the gogglebox

ah tellyvision...

they don't make it like they used'te...

and nor could they. British culture being as it is n all, always changing, looking for the next thing to get excited about.

i've been indulging in retro telly series on that blessed invention - DVD.

a bit of Dallas came my way this birthday via Amsterdam (ta kc) and boy oh boy it's a joy to watch. i was too young to catch the earlier series when it was on in the eighties, but i distinctly remember pretending that i couldn't sleep one night when my mum was engrossed in another explosive episode, so i got to 'sleep' on her knee and peeked out of the corner of my eye and all the goings on! haha

one thing that does flumex me tho is how i could have a crush on J.R. all those years ago when he was clearly a b*stard! Bobby was a bit of a girlie bloke i suppose and well, they were the Ewing boys, who in their right mind would want a Barnes or a lowly ranch hand like Ray? haha, well actually, now you come to mention it, there's something fetching about those chaps! hehe
i did think Larry Hagman was the cutest thing in I Dream of Jeannie but i didn't see that til much later (well i think that's the case - my childhood memory is patchy! too much vodders since then lurve...)
anyhoo, i am so loving finally understanding the Bobby/ J.R. feud. there was J.R. running the show when all of sudden playboy bro Bob turns up with a pushy Mrs and demands to run half the business! haha
anyway i'll just have to put my sadistic childhood crushes down to being brought up in the 80s and move on.

another fab bit of tv fodder i been enjoying again is This Life. Much nearer to home and a must during my uni years. Adored Anna of course, as any young lady of my go-get-that-man generation will agree, the soundtrack was legend (courtesy of one Ricky Gervais apparently) and cut down in its prime like all great tv shows are (my so-called life anyone?!)
rumour has it there's to be a one off feature length This Life reunion episode. now this is either completely fictional but trying to gauge the great British public's response to such a suggestion before writing somet (see recent Take That renuion) or in fact true true true and coming just in time! (after the 10 year anniversary dvd release) i wonder if Gervais would do the music again - that would be wicked! haha

there's a lemonheads song called 'the outdoor type' and in it Evan Dando* sings the line 'what if somethings on tv and it's never shown again?' as a reason for not doing anything remotely outdoorsy with his life. haha that makes me giggle everytime. yes i am easily pleased but surely everyone has at least once in their lives indulged in tv when they should be doing something less boring instead?** it's such a guilty pleasure! which of course i am all for in this life...

talking of addictive trash tv let's have a minutes silence for the late great Aaron Spelling. I know all the words to the theme from the Love Boat! Charlie's Angels was proper girlpower and Starsky & Hutch were the coolest cops ever (tho i remember i enjoyed Chips too...haha)

i know there's plenty of bad things to say about the gogglebox but c'mon - there's some really good stuff too right?!


*i met him once after a gig in cambridge. i wrote my number down and stuck it in one of those little spare button bags with a loveheart sweet that said 'find me' on it (how cute am i?! haha) and very cooly slipped it to a guy from the support band i got chatting to and said 'give that to Evan'. thinking there's no way he'll call, but at least i tried!
but then he did. and i nearly died. but of course i was cool.
bbring bbring. hello? hi, is jodie there? yeah speaking, hi this is Evan, (pause for momentary disbelief) oh, hi...
girls you would be sooo proud of my breeziness with the indie s*xgod haha.
so i went over to his hotel for a drink. and it was a strong one as i was shaking with nerves haha.
but he was SUCH A DISAPPOINTMENT!
i can't stress enough how it put me off meeting any of my idols ever again. he was a spotty stoner. boring. ugly. no charisma whatsoever. so i pulled his mate instead. haha, rockNroll!
i was the talk of the student union bar that week i can tell you!

**didn't you love why don't you?! : )