Jerry Springer the Opera

[zudobug]

Hey,

Just thought I'd mention that Jerry Springer the Opera (more here), co-written by one of my favourite comedians - Stewart Lee and starring David Soul as Springer, is being aired on TV tomorrow (Saturday) on BBC2 at 10pm.

I'm really looking forward to seeing this and am glad that the BBC has decided to stand it's ground (this time) and not give in to the threats it's staff are receiving from the christian right. More about that here.

Funny how the BBC happily reports the Christian demonstration outside TV Centre today but completely ignored the call for light vigil last month protesting against the bias in BBC news coverage of the Iraq war. Hmm, odd that. Seems the only way to get heard is by threatening BBC staff and their families and making lots of noise.

-zudo

[McNorris]

Springer at the Opera? Well, sounds about right.

Only will it be a No-No to yell "JE-RRY, JE-RRY" only between acts?

God I hope those big, fat, Opera ladies don't flash to have Roses thrown at them!?!? (or cheap, plastic beads)

[zudobug]

Only will it be a No-No to yell "JE-RRY, JE-RRY" only between acts?

I dunno. It'll probably be encouraged :-)

Anyone else gonna watch this? Anyone lucky enough to have seen it live? I have a friend who did and I already wanted to see it before they told me how brilliant it is. Sadly, I had not the required funds at the time.

But now, thanks to the wonderful BBC ;-) I have the chance to see it.

And the National Secular Society have earned my respect again:

"Jerry Springer - The Opera is an award-winning show, and having been run for two years at theatres demonstrates it popularity. It is the BBC's formal duty to reflect society and bring such plays to a wider audience who might not otherwise be able to see them at a theatre. All the research by TV regulators shows that British audiences have a high tolerance threshold for swearing on TV. as long as it is relevant to the context. The programme will be shown at a late hour, with adequate warnings about its nature, and viewers have a right to see it. Those who are likely to be offended have a similar right to turn it off."

I reckon the fundies are probably doing more to boost the ratings than anything. Keep it up guys :-)

-zudo

[mikeymike]

My dad made an interesting point about the 50,000 complaints about that programme being aired - if it had been slating something more minority, like say the muslim community, it wouldn't have been aired.

[Wilse]

@zudo:

Anyone else gonna watch this?

Me - watching it now. Hilarious.

-EDIT-

Just finished - absolutely fantastic - the Devil was like a cross between Prince and Eddie Murphy.

And a falsetto choir singing, "C*nting c*nting c*nting c*nt", genius! :roflmao:

[zudobug]

Hey Wilse,

Yeah. That was amazing.. I really enjoyed it. Opera isn't normally my thing. :-)

Ruby Wax back-stage at the Jerry Springer show before it made me chuckle too.

Good stuff. Well done the BBC.

-zudo

[zudobug]

mikeymike,

if it had been slating something more minority, like say the muslim community, it wouldn't have been aired.

I've heard that argument quite a few times before about various things. And it kind of depends on who makes it and what you define as slating. I didn't think that the Jerry Springer Opera was slating Christianity. If I were still a Christian I don't think I would have been offended by it. And some of the people responsible for it were Christians, they didn't seem to mind.

I'm going to watch the debate and find out more about the arguments being made against this. I don't personally think the call to censor it is justified. And I have a feeling that most of those people haven't seen it, and are imagining something far worse than what it is.

-zudo

[bloodline]

Censorship is just another form of mind control!

[zudobug]

I've found the source of the cries of blasphemy:

Christian Voice

Check it out. And if you're interested, take a look at the rest of the site, particularly concerning their views on the police offering assistance to victims of homophobic crime.

Anyway, back to the Springer debate.

On Friday afternoon, on the phone, Mark Thompson, Director-General of the BBC, asked me if I had actually seen JSTO. I haven't. But there seem to be enough witnesses to the content to save any of us the trouble of forking out fifty quid to the Cambridge Theatre (where JSTO is currently being staged) to see for ourselves.

Hmm, having a go at something you haven't seen based on biased second-hand information... what does this remind me of?

Anyway, there you go. If you're interested, there will be a debate about this on The Culture Show, BBC2, Thursday, 11:20pm.

My view is, if we are to disallow anything offensive to any religion (or religious faction) then it is probably best all and any religious reference is disallowed on TV. I'll miss being able to see stuff like the Jerry Springer Opera, but won't miss Sunday Morning worship and hymns. You want that stuff? Go to church! :-) Hey, maybe people actually will and attendance will go back up.

-zudo

[Wilse]

@Zudo:

Hmm, having a go at something you haven't seen based on biased second-hand information... what does this remind me of?

Typical. :lol:

- Opinions based upon theory, superstition, and ignorance are not very precious.

Mark Twain.

I hear CV are taking the Beeb to court for Blasphemy.
Fantastic - I can't wait.

-EDIT-
Just scanning their site - haven't stopped laughing since I started reading it - they actually attempt to answer the questions posed to Dr. Laura in that e-mail that I posted on here awhile back.

Dr Laura Schlessinger is a US radio personality who dispenses advice to people who call in to her radio show.  A few years back, she said, rightly, that homosexuality is an abomination

Q.  My friend tends to curse and blaspheme a lot. Is it really necessary that we go to all the trouble of getting the whole town together to stone him as commanded in Leviticus 24:10‑16 ?

A.  Yes, because it is all a matter of due process.

 
Too funny.... :roflmao:

[zudobug]

Hey Wilse,

Mark Thomas is on form in this weeks NS as always. Here's what he's said about CV's response to the Opera:

Mark Thomas writes a column offensive to Christians [new statesman]

However, despite all of this, I would like to thank the evangelical Christian Voice, which orchestrated the protests. Thank you as well to those Christians who issued threats to BBC personnel and their families in the name of Jesus - even though their understanding of irony is as advanced as their understanding of the faith they purport to have.

Thank you all for providing a timely reminder of what will happen should Charles Clarke choose to finish off the work proposed by his predecessor at the Home Office and introduce a law criminalising religious hatred. Far from fighting racism, Clarke would be handing bigotry a legal cosh.

Christianity is woven into the fabric of our culture. The very first line of the national anthem asks a deity that doesn't exist to save an institution that shouldn't. By and large our births, marriages, deaths and holidays are Christian.

Yet Christian Voice claims that Christians are being picked on. "They wouldn't do it to the Hindus or the Muslims," cry the evangelical Little Englanders, missing the point that a satire on the morality of US or UK television would hardly work by using Hinduism. If the Church of England was once "the Tory party at prayer", Christian Voice is the UK Independence Party with a tambourine.

"The very first line of the national anthem asks a deity that doesn't exist to save an institution that shouldn't."  :lol:

-zudo