It's that old chestnut again - kids and tv. Like everything else, I suspect it's probably best in moderation. We attempt that - we watch telly in our house - but not a lot. And when we do, it tends to be a sociable activity - M watches it with her Dad or me (and occasionally on her own if I'm in the middle of making tea and there's no-one else in).
But after a long day at nursery, or swimming, or buzzing about in the park, why shouldn't she sit down for 20 minutes in front of something she likes and relax for a bit? We don't tend to watch much scheduled telly (the 5pm slot is usually terrible), so it's usually something from a DVD like Shaun the Sheep, the Muppets, Bagpuss or the Clangers. We've always done this since she was small - and she's shown no signs yet of demanding more and more and more telly.
And on Saturday it's sparkly shoes for everyone and tea in front of the telly for Strictly Come Dancing. (M's betting on James and Zoe, while I have a sneaking love of the pixies Chris and Ola).
Showing posts with label telly. Show all posts
Showing posts with label telly. Show all posts
14 October 2009
03 January 2009
Arts Corner: Christmas telly
Happy New Year and all that. Hello 2009!
Right, that's the formalities out of the way. Now down to the important stuff: Christmas telly. For once we managed to sit down and watch some. Hurrah!
(Although I have serious doubts over whether it can be called telly if you're mostly watching it on the BBC iPlayer?)
In no particular order:
Strictly Come Dancing: 7/10 (Severrrrrrrrrrn!) I had to watch this, as the three-year-old was pretty insistent, and got her sparkly red shoes out. Poor old Rachel Stevens. Never mind, her pop career will no doubt resurrect itself.
University Challenge: 8/10 Interesting documentary - I didn't realise it had been going for quite so long. There was some rather amusing footage of a very young Stephen Fry, some good talking heads (including Bamber Gascoigne) and some amazing hairdos.
Starter for 10: 9/10 Followed on from University Challenge, and was rather sweet. But ooh it didn't half bring back the horrors of freshers parties in all their gory detail. Argh. I was that girl in the corner (albeit 10 years later and at Durham not Bristol), stuck with the bloke wittering on about his gap year in India. Sadly, there wasn't anyone as fanciable as James McAvoy lurking by the drinks.
A thing about cathedrals that I fell asleep halfway through: 3/10 Nothing personal (the first 10 minutes were pretty interesting), it's just I'd been up til 2am the night before, and I'm not much good at that sort of thing any more. Maybe that's what happens when you hit 35.
Lost and Found: 10/10 Gorgeous - a lesson in how to take a book as your source material for animation, and then expand on it without losing the essence of the original.
Father Christmas: 10/10 Ditto. And I loved Mel Smith. Far better than The Snowman.
Dr Who Christmas Special: 10/10 Mainly for David Morrissey who was fantastic, and has the most delightful voice. We also watched the Dr Who confidential, which was fascinating on the production process (although it did rather feel like watching two or three programmes shoehorned together in a random order - what's with that?). I'm reading the Russell T Davies/Benjamin Cook book, Dr Who: The Writer's Tale at the moment, so it was interesting to see how everything panned out on the screen. (I'm only up to about chapter 3 at the moment, but boy is it good - definitely recommended. Interesting stuff on how to lay out a script and on the whole rewriting process.)
Shrek 2: 6/10 Mildly amusing - and much better than the first one (if you're an adult - the three-year-old got a bit bored). Antonio Banderas as Puss in Boots pretty much steals the show.
Erm. That's about it, bar BBC Breakfast News in the Northeast and Cumbria (we like to say hello to Colin in a morning) and the odd moment of Shaun the Sheep (the new Washday DVD arrived for Christmas - thank god).
Now, where did I put the rest of that Christmas cake?
Right, that's the formalities out of the way. Now down to the important stuff: Christmas telly. For once we managed to sit down and watch some. Hurrah!
(Although I have serious doubts over whether it can be called telly if you're mostly watching it on the BBC iPlayer?)
