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Risk Taking in British Television

It’s interesting to read an article by BBC Controller Kim Shillinglaw looking for something “disruptive” and “anarchic” along the lines of SNL, The Tonight Show etc. The type of programming to go against the grain of the current crop of panel shows and other esoteric light entertainment containing mainly middle class presenters. Something “edgy” and “different” to break the current stale bland schedules. Clearly these guys want something to bring back they youth and make terrestrial television Kool again. Anyone old enough can shout out Def 2

From my experience of keeping my ear to the ground I find the same thing being echoed down the halls of commissioners’ offices. They ask for something different but get the same-old-same-old as it is a safe bet. Sometimes they take the same-old-same-old and try to sell it as a completely different beast. That’s why the same panel shows are commissioned with minor tweaks to the style but sold as bold new formats.

They all seem to have HBO / Lorne Michaels envy and want to find TheNextBigCulturalThing to add to the WaterCoolerTalkingPoint. The problem I see is that the established production companies have a stranglehold on the commissions so the pool for innovation is smaller. If you want something disruptive you need to find the right people who are not corporatized by the standards of television and actually bring in something fresh that reflects society now.

Also do these people know what the term “disruptive” actually means? What they want doesn’t seem like it will disrupt the media ecosystem, especially when it is to be shown at 10pm on BBC 2. Netflix disrupted the business model of waiting each week for the next episode by releasing all 13 parts of House of Cards in one go. That is the term used correctly here. I will let is slide as people love buzzwords like Zeitgeist.

Personally and again this is due to my peculiar taste but the last fresh original anarchic programmes were Nathan Barley and Tramadol Nights. I believe the latter was the last time something so funny and controversial was screened across the airwaves. Granted you can shout out that Toast of London is very funny but I wouldn’t say it’s groundbreaking, just a very funny series.

Commissioners want to discover the next Monty Python and bask in the glory of leaving a televisual legacy and if these people really want to think out of the box they need to talent spot people outside of the safe pool of comics and writers and start developing them. And I don’t mean box ticking. Real risk taking like Lorne does with assembling the writers.

Yes I know the Diversity debate rolls on and people are probably sick to death of hearing about it but compare SNL which has a diverse cast compared to British television. One only has to look at the oft mentioned british exodus to America, look at Armando Ianucci’s, success with his show. The HBO model was to get the talent and leave them alone and have some sort of faith. It worked for them.

As legend has it Only Fools and Horses only starting becoming a ratings grabber after series 3 but nowadays they feel they need to hit the ground running.

Essentially,widen the talent pool and you will be surprised what you will uncover. Be inclusive, not exclusive

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Danny Dyer Fictional Quotes 2

Part 2 of cheeky mucker and genuine cockney bollocks Danny Dyer. Harold Pinter loved him… not Harold Shipman though, the latter wanted him dead.

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Lone Survivor Pitch

This is probably the fastest pitch for an atrocious example of male posturing war movies since the last cinematic spectacle that had male posturing actors that go under the byline “this is THEIR story” . I disagree, it’s no more of a recruiting vehicle than Top Gun and is nowhere as explicit of the fact that war is bad as Black Hawk Down and Band of Brothers.

There is so much macho gun manhandling that the film could have very well been directed by Derek Jarman.

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Bruce Jenner Easy Diagram

For those that are not aware of the Labia transforming Olympic something-something Bruce Jenner, here is an easy diagram of what’s happening… Also good for showing to dyslexics.

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Die Hard Loop Audio

So, I decided that my four year old daughter has a career in audio looping for famous films and here she is doing a thoroughly top job on this clip for Die Hard playing Alan Rickman’s character.

AND she says a line in German.

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Jeremy Clarkson’s Opinions (Like We Care)

A self reflective Clarkson opinion piece you won’t read in his Sun column :

That’s the thing about public school educated people like me who end up on television. Because of our superior nihilistic education, this gives us an elitist world view on what we call the downtrodden. If you drive anything less than a hot car/ woman (delete as appropriate) you are dead to me.

We tend to sneer at the lower classes, and poke fun at the foreigners because we deludedly think that our audience will find such things funny. Well, the less intelligent do. The reality is that our cars drive the show. What you are actually watching are just a set of struck-it-lucky wide boys who use a politer form of racism coated in humour for our followers. We sit on top of this perch pissing on everyone below while maintaining a world view marred by the self imposed nihilism, all harking back to our time at those wrenched-from-our-parents boarding schools. Did i mention that we make a LOT of money for the corporation in merchandising sales?

This is the shining example of why, even though the viewing figures are large they are mostly a greying bunch thereby leaving the younger crowd to move online. We never understood all that anyway as we are the old guard free from such changes in the media landscape. All we did was go HD because you demanded it.

Maybe that punch up with my working class producer was a good thing.

Right, off to the pub.

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Saving Private Ryan vs Fury Plot Line

We all know certain films are mirror images but doing a plot comparison of Saving Private Ryan and Fury, you can see this is literally the same script rewritten with tanks.

At least the latter doesn’t suffer from the late entry of Matt Damon but funnily enough share a short character in the support cast (Giovanni Ribs vs Shia Labeouf).

Cinema is a strange beast.

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Junkie Dolls: Jim

Meet Jim, recently returned from active front line duty he finds it hard to relate to women and adjust to normal life, the kind of life he used to live.

Just one of the eccentric characterise the Friend-On-Acid sitcom series Junkie Dolls

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Junkie Dolls: Another Bloody Poster

Another poster of the long-ish gestating puppet project Junkie Dolls. Simply put what if the cast of Friends are middle class drug addicts? That sitcom element would have taken a darker turn and this is what the show is all about. Think Joey scoring crack in Central Park under a chintzy laugh track.

Trailer coming soon