Light entertainment encompasses a broad range of television and radio programming that includes

comedies Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term origin ...

variety show Variety show, also known as variety arts or variety entertainment, is entertainment made up of a variety of acts including musical performances, sketch comedy, magic, acrobatics, juggling, and ventriloquism. It is normally introduced by a co ...

game show A game show is a genre of broadcast viewing entertainment (radio, television, internet, stage or other) where contestants compete for a reward. These programs can either be participatory or demonstrative and are typically directed by a host, ...

s, quiz shows and the like.

In Great Britain

In the early days of the BBC virtually all broadcast entertainment would be considered light by today's standards, as great pains were taken not to offend audiences—which is not to say that they always succeeded in this. Singers, magicians and comedians were drafted from the music hall circuit to fill the schedules. Stage acts were transferred directly to screen and in the case of productions such as ''Sunday Night at the London Palladium'' the broadcasts actually came from large theatres. Many future household names, including

The Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatles, most influential band of al ...

, were given their first public airings during these programmes, which attempted to cater for varying tastes through staging variety acts. Bruce Forsyth was one of several hosts for the show and went on himself to present the studio-based ''

Generation Game ''The Generation Game'' is a British game show produced by the BBC in which four teams of two people from the same family, but different generations, compete to win prizes. The game There are eight competitors, hence the catchphrase "Let's me ...

'' which remains a landmark in the light entertainment genre. ''The Generation Game'' revolved around the now-common television standby of getting members of the public to provide the entertainment themselves by doing silly things for prizes. The show's format was somewhere between the old variety programmes and the increasingly ubiquitous quiz shows and it and its descendants still appear in the television schedules.

1970s

The 1970s continued the move away from the music hall format to studio-based shows. Staged concert acts lived on through television magicians such as Paul Daniels and Royal Variety Performances. '' The Comedians'' was another programme which looked back at the live entertainment of the music halls and was also a prototype of many later stand-up comedy series. It employed a number of comics from the

working men's club Working men's clubs are British private social clubs first created in the 19th century in industrial areas, particularly the North of England, Midlands, Scotland and South Wales Valleys, to provide recreation and education for working class ...

circuit to do their routines on camera.

1980s

In the 1980s the budgets available for light entertainment increased, and shows had dazzling sets and expensive prizes. With the simultaneous ascendancy of alternative comedy, however, the popularity of light entertainment shows started to decline among audiences. An example of this phenomenon is found in the name of a lesser-known panel show ''

Bring Me the Head of Light Entertainment ''Bring Me the Head of Light Entertainment'' is a comedy panel game show that aired on Channel 5 from 3 April 1997 to 1 November 2000. External links *.''Bring Me the Head of Light Entertainment''at BFI. *. 1990s British comedy television ...

'' (which is also a pun on a broadcasting job description). Part of the complaint was that light entertainment sought to amuse, yet younger audiences found the attempts at humour weak and watery.

1990s

Popular light entertainment in the 1990s included '' Barrymore'', ''

Des O'Connor Tonight ''Des O'Connor Tonight'' is a British light entertainment variety show hosted by Des O'Connor. It was originally broadcast on BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It ...

'', '' Noel's House Party'', '' Surprise Surprise'', '' Stars in Their Eyes'' and '' The Paul Daniels Magic Show'' as well as radio shows such as ''

Wake Up to Wogan ''Wake Up to Wogan'' (''WUTW'') was the incarnation of '' The Radio 2 Breakfast Show'' that aired each weekday morning from 4 January 1993 to 18 December 2009. It was the most-listened-to radio show in the United Kingdom, and the flagship breakf ...

''. Shows typically averaged over ten million viewers and over fifteen was not unusual.

21st century

In spite of critical reaction, light entertainment continues to be popular, perhaps because it provokes no awkward questions when the viewing is shared by different generations of the same family. Current light entertainment stars include the Geordie double act Ant & Dec. They have in the past included the late Bruce Forsyth and the late Cilla Black. '' Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway'' achieved a viewing figures ratings high of 8.5 million viewers in 2020.

Canada

During the 1970s, CBC Television introduced ''Sunday at Nine'', a time slot where '"dramas Corwin''.html" ;"title="Corwin_(TV_series).html" ;"title="uch as ''Corwin (TV series)">Corwin''">Corwin_(TV_series).html" ;"title="uch as ''Corwin (TV series)">Corwin''alternate with light entertainment [such as ''The Hart and Lorne Terrific Hour''] and special documentaries."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Light Entertainment Television in the United Kingdom Television in Canada Popular culture