Ray

Mark, I agree with you about Joan, although even I am not old enough to remember her as that young and beautiful.

I was taken to see all of her films in the late '40's and '50's, and carried on seeing everything she did (evn Trog), until she died. My mother also took me to see the Neagle/Wilding films, but I can't watch them anymore. She also took me to see every Ingrid Bergman film, including the ghastly Under Capricorn and Stromboli, which might explain why she is one actress that I really dislike.

Steve Crook

Joan usually needed a lot of airbrushing
Either that or filming through a fine gauze - or a thick wool blanket.
She was a good actress but she was never a beauty

Steve

batman

And that airbrushing is not uncommon among Joans.

"Aha Mr Aubergine ... that's where you're wrong!"

Mark O

I know what you mean Ray.

Looks like a certain Madonna emulated our Joanie once!..........

Mark

WarFilmBuff

Hmmm, I was born in 1969 and had a pretty bog standard British childhood but I really don't think my parents tastes in TV and film influenced me at all. For me I always particularly loved war films but was happy enough with any film, certainly I think I preferred films to TV shows.

Now my Dad used to watch war films etc with me, but I'm sure that was me influencing him rather than the other way round. My mum liked musicals Oklahoma and that kind of thing but I have never been a lover of that genre. I would also say that I know and appreciate cinema of the 40s and 50s far more than my parents, even though they lived through those decades.

However I do think they de-influenced me - if that's a word. One genre that I cannot abide to this day is soap opera. But not just soaps - any long running series where you feel there is no conclusion coming. I would never sit and watch something like Lost or Heroes, not because I wouldn't necessarily enjoy the content, because I probably would. I just can't allow myself to become controlled by a series that works on the basis of never actually finishing any stories or concluding anything. My wife watches Eastenders and in my opinion exists in this surreal Groundhog Day world waiting for an end that will never come.

I know with PVRs and TV on demand we can now theoretically watch things exactly when we want, but I still don't want to get caught up in a long saga. This I'm sure comes from vivid childhood memories of my mum not wanting to miss an episode of Coronation Street, to the point where she would rather miss a night out than miss an episode. I'm sure my perception as a kid is of the TV deciding when we were going out rather than my parents. This makes my folks sound like some Royle Family couch-potatoes and they really aren't, as I say I think it's just my warped perception.

That doesn't mean to say I don't like some long running TV series - Scrubs, Columbo, MASH, Family Guy, Red Dwarf to name but a few. But they all are of the "dip in and out of" variety and don't usually feature cliff-hangers and on-going plots. They tend to work as stand alone pieces of entertainment. Which brings me back to my love of films. Knowing that I can sit down and in two hours see a story through to a conclusion is still what makes up 90% of my viewing.

So to return to the OP, my parents viewing habits have definitely affected my own, but not in the way he meant.

Sorry for the ramble

Moor Larkin

I think the difference used to lie in how old you were at the time. A friend said they had a dvd of All Creatures Great and Small, which they loved. I said I would rather put my hand up my mothers bottom than watch that crap again. My friend was almost offended until I explained about my mother's weekly passion when I was about 21 and stuck indoors with a badly-broken leg for weeks...........



On the other hand, when I was ten I used to happily watch Dr Finlay every week and remained fond enough to watch an episode on TV a while back.



You should see the look of dread on my own childrens face when they hear me ask what time Antiques Roadshow is on this Sunday...... The BBC keep changing the broadcast time!! It is so annoying!!............ They rarely stay for Sunday dinner any more.......

Steve Crook

Your mother having a broken leg is no excuse for her having a passion for you putting your hand up her bottom

Steve

Moor Larkin

Fun wuz 'ard t' cum by in them dayz lad

Steve Crook

Just be careful which animals you try it with





Steve

GRAEME

Absolutely! Very well put. Thank you for that.

I feel absolutely the same. Years of enforced Crossroads/Corrie/Em Farm/Archers/Waggoner's Walk.... Left me with a dread of the format.

And it has spread to everything! The Bill became a soap for gawd's sake!

It is the endless open-endedness of it. Not the content. I love one-off plays about everyday folk - but I must have that dramatic narrative closure...

...Or I jez up some!

All men leak.

James Fox

Well apparently all those scenes with Christopher Timothy putting his arm inside the cow made an impression

WarFilmBuff

I'm glad it's not just me then

Mark O

Ugh!.........that's not real surely Steve?...........it's ghastly if it is, i've always wanted to get up close to some Crocs but not that close, when i asked on a Q & A forum about how to get close to some Crocs in Florida i was told to 'go swim in the Everglades'!

Mark