Greek TV: Television at its worst
The other day I was raving about the “Lost” finale being television at its best. This evening, while browsing the Greek channel on Facebook there was a link to a page that had links to many Greek TV series that were uploaded to some video services (illegally). I clicked through some of the links to GoogleVideo, Veoh, DailyMotion etc simply because I felt the need to re-connect with my country and my compatriots, but I could not stand watching more than 3 minutes of each series (I gave a fair chance to most of them). It was the usual Greek shit-storm: actors shouting like lunatics at each other (do Greeks really find this funny?), bad scripting, terrible direction, cheap decor. These series my beloved readers, were copyrighted material unworthy of the bandwidth consumed or even worth pirating. Where is the superior culture that most Greeks are claiming to possess? And don’t get me started about the Greek TV magazines or reality shows which are even worse (truth is, the rest of the Mediterranean TV is not much better either).
Now, I know that this might enrage some of the Greek visitors who read my blog, possibly making them think something along the lines of “aei gamisou re tsokaro pou mas to paizeis amerikanaki“. No matter your feelings towards my blog post, the truth of the matter is that I know that I am right and so you do. And that was always my opinion about Greek popular art, even when I was still living in Greece.
The only TV series that I found watchable, was “Oi Treis Harites” back in 1990. This show became a classic and reran over and over again — because simply it was so much better than its competition. And why was it better? Because it strictly followed the US format of the “sitcom” series. Its writers were smart enough to base the series on a well-tested method. The stories, the script, even the camera movement, it all was a “US sitcom” in Greek clothes — and with a few sprinkles of theater setup. And guess what: It worked — even among people who don’t watch non-Greek-style series (e.g. my mother). I do also like some other older TV series (the one with the panel of judges, back in 1985) and some of the classic Greek movies of the ‘50-’60s, the golden era of the Greek cinema. Most of everything else is for the dogs, literally.
Dear Greek TV Channels, throw to the dogs most of your damn footage so the future generation of archaeologists doesn’t have to put up with that content. Do them a favor and at the same time avoid the humiliation in the eyes of the 22nd Century. Thank you.