Interactive television, or at any rate its equivalent, was par for the course in the sci-fi series I grew up on, mostly Star Trek and Space: 1999.
For some, of course, the term does not denote a monitor-and-keyboard set. It means dissecting every programme frame by frame, and denigrating or praising people and programmes according to one’s agenda, and writing one’s opinion in letters to the press, or in websites or on blogs, about them.
Most of us on the other side of 50 used to enjoy Dougal and The Magic Roundabout when we were children. Later, one bright spark came up with the match-the-drug-to-the-character inspiration, and almost, but not quite, spoiled it for us. Even a ‘trip’ on the aforesaid roundabout was put down to hallucinogens.
One can manage to find hidden meanings in everything, if one is thus inclined; there are children’s programmes that are so weakly-structured that makes this the only feasible reason why they exist.
Mention Rastafarians and most will get a mental picture of Bob Marley, his braids and his spliff. Not too many would imagine that a rat could actually be Rasta. Along the years, we have seen Topo Gigio, Dangermouse, Angelina Ballerina, Mickey, Stuart Little, Roland Rat, Jerry, and hundreds of other rodents created to appeal to children (and adults).
We have also had characters – such as Tinky Winky, the purple Teletubby with a triangular antenna who always carried a handbag – supposedly representing minorities, in this case, homosexuals.
Teletubbies had come under attack because it was ‘causing’ children to ‘speak badly’, since these characters communicated through sighs and monosyllables.
Rastamouse and his friends speak Jamaican patois, so parents are once again worried that their children are picking up bad speaking habits – much like Maltese children today tend to address anyone as ‘man’.
Rastamouse stuffs his braids under the typical tam and this, too, has brought protests from people who say you wouldn’t really appreciate a Catholic, Muslim, Jewish, Hindu or Buddhist animal character wearing clothing characteristic to their faith, because it would be considered demeaning or insulting.
Inevitably, Rastamouse has already become a cult figure; his single Ice Popp (voiced by Radio 1’s Reggie Yates) is already recorded, and EMI set to release a Rastamouse album. The constant references to cheese (Mouseland’s president Wensley Dale) are, in some circles, taken as coded references to drugs.
The character comes from the books by Genevieve Webster and Michael de Souza – and I take it the merchandising is sure to follow soon. Is this any different from having a token black child, or one who uses a wheelchair, in a studio, doing absolutely nothing, in the course of a children’s programme? After all, the motto of the team is ‘Makin’ a bad ting good’ (sic), and surely nobody can find fault with that?
• A reader took me to task for not mentioning that TV presenter Stephanie Spiteri placed first in what he described as a contest. Actually, Spiteri placed first in two polls.
The first was the Media Warehouse survey where she was voted Best Female Presenter on Television. This is quite something, since it requires both stamina and nous to be on camera day after day, and never fail your audience or try to hoodwink them with razzmatazz, like some people I could mention. A case in point is how she is handling the coverage of the Libyan crisis.
The other award came from an online poll, which found her to be the most loved female presenter.
Regular readers will know I never set store by statistics or polls, but just for the record, I know for a fact that Spiteri is a very pragmatic person.
She knows the media world is fickle, and when she says “I love my job and I do it from the heart; however, I am very realistic and know that today it is me, and tomorrow it will be someone else...” she is admitting the truth that other presenters, alas, will never comprehend, and for that alone, she deserves praise.
• The indefatigable David Agius continues to work on behalf of football aficionados who would like to watch their sport without paying through the nose to do so.
The news that Go plc had acquired the exclusive media rights to broadcast the English Premier League and Italian Serie A had sent Melita plc subscribers into a tizzy, since ‘their’ company had retained the rights to the Uefa Champions League so it would not be a simple matter of switching brand loyalty.
Then, of course, there had followed allegations of a cartel, or at least collusion between the service providers, which were hastily denied. The Parliamentary Social Affairs Committee conferred ad nauseam about this issue.
Agius proposes the implementation of practices that have already proven themselves successful in other EU markets, heeding all free market and free competition rules.
The introduction of the ‘must-offer’ clause in the broadcasting licences of pay-TV operators would make it a level pitch (pun intended) for everyone. Done within the right parameters, this would be, as they say, a win-win situation.
In layman’s language, if I subscribe to one operator, I would not have to subscribe to the other to be able to view what I would otherwise miss. This would also do away with the ‘need’ to resort to illegal means to watch matches. This, I would say, would be the fine side of collusion.
• Why is it that radio and TV stations do not at least try and correct bad English and worse Maltese in the adverts they air. It’s not bil-€10, but bl-€10. Meanwhile I wish someone would come up with one, proper, pronunciation for Ewropa and ewro.
television@timesofmalta.com