Auntie's 'Lame Academy' receives a reality check

Better late than never, or so the saying goes, but the BBC seem to have waited just a little too long to jump on to the reality TV bandwagon.
The corporation's highly criticised stab at the genre, the much hyped 'Fame Academy', has been branded an unholy blend of 'Pop Idol' and 'Big Brother', with the contestants competing for a range of showbiz goodies such as a recording contract while living in a shared house and under constant scrutiny.
While on paper the format seems to contain all the elements of previous successes, viewer ratings for the show have been abysmal and are falling. A mere 4.5 million watched the show's debut and a million less tuned in for the update – it seems viewers are switching channels in droves.
The shaky beginning is a welcome boost for ITV executives, who have struggled to compete with the ratings hungry BBC for years, but the judgement of those who commissioned the programme is being questioned. BBC1 controller Lorraine Heggessey and Jane Lush, the newly appointed Head of Entertainment, are the most obvious targets, but the cross-platform nature of 'Fame Academy' means the blame can be spread around.
It is likely that Fame Academy will follow the pattern of other reality shows and steadily gain popularity, but the slow start suggests that the show will fail to reach the expected dizzy heights.
The BBC are putting a brave face on the problem, maintaining that 'Fame Academy' is not about individual shows and is "greater than the sum of its parts."
It has also emerged that Endemol, creators of both 'Fame Academy' and 'Big Brother', offered the format to Channel 4 who rejected it as "too unoriginal".
(GB)