AIBU to think that NYE television coverage has hit a new low this year?

[Defenbaker]

I guess it's hard to get A listers/top acts to perform live on TV for a NYE show, as they've probably got better things to do, would charge huge amounts and don't need the money anyway, but I can't help thinking that last night's TV offerings were particularly dire. We tuned into The Last Leg, which had a NYE special on (though I suspect it wasn't actually live). There were some funny moments, but the live band were doubling up as a weird comedy act and got things badly wrong, IMO. They performed a "funny" song they'd written about Spanish Flu, citing that it had killed millions of people. I know it was 100 years ago so nobody alive would be mourning those deaths now, but I couldn't see anything humourous in the subject matter at all. It was just odd, as were all the other silly things they did. At least the main presenters and Johnny Vegas was amusing at times.
We turned over to watch the Graham Norton Show. That was OK, until Catherine Tate appeared, doing her 'nan' character, and told a vile unfunny story which involved an old lady who'd shat herself in the theatre. The character is revolting and unlikeable, and the story was cringeworthy and not funny. Anyone who cares for elderly incontinent people will surely agree that there's nothing funny about it and many old people are mortified by the indignity of it. Mocking the afflicted is just horrible.
We enjoyed watching the fireworks in London, but felt the background music was very poor. The music seemed to be geared towards the under 25 age group, it just sounded like noise pollution to me.

AIBU to think that considering that most of these TV offerings are pre-recorded anyway, the people organising this entertainment could have done better than scraping the barrel in this way?

We watched birdbox instead, loved it.

I reckon it was a "brexit free zone" because it wasnt luve and nobody would have known the state of play at the time! There was nothing current on there - it was disappointing i agree.

See, i like nanna because she is basically modelled on my mother so i see the irony in her cuntishness.

Can't abide Graham Norton. Used to love him but not anymore.

I enjoyed Madness though but that was more from a nostalgic viewpoint.

Fireworks werr fireworks - meh.

DD was allowed to stay up. She said "oh. Its new year, i don't feel any different " - yep

I also disliked Madness. It was like watching a pub band. Suggs didn’t just ‘sing’ he shouted down the microphone at every chance

I just turned it on for the fireworks and then went to bed!

Don’t worry doctor who’s on tonight

Lol at the poster who thinks she would have to explain what fingering is to a 13yo

It's no surprise that adult TV shows have adult content though. That's why we switched on about 11.45pm, just to see the lead up and countdown.

No way would I have put Graham Norton on with a 10to in the room! That just parental control.

Television has been terrible over the whole holiday period imo, massive amount of the same old stuff just being churned out again and again.

We've said the same. We've been watching a lot of old movies - really old, like The Alamo! I think we might have to get Netflix, there's so little on tv that we really want to watch these days. Although the upside to that is that we're getting more knowledgeable, as we end up watching a lot of BBC4 documentaries.

We also got hacked off with the 2 main BBC channels having kids' films on during the day all last week, when they've got 2 dedicated children's channels.

Yes it was dire, jackie bird, jools or lulu ffs.
We like bbc alba but my stupid telly isn't getting it just now.
Didn't matter in the end, ds1 drowned it all out with his bagpipes whilst we enjoyed the Edinburgh fireworks

I was in bed reading Wolf Hall with some Baileys.

I liked Madness and I’m 19 so it wasn’t nostalgia

I loved Madness - and danced around the house to it at full volume until it finished at 1pm.

We flicked round the channels for ages before settling on old episodes of Sherlock on Alibi. I'm guessing the TV directors assumed everyone was going out.

I thought the TV was quite good this year. The Fireworks were better than usual (admittedly the accompanying music was horrible), Madness was absolutely great, the Graham Norton show had some really good guests on this year, I found it very funny and enjoyable. Didn't see last leg.
Op, you sound really miserable. There is a difference between not liking something and it actually being shite.

I'm pleasantly surprised to see some people don't enjoy Adam Hills, as usually people rave about him on here! The Last Leg is insufferably smug and shouty.

I too miss Clive James, or even Angus Deyton! The BBC needs to put its hand in its pocket and pay enough to lure Charlie Brooker away from Black Mirror. Actually can you imagine Adam Buxton doing a Bug special round up of the year? That would be amazing!

We watched Dynasties on iplayer, then watched the fireworks with the perennially terrible and bemusing choice of music.

Suggest people wanting an okish review style show downloads Rob Rinder's Good Year Bad Year and Big Fat Quiz of the Year is quite funny too.

A new episode of Rude Tube would have been good actually, I like Alex Zane. I don't really like Judge Rinder and he doesn't have a very good sense of humour judging by his appearance on room 101.

BishBoshBashBop: "
Groups that were played such as the Beatles are geared towards under 25s now are they."

@BBBB: We turned the firework music down low after a few mins as we didn't like it. We heard a snippet of one Beatles song right at the end - maybe there were others? Anyway, I'm not suggesting that all the music should be decades old, just that the choice seemed poor, in general. A mix of old and new music would be fine.

"Sounds to me like you wouldn't be happy with whatever they did." Not true. I enjoyed the fireworks, the London Eye is a great setting for that, but think they could have chosen better music. Many others on here seem to agree with me, so maybe I'm not in the minority on this one.

@Snugglepiggy - Thanks for that suggestion, that series sounds like my kind of humour, I will give that a try. 😊

Some people have asked what I would like to see. Well, a live end of year review, hosted by someone like Jack Dee, with a few other sharp witted guests would be great.

People who've mentioned the huge number of TV channels... that's true, but I agree with the PP who said that despite the number of channels, there didn't seem to be much worth watching. Anyway, I prefer to stick to the BBC channels if they have something decent on, to avoid the adverts, unless there's something really good on one of the other channels to tempt me away.

To the PP who said I seem really miserable - I'm not generally so negative about things, but I was very disappointed with last night's TV offerings, so was in a moany mood. There were some things on TV that I enjoyed over the festive period, but that wasn't the subject of my AIBU.

Thanks for the many replies, it's good to know that it wasn't just me who felt a bit disappointed by last night's TV. I think next year I will take a leaf out of other's books and maybe find an old classic film to watch, then just tune in at midnight to watch the fireworks. Happy New Year to everyone. ☺