Task Three

New Faces (1973 – 1978): First talent show to have a judge’s panel as well as a studio audience panel. Judges included famous producers and songwriters, very much
like today’s X Factor. Winners were given “star quality”

Opportunity Knocks (1956 – 1978): Viewers could vote on who would return next week. It was a BBC show and had transformed from a radio show to a TV show.
A point to consider is what society expected a star to be, what was accepted on the TV, the current situation at the time of the show, which has drastically changed now.

Previously women were very much objectified, whereas women now self objectify themselves as it is a post feminist society. Women were expected to look ‘perfect’, however now with shows like How to look good naked, women have been able to accept themselves no matter what they look like. So on talent shows historically, women would have had to have the typical image of a perfect lady. With the revolution caused by bands like The Beatles, talent was pretty much based upon them, “stars” appealed mostly to women. Furthermore, talents such as Dance were not yet discovered on these shows whereas these days most talent shows consist of dance.

Most winners these days are younger around 18-30 years old and rather good looking with a sense of sex appeal around theme. However historically the winners would have some sort of “talent” and are mostly either rather young or fairly old.

http://mancunian1001.wordpress.com/2010/07/09/uk-television-talent-shows-through-the-ages-the-not-so-perfect-ten/