Lee Henman
Thursday 25th April 2013 8:05pm
5,183 posts
Quote: Tokyo Nambu @ April 25 2013, 7:04 PM BST
Actually, I read it somewhat differently. The subtext of a lot of the BBC's excuses for making weak, same-old, inoffensive programmes featuring known faces in known roles is that challenging material is all very well, but mainstream audiences demand mainstream material. BBC commissioners want you to believe that left to their own devices they'd be making edgy and dark programmes, but they're constrained by the need to keep the mainstream (read: Daily Mail readers) happy.
So here's a programme that should be mainstream heaven. It's got known faces essentially reprising known roles, it's written by a known name, it's got at its centre the saloon bar received wisdom idea that health and safety is all a bit risible, and there's even a laugh track to tell you when to laugh. Short of remaking All Gas and Gaiters it's hard to see how it could be safer. It's the BBC saying "sorry, old people, we know you don't like all that loud stuff on BBC3, so here's something just for you." Of course it's dated: it was designed to be so. Which is odd, because anyone who saw, say, Monty Python when first broadcast is nearer sixty than fifty, but for thirty year old commissioners, everyone over forty merges into a blur.
But even the Mail hate it. And Mail journalists are very rarely out of step with their readers.
There's a lesson there. Pandering to the lowest common denominator is not only patronising, but doesn't even always make you popular with the people you're patronising. Perhaps next time, they could give someone under fifty a go.
Well I read it as a horribly uncharitable and venomous character assassination.
"no one else in his family has a London accent, let alone his East End Dickensian 'mockney'"
"he's an embarrassing old flop, churning out books and TV material to universal derision."
"Ben Elton is the most spectacular case of middle-aged droop in British TV history"
"he is a turncoat who ditched his Leftist principles and took the money."
"It's like seeing a forgotten rock star plodding through the old hits at a seaside pavilion, or a paunchy 50-something ex-footballer puffing around the pitch in a charity match."
F**k me, it's just a sitcom for Christ's sake. It's certainly not his best but is there any need for that level of hatred?