THE ARGUMENT

Recycling Reruns

By Rachel Harvey and Thomas Bush

Are our television screens better off because of the constant stream of repeats?

The One with the Repeats

The denouement of the final series of Friends left many with a void to fill in their lives. The unsuccessful spin off series Joey did not satisfy, and was laid to rest as a media and marketing bad dream. To demand more of the original would be a little much; after serving any more time cast members would surely struggle to distinguish between TV-set and reality. Eventually we realised that what made immensely entertaining viewing the first time round, if of high quality, could be entertaining again and again (and again)... Aside from this example of Friends, the rerunning of TV series, especially national treasures like Fawlty Towers is a good thing; it allows us to see classic shows from before our time, or resolve the aching discontinuity of a missed episode. It seems to me that reruns are a refuge against the new spawn of overproduced American sitcoms, and in that case will never die. So rest assured that if the nuclear bomb does end the world, all that will remain will be Friends reruns, and many sublimely entertained cockroaches.

Rachel Harvey

Dump the Trashy Reruns

As the impending deadline for a draft chapter of my dissertation looms ever nearer, I decided the other day to take it upon myself to spend my time constructively. With a bowl of Morrisons own-brand cornflakes in one hand and a mug of tea in the other, I settled down on the sofa and began sinking into an afternoon of televisual escapisim. Only I couldn’t. For some reason, Dave was the first channel showing, and I was instantly hit with Jeremy Clarkson salivating over a car from five years ago. Moving up through the channels, it seemed like nothing was on but Friends, Kirsty & Phil or any generic 70s detective show. Yawn. Watching a repeat of an old show is like looking back into TV history. The moment Friends finished it stopped being an up-to-the minute sitcom and became a dated example of what pop culture (and hair styling) was like in the 90s. Obviously, some TV shows are timeless classics, but that’s what the DVD box set was created for. I mean, if TV was going to repeat quality, then BBC Three would be nothing but wall-to-wall Buffy. And then at least I’d stop complaining.

Thomas Bush