Wednesday, August 26, 2015

New old-time radio

    So I lucked (if that's the word) into a collection of radio plays from mid-'80s Canada. I asked my old-time radio group on Facebook what they thought and they waxed enthusiastic. It was a dollar for 6 cassettes with 12 half-hour shows, so not bank breaking.
    The show is called "Vanishing Point." As one might guess from the title, they were trying for a "Twilight Zone" vibe. They didn't get there. Oh nononononononononono. I've noticed as the decades pass that few movies or tv shows that I see feature what one would call a sympathetic character. This apparently was the start of that trend. "When Bad Things Happen To Uninteresting People" might have been a better title. It's just unpleasant and largely pointless. I mean, apart from the bad writing and the bad acting, the show is fine. It's amazing how quickly the skill of writing for radio went away.
    Part of the problem I would guess is Canadian actors trying not to sound Canadian. So while they didn't go oot or aboot nor do they end every sentence with eh, they pretty much drain all affect from their speech, too, which makes it sound like a zombie party. Granted, I've also heard a lot of bad old-time radio shows. (Understanding that 30 years ago is pretty old-time, too, nevertheless "old-time radio" mostly refers to the period ending about 1960.) But they at least were over the top and accidentally funny. This was just stinkburger city. Any "Vanishing Point" fans out there, I definitely have some tapes for you.

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