Slow moving commentators are so welcome

We don't watch our ABC--- it scares us too much . Rather watch Bruce Parry on SBS.
Series on The Arctic
He hangs around long enough to really get a feel for what's really happening and is not afraid to let the people speak.beats so many who are out to point fingers and poke them into windmills

Should get him down into the Riverina?- he might tell us something we don't already think we know

The positive side of being a good grump

One of the unexpected pleasures for old grumps is finding old plays of the past whose value we now appreciate ;( David Hare seems to have revived plenty of the Russian authors - why aren't they on our TV's? ---ABC2 and ABC3 ) The things that really worked and the rubbish ; the quickfizz colour and movement that goes nowhere and has no real choices ( modern Dr Who?); scenes like those at the end of PLENTY-lonely, shallow and empty.( forget the watering down woosiness scene in the paddock at the very end of FRED SCHEPSIS"s film)
When we were young , we thought we knew -. This is not new ; what's new and pathetic is all the woosy adults who can't bother to be grumpy old parents/GP for the sake of being consistent and concrete walls of reality to the next generation/s . Sure young people "don't listen" and " don't want to know" but should that mean we don't use some subtedly, rather than silence and rage if we really "want to make a difference and also them to make a difference to their world - "Lets get it right - even if we are boring old grumps for saying so
Grumpy old men and women is a welcome indulgence for us to share with each other at the end of the day ( we listen to each other - even if our kids don't listen to us ). Better though are those British films and plays that revive an honest review of both the TOUGH and weak choices of the past . we want to see more of them . even if they are just recorded on stage .( live theatre on TV)
I especially like the honesty David Hare brings to the few plays we in Australia never get to see of his . Being alone may be "the comfortable place" (Meryl Streeps famous words in PLENTY ") for all those stuck in the land of plenty, but seeing the end result of self centred and even reactionary choices make one want to find another way OUT of the liberation era that never was liberation .

Jimmy Grimble

Definitely one of your best pictures of the year. Send me a catalogue . A soundly contructed story with lots of guts and enough touches of fanatsy to make it very funny. We wait at the throwout trays of video shops to find these gems that are so good for all the family .

More Station diversity - more better

Scrapyard challenge. Great! Did you know that many Aussies aren't even aware of it . This great bit of reality Tv is only getting known because of ABC 2 and a timeslot to suit .
The new series of Foyles War is welcome in the way it deals with conflicts - always running though like midsummer murders, silent witness the danger that the heroes are capable of sainthood and superhuman abilities - what is it with modern Tv that exaggerates the capabilities of mere silent witnesses.

Will the determinists drag us back to a pedantic blow by blow script or will the fantasy merchants win back our hearts and imagination wih their presummption that there is more to raw power and influence than any smart lawyer could ever imagine .
My vote is for the later because its true .

The Best of British 2007

THE BEST : LIFE ON MARS, THE MONARCHS, THE ABBEY
LIFE ON MARS What a welcome surprise from the BBC ( only ever seen tonights edition on the "it must be football related" scenario ). Someone over there in Wales and Kudos can still write sound drama without getting lost in the soup of personal ( The -new- Bill) and the drab of dissection and revision .



THE WORST the wedding of THE vicar , THE tired old BILL, THE librarians, reworking your own history junk .
That stupid ladies in finishing school review - -- never waste our time with the pedantic predictability of trying to make ladies story - --I mean whoever commissioned that stuff should not get another chance - its cuts nowhere and goes nowhere - let alone the sloppy plagerism in structural terms.

Lost in the wooses forest -

Doc martin While midly entertaining, we would prefer strong characters who weren't all navel gazing, belting out pseudophycology or trying to sqeeze some joy out of other peoples misery . If your hesitating we don't need to see what goes on at the office, or down in the sewer , after we have been there all day or happened to stumble on it while working .Eg Librarians

Around the world treasures

Around The World In Eighty Treasures
Extremely well done, we hope the ABC repeat it.esp leninggrad, russia and home . A great way to review history and give it at least some context.

Period pieces in pieces

well I guess some of it is Ok but the Bill is still a waste of Austraialsn time and some of your period pieces are just modern forms of sneer by the older generation .