The Golden Age of Streaming

I have heard the phrase “The Golden Age of Television” used to refer to various periods of time depending on who is using it. In the US this tends to refer to the period from the end of World War II to 1960 in which the medium became pervasive and programming to utilise it was devised. In the UK it tends to refer to the decade from 1953 when TV ownership rocketed after the Queen’s coronation was broadcast . However, I would argue that the true Golden Age was in the 1970s as most people had a set, increasingly in colour, and there were only 3 channels to pick from with little other mass entertainment to compete with. This was to change after 1980 with the advent of the VCR which meant that the one pervasive trend, the single shared experience, began to be diluted.

Now there is more television programming available than ever before but there is very little in the way of event television. There is no real point in watching TV at the time it is broadcast unless it is a live event: a sports match or something like the Eurovision Song Contest. People do still watch programmes as they are broadcast, or soon after, but the real reach of many programmes will not be achieved until months or even years after the original release date. Just as the VCR brought to an end the age of the shared experience of live broadcast, now streaming is changing the concept of broadcasting altogether; but can streaming still create event TV?

There have been a couple of streaming only television shows that I have watched recently which may have attempted this. The first was the BBC’s Doctor Who spinoff “Class”. I did watch the first two episodes on the day that they were released. Being a Doctor Who nut I am probably part of the key demographic for this but the show is aimed more as a sort of Buffy The Vampire Slayer for the Netflix generation. It’s actually not at all bad although I think having The Doctor making a guest appearance in the first episode was something of a mistake if this is to exist as a stand-alone series. In essence it picks up the concept from the very first episode of Doctor Who in 1963 but now uses Coal Hill School as a general purpose refugee centre for aliens on the run and much of the action centres around visitations from whatever the said aliens are seeking refuge from. Whether this counts as event TV is another matter because I’m already a couple of episodes behind what has been released. It’s not that I don’t want to see them but I have other things to do and I know that they will be available for at least a year.

The other streaming event this week was “The Grand Tour”, Amazon’s offering of “not” Top Gear featuring the familiar Clarkson, May, Hammond trio presenting the motoring show from a travelling circus tent in various countries. I already have a Prime membership and I did watch this on the day of its release. In fact it has attracted quite a bit of interest and mainly critical acclaim which does predispose it as “event TV” although I am rather ambivalent towards it. The bulk of the show featured a test of three hybrid supercars which was promised on Top Gear prior to Clarkson lamping one of the production staff. I was rather put off Clarkson again when he made a crass “joke” about Gypsies at the start of Grand Tour but I reminded myself that he once punched Piers Morgan so, whilst he might have a short fuse, he isn’t all bad.

I think part of my problem with The Grand Tour is that it was far too knowingly trying to be Top Gear and really concentrated on the rather mediocre bits that the show had descended into but didn’t highlight on the bits that really worked: particularly the travelogue elements that the “Grand Tour” title suggested and the general tomfoolery between the hosts. It was a waste, as hosting the show (this week) in America could have given them the chance to use some of the world’s most stunning locations. As it was they had an initial feature about differing motoring terms and their replacement racing driver was one skit on redneck Americans that wore out after 15 seconds: for some reason the mute “Stig” is still funny after many years on the original show. The only element that I did find laugh-out funny was the dead celebrities which resembled a sketch from The Goodies. Unfortunately, I suspect that will only work once.

I will probably watch The Grand Tour again but probably not on the day of its release. It’s an entertaining enough diversion but I can’t say that it is unmissable television. I also doubt whether I would miss it if I didn’t have the Amazon Prime subscription. Oddly enough, I am looking forward more to watching Class but will make an effort to watch it when I am alert enough to appreciate it. Maybe that’s the difference: event television with streaming happens in the individual home and not the nation as a whole. It is the way the world is going but I rather miss the concept of a shared national experience.