In short, like the weather this Christmas, the TV has been a wash-out. I am writing this on Boxing Day morning at 0638hrs. Outside there are clear skies and twinkling stars and last night, high in the sky, was a full moon. Now, it's pleasant, but it hasn't stopped raining. Christmas Eve and most of Christmas Day it's been torrential. I say 'most of Christmas Day' but that might be an exaggeration; certainly Christmas morning.
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| Got to hand it to Eastenders last night. I never watch it, but it was excellent. |
We're off on a ride this morning. Just a short one, possibly the bus stop, but a ride nonetheless and it's good to note that the weather has improved. It's dry on the roads, which means there's a chance that we won't be soaked through.
Back to television, it's been abominable. Christmas Eve consisted of old, good-in-their-time sitcoms: Dad's Army, Porridge and so on plus a few highlights-based shows, which are generally a cop-out and, of course, cookery and chat shows. Jonathan Ross was terrible, with 'old' guests, such as Jamie Oliver (we've had more than enough of him) and Michael McIntryre who, in small doses, is alright, but I felt that even he was scraping the barrel of comedy to appear 'funny'.
Most of the movies, like Pixar's The Incredibles, we have on DVD and even the new Raymond Briggs creation, a kind of re-run of the excellent short movie, The Snowman & the Snow Dog, left a lot to be desired. While the original had a certain elegance, the new version was left with little to play with; for a start it ran for the customary 30 minutes and then, what can a snowman do in that short period of time? Answer: roughly the same as he did in the original: he flew off to a strange land full of other snowmen and then flew back and melted. Except that this time it wasn't so moving. The music had been brought up-to-date, sadly, and lacked the class of the original, which was very moving from beginning to end. The new film, while excellent on the animation front, was seriously lacking and when it ended, I felt cheated.
While I haven't sat and watched an episode of Eastenders since Phil was first shot (somebody told me he has been shot again, but I'm refering to the first time) I did watch the Christmas episode which, arguably, was the best thing on the box last night – and believe me that's saying something coming from me as I hate Eastenders with a vengeance, I can't stand any of the characters and I believe that the whole show epitomises the prevailing attitude and culture of the UK and its inhabitants – greed, belligerence and bubbling-under-the-surface bad temper.
Can't sit here gassing, I've got a ride to attend to. Will post again later.
