I'm embarrassed to admit (well, only very slightly!) that I'm totally hooked on so-called 'reality tv shows' and alleged talent competitions, my current favorite being Strictly Come Dancing.
This totally improbable and highly unlikely show features celebrity B & C - listers who practice their dancing skills, guided by a professional ballroom dancer. Therre are then showpiece dances, judged by fairly terrifying judges, and ultimately, elimination of the weakest dancer, as confirmed by the voting public.
I know this sounds hopeless and totally uninspiring, but this masterpiece of televisual excellence is absolutely electric! The dancing is not really my scene, but the magic is in the judges, their self-preening, their acidic comments and the drama they make when delivering their verdicts... and the fate of the contestants in front of an audience of millions.
The four judges are all very colorful, and all very different. Bruno Tonioli... very Italian, extremely camp - and ultra generous with his marks. Craig Revell-Horwood, an Australian terror with slick hair and the longest pronounciation of 'daaaaaaaaaahnce' in the world, famed for his meanness of score and so cuttingly saracstic, it actually stings.. Then there's Len.. Head Judge, and the kindest by far. Always keen to say something nice after harsh words from Craig, and rather like your favorite uncle in so many ways. Finally, there's Arlene... straight down the line, and she tells it like it is! She's been a dancer & choreographer for over 40 years, and clearly knows a thing or two...
Then there's the performers... all taking the show very seriously, some good, some not so good at all. The big hit - John Sargeant. Can't dance, is 60+ and is unfortunately overweight. Quite a sight in lycra when cavorting around the dancefloor like an arthritic elephant on valium, but a nice man - who everybody seems to like. So nice, in fact, that everybody kept voting for him... even though the judges were absolutely desperate to remove him from the show... and were clearly angry that they couldn't.
Well, today... John quit the show. It's headline news - on all TV channels. There's a special show - an hour long - on BBC2, and TV schedules have been changed. It's even front page news on all of tomorrow's UK national newspapers... the country is shocked, and the BBC's switchboard is jammed...
Are we taking TV just a little bit too seriously?
... or are we just in need of fun?
Time now to think of next week's show.... plus of course X Factor (getting exciting!) and I'm a Celebrity... awful, but so watchable & totally addictive TV!!!
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