TV was often blamed for all that’s wrong in the world well before the dawn of the Internet which has brought a raft of problems including Internet trolling.
However, before I go standing on the moral high ground and say ‘I only watch box sets or TV on demand now’ isn’t it time we stop and appreciate why we are switched on by its shiny glare in the first place?
TV stirs a multitude of emotions in me: excitement for the entertainment factor, curiosity in the chance to learn something new, boredom for the incessant need to use it as a stop gap and guilt, for spending too much time in front of the big grey box and ‘not experiencing the big wide-world’ as my mother would say.
Although now our TV is now filled with a raft of reality stars famous for absolutely diddly squat, when I was young I raced home to watch my favourite shows and sometimes I just watched it because I felt lonely. Yes, it’s scary to admit but those times I was absorbed by Galaxy High, Count Duckula or Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were a bit of an emotional crutch now I look back on.
Many of you may have felt the same. For me, I was a kid that had a brother and sister over ten years older than me, so they were already attracted by the allure of alcohol to play ‘post offices with me’ every day. Plus, my friends lived on a different estate and there was also a bout of grade-a bullying to contend with at primary school too. So you could say that TV provided an escape route.
A recent visit to the ‘Story of Children’s TV’ exhibition at Coventry’s Herbert Museum got me thinking and induced this reminiscent state. the exhibition co-funded by the BBC trials starts provides a whistle stop tour of cultural references, it’s plays host to characters like the Thunderbirds, Wombles, Mr. Spoon (Button Moon), Rosie & Jim and Teletubbies.
Don’t worry – there’s something for everyone. I was enamoured with my old friend, the Y-Bird from Playbus who I spent many an afternoon with in my youth. There’s also an action figure display case, showcasing coveted toys like Marshmallow man from Ghostbusters and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles so I’m sure everyone will be able to count at least one to they loved as a youngster.
Visiting the exhibition provided a trip down memory lane and for all the slightly negative emotions it stirred it was magical seeing kids and grown ups getting a as equally excited about TV.
Through all the negativity splashed around about watching TV, we must remember our childhoods were probably spent striving to be fictional character- my obsession was with April O’Neill. The Herbert captures this feeling perfectly with a dress-up area giving children the chance to be their favourite TV character and have a photo taken inside the giant TV.
Even if telly is now full of what we’d mostly classify as ‘garbage’, it’s important to note that whether its Geordie Shore, a 4OD documentary about the weird and wonderful, or even X-Factor – someone, somewhere might be appreciating it for a very different reason than what appears on the surface as ‘entertainment’.
So go, take the trip down memory lane yourself and I’d bet my ‘Scooby Doo and the Ghoul School’ DVD that its worth it.
The exhibition runs until 13th Sep at Coventry’s Herbert Museum, visit Here for further information.
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