Seriously though,commercial television, as a business, isn't interested in giving people what they want. They're interested in getting what they want, and what they want is for people to buy advertising space. If giving you what you want is the best way to do that then it's win-win, but they're far to busy to ask everyone and nobody really knows what they want anyway so they just systematically go through all the demographics. Plus they know enough people will watch it in any case because they don't have anything better to do, even if they do complain about how rubbish it all is afterwards. Really it all comes down to the fact that the adverts for Budget Carpet Warehouse already have their place in the middle of Coronation Street.
The BBC is a different matter. It's their mandate to make programmes they think you ought to see, for your own good, which is why the real lowest-common-denominator stuff is still on ITV.
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Moon Girl Technologies horrendous beanbag, Sun 17 May 2009, 15:58,
archived)
