Too Much TV?

Today sees the start of two new TV series on an already busy Tuesday viewing schedule. I was quite happy with just watching the Hairy Bikers and frankly, I think that is more than enough excitement for one night. But no, the people who write the TV schedules are cruel and mean and instead will try and squeeze all of the decent programmes on one day and leave the rest of the week baron. Okay so maybe that is a little bit of an exaggeration but is there really any need to have two and a half hours of good programming on one evening?

First up comes courtesy of Professor Iain Stuart and seems to be coinciding with the start of a few science based programmes on in the next couple of weeks so I'm assuming there is some sort of themed science season on at the moment. Not that I'm complaining, I take a great interest in the sciences - even if I don't really understand the complexities of it - there are some people who have the natural gift of being able to present the subject in such a way that it becomes interesting. There are sadly very few people who have this quality; David Attenborough is one of the few that do and thankfully so (in my opinion) is Professor Stuart. The series is all about the planet, the geology and ultimately how nature has shaped our evolution. This first episode was all about the tectonic plates and how they can provide us with riches as well as the natural disasters that are more commonly associated with them. I thought it was fascinating to discover how much of a part these geological feature played in the human development, from providing fresh water to the metal resources that defined the ages.

The second show is courtesy of Charlie Brooker as he applies his unique brand of acerbic wit to the news in Newswipe. This week he discussed how the news and media covered the recent pandemics and weather crises. He does make a very good point in the sense that the media need headlines and as such are going to plump for the most eye-catching / terrifying and scaremongering title they can get away with. Who wants to read that Swine flu is going to kill 'hundreds' when it can be turned into a pandemic and potentially wipe out the human race? As for the snow however, that was perhaps a bit of an over exaggeration. Okay so there was a lot of it and it caused some disruptions but there was no need to dedicate every waking (and sleeping) hour of the 24 hour rolling news to the coverage of it. Even less so having correspondents reporting from gritting depots. Seriously, what is the point in sending them there, we all know what grit is and frankly if we don't know where it comes from then we probably don't really care. I do like the bits where the people fall over on the ice though, as if the cameramen just set up the camera on a particularly icy patch just to get the footage of someone gobbing it. In fact, that is probably exactly what they did and it is really quite disturbing that people - especially those in somewhat of a position of authority - would do such a thing, would it not be nicer to put a sign up or perhaps even find some grit and sprinkle it along the roads. Would it not make a nice news story to hear about reporters up and down the country doing a good deed and pointing out hazardous icy patches?