From: Tavia tavia@btinternet.com
I also think film and television budgets overlap more than one might at first think; I've seen some excellent micro-budget films, as well as stuff like Morse, like the beeb P&P, that was big budget, popular, and on the whole relatively entertaining.
Another factor that occurs to me: in the pre-video days, a TV broadcast would normally only be transmitted once, with maybe a repeat or two, whereas films could be shown time and time again, possibly pulling people back for a second viewing. So it wasn't worth spending too much on television, because of the inherent transience of the medium.
Now there is a lucrative video market, so there's more cause to spend money on prestige productions because it will help them to sell. Also anything that might get watched over and over is obviously going to be subjected to greater scrutiny, so there's more imperative not to let too many cracks show.
B7 was pre-video, just about (I got the 4th Season on this thing called 'Betamax' which greying Lysters might remember), made to be seen once and then consigned to memory, if that. Less than half the series was ever repeated, at least on BBC. This might also explain why they didn't bother too much on continuity - they had no reason to think that anyone might notice.
Neil