Downton and Spooks are spookily sh-Abbey. So why am I the only one who doesn’t like them?
Two programmes have just begun on two different channels, and both of them are shows that I just do not understand the appeal of.
There’s Spooks, which is starting off its final series (huzzah!). Why do people like it? It’s always bleakly photographed, always highly unrealistic, always stalely written and everyone always dies all the time. Yawn.
And there’s Downton Abbey. Just…just…WHY? What is the appeal?! Every line of dialogue repeats information and exposition already told literally seconds before, whilst simultaneously making an oblique reference to Downton, and the story and characters have all been seen innumerable times before in innumerable other period dramas, and it’s all so prim and proper and stiff…and not in a good way.
So why is it that everyone up and down the UK (and, apparantly, the US and anywhere else these shows get shown) loves these shows so much? Am I just unappreciative of these dramas when I should be finding them brilliant? Or am I just waiting to see some television that’s also of the extremely high calibre of…say…Doctor Who, or Forbrydelsen (a.k.a. The Killing), or Spiral, or something done by Jimmy McGovern? (Yes, his stuff ventures into unrealistic territory, too, I know…but at least he writes his dialogue and characters in such a way as you believe it to be possible.)
Still, at the very very least, I suppose I should be thankful that Europe is capable of creating such good television in any sort of capacity, whilst America seems to steep into deeper and deeper lows. (The US version of The Killing? The upcoming Blues Brothers and Hannibal Lecter TV shows? Anything whatsoever that gets made on that E! channel? And so on…)
About me
Hi and hello.The name's Jack.
No, I am NOT a Ripper, nor am I climbing any sort of beanstalk, nor any sort of hill with a girl named Jill; I am definitely not a 10 year old in Robin Williams' body, I never invented Twitter, and - most importantly - my surname isn't "Black" or "White" (if you see what I mean).
I'm currently 18 years old, but don't hold that against me.
You may either find me somewhat amusing, or extremely annoying.
I'm obsessed with the number 23 (for reasons you'll discover sooner or later).
I have a tendency to write things in a somewhat long-winded fashion.
And there's some other non-interesting things about me that aren't worth writing about in a blog biography, but that you will eventually discover those "other things" for yourself.
You have been warned.
MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!
(P.S. I do that evil genius laugh a lot. And I use this emoticon (=P) a lot. And I repeat myself...a lot. And I often write (bracketed sentences) within other (bracketed sentences). Just thought I should throw that in there, too...)
