And Then You Go And Spoil It All By Saying Something Stupid, Like 'I Love You' (I Love The Nineties)

Member Name: blackjane

Product:	I Love The Nineties
Date:	13/11/01 (613 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: A good formula

Disadvantages: MUCH, MUCH TOO SOON!

Ah! <sighs> Those were the days. The 1990s, when I didn't have a single care in the whole wide world...

Hold on, that can't be right. We're talking about the 1990s right? It's not yet two years since the end of the 1990s, and the dawn of the new millennium, and we're already being encouraged to think back to fond memories of the decade with a tear in our eye? Something can't be right here - surely!

I love nostalgia - don't get me wrong. However, when it's still in our recent memories I don't think that the time is quite right yet to recall all the great music (Er...Let me think...) all the embarrassing clothes (Wait a minute! I'm still wearing them!) as well as all the fads that we are all still able to recall without the need for a prompt.

'I love the 90's' (the TV series) carries on from where its predecessors had left off. The BBC had already ambushed the Saturday evening slot to treat us to 'I love the 70's' and 'I love the 80s.' However, to take that extra step into the 90s so soon appears to have been a bridge too far.

The formula is simple enough:

1) Take a host of celebrities - nothing too fancy (ie: 'C' and 'D' list will suffice) as budgets are tight.

2) Armed with a series of suitable prompts from the year in question, ask them about their memories of the past.

3) Let them ramble inanely about the memories of their childhoods, or in the case of the 90s, what happened a couple of years ago.

Finally, splice together the more pertinent bits with clips of music videos, old news features and just about anything else that you can find to fill an hour - and Beeb's your Auntie!

[Oops! I forgot to mention: at the same time put together a compilation CD to go with the series to fully exploit the marketing opportunity.]

The formula is one that appeared to have worked very well before n
ow. People like to be reminded of their childhood in particular, although even the older viewers will enjoy remembering how life was fifteen or even twenty-five years ago.

I don't have a problem with a show about 1975 - I was only three, and it's fun and interesting to see what was in fashion in those days.

Ten years on, and 1985 is fine too. I was thirteen and acne-ridden, although I was still impessionable enough to have a rosy view of the world. To think back to the music, fads and fashions is embarrassing, but most of all amusing and nostalgic. It provides a warm feeling that doesn't require an enema.

To think back to the 1990s requires little effort, and doesn't really provide the same 'feel-good' factor that can be gained by tapping into our more distant memories. In short, it was television that required very little thought and did not challenge the viewer, and in this respect it failed miserably.

At the end of the day it all boils down to the definition of 'nostalgia.' Can we really feel truly nostalgic about 1998? Wouldn't we be better to wait until at least 2010 before we even think of looking bcak to the 1990s in this way? Either way it's too late as the BBC have already gone and done it now. Perhaps the repeat showings in ten years time will make more sense, although maybe it would be better to remake the show completely as today's 'C' and 'D' list celebrities will be long forgotten by then.

Finally, beware of a new series of 'I love last week', appearing on the new schedules for the late Autumn as the BBC strives to make the most of its winning formula! Whatever next?

{An original Dooyoo opinion
© Blackjane 2001}

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