Why 'Sports Personality of the Year 2014' is One of the Worst Live Shows I've Seen...

One of the BBC broadcast highlights of the annual calendar, 'Sports Personality of the Year' - and it had no personality at all.

bbc.co.uk

Sports personality is about the sportsmen and women, the PEOPLE who have achieved great things within their relevant sport. The live show was more about the glitz, the showbiz, than it was about the athletes. The vision mixing was poor, particularly throughout the sequence paying tribute to those we've lost. We could see great archive footage of these greats in action on the screen behind, but the audience at home instead got footage of the violinist. This show is about sport, about those who have made names for themselves through sport and showed us greatness in the process. I wanted to share their moments of greatness, not watch wide-shot pans of the auditorium and the violinist on stage.

freeview.co.uk

Then there were the badly scripted (I almost hope it was unscripted) words of a half-hearted Gary Lineker and Gabby Logan. It is the presenters job to lead those who come onstage and make them feel at ease with where they need to be... Not call after them telling them to stay on stage for the final shot... where was the preparation, the rehearsal... where was the presenters professionalism? Thank god for Clare Balding, who offered us some genuineness and energy. Ok, so Gary couldn't help being ill, but it all seemed like a push to fill an unnecessary lengthy piece of television, only to overrun. HOW DID YOU EVEN DO THAT - IT WAS TWO AND A HALF HOURS LONG.

The show needs to be shorter, it needs to cut the crap. It needs to show us the sportsmen and women who have earned our respect above whatever the hell is happening onstage. It is after all SPORTS personality of the year. When the contenders are left standing onstage feeling stupid, the wait on stage is too long. We should already be on the next award, on the next VT (all of which were brilliant by the way) or on the next link. I hope all of this can be blamed on a budget cut... but it would have to be a pretty big one to make it as an excuse in my eyes.

I'm happy for all of the winners tonight, particularly Lewis being an avid fan but in my opinion, the standard of live broadcasting was appalling and definitely needs a rethink. Maybe next year eh?!