Friday, April 17, 2015

Interviewing the Gogglebox creator and producer Tania Alexander

Hi gang,

The beginning of the term seems so long ago now, when I did the presentation on the UK observational documentary Gogglebox, but if any of you are interested in the series, I ended up interviewing the creator and producer Tania Alexander. It's a three-part series - the first is about the development; the second about the making; and the third about the reception. A lot of the discussion touched on so many points we touched on in class throughout the semester, so I hope it might be of interest to some of y'all!

http://cstonline.tv/the-woman-behind-gogglebox-an-interview-with-tania-alexander
http://cstonline.tv/the-woman-behind-gogglebox-2
http://cstonline.tv/the-woman-behind-gogglebox-3




4 comments:

  1. Stef,

    This is GREAT!

    I find Alexander’s discussion of the production so interesting. To take 200 hours and only use about 1% of that is astounding.
    I also think that the discussion regarding “understanding the audience” really applies to this week’s readings. This show and its commentary on national/local content, especially when it comes to UK news/political party broadcasts, really focuses on this notion of viewing as structure daily life and participation in a national community. It also functions as a sort of promotion of non-local ties via the viewing of internationally relevant products (love Grease) and the US spin offs.

    Congratulations on such a FABULOUS series!

    -Kelsey

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    1. Thanks so much Kelsey!! Wouldn't an Italian Gogglebox be amazing?? I'd love to see what they think of their politicians!

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  2. Stefania! This is a fantastic series! Congrats on putting this together! Although I haven't seriously watched Bravo's American spinoff, from the little I've seen they don't really go into the political as much as Gogglebox does. It's curious that American shows are so afraid to really tackle politics head on or even be open to various points of view that come from various socio-economic backgrounds. And on a side note, I must say I was so glad I finished my sip of water by the time I got to the "They shot the wrong Beatle" quote because I nearly died laughing!

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  3. Stefania! This is a fantastic series! Congrats on putting this together! Although I haven't seriously watched Bravo's American spinoff, from the little I've seen they don't really go into the political as much as Gogglebox does. It's curious that American shows are so afraid to really tackle politics head on or even be open to various points of view that come from various socio-economic backgrounds. And on a side note, I must say I was so glad I finished my sip of water by the time I got to the "They shot the wrong Beatle" quote because I nearly died laughing!

    ReplyDelete