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

[JustineMumsnet]

You may have clocked a wee announcement last week that Channel 4 are interested in making a TV show featuring real mums sharing their best support and advice to others in need of it, a sort of TV version of Mumsnet Talk. We have been approached by the production company - Studio Lambert - to work together to come up with a pilot for the show.

If it's commissioned it's likely to be 6-8 programmes of 1 hour length (48 mins without the ads). The (very rough) idea is to have 4 or so featured families per show, each with a specific parenting problem and a range of mums who've been there and done that or just have some insight, giving their help, support and advice in an attempt to help them through the problem, a la Mumsnet.

We're at a very early stage but we wanted to ask for any thoughts about format, participation, whether/how you'd like to be approached - a panel, a sticky thread? - what you think the pitfalls are, what the opportunities are, what subject matter you'd like to see covered and indeed anything else that springs to mind on the subject.

Many thanks in advance for your input.

Will it be on on Friday nights?

You're up late Justine.

I know Chaos I'm going to bed now. Got Prezza on tomorrow. Night all!

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/

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

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 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.

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 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.

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?

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?

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])

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.

Agree with above, worry that it would be dry and a bit Myleene

I think it could work if you avoid all the cliched 'woman on the sofa' type formats, and have it as more of a 'Rough guide to .....'. Keep it irreverant, with witty stories mixed in with good advice, tips etc.

Some topics could include..

A balanced BF/FF debate (don't know if you'd be allowed to do this with current ridiculous rules)
What equipment you need for a baby
Weaning
Eco-friendly parenting
Playing with your child
Babies and children with special needs
Dealing with bad behaviour

It could include short sections with more heated debates (lighthearted) about ear piercing, parent & child parking, fruit shoots, Boden etc.

Can't see an appropriate place to slot in the bumsex, dragonbutter etc though

How about doing it chronologically?
Starting with conceiving and then going on to
Pregnancy
Birth
Babies
Toddlers
Teens
Being a grandparent
and picking out one key issue for each stage with a debate and other viewpointa so that parents don't feel lectured or made to feel like failures.

This is how I got into MN in the first place! Didn't you and Carrie do a show together a number of years ago? Is it going to be an extension of that ?

I saw this in Broadcast magazine - are you planning to present it Justine?

Will watch this with interest

Parenting advice is barely a fraction of what MN is about.

Loose Women immediately springs to mind, but with a larger group of women, a larger range of personalities, and a mix of ordinary people and knowledgeable people. No slebs for the sake of slebs - only slebs who have relevant experience or expertise. No guiding expert.

The panel should be free-flowing, with members wandering on and off as they fancy, and the numbers varying. Perhaps set it in several different locations: a coffee shop, a playground, a private house, an office, a shopping centre, etc, and panel members with LOs can bring them along. Certainly let panel members multitask while discussing things. Breastfeeding, bottle-feeding, nappy-changing, interacting with toddlers, they should all be visible during the show, as part of the panel members' day-to-day lives.

It should also be a show aimed at adults, so that language and subject matter don't have to be excessively sanitised.

The show should not restrict itself to parenting, but should be wide-ranging, just like the real MN. Issues should vary in seriousness, and there should be some pride, joy, and laughter as well.

Otherwise it just becomes another variation on Supernanny.

I see it more as a kind of One Show, rather than Loose Women - a real magazine of all kinds of issues, and not restricted to conceiving/pregnancy/giving birth/babies - with visits from slebs/politicians, just like we do here. (But word of advice - don't book Kate [cwink])

Stories/articles would range from the trivial to the truly serious.

I thought Loose Women too, Candles. But with fewer twats are far more swearing.

Otherwise, I think Lis might be on to something with the Embarrassing Bodies format. Or a format similar to the Sex Education Show maybe? I think it needs to incorporate a roadshow element.

I love the idea of discussing stuff outside of parenting too - that is what I think a lot of people love about mumsnet - that you can flick between cloth nappies, bumsex, feminism, breastfeeding, legal, education and so on - just because we are mums doesn't mean we only think about kids.

Please, please, please make it intelligent. There is already too much simplified talking down to women on the tv as it is. MN is our haven of brain food and debate.

I like the idea of kids being visable though - kind of like meeting up with your friends for a brew with the kids and talking about real things. Of course we talk about kids, for most mums the kids are one of thier main concerns, but we also talk about politics, books and so on.

Like loose women, only less whoopy and a bit cleverer. With more lentil weaving and Boden...

please don't make it like loose women

Shit no not like Loose women! Irreverent in style, a la Caitlin Moran & Grace Dent please.

Russell Brand and Gyles Brandreth to present PUR-LEEEASE

I want them to commentate on the royal wedding too