One, two, three, four, five, six … as you can read, on Saturday evening the BBC showed Jerry Springer, The Opera in full, colourful colour.

It was good. Possibly superb, but I am slow to use that epithet for media events.

One statement that I can definitively make is that it will never get aired on US Network Television. For one thing: if the networks insisted on bleeping it, you’ld never hear the music.

Seven, eight, nine … as you can also see, the reactionary media are hoping for a bloodbath to fill the papers. I don’t think they’ll get it. There is a considerable amount of frothing going on, and disingenuous paragraph or two:

[www.sky.com]

It received 45,000 complaints, the largest ever made to the BBC.

…which elsewhere is reported:

At least 45,000 people had contacted the BBC to complain about swearing and religious themes in the opera…

[ie: before broadcast, whipped-up by single-issue pressure-groups… but then afterwards:]

The BBC said on Sunday that it had received 317 calls since the broadcast, more than half of which had been supportive. [ie: where’s the storm of real viewer protest?]

Figures showed 28% appreciated the show, 16% were happy it was broadcast, 33% thought it was offensive and 23% though it should not have been broadcast.

The spokesperson said this was a higher than average number of calls in defence of a programme.

…however, just like in the USA, positive news does not boost circulation; note also the statisticulation which is the source of the media hyperbole:

The show was reported to contain a total of 8,000 obscenities – a total reached by adding every swear word sung by each member of the 27-strong chorus.

So, that’s a 27x multiplier for each time the chorusline contains a rude word. Gosh, I wish I could get my tax rebates sent to me in triplicate so I could claim them three times over.

Not to mention the differences in how the same viewing figures get reported:

http://www.thesun.co.uk/

ONLY 1.8million viewers watched the explicit Jerry Springer: The Opera on Saturday night after a record 50,000 complaints to BBC2.

Despite all the pre-publicity, it pulled in just 10.8 per cent of viewers. Meanwhile 2.8million watched Match of the Day on BBC1.

Opera versus football. There’s a fair comparison. Hmm. What’s the BBC’s spin?

[news.bbc.co.uk]

Most opera broadcasts attract an audience of about 1 million viewers, a corporation spokesperson said.

In comparison Billy Connolly on BBC One attracted 4.3 million while Ultimate Force on ITV1 drew 5.2 million.

…which sounds an awful lot better; I also found this comment rather interesting:

[news.bbc.co.uk]

Stephen Green, national director of Christian Voice, said: “I find it astonishing that Mark Thompson and David Soul [the show’s star] claim they are Christians and they can see nothing wrong with Jerry Springer – The Opera.

“What kind of Christians are the sort of people who find mocking God and Jesus Christ acceptable?

“If this show portrayed Mohammed or Vishnu as homosexual, ridiculous and ineffectual, it would never have seen the light of day.”

In the light of some other recent events in the UK, I think the show managed to go ahead speaks rather well of the Church of England.

Or possibly that they’re too nice to be as forceful as other religions about imposing censorship?

Or perhaps that for that one reason or another complaints from the CoE are taken less gravely than from other religions?

In any case, the BBC are heroes.