One look at a few of the old 1980s and 1970s British gems makes us realize how bad some of the newer shows really are.
I know that it's difficult to be entirely objective about such things - the rose-coloured lenses of time can distort our vision, and we ourselves have aged and tastes have changed - but I think you're right in many ways, paradesend. I remember such gems as
Callan,
Public Eye,
Manhunt and
A Family at War, to name a few. I'd need to watch them again to be entirely sure, but they register in my mind as great TV.
I don't know the reason. You and RM seem to be much more aware of the whys & wherefores and the politics of the situation. I think you're right, paradesend, about everything being so PC and
formulaic. I remember linking to the following article on the
Garrow's Law board a few years ago. It appears to get to the nub of the problem:
http://www.theguardian.com/media/2011/feb/14/bbc-great-drama-quantityThe trend towards shorter series (for whatever reason) means that there's not enough time to develop characters or to have a properly defined story arc. I wonder if we will ever return to the days when series/serials were in it for the long haul, when producers were confident and bold, and when audiences had patience? Lol.
Btw, paradesend, Tom Bell used to live in my town of Brighton. I often saw him in his later years, leading a very ordinary life and going to the corner shop, etc.
EDIT Just found
Out on yt. Had a bit of trouble at first. Will try to make time to see it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqETwFTFgsoLife isn't about waiting for the storm to pass, it's about learning to dance in the rain.
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randommovies2002
10 years ago
Hi sg.
Thanks for the article and yt link. I've never even heard of Out. Looking forward to it. (Interesting comments below the article, too.)
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!!!deleted!!! (41638798)
10 years ago
Gah! Correction of my unfortunate misinformation about "The Ambassador."
I was mixing MhZ, home of the endless "ScandiNoir" with my local 24 hour PBS "UK" station.
Though if anybody gets MhZ international and has not given it a look, they show a lot of the Scandi stuff. "Unit One" ("Rejseholdet), "Johan Falk," "Wallander," (not the weird Branagh one but the originals), "Maria Wern," "The Eagle" (do not miss that one! it was once on Netflix but disappeared), "Don Matteo," and the list is rather endless. If it's scandi they find it eventually. With the exception of the original now legendary "The Bridge" which perhaps may be out of their budget.
Not sure that PBS fields these all-UK programming stations in every area, perhaps just in selected markets. But they have "The Ambassador" and some other older UK programs, now only able to be found on Y-T or sometimes on the "Gold" station within the UK.
They show "All Creatures" every day, "Born and Bred," "Rosemary and Thyme," "Ballykissangel," "Monarch of the Glen," "Waking the Dead" and "Spooks/Mi5" are making another round and even some much older things from the '90s and such. It's a lot of "twee" things but hey I love twee. They also do newer things like "Moone Boy," "Outnumbered," "Lead Balloon," for example.
Seeing "Rumpole of the Bailey" is a real delight, after so many years/decades.
Having all of these series on show every day, even from the '90s and early Noughties, is a reminder how fast and how far the BBC has fallen--the fickle hand of PC and formulaic is painful to see in programs airing now. They could be so much better.
I'm exempting ITV from my dismay at the moment, because they are doing "Endeavor" and "Vera" and continuing "Foyle's War," which rather saves them from my tantrum, haha.
As for the 24-hour PBS-UK station, they can start a lot of fave older and newer series at the beginning with Ep 1 and carry through day after day through an entire lengthy series.
They tend to show a lot of things that Acorn has.
That channel is worth setting the DVR for, in case something rare appears.
I've really come to think that billion dollar toxic building and their truly awful world cup coverage is just showing us that the BBC organization is really coming to their end game. Drip drip...
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