Television is an art form

Academics talk of theatre as an art form, and also cinema - arty French films and all that, you know, the ones "New Men" were supposed to take sophisticated young graduate trainees to back in the 90s to try and get into their knickers.

But - what of television? So dumbed down with it's daytime trash, talent shows, soaps and all the other stuff. That can't be an art form can it? You wouldn't think so, not by the supplements of the broadsheets. And whilst the lesser dailies and countless TV guides are without doubt a testament to its popularity, they are hardly known for their coverage of the art world.

Yet to me - TV is everything. It's a unique and amazing snapshot of life over the last 50+ years, not only here, but in the US, and anywhere else we import shows from - which is not that many places to be honest.

We've got one unique and complete snapshot of life that could tell you the history of life in the UK better than any book or teacher since 1960 sitting right there, in full, in the archives. It's called Coronation Street. I've got at least 8 episodes from every year since it started.

I wasn't going to talk so much about shows themselves but more about how they are presented to us.

For example. opening and closing credits and cast lists are no longer considered as important as they once were - shortened considerably in duration. Opening titles from a good minute's worth back in the 70s and 80s to a few seconds at best now and closing credits shrunk into a small envelope while we get a preview of the next show coming up. Now this is a great shame, as I have always been fascinated by cast lists and what order they are shown in etc, here's a few examples:

Eastenders: People in last scene always shown first:
I like to call this reverse order of appearance.

Coronation Street: Generally went with a
more traditional order of appearance.

Nowadays, credits aren't seen as important, which is a great shame. To me the theme tune and titles were iconic parts of the show, and they've been increasingly sidelined.

Another thing guaranteed to stir up nostalgia in me is the memory of all the old "idents" from the days when quaint old ITV was made up of a lot of regional stations with funny names like HTV and Grampian. Who cannot see these images coming up without feeling a wave of nostalgia.

And now, it's Friday 7pm, and we hand
over our transmitters to London Weekend Television!

And now on ATV, it's Crossroads - in Colour!

And now - live from Norwich - it's the quiz of the week!

Next on Thames - it's George and Mildred

Can't leave out the Beeb!

That last one was in use in the 1980's -when The Young Ones came out - a show that revolutionised TV in my eyes, and has uniquely never really been copied or imitated successfully. I have been watching the first series again recently - it's unbelievable to think this show is 30 (THIRTY!) years old! Still so fresh and inventive. The talking household items. The surreal "anything can happen" nature of the show. The band slot (something normally reserved for mainstream middle of the road chat shows). Hard to describe why I love the Young Ones so much but when that show was broadcast in the autumn of 1982, just as Brookside was launched along with the Comic Strip and Brookside my 30 year love affair with TV began.

But back then - there was one image you were guaranteed to see more than any other when you turned on the TV - and here it is...

A bygone era...

Well it's half past midnight now, nostalgia freaks, so in the tradition of TV before it went 24 hours all I can say is it's now time for Closedown!

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Jason xx