Harry And Paul: Story Of The Twos

Quite possibly the funniest tellybox show of all time.
Watch it!

US TV Sitcoms: Are We Family?

In terms of change, one of the most startling developments is the growth in the number of sitcom gay characters and their acceptability to the viewing public.

Modern Family is a mega-hit comedy that features three families - a white couple with 2.4 kids, an interracial marriage between a white man and a Hispanic woman, and a gay couple who are raising an adopted daughter.

The show isn't about politically correct cliches. In one episode, the gay couple - Cameron and Mitchell - want to get their toddler into a popular school. Worried that their sexuality isn't enough to win over the ultra-liberal headmaster, Cameron pretends to be a Native American. His improvised "injun" accent is met with a stony silence and the daughter doesn't get her place.
Given that it explores race and sexuality with such frankness, we might expect Modern Family to be something that mostly Democrats watch. In fact, both Obama and Romney have cited it as their favourite show and Republicans in general are more likely to watch it than Democrats... 

Tim Stanley writing on BBC Online. 

Or, alternatively, you could argue that gay characters are more acceptable in sitcoms than elsewhere in TVland because the audience can laugh at them...

• Tim Stanley presents Family Guys? What Sitcoms Say About American Now on BBC2 tonight.

Britain In A Day: "Brilliant"

'Another teenage boy: in his bedroom, reflecting on his life. Pyjamas. Duvet. Slight, still half-child — beautiful eyelashes. He’s full of joy. He lists all of his blessings — his parents, his health, his friends, his books. But he just wants one more thing.
“If I find a boyfriend,” he concludes, “I would have someone to share it all with. And then I’m going to be so happy. I’m going to be the happiest person in Britain!”
A boy telling all of Britain he is ready for love — fearless in a way that no gay child could have been even ten years ago. And then it is midnight on November 12, 2011, and then it ends..."

Caitlin Moran reviews BBC2's "brilliant" Britain In A Day in The Times. 
Watch it here.

PG Wodehouse: Wogan On Wodehouse

Now I don't care about you, but this evening I'm really looking forward to Wogan on Wodehouse on BBC2.
If it's as good as I imagine it will be I may write about it afterwards.
If it's not... meh.
Have a nice weekend.

Evan Davis: The Gay Today

Thrilling news for lovers of popular TV economics programmes!
Evan Davis - one of Fagburn's most favourite people - has two new TV series coming up on BBC2; Business Nightmares and Made In Britain.
The Observer used this as an excuse to run a Q&A with the Today presenter.
Mr Davis makes some quite fascinating points about the decline of the UK's manufacturing industries and Japanese/US exchange rates, but Fagburn would be lying like a Lib Dem manifesto if he didn't say he was really interested in the last two questions and answers.

Does it annoy you when you're called a gay presenter?
It doesn't annoy me but I think of myself as a presenter who is gay, rather than a gay presenter. It's a subtle distinction, but that's how I view it. I don't think I'm hugely camp on air. Private Eye did do a funny spoof of me interviewing Peter Mandelson in which it was all, 'Ooh get her…' [laughs]. I'm quite proud to be gay; I'm not hiding it.

What about when you were photographed in jeans with a biker chain…
I was papped! Apparently, I was breaking some hidden Daily Mail sartorial rule that meant I had to dress in a suit to go across the road to get milk. I think the headline was "Please Mr Davis, Won't You Dress Your Age?". That phrase – "Please Mr Davis" – is used in our household quite a lot by my partner. "Pleeeease Mr Davis, won't you do the washing up…"

Shame The Observer thought the banal truism - "I'm a presenter who is gay rather than a gay presenter" - was worthy of being used as a headline.
As a tribute to Tinsel Tits Evan Davis, Fagburn has reprinted one of the paparazzi shots above.
Eat your heart out, Britney!

Religious News: They're All Nuts!

To celebrate the Lord's Day, BBC2 is showing Louis Theroux: America's Most Hated Family In Crisis tonight.
Louis Theroux writes about his decision to make a second film about the fun-loving "God Hates Fags" Westboro Baptist Church on BBC News;
"Normally I don't do follow-ups. But I'd made an exception in this case because of an e-mail I'd received from one of the fire-breathing young zealots I'd interviewed on my first trip, announcing she'd left the church. She cited our conversations as one of the influences.
"She had now changed her life, found a boyfriend and had zero contact with anyone still inside the church, including her family. A little research revealed that several others I'd met on my first visit were also now apostates. This included Steve's own daughter, Lauren..."
Theroux acknowldges that "the Phelpses thrive on publicity" - why else would they let him make another film - and there are many American journalists who believe the best policy is to ignore these attention-seeking whores of babylon.
Fagburn believes they are such a good/bad ad for evangelical Christianity we should drown them in the oxygen of publicity.
I bet the Phelps family's international infamy inspired Terry Jones, the nuts Koran-burning US pastor.
Or as The Daily Telegraph neatly summed him up in a headline yesterday; 'Pastor Terry Jones: A homophobic used furniture salesman with a love of controversy'
Why not just leave it at that?

• Just watched Louis Theroux - again the WBC only make sense as a sick satire. Apart from all the hurt they cause and those poor fucking kids...

Stephen K Amos: Special K

Stephen K Amos, the black gay comic, does a Q&A in The Observer today.
He tells them; "I don't want to be labelled as 'the black gay comic'."
Presumably to stress this, The Observer has given the piece the strapline; "Stephen K Amos: 'I don't want to be labelled "the black gay comic"'
Amos is asked nine questions.
Seven are about being black and/or gay.
The Stephen K Amos Show debuted on BBC2 on Friday.
It was often painfully poor - a real shame as Amos is a terrific stand-up.
His own routines on the show were good, but the filler seemed to have come from a student revue.
Or worse, from Corne & Horden.
If it addressed being black or gay, it was in a trite and datedly stereotyped way; a queeny commissionaire picking people up on their bad dress sense, or a skit on a Nigerian TV station that looked like a borderline racist throwback to Q8.
What a waste.

David Cameron: "Is He Queer?"

Here is the sketch 'David Cameron, is he queer?' from this week's Harry & Paul on BBC2.
Probably not set to become a Harry Enfield classic, it's actually more surreal than it is funny...