This week my Five for Friday list is all about my favorite subject, British television. Or more precisely, telly about telly. From network level bureaucrats to writers and TV news to chat shows, television is a medium that is fully prepared to poke fun at itself. Let’s begin at the highest level first, the people who develop the shows we watch…
In the mockumentary W1A produced by and about the BBC, we find an institution full of jargon, ineffectual management and in a constant state of crisis management. If the creative minds at the Beeb are anything like these characters, it’s amazing quality programming ever gets produced at all.
In a time when the BBC’s future is in question, was making such a scathingly funny show about itself merely an exaggerated confession of its ineptitude or a comic stroke of genius?
Next we move on to the storytellers, the people who create the concept and write the scripts.
The thing I hate most about successful British TV shows is that they entice greedy American television executives to buy the rights and rework them until every bit of charm or edge that made the original so wonderful has been wrung completely out of it. Take Episodes for example. British husband and wife writing team unknowingly agree to ruin their witty private school sitcom about a intellectual headmaster by transforming it into a mediocre comedy about a hockey coach played by has-been Friends’ star Matt LeBlanc.
As you’re probably already aware, Episodes is actually an American show. This gives me hope that some people in Hollywood see how ridiculous it is to cannibalize good British telly rather than producing something original instead.
Drop the Dead Donkey is a 1990’s era sitcom about a TV newsroom. Its editor, George Dent, walks a tightrope between good news practice and pleasing the new owner of the station, a media mogul figure meant to be something like Rupert Murdock. George must also deal with squabbling news anchors, rogue reporters in the field and the conscience always peering over his shoulder, his assistant editor Alex Pates.
This show was actually set on the eve of the 24 hour news cycle. Now spin and opinion count for more than facts but at least our friends at GlobeLink News tried to be professional.
The Kumars at No. 42 is a weird combination of family sitcom and amateurish chat show. Sanjeev Kumar’s parents have indulged his dream to be a television presenter by building a TV studio in their back garden. Somehow, for reasons that are never explained, real celebrities show up at their house to be interviewed by the whole Kumar clan. Sanjeev tries to keep everything professional, but his family members always have something else in mind for the guests.
Apparently the interviews were never rehearsed though most interactions between the family were scripted. The only talk show more disorganized and chaotic than the Kumars is just about every episode of The View.
And finally I come to the phenomenon called Gogglebox. The premise is simple – watching other people watch TV. We get to overhear the comments and conversations between family members, couples and friends as they watch a pre-determined schedule of TV programming. There’s ususally some sort of marquee show like Downton, a movie, a reality competition and some heartrending documentary about 9/11 or Korean dog nappers who steal people’s pets and kill them for dog food. I kid you not!
This concept is simple, but addictive to watch. After all the TV is still the one of the few spots in the house where families gather so it’s the perfect situation to observe social interaction. While it’s mostly fluff, some important issues can come up in the course of an evening’s viewing and the telly can facilitate those conversations.
Alas the day has already come when TV watching doesn’t require an actual television, but here’s hoping TV shows (and shows about TV shows) will continue to be produced in some form or another. I’d hate to have to start calling myself a DVR or streaming addict. It sounds sordid somehow while “telly addict” has a friendly ring, wouldn’t you agree?
I loved “Drop the Dead Donkey.” It had an absolutely brilliant cast. As for “Gogglebox,” it seems like a real life version of “The Royle Family.”
I never thought of it that way, but The Royle Family could have definitely been an inspiration for Gogglebox!
Oh no. I think you have me hooked on Gogglebox!!
Just doing my job 😉