tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3355227236397241799.post1326549022588745936..comments2024-01-05T13:11:48.050+00:00Comments on ...and what will be left of them?: Notes on ITV's Lucancarlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17886258675618058752noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3355227236397241799.post-57754214648898766642013-12-13T22:55:57.160+00:002013-12-13T22:55:57.160+00:00I've not written anything for ages. Being unem...I've not written anything for ages. Being unemployed bizarrely seems to swallow all my time/energy up. There's really at the end of the day very little to be excited about on British tv. Owen Jones in his lecture had good points about the value of working class comedy and drama as creating a sense of culture/opposition, but the moment to make/recreate that's long passed on that medium in my opinion. It seems too enclosed now with advertisers, neoliberal tv management, and just general poor quality production, writing, acting, etc. <br /><br />There's a centre to all this, the consumerism nostalgia shows like Paradise/Selfridges, the new kinder nobility stuff like Downton and the canned Upstairs Downstairs rehash, plus the stuff Jones rails against like the On Benefits and Proud show. Paul Hebronhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16238733917627525859noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3355227236397241799.post-77367584667551468342013-12-13T10:42:12.664+00:002013-12-13T10:42:12.664+00:00No I think Lucan's pretty good, largely becaus...No I think Lucan's pretty good, largely because the subject is so enigmatic and suggestive. It's only a two-parter, so perhaps the OFITN comparisons are a bit of a stretch. But it does register the embittered pathology of the right under post-war social democracy very well (old-school paternalism morphing into neo-primitive patriarchy?).<br /><br />Haven't seen any of the other series. I guess a post on Paradise could be shoe-horned into the 90s-present blog?<br /><br />I have very mixed feelings about Hebburn. I thought the first series was okay, and thought some of the flaws would be ironed out in a second series. But the writing just isn't up to it. And some of the performances are very weak. The lead guy is good, and the granny steals the show, but the lass who plays his wife is a really bad actor, and the Vic Reeves/Gina McKee pairing doesn't really work.<br /><br />That said, there are some interesting observations about the north-east in the 2010s - the depressed housing market, the unemployment, etc. There was a good scene where the main characters are fishing in the Tyne where the shipyards used to be. And at risk of sounding like a bellend, it does have an undeniable "underlying humanist warmth".Alex Nivenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05525684766446729078noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3355227236397241799.post-9548968491076268552013-12-12T18:26:45.609+00:002013-12-12T18:26:45.609+00:00I was half and half on this one: looked a bit inte...I was half and half on this one: looked a bit interesting, but would it be crap like all the other near historical figure dramas (that Great Train Robbers one I guarantee will be shit, I can sense it). <br /><br />In other news, I've finished watching The Paradise (only just realized it#s based no something by Zola) and it's definitely, while crap, got an interesting vibe, basically every week somebody comes up with a new consumerism mainstay. A counter-part to the better (i.e. hammier) Mr Selfridge which has a bizarrely a-historical focus on celebrities and PR.<br /><br />On comedies The Security Men, and Great Night Out, looked like they were playing for the New Great British Comedy stakes and fucked up hugely by being boring, offensive and obvious.<br /><br />The Mill was dreck. Weirdly wishy-washy at the same time as being melodramatic rubbish. Also really dark, as in literally, impossible to see anything.<br /><br />Hebburn looks like it might have been a look. Utopia managed one cracking episode and then turned to sludge.<br /><br />Most of the good stuff I've watched has been old. Our Friends in the North, Boys from the Blackstuff, GBH, and so on.<br /><br />Paul Hebronhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16238733917627525859noreply@blogger.com