Back in 2008, I suggested trimming Newsnight on a Friday night to 30 minutes "trim Newsnight on a Friday and free up the Newsnight Review slot. If so, it could be part of a more substantial overhaul of BBC2's arts, culture and media coverage." That's what I said, and that's what has come to pass.
The Review Show is substantially more than Newsnight Review; its still hosted by Kirsty Wark, but now runs for an hour, comes from Glasgow, and has more guests, who all talk earnestly at the same time. It had an audience of 380,000 viewers when it started last week so I'm not claiming any credit for the idea.
What else did I suggest BBC2 might do under its new controller?
There were a couple of anti-ratings suggestions. Send Top Gear to BBC1 - hasn't happened. Wonder if that's because being on BBC2 contributes to its edge? And clear out the cookery shows - er, that definitely hasn't happened.
I had a couple of genre suggestions. Respond to Channel 4's documentary challenge. Mmmm. Not sure about that,not sure about Channel 4's documentary challenge any more, either. Identify new drama - well, there's a long lead time on drama, isn't there.
And then there was 'Revitalise arts coverage - put the Culture Show out to tender.' Hasn't happened, but the Culture Show has been shifted around in the schedules. When it returned last week it had 640,000 viewers, last night it was down to 550,000 viewers. What harm would it have done to try tendering it?
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