QI rantings
I rescind my apology for my last post. Love me, love my occasional slump into maudlin territory.
Now, onto other things. I've been watching the fifth series of QI, since I had to catch up (stupid computer.) It is just so good and funny and INTERESTING. And I was thinking that, though I've said it before, it would probably never work in the US, even if they gave it a chance, which they wouldn't. It bothers me that this is true, and I was thinking about how it COULD work.
First, the only panel-type shows I know of in America are on NPR on Saturday afternoons, and they tend to be a bit like Have I Got News for You. Then, there are the politicos on Comedy Central, of course, TDS and The Colbert Report, and, what's that guy's name? Keith Olbermann does a bit of political jokery, and SNL News, but that's sort of done with a stifled laugh and a big wink. And then there are those VH-1 and E! shows with all the people commenting on stupid things to a camera. Looking off to the left or the right in front of a green screen. But all of those people are shot separately and have a head's up on the topics and sort of write their own lame scripts.
I think we need to start the necessary evolution/revolution necessary to make panel shows popular in America. If we could harness the power and popularity of the talents from TDS (past and present) and do a sort of news-related game show that DOESN'T focus on stupid celebrities and their stupid stupidness. It would be easy to do, relatively cheap to produce, and could probably find a nice little niche on basic cable. And once one such does well (look at that those bloody "I Love the [Insert Decade]s", which were from England originally, anyway, for one example), it could be a domino effect. And, as much as I pray for the writer's strike to end, if it doesn't, this could be the time for the show to make its entrance. However, I'm not part of Hollywood, nor do I have the ear of anyone who is. So, likely I will have to content myself with panel fare from England forever.
It's just that I wish intelligence and wit were more highly prized in the US. I wish it weren't relegated and ridiculed and mistaken for being a snobbery. And I wish that . . . oh, well. I guess I should be glad that there are some places in this world where such things are not completely disregarded and ridiculed.
I'm going to need a ladder to get off of this soapbox.
Now, onto other things. I've been watching the fifth series of QI, since I had to catch up (stupid computer.) It is just so good and funny and INTERESTING. And I was thinking that, though I've said it before, it would probably never work in the US, even if they gave it a chance, which they wouldn't. It bothers me that this is true, and I was thinking about how it COULD work.
First, the only panel-type shows I know of in America are on NPR on Saturday afternoons, and they tend to be a bit like Have I Got News for You. Then, there are the politicos on Comedy Central, of course, TDS and The Colbert Report, and, what's that guy's name? Keith Olbermann does a bit of political jokery, and SNL News, but that's sort of done with a stifled laugh and a big wink. And then there are those VH-1 and E! shows with all the people commenting on stupid things to a camera. Looking off to the left or the right in front of a green screen. But all of those people are shot separately and have a head's up on the topics and sort of write their own lame scripts.
I think we need to start the necessary evolution/revolution necessary to make panel shows popular in America. If we could harness the power and popularity of the talents from TDS (past and present) and do a sort of news-related game show that DOESN'T focus on stupid celebrities and their stupid stupidness. It would be easy to do, relatively cheap to produce, and could probably find a nice little niche on basic cable. And once one such does well (look at that those bloody "I Love the [Insert Decade]s", which were from England originally, anyway, for one example), it could be a domino effect. And, as much as I pray for the writer's strike to end, if it doesn't, this could be the time for the show to make its entrance. However, I'm not part of Hollywood, nor do I have the ear of anyone who is. So, likely I will have to content myself with panel fare from England forever.
It's just that I wish intelligence and wit were more highly prized in the US. I wish it weren't relegated and ridiculed and mistaken for being a snobbery. And I wish that . . . oh, well. I guess I should be glad that there are some places in this world where such things are not completely disregarded and ridiculed.
I'm going to need a ladder to get off of this soapbox.