Get yourself a sandwich board, Franco – ‘The end of the world is nigh’
Towards the end of his speech, Dr Debono addressed the Prime Minister personally, cautioning him about the state of public broadcasting, which he said, “returned to the 1980s”.
The reference was to Thursday’s Bondì+ programme, which Dr Debono said he did not want to attend and instead ended up being at the centre of the programme host’s questions to the other guests.
– timesofmalta.com, yesterday
Franco Debono has a lot to learn about effective criticism. The first rule is to delete the hyperbole, absurd comparisons and apocalyptic warnings, because they have the reverse effect of that intended.
Working on the basis that he’s just under a decade my junior, Franco was probably watching Lupin or Heidi or whatever kids watched in the early 1980s, and hadn’t a clue about the state of public broadcasting except that it was bloody boring and started at 6pm with a tune that signalled the end of testcard viewing.
Testcards: will somebody explain these for people younger than Franco Debono? I must move on to the next post.
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Testcards: Pattern on TV screen reminiscent of a cubist painting, made up of little black and white squares surrounding a circle divided into little coloured squares. In the middle, in a black rectangle, the dreaded letters spelling: XANDIR MALTA.
Right after that came Eileen ‘Risqué’ Montesin and Richy, teaching all the little socialist children about the joys of living in a socialist paradise. Her puppet, Ritchie, would chide children for saying ‘tsk’ instead of ‘le’. And they would bring him apples as gifts. But we were happy. For we were Mintoff’s little children.
We were Mintoff’s little children. With Gaddafi’s children-allowances.
Ahem….for the “people younger than Franco Debono” we might as well add that “Eileen ‘Risqué’ Montesin” has now morphed from one of Mintoff’s “little children”, to one of the current government’s more loyal apologists.
I think that the “people younger than Franco Debono” should know that it is the one and same person.
We never saw the test cards in colour.
I can still remember the agonising wait for Garrisons Guerillas as T.V.M. in those days had a very loose understanding of on time and schedule .
There were no coloured squares. Colour TV was verboten.
After declining Lou Bondi’s invitation to star on his show, Franco Debono was on Dissett tonight, only to find that Reno Bugeja’s grilling is worse than Lou’s.
…agreed. In fact it seems that Lou has lost his punch. His questions are not well prepared, guests ignore his invitations (something which would not happen in shows which have weight), and he looks uneasy all the time. Very true what you say, ciccio.
[Daphne – You astonish me, Albert. One minute Lou Bondi is the greatest threat to democracy since Adolf Hitler and Must Be Removed. The next, he’s lost his punch.]
Albert, I am not saying that Lou has lost his punch. But I do think that his new programme format puts him less in command. I preferred it when he was standing and kept a physical distance from his guests. I actually think his position in the studio was part of it.
First time I find myself not agreeing with Baxxter.
In that programme he mentioned, presented by Eileen Montesin, I never heard any politics mentioned. Or any reference, at that.
OK,.nowadays it might seem a “silly” programme, times have changed drastically. But so might Bonolis`s Bim Bum Bam which used to air at approximately the same period.
Eileen used to have a very varied programme ….with Nanna Gerit, young singers, Prof, Kitzel`s corner(which was very educational) and a lot more.
[Daphne – I specifically remember some kind of monkey puppet friend of hers called Ritchie.]
She was targeting a very young audience, we have to remember, and she knew exactly how to go down to their level of understanding.
Both my sons loved that programme, they were so young, so what`s so wrong with taking apples (supposedly) for the puppet?
Regardless of Eileen`s political colour at the time (or now), it would not be fair to say that she was “teaching all the socialist children about the joys of lving in a socialist paradise”. The programme was meant for all children.
I still have a copy of a video of one of the programmes in which my sons were present and I treasure it dearly.
And not once is there any political reference detected. It was an innocent and sweet programme for kids, like Bim Bum Bam with the puppet Five was.
The thing is pat, there was nothing innocent in any programme of the period. Everything was tinged with oppression.
You people are so literal. Now I’ll have to deconstruct and explain the picture that I just painted in prose, and I won’t do it, but I’ll say this: Montesin’s programme was the very embodiment of QAMEL.
Everything around us was QAMEL.
The testcard was QAMEL.
The Xandir Malta logo was QAMEL.
The Maltese national coat of arms was QAMEL.
The government was QAMEL.
The jobs were QAMEL.
The schools were QAMEL.
The whole of life was QAMEL.
H.P.Baxxter
u lanqas ma kienu jqassmu il helu u ic-cikkulata lit-tfal ghax biex ikollok bicca trid tmur Sqallija.
AST Do not forget that there was a very efficient black market , with some well-known characters raking in nice bundles of money by selling chocolates, pasta and colour televisions, Animal Farm in its purest sense.
For Franco fetishists:
http://www.meldrum.co.uk/mhp/testcard/