GMRC Series 2 - Episode 3 - 'Best of British'

[GeoffAlan]

For me, it can have bells galore and whistles aplenty, but if it don't run, it's a diorama and not a model railway. It's absolutely basic that it runs. I've yet to see one in this series that does that one single thing reliably.

[chuffinghell]

36 minutes ago, LocoLadies CF said:

........we all liked the crochet trees even though Kathy didn’t like them.   

 

"You can please some of the people all of the time, you can please all of the people some of the time, but you can’t please all the people all of the time”

[Pacific231G]

29 minutes ago, GeoffAlan said:

For me, it can have bells galore and whistles aplenty, but if it don't run, it's a diorama and not a model railway. It's absolutely basic that it runs. I've yet to see one in this series that does that one single thing reliably.

It is well known that nothing technical ever works properly when you point a TV camera at it, even more so if the broadcast is live. 

Since I've been in the habit of referring to this series as The Model Railway Bake-Off I found this piece rather interesting

https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2019/oct/02/ive-never-seen-tent-rage-like-it-how-bake-off-lost-its-way

 

If trains simply run through a scene is it a diorama, a module or a layout?

[LNER4479]

3 hours ago, GeoffAlan said:

For me, it can have bells galore and whistles aplenty, but if it don't run, it's a diorama and not a model railway. It's absolutely basic that it runs. I've yet to see one in this series that does that one single thing reliably.

I overwhelmingly agree with you but of course the way the scoring works places equal emphasis on creativity, build quality and functionality. So a team has to balance all three to give a good all round performance. Spend TOO long getting it running perfectly and you might compromise build quality.

 

To take slight issue with your final comment, Trainmen of Kent did score a perfect 10 for their operation so that's one (so far) that has run reliably.

[RJS1977]

I think it's harsh to say no layout has done one thing reliably.

 

Many of the animations have worked, and several of the unreliability issues have been down to operator error rather than build issues.

 

The other fallacy of the argument is that the implication is that layouts which have taken much longer to build work impeccably. I've attended enough shows as a punter, an operator, and an exhibitor to know that isn't the case....

[steve1]

Surely getting a layout running properly is a ‘build quality’ issu?

 

steve

[MarkSG]

The viewing figures for this episode are now available. Total as-broadcast viewing on TV was 977,200, which is up on the previous week although still a bit down on episode 1. But this time, it was the 7th most popular programe on C5 that week - just below an episode of Neighbours but above Traffic Cops.

 

I think C5 will be reasonably content with that. It will be interesting, though, to see what hapens with episodes 4 and 5 which were on consecutive days in the same week.

[whart57]

It will be because C5 have taken the gamble of putting episode 5 up against Strictly.

[john new]

29 minutes ago, MarkSG said:

The viewing figures for this episode are now available. Total as-broadcast viewing on TV was 977,200, which is up on the previous week although still a bit down on episode 1. But this time, it was the 7th most popular programe on C5 that week - just below an episode of Neighbours but above Traffic Cops.

 

I think C5 will be reasonably content with that. It will be interesting, though, to see what hapens with episodes 4 and 5 which were on consecutive days in the same week.

Especially with the Saturday shows as they are up against very popular shows such as Strictly C D.

[MarkSG]

I think they're working on the assumption that people who watch Strictly aren't interested in model railways, and vice versa. So they may not necessarily be in direct competition.

 

One of the things that's changed a lot in TV viewing habits - and hence in the way that broadcasters design their schedules - is that pretty much every house these days that contains more than one resident also has more than one TV. So just because one person in the house wants to watch the week's blockbuster show (eg, Bake Off or Strictly), that doesn't mean the others can't watch something else.

 

This has a possibly counter-intuitive effect on viewing figures. In the past, a very popular programme on one channel sucked audience away from all the other programmes on at the same time. But these days, a very popular programme that has a distinctive viewer demographic can actually boost other programmes on at the same time. That's because, with one member of a household watching the big show, the other tends to go and find something else to do - like watching a programme of their own choice - if they don't also want to watch the big one.

 

Essentially, it works like this. Mr and Mrs Typical-Viewer are having a night in on Saturday, because Mrs TV wants to watch Strictly. Mr TV doesn't particularly want to watch Strictly, but he's got nothing else to do. So, while SWMBO is watching Strictly in the living room, he goes off to his man cave and channel hops until he finds something else. And that something may well end up being GMRC.

 

Sexist stereotyping? Yes, of course. But the reality is that stereotypes exist precisely because they do reflect the way things typically are. And one of the things that broadcasters are well aware of is that scheduling a programme which appeals primarily to a female demographic at the same time as one that appeals primarily to a male demographic will often increase the audience for both of them. Because couples will split their viewing.

[PhilJ W]

I picked up the TV program to check the times of the GMRC and the preceding program looks interesting, 'Secrets of Underground Britain'.

[MarkSG]

13 minutes ago, PhilJ W said:

I picked up the TV program to check the times of the GMRC and the preceding program looks interesting, 'Secrets of Underground Britain'.

 

That's another potential gain from moving it to Saturday - it immediately follows another programme that is likely to appeal to a very similar demographic. So it will start with a good inherited audience. On Fridays, on the other hand, it followed The Gadget Show, which does have some overlap but probably not as much.

[Huw Griffiths]

37 minutes ago, MarkSG said:

On Fridays, on the other hand, it followed The Gadget Show, which does have some overlap but probably not as much.

 

I guess this depends on whether any of the layouts feature the latest, "all singing, all dancing" automated, computerized, wireless operated, DCC gadgets.

 

Either that, or one of the programmes features some very tall, left handed guy, using a drone to shoot overhead footage of the layouts.

 

Of course, it's always possible that neither of these will have happened - but some of the "animations" could make rather good gadgets in their own right.

 

 

Huw.