The Night Mail

[petethemole]

23 minutes ago, Dave Hunt said:

 

At one time it was common on the RAF for anyone seeming to be dim witted to be called a 'Benny', which was, I believe, after a character in Crossroads.

 

Dave 

 

The son of a late colleague served with 2 Para in the Falklands conflict and the aftermath.  Apparently the Islanders were commonly called 'Bennies'as they wore woolly hats and were perceived as a bit backward.  The troops were ordered to stop calling them that so they wetre then called 'Stills'....because they were still Bennies.

[Winslow Boy]

4 hours ago, TheQ said:

Never seen any in any of the local stations, or on buses. 

Clearly not mixing in the 'right circles'

[Compound2632]

41 minutes ago, figworthy said:

 

UK readers with long memories may remember Crossroads

 

Possibly the only soap set in the West Midlands, if one discounts Red Dwarf?

 

There was a story that when the BBC were planning what became Eastenders, one possible setting under consideration was Birmingham but market research showed that in that case not even Brummies would watch it.

[Winslow Boy]

3 hours ago, Hroth said:

 

With Matilda? 🤔

 

Only if I can lead.

[Winslow Boy]

3 hours ago, TheQ said:

Doesn't quite do it for me really. I think it might be the sky blue clashing with red paint on the walls.

[pH]

1 hour ago, iL Dottore said:

…

Somebody once pointed out (in the 80s soon after EastEnders had started) that the difference between American soap operas and British soap operas is that American soap operas gave viewers something to look up to and to aspire to, Whereas British soap operas gave audiences something to look down on and think "my life might be absolute carp, but at least I'm better off than those poor bu99ers on the TV "

…

I know I’m going to get stick for this, but I’ll say it anyway - possibly the best US soap I saw (other than “Soap” itself!) was “Roseanne” with Roseanne Barr as the title character and John Goodman as her husband. From Wikipedia:

 

“Many critics considered the show notable as one of the first sitcoms to realistically portray a blue-collar American family with two parents working outside the home, as well as lead characters who were noticeably overweight without their weight being the target of jokes.”

 

While I would generally agree with Il Dottore about the standard of UK soaps, I think there were exceptions. I thought the later days of “Z Cars” were interesting, where the ‘police’ part of the stories was often just a background to more personal (but not tragic) happenings. I don’t agree with Il Dottore’s general praise for US soaps - I think that, in general, the lifestyles portrayed do not “give viewers something to look up to and to aspire to” but are instead well beyond anything the large majority of viewers have any hope of ever attaining. (Resulting in a possibly intended general effect of much TV programming - creation in viewers of dissatisfaction with their present personal situation.)

[Dave Hunt]

33 minutes ago, petethemole said:

 

The son of a late colleague served with 2 Para in the Falklands conflict and the aftermath.  Apparently the Islanders were commonly called 'Bennies'as they wore woolly hats and were perceived as a bit backward.  The troops were ordered to stop calling them that so they wetre then called 'Stills'....because they were still Bennies.

 

Yes, I did know about that from my time in the Falklands but didn't like to be quite so specific as to the recipients of the appellation.

 

Dave

[jamie92208]

32 minutes ago, Dave Hunt said:

 

Yes, I did know about that from my time in the Falklands but didn't like to be quite so specific as to the recipients of the appellation.

 

Dave

I suspect that you were more concerned about whether or not the Helwith Bridge granite was still as Skid resistant as it should have been. 

 

Jamie

[iL Dottore]

33 minutes ago, pH said:

I know I’m going to get stick for this, but I’ll say it anyway - possibly the best US soap I saw (other than “Soap” itself!) was “Roseanne” with Roseanne Barr as the title character and John Goodman as her husband. From Wikipedia:

 

“Many critics considered the show notable as one of the first sitcoms to realistically portray a blue-collar American family with two parents working outside the home, as well as lead characters who were noticeably overweight without their weight being the target of jokes.”

