Surprisingly Good Television
It's been a while since I sat down on a Saturday evening to enjoy watching the telly. Oh, ok then it hasn't really, it's been two or three weeks since Doctor Who finished. But anyway, there were two shows on TV tonight that I enjoyed far more than I thought I would. First off, 'How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria?' 'Oh no!' I thought when I heard about it - 'another Pop Idol style public voting TV show where, no doubt, hapless auditionees will be mercilessly stitched up on national television and the TV audience can enjoy a good old bit of nasty laughing and bitching at their expense. And it's presented by Graham Norton, who seems to have lost any vestige of talent since moving to the BBC and will probably gurn and bitch his way through the proceedings. And it's obviously a big old calculated, bandwagon-jumping publicity stunt by Sir Andrew Lloyd Webbedfeet! Surely this cannot work!'
Unfortunately as I have thespy leanings (I said thespy) and adore 'The Sound Of Music', and if I had any singing talent whatsoever I'd have been down at those public auditions before you could say 'Julie Andrews', I just had a huge compulsion to watch this programme. And bugger me if it wasn't really really good! Just like Channel Four's similar programme last year there were no nasty piss-taking of the auditionees (though I had to question why some of them had turned up, they were far worse than I could ever have been and I would've been appalling!) No good-cop, bad-cop, utterly bitchy cop judges (all of them gave at least constructive criticism when the rest of us would just be spluttering 'you're shit and you know you are!') and (so far) no phone votes (though, sadly, they are but a few programmes away). And Graham Norton, bless him, was in his element and back to his old presenting best being cheeky and very sweet with some of the auditionees at times. I could've done without the repetition of certain points in the show, and the previews of programmes to come, together with the constant reminders of just how damned busy and successful Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber is, not to mention his badly acted fake phone conversation at the end. But the rest of the show had me wishing I'd had the guts (and talent) to audition, and already picking out my favourites and least favourites from the featured Marias-to-be. If only this show had been done years ago, so it could've been considered remotely original!
And talking of shows done years ago, my second TV highlight of the evening was 'The Story Of Light Entertainment' on BBC2. Last week's first episode focussed on great (and not so great) double acts, and I'd expected it to be entertaining and funny, and so it was. Tonight's focussed on 'The all-round entertainers' and with a list of featured artists such as Michael Barrymore, Bruce Forsyth and Bob Monkhouse, it wasn't necessarily going to be great viewing for many people. I have to admit, however, that I grew up on the 'old style' entertainers just as good old fashioned variety shows on TV were going through their final death throes, and I have a soft spot for Bob and Brucie and the like. I wondered how much of this programme was going to be cringeworthy, but in fact it was far from it. It was entertaining and informative, especially to a nostalgia buff like me, and it was interesting to mark the slow decline of popular primetime TV into the world of gameshows and 'reality television' we have today. Brian Conley summed it up perfectly when he said 'in the old days, ordinary people sat back and watched entertainers on the TV. Now entertainers sit back and watch ordinary people on TV'. But Cilla Black was quick to point out that reality TV is just a natural progression of evolving television and entertainment shows and she loves it (well, she would say that seeing as she was in on the start of it all with 'Surprise Surprise' and 'Blind Date'!)
A couple of things that surprised me, though, were that although Barrymore and Les Dennis were featured as typical examples of old-style 'all round entertainers' who have had to find a new niche for themselves, there was absolutely no mention of Russ Abbott, another typical example of an all-rounder and the man who - via his own TV show in the 1980's - was at least partially responsible for bringing both men into the public eye. Also there was no mention of Gary Wilmot. Oh, you may laugh dear reader (though you probably didn't at Gary Wilmot, not being an old fart who enjoys silly comedy like what I do) but he was, to me, another example of the 'old school' entertainer who could sing, dance, do comedy and never really found his niche on TV in the years when 'variety' became a dirty word. Like Brian Conley, he diversified into theatre and musicals (he was astonishingly good in Simon Callow's revival of 'Carmen Jones', I know, I saw it) but I have no idea what he's doing nowadays. I must admit that there are elements of the old style 'light entertainment' shows that I miss and this series is bringing home to me just how much I do miss them, but I know if somebody put on an old style 'variety' show on a Saturday night I probably wouldn't be able to sit through more than five minutes of it without cringing and turning the telly off. Nostalgia is great when you're only seeing the highlights and wearing rose tinted specs to reminisce with! Meantime I'm looking forward to next week's 'TV -vs- Radio' show, with the likes of Ed Stewart and Mike Read featuring as talking heads. Marvellous!
