The National Television Awards were last night and to be honest it’s my favourite UK television awards show since every single category is voted for by the public.
Ant and Dec went and won the Best Entertainment Presenter for the thirteenth year running beating Keith Lemon, Alan Carr, Dermot O’Leary and Graham Norton. (more…)
(Like yesterday’s blog, this is inspired by Sherlock – although there are no spoilers this time.)
Do you ever become disinterested or apathetic towards something that you once loved? I’ve found that happening with me recently and more often than not it’s towards TV shows.
I’ve watched and enjoyed Doctor Who since it returned to our screens in 2005. Christopher Eccleston was my first Doctor, Billie Piper as Rose Tyler was my first companion. Rose has continued to be my favourite companion (followed by Donna Noble and Sally Sparrow) and David Tennant became my favourite Doctor almost as soon as he appeared on the screen – that’s not saying I didn’t like Christopher Eccleston, he’ll always have a special place in my heart for bringing Doctor Who to my attention.
However over recent years and series I’ve found myself watching Doctor Who out of habit rather than interest or enjoyment. First I thought it was because of Matt Smith as the Doctor but while his take is certainly different to the ones I’m used to I don’t think it’s that bad. After much thought I think I’ve found the reason for my disinterest – the stories. I just don’t like them anymore. They are often convoluted and full of plot holes and the story arc is usually huge and incomprehensible the first time you watch it. I miss the subtle stories arcs of “Bad Wolf” and “Torchwood”. But even though I am now quite apathetic towards the show I still watch it. I am looking forward to Peter Capaldi as the Doctor but a new Doctor most probably won’t change the writers need for huge convoluted stories where there’s no “ordinary female character” – they must all be “special and impossible and in love with the Doctor”.
But like I said I’m sure when it appears on my TV screen again I’ll be watching it. I’ve found that I was kind of the same with Sherlock. I really enjoyed the first two series but with the third just finished I felt that I was watching it because it was on and not because I really wanted to. I’m not sure if my feelings towards Sherlock was due to the fact it had been off air for two years so my love for the show had waned over time or if it was again due to the stories. I’ve ended up just watching a show out of habit before with Heroes.
I do know that I have a relatively short attention span when it comes to TV shows. I find it difficult to keep up when I’m at Uni and have to remember to watch the show on iPlayer and if it’s an American show I tend to just wait for the UK air date as finding a streaming site that isn’t blocked by the University can take forever. Case in point Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D – I’m probably going to be waiting till it’s back on Channel 4 in March to continue watching it. I think sometimes with TV shows that have been on air for a while you have X amount of series with between 13 – 24 episodes to watch and that’s quite daunting when you can watch a film in two hours or just sit and read a book for a while.
I do feel a bit sad that I don’t love something like a TV show as much as I once did but I suppose it’s all a part of growing up and how our tastes and interests change. But for some reason I feel as if I should keep watching even if I don’t love it so much – maybe it’s because I think it might go back to what I loved or maybe (and this is most likely) it is just habit.
(This blog is brought to you by the latest episode of BBC’s Sherlock so expect spoilers for that. There are also small spoilers for character deaths in Harry Potter and The Hunger Games)
So I’ve caught up with Sherlock and it appears that Moriarty may have returned. I don’t want him to though. I’ve got my fingers crossed that it’s Moran playing with old footage of Moriarty and that Jim Moriarty hasn’t somehow managed to survive blowing his own brains out.
I watched the Crazy About One Direction documentary on Channel 4 last night and it simultaneously amazed me and left me a little speechless. (Obviously now I’m over the being speechless part.) It also made me think. While I do not believe that all One Direction fans are like the girls in the documentary I do believe that in any fan base there are extremes, so those girls do show a portion of One Directions fan base however big or small.
Listening to how some of the girls would react if they ever met the members of One Direction made me think about my attitude to “famous people.” I haven’t met many famous people at all but I’d like to think if I met Hugh Jackman, for instance, who was my first crush (besides Declan Donnelly) who plays one of my favourite characters I’d like to not come across as crazy and obsessive as those girls on Crazy About One Direction.
My only instance of meeting a famous person was when I met Dexter Fletcher at an advance screening of Welcome to the Punch. (Jason Flemyng also happened to be there but Dexter Fletcher was the focus of my attentions.) I was with my friend Amanda and she had to deal with me going on about how much I love Dexter Fletcher’s film and TV work (I think my love of secondary characters is down to Dexter Fletcher to be honest) when I saw him in the audience before the film started. Poor Amanda didn’t know who he was so she probably got bored very quickly. When it was time to leave the cinema screen we went to leave by the same exit as Dexter Fletcher and Jason Flemyng. They were talking I’d never thought I was one to get star struck but I was. I admit that I was just staring at him like a creepy person until Amanda jumped in and said “Dexter Fletcher, my friend wants to say hi.” (She’s awesome!) And FYI Dexter Fletcher is really nice. He shook my hand and asked my name and talked about the film a bit (I said I thought it was great) and then asked if I was into films then so I said I was currently in my final year at University studying film and I wanted to be a Unit Publicist. Jason Flemyng had been listening too and he said they always need Unit Publicist’s and they both wished me luck and I was internally freaking out.
The key word in that above sentence is “internally.” I believe I came across quite well (at least Amanda said I didn’t seem too weird.) I do know that afterwards I had a huge smile on my face and a spring in my step.
As someone who one day hopes to be working in the film industry, I think in the back of my mind I’m thinking “maybe one day I might be working with/for this person so I really don’t want to give them a bad impression.”
In my mind a famous person is just the same as anyone else – they just might be a little more talented in sports or music or acting. They might even be considered luckier as for every famous actor there’s a struggling actor-cum-waiter. Famous people are still people and if someone came up to me and started screaming in my face I’m pretty sure I’d want to take a step back from then rather than talk to them. So to have that every day, everywhere you go – I can’t really imagine what that would be like.
So in conclusion to this rather long blog, I think we can be as crazy and obsessive and appreciative of a celebrity as we like in front of a computer screen but when we’re in the public in front of the celebrity of our dreams, we must remember that they are human and that you wouldn’t want to embarrass yourself in front of them. Like I said they are human and humans love laughing at others – and I for one would hate to be laughed at by Hugh Jackman.
Elena Square Eyes 