Carla Lane
Sep. 14th, 2006 10:49 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
poliphiloCarla Lane was being remembered on TV last night.
She wrote all these bitter-sweet, romantic sit-coms- Butterflies, The Mistress, Bread. She's still alive, I think, but they won't let her back on the box. She's like poor old Benny Hill: her time has passed.
And I was thinking- sheesh, but I watched most of her shows. I even liked them. They were touching, Involving. I'd forgotten all about them until prompted, but I used to really care about her characters.
Back in the 70s, 80s I watched a lot more TV than I do now. It was a family thing. I and whoever I was with at the time would slump down on the settee in the evening and take in all sorts of stuff I wouldn't bother with now- sit-coms, sketch shows, cop shows, dramas. I don't suppose I thought they were particularly wonderful, but watching them was just what one did. I watched Kojak. I watched the Dick Emery Show. Why? Why would anyone want to watch dreck like that?
But there were only two channels, then three. We accepted what was offered, uncritically, in a spirit of gratitude. How nice of those nice people to want to entertain us.
These days I watch much less. And I'm pickier. I still watch rubbish- like Most Haunted- but it's rubbish of my own choosing. And the only thing Ailz and I watch as a couple is America's Next Top Model- and that's simply because it happens to be on at tea-time.
She wrote all these bitter-sweet, romantic sit-coms- Butterflies, The Mistress, Bread. She's still alive, I think, but they won't let her back on the box. She's like poor old Benny Hill: her time has passed.
And I was thinking- sheesh, but I watched most of her shows. I even liked them. They were touching, Involving. I'd forgotten all about them until prompted, but I used to really care about her characters.
Back in the 70s, 80s I watched a lot more TV than I do now. It was a family thing. I and whoever I was with at the time would slump down on the settee in the evening and take in all sorts of stuff I wouldn't bother with now- sit-coms, sketch shows, cop shows, dramas. I don't suppose I thought they were particularly wonderful, but watching them was just what one did. I watched Kojak. I watched the Dick Emery Show. Why? Why would anyone want to watch dreck like that?
But there were only two channels, then three. We accepted what was offered, uncritically, in a spirit of gratitude. How nice of those nice people to want to entertain us.
These days I watch much less. And I'm pickier. I still watch rubbish- like Most Haunted- but it's rubbish of my own choosing. And the only thing Ailz and I watch as a couple is America's Next Top Model- and that's simply because it happens to be on at tea-time.
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no subject
Date: 2006-09-14 02:08 pm (UTC)But with Internet and DVDs, the days of mass viewing are definitely over. Right now, G is away and I'm currently watching the first Danger Man series from the 1960s (forerunner of the far more famous Prisoner.
no subject
Date: 2006-09-14 04:25 pm (UTC)Tonight I'll be tuning in for the start of the new season of Ricky Gervais' Extras. It's one of the very few shows I make an appointment to watch.