 

While I would generally agree with Il Dottore about the standard of UK soaps, I think there were exceptions. I thought the later days of “Z Cars” were interesting, where the ‘police’ part of the stories was often just a background to more personal (but not tragic) happenings. I don’t agree with Il Dottore’s general praise for US soaps - I think that, in general, the lifestyles portrayed do not “give viewers something to look up to and to aspire to” but are instead well beyond anything the large majority of viewers have any hope of ever attaining. (Resulting in a possibly intended general effect of much TV programming - creation in viewers of dissatisfaction with their present personal situation.)

Trust me, my dear friend, I am certainly no fan of soap operas whether British, American, Arabic or South American. (The latter two I glimpsed on the television when travelling for business and seemed equally as dispiriting as their Western and North American counterparts. But soap operas, especially in Argentina and Brazil, are incredibly popular).

 

I would agree with what you said about Roseanne, although I have never watched the program myself, all the reviews I've read  have been very much in the vein of what you were saying.

 

however I am not sure that I agree with your contention that an aspirational soap opera – like Dallas – creates unrealistic aspirations or resentment.

 

I think most people have enough awareness of reality to realise that you don't have the sort of money to throw around like JR Ewing unless you have a couple of oil Wells in your portfolio, You may not be able to afford  bespoke designer originals, but you can still aspire  to recreate some of that ambience at Costco. Another aspect of US "aspirational" soap operas is often the lives of these mega rich individuals are totally FUBAR'd. Leading viewers to conclude that whilst they may not have the Cadillac El Dorado with a crocodile leather seats and gold trim, at least they don't have a wife/girlfriend/partner who has the morals of an alley cat and the ethics of an inside trader.

 

One quote I read, I forget who was by, some psycho analysis or something – went along the lines of "soap operas are for those individuals with empty, meaningless, lives who can only  experience life as a vicarious observer of others made up existences"

 

which I think is a pretty harsh assessment but one that does have a modicum of truth to it.

[jjb1970]

I got fed up of people making snarky remarks of the 'do you think you're better than me' type if music entered conversation that I decided to agree, just to return the favour of being annoying and judgemental.  Which more often than not led to me saying that if people didn't like it then they might want to avoid judging others.

[Hroth]

Metro is freely available across trains and buses in Merseyside.  As folk DO read it, it gives the lie to the supposition that the inhabitants are all illiterate...

 

Its a rubbish paper, only a few pages per issue!

 

[pH]

32 minutes ago, iL Dottore said:

…

however I am not sure that I agree with your contention that an aspirational soap opera – like Dallas – creates unrealistic aspirations or resentment.

I think most people have enough awareness of reality to realise that you don't have the sort of money to throw around like JR Ewing …

We were evidently looking at different soaps as ‘aspirational’. Obviously, nobody not in the top 0.001% or so is going to be able to emulate JR. I was thinking more of the lives of the characters in “Friends” , for example , who had no obvious jobs but lived at a level above the norm for most real-life people of their (apparent) age/description/abilities. I’m inclined to see programs like that as extensions of the lifestyle commercials that are broadcast in conjunction with them, and something for viewers to aspire to (by acquiring those products featured in said commercials, of course).

 

A side note about “Dallas”. Our neighbours are a Romanian couple who lived under the Ceaușescu regime. Very nice, very smart people who we are lucky to have as neighbours. Apparently, “Dallas” was actually broadcast on state TV in Romania. As a result, people developed a hope that the Romanian government would annoy the US government enough that they would invade Romania, remove the communist government and bring about a situation where everyone could have a way of life like that of the Ewings!

Edited August 14 by pH

[jjb1970]

One of the problems with TV in general is shows stay in production far too long and go past their shelf life.

 

One reason Fawlty Towers stood the test of time so well is they made 12 episodes of finely crafted comedy and moved on before it could go stale.

 

I love Dad's Army but it went on too long. Last of the summer wine went from gentle but well observed humour delivered with aplomb to a weird soap opera and cringe northern tropes pastiche of what it started as. The Simpson's started as a wonderfully well written and razor sharp satire but became a very tired and stale parody of itself.

