mentioned is that the other shows around them weren't always the same.

[SteveRW]

I'd have thought restoring the characterless one at least would have happened by now considering it isn't depicting anyone walking on or near ice.  It's not like that sort of imagery isn't everywhere at this time of year.

TBH whilst it's understandable they were withdrawn I think if they hadn't been withdrawn the connection probably wouldn't have been made.

BBC One generally is very un-festive this year. The refusal to restore the third/fourth idents is somewhat daft and the inconsistent channel branding between snow and no snow, plus no direct "Christmas on BBC1" trails, makes BBC1 far less appealing this Christmas than it ever has been. 

If the animation the idents are featured around, contain the imagery of the river bank, will they cut that out of the film? If bot, then why shelve idents that no one will even make a connection as to why they have been shelved.

[Kojak]

This may be a strange post, but does anybody else feel like programmes are ending earlier for Christmas. I ask whilst watching the Christmas special of The Graham Norton Show. With over a week to go I feel that it is strange that the Christmas special won’t be going out the Friday before Christmas. I see the Jonathan Ross Christmas Show also airs tomorrow on ITV. Is this usual and am I misrembering?

It does seem that way, I agree. Whether or not that is actually the case is a different story. Newsnight has now ended for the year, too, which seems a little strange when there is still a full working week before Christmas.

[AJB39]

This may be a strange post, but does anybody else feel like programmes are ending earlier for Christmas. I ask whilst watching the Christmas special of The Graham Norton Show. With over a week to go I feel that it is strange that the Christmas special won’t be going out the Friday before Christmas. I see the Jonathan Ross Christmas Show also airs tomorrow on ITV. Is this usual and am I misrembering?

It does seem that way, I agree. Whether or not that is actually the case is a different story. Newsnight has now ended for the year, too, which seems a little strange when there is still a full working week before Christmas.

Newsnight has taken two weeks off at Christmas for a number of years now, the week before and the week after.

[Andrew]

It’s obviously more noticeable this year with the way Christmas falls, I.e it’s the first time for a while there has been a full normal week with not even Christmas Eve falling on the Monday to Friday

[DTV]

Newsnight has taken two weeks off at Christmas for a number of years now, the week before and the week after.

I think it might always have taken time off for Christmas. When they've broken for Christmas has varied over the years - sometimes they've gone up to the 23rd, sometimes finishing on the previous Friday - but, as you say, two weeks off has been the standard for several years now.

[Kojak]

It’s obviously more noticeable this year with the way Christmas falls, I.e it’s the first time for a while there has been a full normal week with not even Christmas Eve falling on the Monday to Friday

That's my point - if Christmas Eve fell on, say, a Tuesday or Wednesday, then you might expect them to stop the previous Friday. With there being a full working week before Xmas Eve, it just seemed a little strange to stop so early. But then I suppose many of the schools will have broken up last Friday, too. 5 News has now finished for Christmas also (apart from summaries).