Most of the time I try to be reasonable in my analysis of the the press, radio and television (which is my particular field of interest). I try to avoid dismissing other people’s work as rubbish or crap. I’ve had some bad reviews in my time and I know how it feels. Mostly people in this industry are doing their best.
So a day or so back on this site I wrote in praise of Seven Sharp. I said they were finally getting it right. It happened to be the same day that Campbell Live, for the first time since it came on air, won the 7pm slot.
And then there was last night, Thursday 14 February. I made my fourth attempt at spaghetti alla carbonara and finally got it right. So we had dinner and sat down late to watch Seven Sharp and later Campbell Live and, after that, maybe a movie. (Let us now give thanks for MySky.)
But I never got beyond Seven Sharp. Yes it was Valentine’s Day and you might be forgiven a little romantic frivolity, but, as JC has observed, this 22 minutes of air-time felt like an hour. And it was total and absolute, mindless, inane, gratuitous, viewer-insulting, indefensible crap. It was testament to the fact that, even with three talented presenters, the whole can be considerably less than the sum of its parts. With the best will in the world, it had no redeeming merit.
I’m not going to express a view for another month on whether Seven Sharp deserves to live or die. That’s partly to be fair to the programme and partly to avoid the embarrassment of saying one thing today and the exact opposite tomorrow. (Mainly the second part!)
