Last Tuesday ten years of great comedy from the overpaid Friends lot ended, as we finally got to see the last episode. Kind of sad, really, since I've practically gone from a tormented teenager to a responsible adult with a mortgage while watching that series. No more clapping during the intro music. Too bad I've never found Friends to be funny during the repeats. That is strange, actually, since I thought it was very funny the first time I watched an episode. Mad About You is different. I must have watched that series three times. Same with M*A*S*H and Cheers (Frasier is not that funny the second or third time around, though). I don't get it.

Last night, however, I did something very interesting (for once?) - I went to the rehearsal of tonight's live show Test the Nation. I watched it last year (based on the British version...or original? Not entirely sure about that one.) and remember becoming increasingly annoyed at the constant reassurance from the experts and hosts that it's not the end of the world if you got a low score, because there's been lots of proof that a lower IQ not necessarily means that you won't succeed and yadi-yadi-yada. That's just so typical of this country. It's been like that within our school system for decades now. Apparently it's vital that everyone is at the same level. This means that those who are having trouble learning things get all the help in the world. Those of us who actually got it the first time around get no follow-up, no special classes, no extra work or anything. This policy goes with the highly popular "dissing" of those who actually excel in their studies; the norm is to be against all kinds of school and homework, and those who think learning new things is interesting are "nerds", "geeks" and looked upon as outcasts.

And after that rant, guess which side I'm on. ;-)

Anyway, back to the rehearsal. Now, I'm not allowed to say anything specific about the questions or the flow of the programme until it has aired, but I can say that I experienced some of the clichés of television. The studio was smaller than it looks on telly. The hosts looked bigger (meaning they were actually normal height, not hobbits). The studio WAS hot because of all the lights, and the lights WERE annoying at times. Also, I got to see how many people are actually in the studio when filming; there were more cameras than I expected. And the last and most annoying thing: I've always been cross with those guests that keep looking into the lens of the camera as it pans the studio. Well, to my dismay I discovered that it's not that easy to stay away from looking straight at it, if even for a second or two. I feel dumb.

Most importantly, though - today is this blog's first birthday, so Happy Birthday, Blog! It started out as a diary of my insane dreams, but the second I started it my dreams disappeared. So I made this instead. Luckily.

Current track: Udit Narayan & Lata Mangeshkar - Dil to pagal hai

Labels: comedy, Norway, personal, TV