Unfortunately as I have thespy leanings (I said thespy) and adore 'The Sound Of Music', and if I had any singing talent whatsoever I'd have been down at those public auditions before you could say 'Julie Andrews', I just had a huge compulsion to watch this programme. And bugger me if it wasn't really really good! Just like Channel Four's similar programme last year there were no nasty piss-taking of the auditionees (though I had to question why some of them had turned up, they were far worse than I could ever have been and I would've been appalling!) No good-cop, bad-cop, utterly bitchy cop judges (all of them gave at least constructive criticism when the rest of us would just be spluttering 'you're shit and you know you are!') and (so far) no phone votes (though, sadly, they are but a few programmes away). And Graham Norton, bless him, was in his element and back to his old presenting best being cheeky and very sweet with some of the auditionees at times. I could've done without the repetition of certain points in the show, and the previews of programmes to come, together with the constant reminders of just how damned busy and successful Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber is, not to mention his badly acted fake phone conversation at the end. But the rest of the show had me wishing I'd had the guts (and talent) to audition, and already picking out my favourites and least favourites from the featured Marias-to-be. If only this show had been done years ago, so it could've been considered remotely original!
And talking of shows done years ago, my second TV highlight of the evening was 'The Story Of Light Entertainment' on BBC2. Last week's first episode focussed on great (and not so great) double acts, and I'd expected it to be entertaining and funny, and so it was. Tonight's focussed on 'The all-round entertainers' and with a list of featured artists such as Michael Barrymore, Bruce Forsyth and Bob Monkhouse, it wasn't necessarily going to be great viewing for many people. I have to admit, however, that I grew up on the 'old style' entertainers just as good old fashioned variety shows on TV were going through their final death throes, and I have a soft spot for Bob and Brucie and the like. I wondered how much of this programme was going to be cringeworthy, but in fact it was far from it. It was entertaining and informative, especially to a nostalgia buff like me, and it was interesting to mark the slow decline of popular primetime TV into the world of gameshows and 'reality television' we have today. Brian Conley summed it up perfectly when he said 'in the old days, ordinary people sat back and watched entertainers on the TV. Now entertainers sit back and watch ordinary people on TV'. But Cilla Black was quick to point out that reality TV is just a natural progression of evolving television and entertainment shows and she loves it (well, she would say that seeing as she was in on the start of it all with 'Surprise Surprise' and 'Blind Date'!)
A couple of things that surprised me, though, were that although Barrymore and Les Dennis were featured as typical examples of old-style 'all round entertainers' who have had to find a new niche for themselves, there was absolutely no mention of Russ Abbott, another typical example of an all-rounder and the man who - via his own TV show in the 1980's - was at least partially responsible for bringing both men into the public eye. Also there was no mention of Gary Wilmot. Oh, you may laugh dear reader (though you probably didn't at Gary Wilmot, not being an old fart who enjoys silly comedy like what I do) but he was, to me, another example of the 'old school' entertainer who could sing, dance, do comedy and never really found his niche on TV in the years when 'variety' became a dirty word. Like Brian Conley, he diversified into theatre and musicals (he was astonishingly good in Simon Callow's revival of 'Carmen Jones', I know, I saw it) but I have no idea what he's doing nowadays. I must admit that there are elements of the old style 'light entertainment' shows that I miss and this series is bringing home to me just how much I do miss them, but I know if somebody put on an old style 'variety' show on a Saturday night I probably wouldn't be able to sit through more than five minutes of it without cringing and turning the telly off. Nostalgia is great when you're only seeing the highlights and wearing rose tinted specs to reminisce with! Meantime I'm looking forward to next week's 'TV -vs- Radio' show, with the likes of Ed Stewart and Mike Read featuring as talking heads. Marvellous!