The Credit Crunch, knife crime, Ashley Cole’s continued presence in the same country as me – things are looking decidedly gloomy at the moment.
Television has a duty to inform us about the state of the world, but it doesn’t have to do it with such glee. As some of the world’s largest companies wobbled and tumbled to the ground like some over-sauced Auntie on a wedding day dancefloor, you could almost hear news editors noisily smacking their lips in anticipation of spreading the melancholy. Good news might leave viewers temporarily satisfied with a pleasant taste in their mouths – but bad news will have them coming back for seconds and thirds, gluttonously demanding every foul-tasting detail. Perhaps mine is a viewpoint coloured by all-too-frequent viewings of relentlessly chipper and doe-eyed Disney films, but whatever. The only sort of news programme I am prepared to tolerate at present are the most reliable and least threatening type; the entirely fictional ones.
As some of the world’s largest companies wobbled and tumbled to the ground
The Armando Iannuci-helmed The Day Today set the benchmark high for satirical news shows, but it’s a snowy-topped peak that the magnificent The Daily Show with Jon Stewart (More4, from October 10) almost scales. Stewart can’t quite match Chris Morris for presence or sheer comic ability, but the pair are still breathing the same rarified air. Stewart’s show is more satirical and less relentlessly silly than The Day Today, but the message is still the same – if you’re going to watch the news, don’t take it too seriously.
Two people who could never be accused of taking newsworthy incidents too seriously are Matt Stone and Trey Parker. The concluding half of South Park’s 12th season is a matter of weeks away, and whilst this fresh batch of shows won’t graduate onto British television until next year, they’ll certainly be floating around online very soon. To tide you over until then, Paramount are showing every episode of the show thus far.
South Park should be the biggest TV show in the world, but the completely unwarranted criticism levelled at the show in it’s infancy seems to colour people’s perception of the show to this day. The outrage at the time – now an incredible 10 years ago – created a distorted image of South Park as a juvenile and facile programme, an infantile and controversy-hunting pretender to The Simpson’s crown. Those who rightfully dismiss the increasingly repetitive and annoying linear Family Guy also seem to mark South Park’s card with an unjustly negative cross, simply because of the initial reaction to the show.
…now an incredible 10 years ago
In reality, the show represents the sharpest, funniest and best constructed comedy in the world, animated or otherwise. Yes, it’s that good. The show’s more adult audience allows them to deal with issues that The Simpsons dare not touch, and allows them to satirise or simply attack any target in a savagely stark but constantly funny manner.
The collapse of the financial infrastructure of the Western world is no laughing matter, and if the credit crunch sends the price of Mars milk above £1.50, you can bet I’ll be leading the march on Downing Street. Until then, if the World’s banks all crumble like the digestive at the bottom of the packet, simply follow Jon Stewart, Trey Parker and Matt Stone’s lead, and make a few nob gags about it.
