Saturday, June 25, 2011

Bring on the wall

I decided that watching a bit more German TV might strengthen the linguistic part of the mind (albeit at the cost of every other part).  So I tried out some Friday night primetime viewing.

It was actually better than I had remembered it.  There were two moments of particular note, which will no doubt have me tuning in again:

  • A sort of poker-inspired challenge game (My Man Can), in which glamourously dressed women drastically overestimate the competencies of their spouses in such challenges as identifying languages, beating malevolent children at dodgeball or (my preferred candidate for a spin-off show) blowing a tissue against a wall for 7 seconds (he managed 6.3 seconds, if one is being extremely generous).

Sometimes it seems like foreign TV is less classy than TV back home.  But at other times this seems like it may be an error.

3 comments:

Vee Haich said...

I wonder how one becomes a 'comedy script editor' for TV. It looks like John Cleese was left wondering about this very question back in 1974:

http://www.lettersofnote.com/2010/07/im-afraid-i-thought-this-one-as-dire-as.html

Sometimes I have wondered who is in charge of scripting MY mind's attempts at comedic exchange with other human beings. Going by anectodal evidence, it may be the same Mr Main referred to above.

Pete said...

I wrote a 'comedy script' as part of a school English project around 14 years ago. It was very very bad. It pops into my head again from time to time whenever my subconscious decides to needle my cringe muscle.

Perhaps Mr Main had the foresight to know how his response would be read by future generations, and he was playing up to his role as the humourless head of comedy. Perhaps by consciously making such a gross misjudgement he was committing himself to an even higher joke. In so doing, he might have been in comedy for the long game. I find it heroic.

Anonymous said...

Hi Pete, it's been a while. I sent ye an email. I wonder if you still use the address.
I haven't read the blog post. I'm just leaving a comment. I hope my honesty goes some way to repairing the damage done by my laziness.