Britainology 4: That '70s Episode
We're back again to explain the eccentricities and fault lines of this truly normal island. This week, Milo and Nate discuss the 1970s in Britain, why everything went downhill, why the decade radicalised the Boomers, and why the TV from that era is.... not good. Hope you enjoy!
Comments (23)
love this one. Reminds me that Christopher Walken was originally trained as a vaudevillian/ musical actor and could sing and tap dance. It wasn’t until Woody Allen first cast him that he found his caricaturishly menacing form. And in Allen, there’s both an Andre Previn connection and a nonce connection, a rich tapestry, the 70s
Ahahahah “inflation has to legal be under 2%” *laughs in 2024* sweet summer children
Would definitely listen to an episode on the Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin as reflection of 70s Britain/England
hoping we get a britainology about Holiday lads and their horrid tory parents via BBC3's horrific series, "Sex, Sun, and Suspicious Parents"
Brilliant episode, I love this series! Enjoyed the coverage of topics here, tbh you could probably do a whole series 70s Britain alone it was so eventful, and you can see its' influence to the present day, looming over us all like....well
when i was a teen in the mid 90s, comedy central, before it became all roasts and fratboy humor, used to play all the old python episodes (as well as abfab, the young ones, fawlty towers). this had a huge impact on my personality...I dont think american network comedy shows were ever as subversive or absurdist. And if you can get past the insufferable python fans who seem content to endlessly relive the dead parrot sketch, you have a show that was basically card-carrying dada/surrealism.
also a huge influence on Mr. Show - recently marathoned Python and then Mr. Show all the way through over the course of a month and the influence is really pronounced when watched that closely. Mr. Show was quite possibly the most subversive US sketch show that didn't involve Tim and Eric or the PFFR/Wonder Showzen crew.
I'm probably on the younger end of Python fans (33) and think it mostly endured because all our dads showed it to us. I still like some sketches but agree that it's aged enough/been built upon enough that I won't be showing it to my kid unless she asks. Also re Nate's observation about studio vs outdoor shoots in old British shows, the Pythons actually did a sketch drawing attention to the difference between shooting on tape in studio and 16mm film cameras on location. It then goes nuts, they get blended with some Gilliamation, not their funniest work but inventive for the era
Yeah, I also think the Pythons aren't all bad. Understand that the pop culture rehashing must be annoying when you live in Britain and that happens around you a lot. But I do think "Life of Brian" was a pretty courageous film to make, especially considering the time, the backlash, and that they still stood behind it. Maybe they just stumbled into it. But it's great comedy, and as someone who rarely watches a movie twice, during my late teenage years this one ran in my VHS in an endless loop until the tape was bad. And I find it amusing that the movie is considered offensive again today, but for having a Terry Jones play Brian's mother instead of casting a genuine female actress. No joke, that was the reason I was scolded by my otherwise quite normal director friends for liking the movie...
Had a horrible flashback to a ‘post war era themed fancy dress day’ at primary school where my mum tried to convince me to go as Gary Glitter. This was in like 2004 so his noncing was known to everyone. Except, apparently, my mum. Fortunately I had no idea who tf he was so I went as some 1960s F1 driver but my god what a near miss for ‘things that would flash by my eyes as I try and get to sleep for the rest of my life’.
Hearing about Jimmy saville always reminds me that my granny used to work at Stoke Mandeville hospital and old Jimmy would be there hanging around all the time. Creepy shit if you think too hard
I knew very little about him until the Netflix documentary Jimmy Savile: A British Horror Story came out in 2022. Reviewers say it still kind of tiptoes around the necrophilic tendencies
Knowing very very little about the North is genuinely a blind spot for the pod
100% agreed
Milo did his Forsyth voice and I got hit with a tidal wave of nostalgia for a time I wasn't alive during. Is this Hauntology?
Great ep, thanks.
the crazy thing about '60s and '70s British TV is that it produced some of the best television ever made but buried under mounds of the worst shit you'll ever see. Callan is miles above any of the grimdark thrillers churned out in the last 20 years. directors like Mike Leigh and Alan Clarke were given (relatively) free reign by the BBC to make genuinely challenging and experimental TV movies all through the '70s but they were screened once and then chucked in a vault while an endless series of garbage sitcoms ran for years and then got syndicated on those tv channels that specialise in boomer nostalgia
PLEASE do a Falklands episode, I know nothing about it. Also an episode on the relationship between the British and French, should be able to knock that one out in half an our. Great episode, I can feel myself getting covered in nicotine stains while listening.
Been listening for a while. Still haven't caught up with all of the mudspeak they call British slang.
Absolutely stellar episode of what has to be my favourite TF iteration. The bit about the winter of discontent radicalizing the boomers explained more about my parents' political views than knowing them for 30-odd years has.
@17:00 - ish : quick story, I was actually getting my first glimpse into showbiz on the German version of Top-of-the-Pops, round 95. Been a cable grip, handling the cable of the camera guy by running after him and constantly folding and unfolding loops. :) ... stood on stage with Dune and Bluemchen, hehe ... the whole production was the biggest scam ever. Because they filmed double-episodes back-to-back on one weekend (rehearsal saturday, sunday with audience). But in the narrative of the show, audience could vote by phone who stays in and who gets kicked (1-800 number of course, porn prizes). But of course it was pre-taped. Counters and 'phone girls' were just set decoration. The phone winner of "last weeks" episode was invited into the studio of course, but it was really just any cute front row chick the camera guy picked out between episodes. ... Learned a lot about TV production there. Also camera work -- me and my buddies as 18-20 year old skaters and punks were towering over the entire audience of 13-15 year olds. Not even that many, like a 100 or so, but wide angle lenses, low-low reaching cranes, and herding the crowd together does wonders for the camera. :)
I hope y'all talk about the terrible short-lived British remake of That 70s Show
oh god i’m so ready 🥵