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Are you happy about the
way things are these days? |
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Well precisely? I mean
there's you know poor...
poverty and racism and
Africa and things. |
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Well yes but I mean you
personally. Do you think
you could be doing more or |
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I mean I suppose I could
be you know I could be
doing more. But I mean I
perform a service and it |
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Entertainment. |
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Yes well entertainment is
in fact a service. I mean
people need entertainment.
But of course we perform much
more than just an entertainment
service for our viewers, we
perform a real service for our
guests as well. |
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And you don't think |
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Well let's get right down to
it people are fascinated by
pain, you know people are
fascinated by pain and
death and things. And I mean
pain takes many forms most
of which are very messy, I
daresay we didn't want people
piercing or hanging themselves
or vomiting or whatnot, so |
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A sanitized approach. |
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Well yes that's it exactly
you've got it exactly. I
mean people are fascinated
by pain and death and things
but they don't really have
the stomach for it and so we
thought let's just. You know
I mean we have the technology
already it's very efficient. |
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And yet you must admit
mustn't you the criticism is
valid, I mean in a way it's
really a very boring show in
that the guests simply walk
into the apparatus and that's
it there's very little in
terms of personal interest or |
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Well no no I don't see it that
way at all first of all people
watch it don't they. And yes
it's true we don't have long
sobby profiles of why they came
to this or that I think that's rather
unrefined melodrama, I mean we get
enough of that sort of thing on
the evening news. I mean people
can be unhappy about the evening
news this is more uplifting you
know, people taking hold of
their lives even if only right
at one end as we say. And really
we're very egalitarian we take
anyone who's feeling a little down
or depressed and really make it
very easy for them absolutely
free. We solve their problems
quite simply and they never have
to worry again. |
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And so |
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And that's how you can see we
got it right you see the
demographics of it have all
worked out quite well in the
ratings. We didn't want to
get you know all the angst-ridden
Gloomy Guses all the young people
who dress in black and et cetera
and who are quite used to this sort
of thing and who are really
pessimists and nihilists at heart.
Rather we really wanted to
appeal to the vast mainstream
and in fact we are doing very
well against the soap operas and
talk shows in our weekday early
afternoon timeslot. I think
because what we do is uplifting
really, it's really quite uplifting. |
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And so you see yourself if I
might be permitted a bit of
interpretation as really
bringing the whole concept to
the masses. |
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That's it that's it exactly.
Especially you know the ordinary
people the housewives and
mechanics and whatnot. But
ones of a certain sensibility. |
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Turning now to your earlier
projects one might discern a
common thread perhaps going
back to the "It's Abuse Show"
where people insulted and
physically abused their old
decrepit parents and
grandparents. And yet that
was in many ways a very
different show. |
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Well yes of course my goodness,
I haven't thought of that show
in years. It was done when I
was quite young and was you might
say a very crude and unrefined
project formed of say a certain
rebelliousness which I think
lacked legitimacy, it felt perhaps
a bit false and artificial. But
it did aim for that same catharsis
for the viewers yes. But it really
was aimed at the young pessimistic
generation and what we're doing
now is really for the ordinary
person though perhaps of a more
refined and perhaps sophisticated
minimalist sensibility, for the
quiet optimist really. |
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The optimist. |
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Quite right the optimist. One who
can take simple pleasure in
divesting the world of its unhappy
population one simple injection at
a time. And you know a world that
can do that for its people is really
a happier world. And really who
could ask for better than that? Is
my feeling. |