Old Lady Leg
Monday 29th April 2019 9:00am [Edited]
Complete and utter Kent
449 posts
Exactly this...
Quote: Firkin @ 29th April 2019, 8:14 AM
But all sorts of characters have been shoe horned in, since time in memorial. Good looking people are over represented, young people, women in a dress sizes below 14, muscular men, privately school people, people fitting the demographic of the commissioners (or their friends), people who can spell. Hence why it seems odd to now focus on black people as the one group we're suddenly noticing. We should just judge people on their acting. So I'll go first: Sam Fox, Paris Hilton, Slenena Gomez, Britney Speers and Naomi Campbell all can't act, in my humble opinion. Who would you add to the list ?
You know, a couple of days ago, I found my copy of a VERY old b&w Pinky and Perky. The presenter (Jimmy Thompson) was a very well-spoken English white man...and, regardless of what he wore for each episode, he had a black tie on, which was always visible. (I know, it could have been any dark colour in the days of b&w). There were no subtitles, but he spoke so carefully and with such perfect diction, you'd have a hard time mistaking what was being said. This was the general rule back then. However, presenters came in all shapes and sizes by the 80s, so these old shows have always seemed very outdated to me.
TV has now come such a long way since the 80s that I truly believe discussions like this one will gradually dry up as new generations of writers/producers/directors move into the industry...and younger audiences who don't remember how TV used to be will just accept it as it is now and, like me, look back to older shows and find the lack of diversity worth noting, rather than the representation of it they've grown up with and are now used to.
A quick nod to Ken Dodd in one of the Pinky and Perky episodes, singing 'Tears'...represented by a sad-looking rabbit with big teeth (of course :-/). One of the very few singers, if not only, whose voice was NOT sped up to fit in with the chipmunky sound that other singers' songs fell prey to. Respect to him...and to the person who made that decision. Again...this was a time when no credit to the actual singers was necessary. Nothing on the VHS case, nothing in the opening/closing credits.
I know...why don't I talk about episode two of Ghosts. A novel idea, if ever there was one. How on EARTH does the actor playing Mike cope with having all those people so closed in around him while he's trying to move about, say his lines and try not to react to them at all. Yes, there was a lot of faffing about with the ghosts trying to get Alison's attention, but still very funny...and, yes, the visit to the doctor. You know when you kind of know what's coming, but you still REALLY want to see it happen? That.
