Warren J. Dew
Forum Master
Laura said:
I don't have first hand knowledge, but I certainly wouldn't be surprised. Blackpool is one of the few ballroom competitions that gets its money primarily from spectators; it makes sense for them to avoid inconveniencing those spectators for unknown and possibly negative benefits from television coverage.
I have to say I kind of agree with this viewpoint. I'm not a big fan of the network television model of choosing from a limited number of shows at any given time. I'd rather have a wider variety of options available so people can pick something closer to their own interests. Cable television has helped with this, and I think web video has the potential to take it much further.
For those who want to see some of the semifinals and finals, tapes of Blackpool are available each year.
I agree - those were really nice. They also did seem to make an effort to avoid being too disruptive. I have to admit, though, that having attended several of the events that they taped, there were still some inconveniences. Their boom camera arrangement at USDSC required closing a section of seats from which the view would have been obstructed, and still somewhat obstructed the view from some of the standing room. I felt this was worthwhile in order to make the event available to a wider audience, but it's possible some of the other paying customers did not feel the same way.
I also went to the Ohio Star Ball one year when the PBS show was still being filmed. There, the entire competition was largely built around the show. They did things like ask people to applaud at three different levels at the beginning of the session, so they would have clean applause tape with the appropriate volume to insert at whatever points they wanted. They made the entire audience avoid talking for several 15 or 20 minute breaks to avoid background noise while the commentary was being taped. I found things like this to be very intrusive and they were much of the reason why I haven't been back to that competition.
Things like the Blackpool tapes, which are targeted to people who are actually interested in ballroom competition without being jazzed up for general entertainment purposes, can be filmed with very little disruption to the competition.
8)
It is sad that they didn't play up all of this to their advantage and potentially increase their chances to have a huge opening weekend.