TV viewing in the ‘dark ages’
WE look after our grandchildren Jeanie (eight) and Dillon (three) two afternoons after school until their mum or dad gets home from work. Being modern parents, they have put us under strict orders about what they are allowed to do.
This comes after they discovered that Jeanie enjoys nothing more than taking over my office, pulls the curtains, sits back in the recliner and watches half an hour of TV in semi-darkness.
“Sitting in the dark, watching TV?” said their mum. “Whatever next?”
Which made me think that’s exactly what happens when you go to the cinema. It also used to be the way families watched TV at home decades ago, when you would switch off ‘the big light’ to improve the quality of the picture on the small screen.
Those family nights in front of the
TV were as strictly controlled as being at the pictures. There was no pause button so visits to the loo or making a cup of tea were carefully planned.
They were also an appalling health hazard, whether in the front room or down at the Picture Palace. Before the dangers of tobacco were understood, mums and dads would often smoke whilst watching Coronation Street.
The cinemas were even worse. Tobacco smoke hung in lethal clouds in the auditorium. It was like watching a film through a sepia fog.
Perhaps I should remind Jeanie’s mum that one of her treats during school holidays or at weekends, was to plan our afternoon round a Norman Wisdom film in the front room, curtains drawn and the ‘big light’ switched off, with a packet of sweets or a bag of peas-in-the pod.
And it didn’t do her any harm.