 

I like the Korean TV format of doing 16 long (1-2 hours) episodes and moving on to the next one.

[AndyID]

People here asked us if we found it difficult to adjust to living in the US. I told them it was very easy because we knew what the US was like from watching Kojak, Starsky and Hutch, Dallas and The Beverly Hillbillies.

[pH]

2 minutes ago, jjb1970 said:

The Simpson's started as a wonderfully well written and razor sharp satire but became a very tired and stale parody of itself.

Which can still produce the odd real zinger to remind you of what it once was!

[Northmoor]

2 minutes ago, pH said:

A side note about “Dallas”. Our neighbours are a Romanian couple who lived under the Ceaușescu regime. Very nice, very smart people who we are lucky to have as neighbours. Apparently, “Dallas” was actually broadcast on state TV in Romania. As a result, people developed a hope that the Romanian government would annoy the US government enough that they would invade Romania, remove the communist government and bring about a situation where everyone could have a way of life like that of the Ewings!

I think it might have been a Romanian tennis player who just after the fall of the Ceauscescu regime, brought his mother to the USA.  When he took her into a normal street corner deli in New York, at the sight of abundant food, stacked shelves and no-one queuing, she burst into tears.  It when she finally realised that everything they had ever been told by the State - that they always believed was looking after them - about life in the West, was a lie.

[Tony_S]

49 minutes ago, AndyID said:

People here asked us if we found it difficult to adjust to living in the US. I told them it was very easy because we knew what the US was like from watching Kojak, Starsky and Hutch, Dallas and The Beverly Hillbillies.

I wouid have added “Top Cat” and “Yogi Bear”.

My first visit to the US (Boston) didn’t seem at all odd visually thanks to all the TV show but it smelled different , (lots of fried onions) and was so hot. I finally understood why air con was so popular.

[Happy Hippo]

5 hours ago, The White Rabbit said:

 

Wotesed...

 

 

I think I do have something better to do. Today (pause for dramatic effect) I have been painting four POWs inside and out 

That is a war crime according to the Geneva Convention 

[Happy Hippo]

2 hours ago, Dave Hunt said:

 

Yes, I did know about that from my time in the Falklands but didn't like to be quite so specific as to the recipients of the appellation.

 

Dave

I think you nose just grew another two inches...

 

You would have loved to be more specific, but didn’t want to offend.

 

 

 

 

Remember what the Bennies said about paras:

 

Only three things fall  from the sky

 

Rain 

 

Bird Sh*t

 

Stupid Pillocks

Edited August 14 by Happy Hippo

[monkeysarefun]

1 hour ago, Northmoor said:

When he took her into a normal street corner deli in New York, at the sight of abundant food, stacked shelves and no-one queuing, she burst into tears.  It when she finally realised that everything they had ever been told by the State - that they always believed was looking after them - about life in the West, was a lie.

 

 

Theres many a video on youtube of Americans reacting in much the same way when they discover that pretty much the rest of the world has paid parental leave, sick leave and vacations and  government subsidised  healthcare, .

[J. S. Bach]

Night Owl from the Piedmont.

[jjb1970]

You know if you made a model and replicated the seam between the fuselage and vertical stabiliser here you'd have loads of armchair experts tell you it's wrong and that serious modellers use filler to eradicate such seams. Or maybe I am too cynical.

 

[TheQ]

One thing I noted in Saudi was the belief of locals that everything on their TV was true. Also the non Europeans  / Americans from other countries that saw soap operas, often believed they were true to., So were desperate to get to Europe / USA for free sex and vast wealth..

[AndyID]

1 hour ago, jjb1970 said:

You know if you made a model and replicated the seam between the fuselage and vertical stabiliser here you'd have loads of armchair experts tell you it's wrong and that serious modellers use filler to eradicate such seams. Or maybe I am too cynical.

 

 

Isn't that what paint is for?

[AndyID]

17 minutes ago, TheQ said:

desperate to get to Europe / USA for free sex and vast wealth..

 

Schtum! Schtum!