Television stations pandering chundering to youngsters is the bane of any sensible viewer's life.
What's that got to do with this scrap at Sarsparilla? Well, apart from the thin skindignation, dander and dudgeon, this comment from Genevieve is one with which I totally agree.
Now as far as snark goes: my kids and I got quite irate the other night when some young footballer started waxing lyrical on that bleeding chunks program Bert tops and tails, about Abbey Road - as though he gives a shit! As though he was in the room sharing ciggies with Ringo at the time 'Hey Jude' was recorded.
Surely it is not okay for them to do that just to save money on making 'real' programs. The only compelling things about this kind of pastiche are either the ‘off’ button, or the analysis it might elicit from those better educated than moi.
No doubt this crap's been going on for ages, but I first came across the phenomenon as recently as a few months ago when Timothy Dorcen Langbene Ferguson was on the ABC ranting about his reaction to The Dismissal.
My first reaction was to wonder how old Ferguson was then. He's younger than me, isn't he? It turns out he was eleven. Given I was only thirteen at the time, I wouldn't have known The Dismissal from a rowdy speech day. That's despite boarding with Malcolm Fraser's son for the previous three years. Keeping things MGS: maybe Ferguson was doing a Manning Clark, a first person imperfect. Or was he, in 1975, a prodigiously terrible infant? I've got my doubts.
The same shit riddled the 20 to 1 I saw two weeks ago, only worse. All manner of tuppies and muppets waxed wonderful on salient events from the last 40-odd years. Waxed hysterical, more like. A fat portion of them would have been barely single figures when their respective incidents occurred. How are they qualified to vent on these events? What would they know? Who the fuck are they? It's impossible to escape the fact this show is a barely concealed cross promo for Nine's "talent" stable.
Reality TV, talent quests, soaps and all manner of made-for-idiot programs are one thing, but this idea of scripting a Todde or Tabbithah Teenager into the frame of events they can only know secondhand, seemed more than particularly dishonest.
I find 20 to 1 impressive. Only in the sense that each week I think "That's it. They have strip-mined that concept to the very core. This is nothing else they could possibly cobble together to form another week's show".
But they do.
I suppose one should never doubt the capacity of a TV production executive with their nuts on the line to fill an hour's television. Or the desire for each out-of-work 'celebrity' or 'personality' to whore themselves out for some TV face time.
Posted by: Mr Z | 03 April 2007 at 17:45
A pretty fair point, Zed. Just the other day when I saw it in the guide I absently wondered that the show seemed to have been running forever. But you bring it into sharper focus.
What next? The 20 to 1 of little black dresses?
Posted by: Tony.T | 03 April 2007 at 18:12
What next? The 20 to 1 of little black dresses?
I'm prepared to put a tenner on the fact that this is on a whiteboard somewhere. Certainly some iconic fashion statement will get up.
Posted by: Bruce | 03 April 2007 at 20:19
It is obviously an American show with Australian "celebs" thrown in. One week they had fads and one of them was a cup stacking fad.
Never heard of it!
Posted by: chrisl | 03 April 2007 at 20:38
Well, there are other extremes. I caught a bit of Channel Ten's kids news show the other week, and heard The Beatles described as "the U2 of their day." Unbelievable.
Posted by: Harry | 03 April 2007 at 23:29
"the U2 of their day."
wtf.
I'm speechless.
Almost.
Posted by: Francis Xavier Holden | 04 April 2007 at 12:31
Radiohead is the Ray Conniff Orchestra of its day.
Posted by: Tony.T | 04 April 2007 at 18:05
and Al jolson was the Eminem of his ...
Posted by: GoAwayBrownie | 04 April 2007 at 19:31