In no particular order:
Strictly Come Dancing: 7/10 (Severrrrrrrrrrn!) I had to watch this, as the three-year-old was pretty insistent, and got her sparkly red shoes out. Poor old Rachel Stevens. Never mind, her pop career will no doubt resurrect itself.
University Challenge: 8/10 Interesting documentary - I didn't realise it had been going for quite so long. There was some rather amusing footage of a very young Stephen Fry, some good talking heads (including Bamber Gascoigne) and some amazing hairdos.
Starter for 10: 9/10 Followed on from University Challenge, and was rather sweet. But ooh it didn't half bring back the horrors of freshers parties in all their gory detail. Argh. I was that girl in the corner (albeit 10 years later and at Durham not Bristol), stuck with the bloke wittering on about his gap year in India. Sadly, there wasn't anyone as fanciable as James McAvoy lurking by the drinks.
A thing about cathedrals that I fell asleep halfway through: 3/10 Nothing personal (the first 10 minutes were pretty interesting), it's just I'd been up til 2am the night before, and I'm not much good at that sort of thing any more. Maybe that's what happens when you hit 35.
Lost and Found: 10/10 Gorgeous - a lesson in how to take a book as your source material for animation, and then expand on it without losing the essence of the original.
Father Christmas: 10/10 Ditto. And I loved Mel Smith. Far better than The Snowman.
Dr Who Christmas Special: 10/10 Mainly for David Morrissey who was fantastic, and has the most delightful voice. We also watched the Dr Who confidential, which was fascinating on the production process (although it did rather feel like watching two or three programmes shoehorned together in a random order - what's with that?). I'm reading the Russell T Davies/Benjamin Cook book, Dr Who: The Writer's Tale at the moment, so it was interesting to see how everything panned out on the screen. (I'm only up to about chapter 3 at the moment, but boy is it good - definitely recommended. Interesting stuff on how to lay out a script and on the whole rewriting process.)
Shrek 2: 6/10 Mildly amusing - and much better than the first one (if you're an adult - the three-year-old got a bit bored). Antonio Banderas as Puss in Boots pretty much steals the show.
Erm. That's about it, bar BBC Breakfast News in the Northeast and Cumbria (we like to say hello to Colin in a morning) and the odd moment of Shaun the Sheep (the new Washday DVD arrived for Christmas - thank god).
Now, where did I put the rest of that Christmas cake?
03 February 2008
Things wot I have watched
I've had a bit of a purple patch recently. Yes, I actually tore myself away from the computer, and managed to sit down and look at a bit of telly. Hey, I even went out to the cinema and saw a film. My god. How retro.
Scores on the doors:
Scores on the doors:
- Torchwood. I can't resist the lure of Captain Jack and co. No, not that Captain Jack (he's currently in need of a jolly good wash, and is skulking around until Saturday, when he becomes Captain Jack the Theatre Cat and gets taken to see Cats at the Theatre Royal. But I digress). It's fast, laugh-out-loud funny, and had James Marsters in episode 1. What's not to like? 10/10
- Stuart Little. What else do you do on a drizzly, dank, cold and grey Saturday afternoon, than go to the local charity shop, buy a video for 50p, and have a Saturday matinee? We made popcorn, cinema tickets and got a torch to show the customers (me, R, M and several stuffed toys) to their seats. I'd forgotten how funny the film is - that cat is a killer. 8/10
- The West Wing (series 2, ep 1&2). Genius. But oh the hair! 10/10 (with possible big hair deductions)
- My Kid Could Paint That. Intriguing. I like to splash a bit of paint about now and again (sadly, not worth $25,000 a pop) as does my two-year-old, so this was interesting. I'm sure she did paint lots of stuff. Whether it was directed (unwittingly or not) was another matter. I know when I'm doing painting with M, I often say things like "look, here's an empty bit of paper", "why don't you try it with a brush", and all sorts of stuff in an encouraging manner - you can't help it. It would be really odd if you sat there in silence. Made you think, 9/10.
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