Last night I saw a TV programme which reminded me of how TV used to be. It was Patrick Moore's monthly contribution to that genre which is otherwise as common as hens' teeth, the intelligent TV science programme. Yes, you guessed it, I caught The Sky At Night.
And what a joy it was! No menu at the start of the programme with a clever little piece of Goldfrapp for accompaniment. No cut-away shots during interviews using a gimmicky steadycam. Goodness me, we had interviews where the same camera shot was held for a full thirty seconds!
It was bliss. Not a house was valued, not a living room was "restaged", and nobody berated Patrick Moore about his choice of suit.
The sheer refreshingness of it reminded me of how unwatchable the rest of TV seems to have become. What with wife-swapping documentaries interspersed with Sophie Raworth reading the news written by J.K. Rowling (it's just so accessible!), I think I'll stick to Radio 4.
Posted by Eurodan at June 2, 2003 10:42 PMHow refreshing to see Eurodan comment so accurately about the state of television in the U.K. these days. I put the whole thing down to the loss of in-vision continuity announcers and discontinuing the clock on BBC 1 tv.
Such elements are still the mainstay of television grammar on the mainland. Yet again the U.K. is out of step with current progressive thinking.
Sad though that Moitse Knez of Radiotelevizija Slovenija lost her announcing job recently ...
Posted by: John Escolme at June 2, 2003 11:41 PMAnd yet the average Briton or American spends 3.5-4 hours watching TV everyday. Another 8 is spent sleeping, another 8 at work, a few hours in traffic and we end up in a situation where MOST of our life IS watching TV.
Soon, with the availability of interactive TV, we won't even need to go shopping. We will sit there pressing buttons, while someone monitors our responses to stimuli. Reminescent of rats pressing buttons for food...
Whoever knows the data behind out button pushing will know what makes us tick (or at least click) and will be able to use this knowledge to sell us services, products, ideas, politicians... An Orwelian democracy... 2084?
Personally I quit TV! I haven't been watching it for the past four months.
I might have missed some 'nice shows', but that is a small price to pay... In return I skipped a war :)
All the best Daniel... nice blog.
Posted by: karzyn at June 3, 2003 1:52 AMI agree entirely about the loss of in-vision continuity. Philip Marshall (and his comfy armchair) was one of my childhood heroes.
If Ms Knez's demise leads to a higher profile for the boy who announces their Eurovision votes, that can only be a good thing, surely?
Posted by: Erato at June 3, 2003 11:09 AMPS When I try to click on John's name to send him an e-mail, why does it send me to a page called "currently on reduced power"??
Posted by: Erato at June 3, 2003 11:11 AMOoh yes - bring back in-vision continuity!
I'll have a hunt round on the web some day soon (after the exams are over) and see if I can find any nice examples. You know the sort of thing. A nice lady presenter sitting beside some flowers, as if to say 'do you like the arrangement I've done for all the televiewers? It took me ages!'.
As for John being on reduced power, I can only hope that normal service will be resumed as soon as possible.
Posted by: Eurodan at June 3, 2003 12:58 PMwww.continuity-booth.co.uk looks like a treasure trove - amongst other clips they have the TVS start-up from 1982 - and we all know what stars TVS discovered over the years...
Posted by: Erato at June 3, 2003 4:45 PM