Thursday, May 17, 2007

THE REAL KLOWN

One of the most disturbing television trends of the past five years has been the move towards broadcasting "The Real" something. You know the shows I mean... You've watched the fictitious and entertaining exploits of a dancing couple who fall in love, now our cameras follow around a real one in "The Real Dirty Dancing". Those fictitious jack-the-lads have been ripping off stereotype villains who deserve it in "Hustle", now watch as real conmen cheat your grandma out of her savings.

I wonder if the TV people actually get fiction. Fiction can give us insights into ourselves, the human condition, the lives of others. But it's fiction so that it can entertain and educate, so you can cut out all the boring stuff that goes up to making the "scam", the "dirty dance", the (make it stop) Chucklehound. A shaky camera chasing around a couple of misfits desperate to get on TV does not fulfil the same need in your audience.

Look, there have actually been programmes about "The Real (insert name of popular comedy show here)". Comedy - funny. Real life - mostly not funny. Do you think my life is funny?

The trouble with doing "real" versions of fictitious television programmes is that you start to wonder how much fiction there is left in the world. One of these days that will be the lead story on the ten o'clock news: "Fiction drought as 'Real' television shows take over." And twenty minutes later you can change channel and watch "The Real News" where the headline will be about fiction taking over from reality, presented in badly white-balanced shaky cam.

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