Having watched 1970 last night, perhaps Mark Gatiss and Reece Shearsmith could analyse the first few months of my life. Well, seeing as they were consulted on their views for just about anything else that happened that year....
Usual talking-heads laziness (Kathryn Flett, for God's sake, who opined that The Clangers were really good - well worth being employed by The Observer). I'd have preferred half-hour interviews with Joseph Barbera and Postgate & Firmin. Nice to see that everyone interviewed about The Goodies said it would be brilliant to see it again. Well, BBC2? Pull your fingers out.
It was the era of the tank-top, the crisp packet and the Miners' Strike - yes, the 1970s! And, there was television - ten years of it too, which I'll say right away was the best ten years of television I can think of, even though a three-toed sloth would be able to construct a more credible and convincing argument. Still, the deadline's in two hours, so here goes....
Racist sitcoms, what a disgrace they were - just who were the evil so-and-so's who kept these atrocities on the air throughout the decade? Go on - stick your hands up, you know who you are. (Not me, though.)
Thankfully, these dreadful pieces of work are no longer being shown, which makes my job in writing this last-minute pseudo-cultural space-filler a good deal easier. Instead we are treated to BBC1's brilliant Fawlty Towers (who could forget the bit where Basil fell over, just after shouting something?), or Porridge, which was dangerously set in a prison.
But it wasn't all experimental and groundbreaking. Take Penelope Keith in To The Manor Born. (Go on, take her!) You really were idiots for watching this, weren't you? Look at it again, then glance at MY no-nonsense weekly column for RT. Eat your heart out, Hilary Kingsley!
There were also stirrings of greatness across a pond in the States: Banacek, a genuinely realistic police series, The Bionic Woman with Richard Wagner, and Hart To Hart with Stephanie de Sykes....and Richard Wagner. All were hilarious rubbish, at least for the four minutes I saw of each one while on a shameless freebie trip to the Big Apple a few weeks ago.
Blah blah blah Ronco Buttoneer...blah...Hancock's Half Hour...blah blah...Timmy Mallett...blah blah...the compact disc....bikes....the SDP...blah blah....Spandau Ballet.... blah...Winifred Atwell....blah blah...shoes of some kind....Julian Clary....the news.... sweet rationing....
It's the last paragraph now, so I'll sigh insincerely as people tend to do when writing such pieces about nostalgia. Aaaah, those days. (Coupling's now finished - did you get to see it afterwards?!)
ALISON GRAHAM'S TEN ESSENTIAL '70S PROGRAMMES
1970: QUEENIE'S CASTLE
1971: Some football. (You see, there was far too much sport for the men even in those days!)
1972: LIPPY THE LION AND HARDY HAR HAR
(Kitsch and rubbish, but brilliant nonetheless!)
1973: Something with flares in it.
1974: Ceefax.
1975: Play by Mike Leigh. (See, I don't just write about the soaps - I'm cultured, me.)
1976: Another play by Mike Leigh. (Further proof of my cultural knowledge.)
1977: Old thing with Phil Daniels in it.
1978: CLOPPA CASTLE (Series One)
1979: CLOPPA CASTLE (Series Two)
Alison Graham
"Makes Charlie Catchpole read like Raymond Williams" - everyone.
"That's OK - Raymond Wililams wasn't much good on Tomorrow's World!" - Alison Graham.
People don't want to see the Goodies shown properly again. They want to see all the good bits cut up and shown out of context to prevent them forming an idea of what the show was actually like to watch when it first came on.
In fact people don't want to watch whole programs at all anymore. That was the genius of Simpsons night. No-one has the attention span or memory to want to see the second half of "Who Shot Mr Burns". We just want 5 second clips of the shows interspersed with talking fricking heads. In fact, if the BBC can stop making whole programs and just make pre-digested clips and intersperse it with Gail Porter talking about Pob, that'd be just perfect.
2nd part of who shot Mr burns is on this friday i believe, along with a re-showing of the first episode. So, fair play to them - they may be slow, but they (usually) get there in the end. Imagine it ITV were showing it - it would either be on Citv or shown about 1:00 in the morning, then dropped after a month due to poor ratings.
>>I'd have preferred half-hour interviews with Joseph Barbera and Postgate & Firmin. Nice to see that everyone interviewed about The Goodies said it would be brilliant to see it again. Well, BBC2? Pull your fingers out.
Couldn't agree more Justin.
I agree with truncating ALL ancient TV shows to just showing the opening titles with accompanying theme tune and thats it.
Who honestly can sit through any 60s series beyond the excellent beginning intro and title music? THATS what people from their youth love and remember,a collection of introductry images and a fantastic theme tune .Nothing more.I say lets celebrate the magic of composers Ron Grainer,Tony Hatch,Laurie Johnson,Alan Hawkshaw, oh and why not?, Ronnie Hazelhurst ,than bloody Honor Blackman and that cunt in the Bowler hat all the time.