Reputations or Ratings?

There has been a lot of kerfuffle about Ricky Gervais at the Golden Orbs. As presenter of the prestige event, second year running, Gervais had the job of introducing a lot of Hollywood luvvies and got a bit personal.
On I love you Philip Morris: "two heterosexual actors pretending to be gay - so the complete opposite of some famous Scientologists, then."
On The Tourist  (explaining that it was a good year for 3D movies): It seems like everything this year was three-dimensional... except the characters in The Tourist.
and
 on Robert Downey Jr: "Many of you in this room probably know him best from such facilities as the Betty Ford Clinic and Los Angeles County Jail."
Americans have to be told what is funny, and then be given permission to laugh. Gervais does not and never did work that way. Nevertheless he comes across as a bit of a wanker. That would be a bad thing if it not for the fact that most of the people, Steve Buschemi excluded, came across as giant wankers, cf Christian Bale.
Much speculation has been made about whether Ricky will be asked back to do the gig next year. The ratings were very good in 2010 and were better in 2011. It will be a battle to decide which has more say in the City of Dreams; reputations or ratings.

NB. If you really want to know what it is all about, this awards stuff, then all you need to know is that The King's Speech nearly did not get an award because of an email whispering campaign claiming that King George VI was anti-semitic, and secondly, Michael Douglas got a standing ovation for having cancer. Neither of these facts add up to a recognition of artistic merit, which I thought was the point of it.

4 comments:

strapworld said...

Personally I was brought up believing that sarcasm was the lowest form of wit.

The brilliance of Gervais was his partner Stephen Marchant his writing partner!

It will be interesting to see what the result of all this is. Will the hollywood film roles come to an end now? I suggest they will do.

Back to the office!

Wrinkled Weasel said...

Strappy, RGs humour never appealed to me though "The Office" had its moments. As for comdey in general, I remember some sketches almost word for word and can recite them to the delight of my friends and family. Nothing Ricky Gervais ever did burrowed itself into my brain. I must admit to a liking for Frankie Boyle, who is eyewateringly offensive but makes me laugh. "Not Going Out" was good but the new series has not impressed. What causes me to choke and hold my hernia in is Peep Show.

BTW what is your view on Elected Chief Constables?

strapworld said...

WW.

Elected police chiefs - as in the good old USA- I would support. Those that stand for office have to be police officers with all the necessary qualifications. (That said, I did meet a Police Chief from the USA whilst attending a conference there. I was discussing the difficulties of being in charge when I asked him the size of his force. Four.

What the conservative/liberal coalition are suggesting is an elected Commissioner to ensure that the police chiefs and the force do what the public want. I support anything which brings back the police to the people. It was and should be the jewell in policing.

I enjoyed a situation where the vast majority had faith in and supported the police. We now live in a time where people despise them and, sadly, I too despise modern policing.

Acpo as a private company has to be closed down. It is, in my view, undemocratic and as such the police chiefs have lost their way.

Bonuses are something I find difficult to support. Police Officers are well remunerated!

Sorry to be so longwinded. I did send you my email by the way.

Wrinkled Weasel said...

Thanks, but I did not get the email. Can you send it again to

magicged@NOSPAMhotmail.com (removing the NOSPAM) Thanks.