The BBC has come under pretty intense fire for their handling of the Thames Diamond Jubilee Pagaent. Having watched a bit of the coverage, there is no denying it was very bad. Rain-soaked camera lenses, blown shots, and meaningless drivel from the hosts. It was not the BBC's proudest moment, and they have admitted as much.
This still frame taken from BBC footage captures the drama of the event.
What isn't discussed in the torrent of abusive coverage is what a boring event it is. Four hours of watching 1,000 uninteresting motorboats and river barges float slowly past is bad television, rain or shine. In the U.S. networks would have used a lot of canned material to cover the yawning (pun very much intended) gaps in activity. The BBC had a few such roll-ins, including a not so terrible piece on the decommissioned HMY Brittannia, but not nearly enough.
They treid to fill the gap with banter from the hosts and skits along the banks which backfired. For all the criticism of the hosts, what are they supposed to talk about? How do you discuss 1,000 rain-soaked pleasure craft and their Pimms-soaked passengers? The Queen standing still as a statue, grim smile frozen on her face, waving for nearly three hours? It just isn't a made-for-broadcast event.
One thing that did surprise me was the relative lack of military involvement. At the Trooping of the Colour and the Changing of the Guard, the military provides most of the color and shine. Yet for the Diamond Jubilee the country that was built on the power of her navy left them that navy out of the only celebration on water. Truly odd.