I've just come across a recommendation for this podcast
I've been flying through the first series, electing to watch in order but to initially only watch those episodes devoted to series I've watched. This means I've watched the Introductory episode, both of
The Young Ones episodes and the two
Victoria Wood ones. Sometimes - certainly when it comes to reaction videos - I find people having different knowledge levels a bit off-putting and prefer that everyone goes in blind, but it works incredibly well with this particular format where background is important (it would probably be frustrating to watch either two people who don't understand the background or context). The different cultural backgrounds makes it even more juicy.
Much as I've enjoyed all the episodes I've watched, the two episodes featuring guests have been next level. I haven't watched a lot of Ben Elton interviews, but I watched one fairly recently where he was talking about his book and I found him very engaging and erudite, and this was the case with his episode here. A special dynamic in the Ben Elton episode was the sense that Tom was meeting a hero, which evidently was more successful than Ben meeting his hero Ronnie Barker. As someone who rates Ronnie B. incredibly highly, it was a little disappointing to hear of the rollicking Ronnie B. gave Ben for swearing on TV (I've read or heard this somewhere before, so I'm guessing it's a fairly well-documented encounter) and Ben's view (which seemed balanced and fairly objective) that Ronnie's ego was fairly well-known at the Beeb.
In the first episode on
The Young Ones I also made note of the sitcom archetypes of matriarch, patriarch, craftsman and clown as I'm not sure I'd heard of that specific formula before.
Tying in with the theme of this thread, it's interesting that producers of a potential American remake of
The Young Ones could not fathom that there was no hero for the audience to root for, so Paul Jackson ended up throwing his hands in the air and telling them it was Neil. I really can't imagine what an American adaption would have looked like, and I'm kind of relieved that it (presumably) didn't happen.
Geoff Posner also covered remakes when they chatted about
Steptoe/Sanford &
Son(s)and The Office:
What's really interesting, I think, is when you examine how different countries translate all the characters that are in The Office. How they view their equivalent of our stereotypes, and what their stereotypes are... If you can get a translation it's fascinating to see how different countries kind of view the hierarchies of people working... Different countries have different ways of looking at different people and I always thought that was really interesting.
Given Victoria Wood's work is very rooted in British culture it's not all that surprising (but still disappointing) to hear of Geoff's experience of watching
As Seen On TV with American friends when it aired on a PBS station, only for it to be received with stony silence, leaving him wanting to "eat a cushion and disappear behind the couch" (to closely paraphrase his own words). But how wonderful to hear more of the process of making that series in great detail, from his initial read through with Vic and Julie Walters (Vic met him from the train, and they went back to where Julie was making tea before sitting on the floor and reading through). Count me in for diving into Geoff's book whenever it's finished.
I confess to rolling my eyes at some dismissive generalisations in the first VW episode (the one without Geoff) about not finding men as funny as women because "they just don't have that instinct", which, apart from doing Duncan Preston a huge disservice, is the kind of bias this series doesn't need. Still, this podcast is all about the journey, so I can hope perspectives shift at least a little as things progress since there are some talented and very funny women
and men in upcoming episodes.
All told, though, the podcast is a gift. I just have the
Morecambe & Wise and wrap-up episodes to watch, then I'm hugely looking forward to Series Two as I'm fairly sure all the series are ones with which I'm familiar.
