As we lurch ever closer to the long summer months where television becomes a wasteland desert of sport and Big Brother (how much longer must we endure this marathon of tedium?), I am arming myself against the oncoming storm. I am stockpiling DVD box sets of yesteryear TV classics and edgy contemporary stuff that I haven’t caught up with yet. Heading off into my summer TV bomb shelter, never will the words “Big Brother house, this is Davina,” ever have to assault my eardrums.
Currently winging its way to a non-disclosed south London borough is a shiny Seinfeld Season Four box set, along with Six Feet Under Season Two and The Wire Season One. My complete set of The West Wing has had a judicious feather dusting, ready to answer the call, and you know things are desperate when you’re eyeing those Blake’s 7 box sets with more than half an interested eye. Only open in an emergency…
It’s a good few years since I’ve watched Goodbye, Farwell and Amen. I used to have a scratchy, faded copy taped off the Beeb back in the early 90s on Auntie’s last showing before the rights went to Sky, so it was thankfully bereft of that infuriating laugh track. (Mercifully, the DVD’s allow you to switch this off). That in mind, I had forgotten just how heartbreaking the last 25 minutes are. From the moment the staff of the 4077th sit down to their final meal together, it’s one big blub-fest.
Five minutes before the end and you’ll find me crying like a baby. But I don’t mind admitting that - I’m a big old softie at heart, and there’s so little television out there that has the ability to be this affecting any more. It’s what’s going on behind the fiction that gets me here - these aren’t just characters in a TV show saying goodbye, these are actors who had worked together for years, effectively saying goodbye to each other in front of the audience. I have no doubt that Colonel Potter’s tears as he says his last goodbye to Hawkeye and BJ are the real tears of Harry Morgan saying goodbye to Alan Alda and Mike Farrell. Either that, or he’d just signed up for AfterMAS*H.
Now, why don’t you tell me yours?
My TV's staying off this summer - spending as much time as possible in London seeing shows!