Lists have always been common place in the media since the invention of the newspaper. Every magazine likes to do a ‘best of’ or poll reader opinion but they are mainly just a way of easily filling space, and TV has taken this to the limit. But TV list shows do serve one thing; that people like to know opinion and crave nostalgia. Plus at the end of the day as they’re mainly just clips they are easy to watch.
The Key Ingredient is Talking Heads
To produce such a show all you need is a bunch of clips, somebody or the general public to pick the contents and a flash in the pan to present it. Oh, and key ingredient, talking heads. Sometimes the people they get, mainly on the film ones, are famous and very knowledgeable about the subject but usually it’s a case of anyone will do so you get some lowly comedian or obscure meeja person yacking on.
Case in point, over the Christmas/New Year period BBC Three (da yoof channel) broadcast The Most Annoying People of 2008. With a name like that you know you’re not going to get an award winning venture into celebrity culture and know it’s going to involve boring, unfunny and largely unknown people talking complaining about those who are actually more famous than them.
Top was bland model Agyness Deyn. The problem was all the journalists and gossip merchants who appeared on the show moaned about how she gets so much attention and column space. Well they all stop writing about her for a start - not a day goes by that there’s some non-story just so they can print some pictures of her wearing daft clothes.
The BBC’s Great British Sitcom thing
What these countdowns highlight more than anything is that on the whole the British public have poor taste. A few years ago the BBC did a rather amiable attempt at collecting the best British sitcoms every made, once again voted for by the public but rather conveniently ended up with an all BBC made top 10.
Of course there were the likes of Fawlty Towers, Blackadder and Only Fools And Horses (the eventual winner but perhaps also a contender for most overrated sitcom) but then there was The Vicar Of Dibley. It was a travesty that it was in the top 10 and Father Ted wasn’t but to for it to come third and beat Dad’s Army, Yes, Minister and Fawlty Towers was embarrassing.
As part of the format each show in the final was supported by a famous face. Some such as Phill Jupitus, Jack Dee and Armando Iannucci obviously know a lot about comedy and were very passionate about their chosen show. David Dickinson, a man who looks more wooden than the antiques he talks about, and Carol Vorderman have no comedy background and didn’t seem to know too much about the programmes they were representing.
Channel 4: The Master of Lists
Channel 4 is one of the best things to ever happen to British TV due to its alternative nature and the ability to push the envelope with edgy dramas and comedies that wouldn’t see the light of day anywhere else. But when it comes to list shows it is by far the worst offender and yawns out these things all the time even though this is a channel that temporarily axed the brilliant Peep Show.
This is where Jimmy Carr pretty much made a name on himself on TV and in some cases made them watchable. But now that Jimmy has moved on to bigger and better things it’s usually up to the T4 morons who are phenomenally bad with their ridiculous hair cuts and terrible, ill-informed links to clumsily introduce more shoddy collections.
They’re done everything from films to TV shows to TV moments to songs to scary stuff to controversy to stand ups to kid’s shows - it’s endless really. In fact Channel 4 has done so many that one day soon it’s bound to air the 100 Greatest List Shows Ever. It’s probably being commissioned right now.
