Poetry reading cancelled to appease religious fundamentalists

[titania7]

Originally Posted by Eric

I have very little contact with children, having none of my own. But I have seen the six-year-old daughter of friends of mine who is beginning to play the piano, can do nice dance steps, and handled the wiggly tooth crisis (the two front milk teeth were hanging on a string) with great aplomb. So I know that children can be amazingly developed in some ways at the age of six-seven. It gives you hope for the future.

As you know, Eric, I haven't any children, either. Nor have I ever seen this show you speak of, "Outnumbered." It does sound very funny, however.
I watch so little TV these days--indeed, my TV watching is limited to travel specials and nature shows--that I don't even know if "Outnumbered" is shown in the U.S. At any rate, you're absolutely right when you speak of how mature a child can be at the age of six or seven.
I was actually a "little adult" at that age. And, I've noticed that there are more "little adults" around and about than one would think. Indeed, it does give one hope for the future. I would much rather see an incredibly precocious six or seven-year-old who is vivacious yet well-behaved
than a spoiled child whose mother or father has to continually pacify them.

Originally Posted by Eric

For me, Outnumbered is genuinely one of the most pleasant sitcoms I've seen on TV for quite a while.

I haven't watched any sitcoms in five or six years. However, this one sounds as if it might be worth a look.

~Titania

[Mirabell]

I am horribly addicted to TV, sitcoms being no exception. The good (Frasier), bad (Two and a half Men) and the fashionable (30 Rock). Current faves include Father Ted (old one, I know), The Big Bang Theory (idiot science but I find it hysterically funny), the british run of The IT Crowd and the depressingly bad Samantha Who.

Currently watching british crime show "Cracker", from the 80s, with Robbie Coltrane in the lead role. Amazing stuff.


Can't wait for the next season of Dr. Who to air. Will take till 2010. Damn.

[titania7]

Originally Posted by Mirabell

Currently watching british crime show "Cracker", from the 80s, with Robbie Coltrane in the lead role. Amazing stuff.

Indeed! I've watched tapes of this show that I managed to procure from the library. Crime shows do interest me. As for other TV, I successfully broke my addiction to it quite some time ago. I did enjoy the show, "Medium" (with Patricia Arquette) for a couple of seasons. I find clairvoyance to be a fascinating subject.

If you like "Cracker," luv, you should look for a series of crime shows called "Second Sight" with Clive Owen. And have you, per chance, checked out the Helen Mirren series, "Prime Suspect?" It's a dark, gritty show featuring sharp dialogue and a brilliant acting. I definitely recommend it.

~Titania

[Mirabell]

Originally Posted by titania7

Indeed! I've watched tapes of this show that I managed to procure from the library. Crime shows do interest me. As for other TV, I successfully broke my addiction to it quite some time ago. I did enjoy the show, "Medium" (with Patricia Arquette) for a couple of seasons. I find clairvoyance to be a fascinating subject.

If you like "Cracker," luv, you should look for a series of crime shows called "Second Sight" with Clive Owen. And have you, per chance, checked out the Helen Mirren series, "Prime Suspect?" It's a dark, gritty show featuring sharp dialogue and a brilliant acting. I definitely recommend it.

~Titania

Seen every Prime Suspect episode ever aired.

[Sybarite]

Originally Posted by Mirabell

... Currently watching british crime show "Cracker", from the 80s, with Robbie Coltrane in the lead role. Amazing stuff...

That was not bad at all.

We're just two thirds of the way though a trio of BBC dramatisations of Kurt Wallander mysteries by Swedish author Henning Mankell. Starring Kenneth Branagh as the troubled copper, they follow a familiar basic scenario (troubled copper etc), but do also allow time for the stories to develop using a 90-minute format.

I certainly hope that they make more.

As to sitcoms, I love DinnerLadies, which was written by and starred Victoria Wood (one of our 'national treasures') and Golden Girls. I've got into Frasier and MASH quite a lot in the last few years and have just (seriously) 'discovered' Sex and the City so that I can do girlie nights in.

[Mirabell]

Originally Posted by Sybarite

That was not bad at all.

We're just two thirds of the way though a trio of BBC dramatisations of Kurt Wallander mysteries by Swedish author Henning Mankell. Starring Kenneth Branagh as the troubled copper, they follow a familiar basic scenario (troubled copper etc), but do also allow time for the stories to develop using a 90-minute format.

I certainly hope that they make more.

As to sitcoms, I love DinnerLadies, which was written by and starred Victoria Wood (one of our 'national treasures') and Golden Girls. I've got into Frasier and MASH quite a lot in the last few years and have just (seriously) 'discovered' Sex and the City so that I can do girlie nights in.

Among the dozens of sitcoms I watch and love, Golden Girls is one of the few I just don't get. Just doesn't work for me.

And Frasier may be among my favorite shows ever.

[spooooool]

I remember "Second Sight" Titania. Also thefirst series of Murder One, which was great telly. The Wallander/Branagh, plus the original broadcast the night before is waiting to be watched, goodness knows when though. See also, "the state within" "state of play" and "five days" the latter ifonly for Janet McTeer's performance, but all recommended

[Mirabell]

state of play was great!

[Eric]

"Outnumbered" has become a modest cult comedy, because it involves a slightly disfunctional family but one where, quite shockingly in this day and age, there is a mum, a dad and three kids. Plus the grandad with incipient Alzheimer's. And the story develops; it's a kind of serial.

So I was rather put out tonight when I missed half of the programme because the far more fundamentalist "Strictly Come Dancing" meant that the BBC could mess around with the programming schedules to pander to the populists. Britain is getting like bread & circuses Rome - except that it is bread & Saint Vitus Dance in the wake of the disastrous Recession. Ballroom dancing was shunned and mocked for decades by all but the elderly. Now it so star-studded, that Britain seems hysterically obsessed with it, and with Bruce Forsyth, a pleasant compère, now 80, who is associated with dancing and glam.

The BBC is growing decadent. Thank goodness there are still beacons of sanity, such as "Outnumbered".

So please carry on cancelling poetry readings, so that people can learn the art of sitting in a chair and reading it themselves, at home. One of the great elements of progress in the 19th and 20th centuries was getting people to read silently to themselves, instead of spelling out texts aloud, word by word.

Less dancing, more reading. And bring back sitcoms, all is forgiven.