My girlfriend was away for the weekend, so I took full advantage of being a bachelor again. Oh yeah, I spent all day sat on my sofa in my pants, eating chocolate, watching Battlestar Galactica and making my own amusement. Oh how I have missed this life in the last week and a half.
I actually managed to get right to the end of BSG, though I didn't enjoy the last season quite as much and thought the ending was a little bit lame. I won't give too much away, although the gist of it is not too surprising, but I was not convinced by the religious aspects of the piece, or the fact that all the colonists, who have disagreed and fought over almost over every decision in the series, readily accepted the decision made by their acting president of how they would live from now on.
But still I have enjoyed the ridiculous ride and most of the characters and performances (I don't really care for Lee Adama too much, but everyone else is ace, especially Gaius). It's well worth a watch. I think Razor was my favourite thing though and so have high hopes for the other spin off series.
I had barely moved off the sofa all day, but had very much needed a day off after another hectic week, with one more AIOTM to write before Monday. And I ended up watching the British Comedy Awards and providing a running commentary on Twitter. In the past I have been bitter about the fact that my career (On The Hour aside) has been ignored by this institution. The last time I even got to go to the thing was in 1992, which means that in the last 17 years I have done nothing that the panel have even felt was worth nominating. But as I've made clear many times that is not unusual. Nor has anyone else.
But tonight I was not bitter about it. It might have been helpful if they had given any of the Lee and Herring stuff a nod in the 1990s (just in terms of us getting another series) but with the wisdom of age I know that much of what happens there is about politics and broadcasters largely trying to build up the shows that they want to continue rather than bolstering something that has gone unnoticed. There are some exceptions. It was nice to see Pulling getting awards and nominations even though the BBC has stopped making it.
And really most of the winners were well chosen and deserved. I love Harry Hill, Psychoville, Outnumbered and Charlie Brooker and they all did well.
I could even smile as Peter Kay won an award for outstanding contribution to comedy, though it was interesting to see that he hadn't bothered to prepare a speech for this award that he would have known he was going to win. And how lacking in grace and humour he was.
There was a sharp contrast when Graham Linehan came up to receive his well deserved writing award. He was both funny and humble, but also the whole room rose to their feet for him. That respect and acknowledgment of how great he clearly is means more than a gaudy award.
I had fun being silly and mean and childish on Twitter and felt glad when the right people won and just laughed when the wrong people did (Stewart Lee was of course robbed, which was only a shame in that it might have helped him get another series). But then I turned over to ITV2 to watch the after show coverage and that properly depressed me. It was slapdash and amateurish in the extreme. In a room where the funniest people are meant to be gathered it was astonishing how rubbish this show was. It was like no one really gave a fuck about anything but filling up the air time. And yes, in a way, it's only ITV2, but there are plenty of comedians and presenters out there who would love to be on TV and would love to put some effort into making something like this that was good. But the interviews were inane, the female presenter sat staring into the camera for long seconds before realising she was meant to be speaking (which might well have been the fault of the production staff, but it's pretty useless if they can't do something as simple as this) and the bloke from Bo Selecta prowled around talking to drunk comedians, with clearly absolutely no preparation or idea of what he would do. He was reduced to getting minor comedy stars to throw large pieces of cheese at the wall. Something which would be a bit crap and embarrassing if he'd only done it once, but he kept on going back to it. Like throwing food around is the height of comedy and not insulting on so many levels (not least, just on the basic wastage of food). Just ten minutes of working out what he might do in the links would have given something better than this. But then this is the way TV is going and perhaps why I no longer feel too bad about not being on it anymore. It would be great to be able to do something where I had control over content, like Stewart and Armando seem to be managing, but the problem is that most comedy shows are not like that any more. Or am I just being an old man whining abut how things aren't as good in the old days, when I am actually just pissed off that they don't make my shows any more.
I don't know. But I didn't feel bitter or whiny. I actually felt glad to be doing my own thing and largely unbothered by being totally unrecognised as a comedic force by these people. Though slightly bewildered too by the fact I never have been. Not because I think I am particularly brilliant, just because of some of the people that have been feted over the years.
But the bloke from Bo Selecta trying to encourage one of the talented cast of the Inbetweeners to throw cheese at a statue suspended above the crowd was perhaps representative of where TV can go wrong. The Inbetweener refused to do so, noticing that the cheese would hit innocent passers by. But alas he still threw it at the wall. A withering refusal to join in with the whole thing would have been a super cool response, but we can't have everything.
