Michael Jackson (TV) Totally Explained

Everything about Michael Jackson Tv totally explained

ť For other people with the same name, see Michael Jackson (disambiguation)

Michael Richard Jackson (born February 11 1958) is a British television producer and executive. He is notable for being one of only three people to have been Controller of both BBC One and BBC Two, the main television channels of the British Broadcasting Corporation, and for being the first media studies graduate to reach a senior level in the British media.

Early life and career

Born in Macclesfield, Jackson was the son of Ernest Jackson, a baker, and his wife Margaret.
   Immediately after graduating, Jackson became the organiser of "The Channel Four Group", having written his final year dissertation at university on the prospect of a fourth national television channel in Britain. The Media Show went on to become an acclaimed series, described by Waldemar Januszczak in The Guardian newspaper in 1997 as "one of the defining television programmes of the 1980s... In Michael Jackson, its first producer, it gave us a media-genius."
   Despite his success in the independent sector however, in 1988 Jackson was persuaded by Alan Yentob, the then Controller of BBC Two, to join the staff of the BBC. Appleyard pointed out that: "the investment financial, intellectual and egotistical in the programme is enormous... Yentob is determined to put his own cultural stamp on BBC2 and Jackson has everything to prove."
   Jackson remained as editor of The Late Show for the next two years, until in 1991 he was promoted to become BBC television's Head of Music and Arts. At the age of thirty-three, he was the youngest Head of Department in the history of the BBC. Jackson's time at BBC Two was generally seen as a great success — he was described by The Guardian in 1996 as "one of the best controllers BBC2 has ever had." During his time in charge of the channel it increased its average audience share from 10% to 11%, Its £7 million budget was a record for BBC Two, and many accolades at the British Academy Television Awards (BAFTAs), Royal Television Society Awards and others. Other drama successes came with This Life (1996–97) and the American import The X-Files (1994–96; its ratings success on BBC Two saw it transferred to BBC One). and the comedies The Day Today (1994), Knowing Me, Knowing You with Alan Partridge (1994) and The Fast Show (1994–2000). However, he also took the decision to cancel The Late Show, the series he himself had initiated, in 1995. "I think it simply boils down to Michael not wanting to spend that much money that late," was how one "insider" described the decision to The Sunday Times newspaper.
   Jackson's next move came somewhat unexpectedly in the summer of 1996, when the Director-General of the BBC, John Birt, unveiled a series of major — and controversial — changes to the structure of the corporation. The administration of the BBC was to be split into two main divisions; BBC Broadcast, responsible for the commissioning of programmes and the running of the channels, and BBC Production, responsible for producing in-house programme content. Some of these changes were made very suddenly — Alan Yentob was informed that he was to be moved on from his post as Controller of BBC One, and allegedly given just forty-eight hours to decide whether he wanted to run BBC Broadcast as Director of Television or BBC Production as Director of Programmes. In his place, Jackson was promoted to a dual role as both Controller of BBC One and Director of Television, responsible overall for all BBC television broadcasting as well as the implementation of planned future services on the new digital television platforms. The Guardian suggested, in reference to Jackson's replacement of Yentob at BBC One, that "in the end Yentob was eclipsed by his protege." Channel 4's coverage of the sport went on to win a British Academy Television Award (BAFTA) for Best Sports Coverage in 2000.
   The channel's comedy output enjoyed particular success under Jackson's aegis, with the sitcoms Spaced (1999–2001) and Black Books (2000–04), sketch show Smack the Pony (1999–2003) and the more generally comic Da Ali G Show (2000) and So Graham Norton (1998–2002) all proving to be popular successes.
   In drama, Jackson was at times criticised for relying more on US imports than home-grown material, with Ally McBeal, The West Wing and Sex and the City all arriving at the broadcaster during his time there. Home-grown drama successes were rarer, as he himself admitted in a 2001 interview with The Guardian. He did, however, point to notable British drama successes with Queer as Folk (1999–2000) and Teachers (2001–04), describing the former as one of the "signature shows" of his time at the channel. Channel 4 had participated in feature film production ever since its launch in 1982, backing successful films such as Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994), but FilmFour Limited was an attempt to set up a full-blown rival to Hollywood studio productions. but on July 23 that year Jackson shocked many in the British television industry when he announced that he'd decided to leave the channel to work for Barry Diller's USA Entertainment company. and in this role he commissioned the successful drama series Monk (2002–present) and The Dead Zone (2002–07). In January 2006, he was made President of Programming of Barry Diller's IAC/InterActiveCorp internet business, responsible for producing multi-media content for the company's various websites.
   Since his move to the USA, Jackson has been linked at various times with a return to a senior media position in the United Kingdom. In September 2002, only one year after he'd left the country, the Independent on Sunday reported that Jackson had put himself forward as a candidate to run the ITV network, but nothing eventually came of this. Similarly, there was media speculation that he'd at least apply for the vacancy of Director-General of the BBC following Greg Dyke's resignation in early 2004, again with no result. In 2006, The Observer reported that ITV wanted Jackson to replace their outgoing Chief Executive Charles Allen, but this role eventually went to Michael Grade, Jackson's predecessor at Channel 4; as a result, Grade resigned from his post as Chairman of the Board of Governors of the BBC in a similarly surprising move to Jackson's departure from the corporation in 1997.

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