The contestant stereotypes are normally people who will anything for fifteen minutes of fame, do as they are told to do and have a lot of fun and be mischievous at the same time, "the show is looking for the unusual unpredictable mix of funny characters who can come out with some put downs and chat-up lines."
When the show starts some music that is easily recognisable starts and there is voice over that tells you what is coming up on today's show. Some animated cartoons come up as well which then are added to some scenes selected from today's show, which would have been filmed earlier. When the graphics disappear the show starts and the cameras is pointed at the stage. The voice over then welcomes Cilla Black as she comes down the steps. Cilla Black then introduces the show and then introduces the first contestants. When the contestants have been introduced the picker is introduced. The picker now reads out three questions in turn which the contest all have to answer. When the pickees have answered the questions, then the picker chooses whom he will go on the blind date with, with the help from the voice over. The screen that divides the picker from the pickees then comes back and the picker then gets to see who he is gong on the date with. One of the contestants chooses an envelope of which Cilla Black is holding and then they go when they have opened the envelope to decide where they are going. Just before the advertisements Cilla Black, with the help of visual aids, shows the audience what else is coming up on the show. Usually the adverts now come on and last for about five minutes. The adverts normally consist of things that would interest a mother or a single person in their mid-twenties. I watched a 'Blind Date' and the intervals and recorded the advertisements that were on:
- Nike
- 'The Scorpion King' (film)
- DFS
- Demestos Ox
- Amstrad
- Garnea
- Smirnoff
- The Mail
- Yorkie
- Nivea
- Blockbuster
- Thorpe Park
- Capital FM
- Honda
- Carlsberg
- 'A Beautiful Mind' (film)
Advertisements are extremely important, especially for ITV. This is because ITV gets its funding from the companies wanting to advertise on ITV. Without the funding from the advertisements then ITV wouldn't be around. ITV still has to make entertaining programmes but still get profit so most of the programmes it airs are low budget so they can make a profit.
'Blind Date' is aired, though not live, at 7:10 p.m. on a Saturday on the family channel, ITV1. 7:00 p.m. on a Saturday is a prime viewing time. This is because families, single parents, adults around their mid-twenties and children have just come back from work, mothers have finished tiding the house and students have just finished their work and therefore just want to sit down and watch some light entertainment. This is why ITV1 airs a night of cheap, fun and entertaining programmes on a Saturday. As you can see from the schedule below, ITV1 airs similar types of programme, this is so that the target audience at the start of the evening stays with the channel throughout the evening with other people joining in.
Another technique used to make viewers stay loyal to the channel is to make other programmes intrude on another programme. By doing this, especially when remote controls hadn't been invented, people wouldn't be bothered enough to go and change the channel. They would then just watch the intruding programme and wait for the rest of the programme they were trying to watch, just because they wouldn't be bothered enough to go up to the television and either turn it off or change the channel. Looking at the schedule above 'Pop Idol' is a perfect example of this, though, I think that ITV is pushing their luck trying to get three programmes intruding on 'Pop Idol'
The placing of a programme (when a programme is aired) is very important is very important and if it isn't aired at the right time the programme could seriously fail by not getting the viewers it could potentially get. For instance not long ago a programme called 'The Premiership' failed because ITV aired it at totally the wrong time. The programme used to take the place of 'Blind Date' but when you have just finished some work or cleaning the house then you don't really want to watch something like 'The Premiership', you want to watch some light entertainment. The programme failed and was moved to a later time on a different date when it's the time the man of the house is home and he wants to see the football results by watching 'The Premiership'. 7:10 p.m. on a Saturday night is a great time for 'Blind Date' because it is exactly the type of programme that you want to watch once you have done all of your chores and your tired, because it’s funny, a bit of light entertainment and something you can sit back and watch without thinking too much.
The opening credits and music of a programme is one very important technique to attract viewers. The music needs to be something you can relate to so that people hear the music and then think, "Hey I know that music, yer that’s Blind Date." Then they would run in and watch it rather than coming back to the television an just change the channel or turn off the television straight away because they think that nothing decent is on. The opening credits of a a programme is a very important technique. When you have first time viewers that want to watch your programme you need to show them what your show is about, so as to give them good first impressions. 'Blind Date' does this with some fun funky music.
