h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/tv_and_radio/3184529.stm

Radio Times' selection of the greatest TV ever. Hmm. Well, there's all the usual suspects there - Dad's Army, Fawlty Towers, Steptoe & Son. And since it's compiled by Alison Graham, obviously there's the usual puffing up of Eastenders and Corrie. But there're some odd choices.

I'm Alan Partridge is in, but The Day Today is not. Or Brass Eye for that matter.

The League of Gentlemen is in there. Now, I like League of Gentlemen, but I'm not sure it's that great. Clever, but never as funny as it ought to be. And where's Reggie Perrin?

Edge of Darkness is there, which is obviously as it should be. I'd also have included A Very British Coup.

But the biggest gap in the list really shows up the prejudices of Ms Graham (which are clear to anyone who reads her columns). Where's the SF and Fantasy? No Quatermass. No Star Trek. No Star Cops. (OK, I'm probably pushing that one.)

But no Doctor Who? A programme that lasted for 26 years and still fuels many spin-offs. That practically everyone has heard of, even those who never watched it.

And no Buffy? The greatest TV show in the last few years.

Still, at least she included 'Caught On A Train' Eh? Phew!

The snubbing of sci-fi is just carrying on a tradition which started a long time ago in the BBC. The clue as far as many people are concerned is in the hiring policy and in which national newspaper the obligatory public announcements of jobs are made (because of the readership implications).

A similar situation applies to the lack of scientific education among politicians.

Thatcher had a degree in Chemistry, didn't she? Don't think that proves anything, though...

She did and the others weren't exactly keen on her but that could be put down to many things.

Blackadder is there.

Is this all just Alison Graham's opinion or was there any sort of vote or statistical analysis?

The news story implies that she was responsible. The lack of Doctor Who demonstrates it can't have been a public poll, because last time the BBC did that, Doctor Who came top (much to the BBC's embarrassment).

That definitely calls for another one of these:

o-.-.
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Just point it in the direction of Alison Graham, Jim. I'm sure it will be able to figure out the rest for itself...

And how long did it take you to work out an ASCII dalek, hmm?

B

Not really very long. The excessive line height and proportionally-spaced font (rather than fixed width) are problems here as are the removal of initial and multiple spaces and terminating backslashes.

It isn't my first dalek. I come from a time before this internet. The original version of the internet was the university/military one. Monitors and teletypes were all fixed-width. I was one of the first creators of ASCII art for messages and have a large dalek and TARDIS from then plus a number of HHGTTG ones as well as more normal pictures. My creations spread round the world and popped up again much later used by people who didn't even know they were mine.

On the Reggie theme, I'd like to have seen Fairly Secret Army in there, but oh well. I think we can safely retitle this poll "one woman's personal favourite TV shows, as jotted down on the back of an envelope one quiet evening".

Jim (or someone else) could do a rebuttal in the next Radio Times or in one of those Sunday paper magazines or letters to the editor columns.

Well Z-cars made it along with some others which suggest she likes cop shows. There's no Yes (Prime) Minister and I find it odd that she singled out Blackadder Goes Forth from the other Blackadder series. That with a couple of other things suggests a liking for war too (Allo Allo is conspicuously absent but presumably not war-like enough).

Although she's got the pretty nature series she's missed any harder or popular science, eg Tomorrow's World is a long running series, Horizon (even though it's got worse lately). I suppose there was no way the Open University as a single entity would have been included despite having a very long life-time as a "TV show".

I can't help feeling that, assuming it *is* just one person's opinion, it's all rather worthless. My list would exclude soaps, but would be much heavier in SF/Fantasy. (Thunderbirds! How can you miss out Thunderbirds?) and lighter on the pompous play for today things.

When Sight & Sound do their 'Greatest Ever Movies' list, they poll a large number of writers, critics and filmmakers (and include their nominations for the record) which at least starts to move towards consensus.

But fans of SF have always suffered the derision of 'the mainstream' - meaning 'people who've never read or seen SF'.

And you're quite right. Where's Yes (Prime) Minister? They show it on UK Gold and it's frightening how relevant it is. In fact, many of the 'crackpot' schemes that Sir Humphrey has to prevent are things which have been implemented since. And on the same topic, I'd include The West Wing.

And I'd put money on her never having watched 'The Ascent of Man' or 'Civilisation'. Probably.

After the BBC's (allegedly) Top 100 Books, I gave up on their lists as being somewhat idiotic.

I should've given up after Great Britons, come to think of it.

B

I didn't know you were a fellow Thunderbirds fan, Jim! It is absolutely my all-time favourite for feel-good factor when I'm so ill that all I can manage is to watch a video (and not quite so ill that I can't stand the TV on at all).

Isn't the Radio Times thing a little late in doing this (as well as not doing it properly)? Channel 4 already did lots of Top100 lists.

Sounds like a candidate for the Top 100 Worthless Lists Ever

Whatever Alison Graham says, I tend to do the oposite... so if she gives something a bad review, I have to watch it...

I'm glad I'm not the only one.

Still, haven't bought a Radio Times for ages, since I got my TiVo.