Life is too short...and the series too long!
GROUCHO Marx famously quipped, “I refuse to join any club that would accept me as a member”. There are numerous ‘clubs’ that I refuse to join, which, being honest, is all I have in common with Groucho.
TV soap fans are members of a ‘club’ I’d never join. I don’t watch soaps and don’t want them cluttering up my evening’s viewing.
Years ago, when “Emmerdale” was just an allotment full of mangled wurzels, I once glanced up from my homework to see a couple of ruddyfaced yokels leaning on a wooden gate, pointing at a herd of cows with gnarled walking sticks and wondered what a herd of cows were doing with gnarled walking sticks - but that was my only exposure to the long-running soap. As for “Coronation Street”, has Ena Sharples bought a new hairnet recently?
There are ‘clubs’ devoted to epic TV series that feature sword-swinging, fierce-faced warriors with muscular names like Oaken ThunderboltChewer, Ironjaw Headsplitter and Professor Brinley Llewellyn-Jones. Er…maybe I misheard that last one?
I know they cost a fortune to make and they’re popular with zillions of fans, but sitting through tortuous, sword-clanging hours of “Game Of Thrones”, “House Of The Dragon” and “The Rings Of Power”, the “Lord Of The Rings” continuation, has absolutely no appeal for me.
Yes, I do know some of them are filmed in Wales using Welsh talent.
But, look at it this way: by avoiding these shows I’m not being disloyal to the land of my fathers. I’m being ultra-loyal to my retinas.
To put it in simple terms, life is much too short and these series are far too long.
The latest and, I understand from what I’ve heard, most controversial series of “The Crown” recently started. You may be a member of ‘the club’ who enjoy it. Personally, I’ve as much interest in the royal family as they have in the method Phil Evans uses to grout his bathroom tiles.