Shameless v Emmerdale

Went to see the new Bond movie with mrs househusbandnot on Friday evening. Despite terrible music, it was good movie. But gritty, dark, noireish as all the critics have been describing? No. It just had more than two characters who were not necessarily in love with each other at the same time, and there was more than one plot. When did good become dark?

Then we went to supper with a TV journalist on Saturday, and he was sitting at supper telling us about his new news show. And it sounded interesting and fun and a great vehicle for the irreverent news hound that he is. Couldn't wait to see the show. And so we watched it after supper. But all the great ideas he'd been telling us over supper didn't have so much punch on TV. They were there I guess, but hidden. Not so much dumbed down as a little washed out, bleached back to their basic form.

I guess we get what we want as viewers and listeners and readers, but it does seem that our entertainment - in contrast to the technology behind it - is getting clunkier and clunkier. Everyone thinks the new Bond movie is edgy because it is not quite as crap as all the other films out there. Like I said, when did dark get so easy?

Don't get me wrong. I'll be glued to I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here tonight. I'm not some Guardian-reading elitist, only wanting to watch three hour Paul Morley interviews with Tom Waits, or French language films about the Algerian war. It's just a little surprising that most stuff we watch - or get to watch - is so mediocre nowadays. And anything that is not mediocre is immediately hailed as some sort of trail blaze or reinvention of the form, or brand or character. (Or worse still, a flop.) It must be really disheartening being a techie in the media. "Hey, check it out. I've invented high definition TV". "Great. We can use it for our new reality show I'm Not Famous But I'm Prepared To Get My Tits Out." "Check this out too. We can get the general public to respond to our news stories in seconds on camera". "Cool. Let's ask them what they think about David Cameron's new tie." I don't know. There seems to be a mismatch with the technological opportunity and what we actually end up seeing on our screens.

Maybe it is what we want. All this freedom of access to information is just confirming what we kinda already know: that we are fundamentally dumb and want dumb TV and two dimensional characters and no surprises. ( "Edgy? No thanks. I saw that Shameless once. Didn't understand a word of it. Sorry got to go. Emmerdale is on in a minute.)

Hey, it was just a Bond movie and a very funny, clever friend not being quite as funny and clever on TV as he was at the dinner table. I'm not trying to be Noam Chomsky here. (Maybe I am. Maybe that's the problem.) It was just a few random thoughts. Which being a blogger I needed to turn into a theme. (The only other thing I was going to write about was me hiding behind doors around the flat all weekend, and jumping out Bond-like at mrs househusbandnot while she was trying to do rather more useful stuff like make lunch or call her mother.)

Anyway, looking forward to Broccoli Man's contribution to househusbandnot this week. And also hoping that blokeihaventseeninages will step up to the mark with a contribution too. Themes? Fuckin' anything you want dudes.