Pussy Power

I know I shouldn't laugh- it's not very nice- but the BBC Blue Peter pussy story cracks me up.

To rig a vote to avoid the democracy of children choosing "Pussy", as the poor little innocent kitten's name. I'm sorry but that is ridiculous and funny.

How very coy, and very Auntie Beeb.

Although I worked in Children's BBC for a few years- 97-2000- and directed some of their biggest brands (Record Breakers, Short Change, Sub Zero), I never quite made it into their BP director's clique (I wonder why?)

They did let me creatively manage the Blue Peter web-site relaunch (1997) which was quite fun.

TV in the UK is embarking on a dangerous journey if they are really going to seek out all such examples of producer choice.

They will have to sack hundreds of people.

Whilst I don't believe in defrauding people- eg the extortion phone lines- a lot of what happens in TV is "cheated".

It's a creative medium that costs a lot to make.

On a PSC- portable single camera shoot- you have to re-do things a number of times to get the angles and shots. When working with "real people" this is very much faking reality.

Most news reports use "noddy" shots or ECUs (extreme close-ups) of hands as cut-aways to cover edits in soundbites.

Very few people can deliver 25 sec soundbites- I'm one of them;) Although I'm much better at doing it live than in pre-recs. Knowing that I can start again means I go on and on until the interviewers eyes glaze over.

One of the bad things about being me- having worked in the media for years- is that I can spot all the tricks a mile off. So when people are "being nice" I know it.

TV's second stage of fakery comes in the edit suite- directors play god with reality all the time.

Real reality is long and boring.

That is why TV is fun- all the boring stuff gets trimmed out.

Of course, you shouldn't mess with the order of things- and make the Queen storm out, when she didn't- but there are definite shades of grey.

I don't want to get too seriously into this debate.

But I do feel a bit sorry for some of the people who are in the process of losing their jobs.

The whole culture has been a certain way for years.

If we are now entering a new puritan period they should declare an amnesty in TV and let everyone own what has been done; in the name of entertainment.

Then we can settle in for some really boring- real TV shows.

Funny. I usually watch TV to escape from reality. Not watch paint dry.

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PS I'm appearing on LK Today next Thurs- to talk about cocaine addiction. We are pre-recording it on Tuesday. (I'm not joking).