Dumbed-down TV gets the thumbs down
I’LL put my cards on the table, so that, as the American say, “You know where I’m coming from”. And I don’t mean Ammanford! Americans also say “Hey! You’ve got my wheels turning!”, which isn’t limited to when someone’s given their brokendown car a push to get it started. I was setting the record straight. I never look down on people less academically gifted than me, for two reasons.
Firstly, adopting a superior attitude is an unpleasant trait that can come back and bite you on a certain part of the anatomy should your own personal circumstances unexpectedly take a tumble. Secondly, I wouldn’t describe myself as academically gifted. Although if you’d like to, please go ahead!
But even I felt like a genius one Saturday night when, flicking through the TV channels, I stumbled upon what was described as a ‘celebrity’ edition of a longrunning quiz show.
I won’t name it, but it rhymes with ‘Plaster Rind’.
That I failed to recognise any of the ‘celebrities’ may be more my fault than whoever booked them for the show.
However, I think we all agree that if there’s one word that’s been massively overused and ludicrously over-stretched in today’s culture, it’s ‘celebrity’.
To prove my point, one of the ‘celebrity’ contestants was introduced as a potter who presents a pottery programme, presumably when not pottering about his private premises. No, his name wasn’t Harry. If making clay pots qualifies someone as a ‘celebrity’ then anyone in my street who knits woolly jumpers or is a whiz at putting flat-pack furniture together should be dodging autograph hunters and the paparazzi on a daily basis. But it gets better. Or worse, depending on your viewpoint.
To allow the ‘celebs’ to earn a few points and not embarrass themselves (although two of them did) the questions asked were simplistic ones about TV soaps and 2021 pop songs.
But the one that caused my jaw to drop was... I kid you not...
“Oink! is a sound made by what farmyard animal?”
If my hobby was making clay pots, I’d have thrown one at the screen.
So now you know where I’m coming from, have I got your wheels turning?