Idea for new parenting advice TV show based on Mumsnet Talk - your thoughts/input needed

I agree with both BoF and BIWI.
It just wouldn't translate to tv.
Half the time, when I sit snorting at stuff on here, even trying to retell the story to someone IRL it just whooshes.
All it would be would,as I said before, a woman on the sofa who breastfeeds, a woman on a sofa who does BLW, etc etc. No USP.

My fear is not that it wouldn't offer great and considered advice, but that it would lose everything that MN stands for (to me, at least) - witty, intelligent women who write eloquently and (mostly!) articulately about all kinds of things are much less likely to come across well on TV, as none (few?) of us is trained/experienced. So we'll look incredibly amateurish, which would be embarrassing.

For it to work, it has to capture the wit, the humour, the alacrity,the directness and the intelligence of MN and its posters.

Sorry if this sounds negative. In principle, it's a good idea and I can see why it's being pitched - but I worry about the execution of it, and that it makes MNetters seem risible. (Can never write that without thinking "welease Woger" [cgrin])

How are we going to represent the banter and wordplay of MN though, which is half the fun? Will we have a kind of Greek chorus in the background chanting haikus? And has anybody checked that Terry Wogan is available?

I like the idea. I worry that it would end up as advice being offered from distinct camps - like that Bringing Up Baby programme - which isn't helpful. You'd need to find a way of demonstrating that parenting can be mix-and-match which is what MN does so well. What about basing it on Family Fortunes ... "Our survey said ...!".

Will there be a special Royal episode?

I can't see it working. I can see the idea behind it, but in reality, it would just be another women-on-sofa thing in the mornings presumably. What would the USP be? Because the very MNers who should be fronting tv shows are, I imagine, already busy doing other stuff. The people who would jump at the idea of being on telly are the very people who really shouldn't be.

So it would be like the old mm programme but covering four families each time, all with different or the same/similar issues?

I can't really imagine how it would work. I mean, there have been parenting shows in the past with so called experts so what could MNetters bring other than some back biting?

Seriously, I just can't picture what the format would be.

I was thinking about something similar myself the other week. Like an Embarrassing Bodies style show for all the things you didn't know about, in my case, pregnancy. I could see it working for Breast Feeding, Weaning and other parenting ishoos that I haven't thought about yet.

I joined MN when I found out I was pregnant in August. I expected the usual things morning sickness, stretch marks etc. What I got was SPD/PGP, PUPPP and without MN I would have been left floundering, with very little information provided for me by my HCPs. MN has also made me more aware of my options as a labouring mother (I've still to test this part, 40+11) and given me the confidence to ask for what I would like to happen, rather than be told what I can and can'thave. If someone says no, I ask why.

I thinks it's a great idea.

I suspect to capture the spirit of MN it would be best to base it on actual threads - i.e. where you get a range of views.

Any way that an amalgamation of threads could be dramatised rather than a RL family?

I can't help thinking that any TV show would end up being a very pale imitation of the original - eg how to translate "FFS OP get a grip "

swearing would have to be allowed

Can't quite picture how it would work. Can't imagine how it would be as helpful, funny or engaging as the real MN.
Surely parents with problems can post on MN and get personalised advice, without needing to splash their problems on TV.
Oh, and if they prefer visual information over the written word, they can watch bitesize advice from parents and experts on www.parentchannel.tv/

You're up late Justine.

Will it be on on Friday nights?