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roba's review
5.0
This kind of book could very easily be a print equivalent of some Channel 4 countdown show, marketed as the Christmas gift for those people in your life who like House of Cards *and* Morecambe and Wise repeats. But as you'd expect from a TV Cream founder, it's not that at all - it's an incisive and very well thought out history by example.
Phil Norman has chosen a broad and interesting selection of landmark programmes - some you'll have heard of, many not, but all illustrating the origins of developments in the medium. He has a great eye for colourful quotes and details (my favourite being the episode of a 1960s proto-Blumenthal cookery show, 'Egg Liaison'). And he has a good turn of phrase himself - this is TV writing firmly on the Clive James end of the spectrum, as opposed to Sam Wollaston.
Overall, the book serves as a kind of epitaph for TV as we knew it. It makes clear that television's most interesting roots are in the chaos of the first few decades, when there was appetite for experiment at the production end, and more catholic viewing habits in the audience. Now, safety first takes precedence in most production, and the viewer who turns on early for Grand Designs is more likely to accidentally catch the last ten minutes of George Clarke's Amazing Spaces than a one-off play about an existentially troubled hen.
Disclaimer: I know Phil, so I was never likely to give this a bad review. But! It's great, and if you're interested in telly, like Joe Moran etc., this is definitely for you.
Phil Norman has chosen a broad and interesting selection of landmark programmes - some you'll have heard of, many not, but all illustrating the origins of developments in the medium. He has a great eye for colourful quotes and details (my favourite being the episode of a 1960s proto-Blumenthal cookery show, 'Egg Liaison'). And he has a good turn of phrase himself - this is TV writing firmly on the Clive James end of the spectrum, as opposed to Sam Wollaston.
Overall, the book serves as a kind of epitaph for TV as we knew it. It makes clear that television's most interesting roots are in the chaos of the first few decades, when there was appetite for experiment at the production end, and more catholic viewing habits in the audience. Now, safety first takes precedence in most production, and the viewer who turns on early for Grand Designs is more likely to accidentally catch the last ten minutes of George Clarke's Amazing Spaces than a one-off play about an existentially troubled hen.
Disclaimer: I know Phil, so I was never likely to give this a bad review. But! It's great, and if you're interested in telly, like Joe Moran etc., this is definitely for you.
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