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Post by William Martin on Sept 28, 2004 16:08:07 GMT
what are the soviet era archives like, I remember a documentary about russian tv a few years ago, it was mostly about "tonight" and "monitor" type programs of the 50s and 60s and the work of Yuri Fokin the "Russian Richard Dimbleby" who to some extent styled himself on the Richard D.
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Post by Simon Mclean on Sept 28, 2004 21:06:42 GMT
Can we expand this topic to include other Eastern European countries? With all the political upheaval there, I wonder how much Soviet-era TV survives? Ceska Televize in the Czech Republic have a series called 'Teleautomat', which appears to be some kind of nostalgia strand, though as my Czech isn't that great (!) I'm not entirely sure what it's about. I'd be particularly interested to see some editions of Televisni Klub Mladych (TKM) which appears to be the Czech answer to TOTP (I don't think they ever used TOTP performances though, so don't get too excited!) - you can download the title sequence on the Ceska Televize website, which has a history section which is an anorak's dream!
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Post by CliveUK on Sept 29, 2004 8:34:53 GMT
Polish TV seems to have a good archive and I have seen a strand of programmes shown including some late 60's pop shows (all TR's from what I've seen)
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Post by Simon Mclean on Sept 29, 2004 20:45:46 GMT
That sounds interesting - any more info? Also any ideas which artists appeared? I'm quite into my 1960s/70s Polish pop at the moment!
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Post by CliveUK on Sept 30, 2004 6:43:08 GMT
The artists appearing all seemed to be Polish artists although there were a group of dancers dancing to 'Double Barrel' (Dave and Ansel Collins) which I guess dates the programme to around 1970.
The other, live artists seemed to be performing a mixture of light entertainment, not really rock n' roll, but some good, catchy, rousing sing-a-long numbers.
As for Russian TV, from the fair bit I've watched of Channel 1 I've yet to see any evidence of archive TV. History programmes seem to use old Soviet Newsreels and there is a fare smattering of 1960's idealistic Soviet Films. One programme, KBH, (a sort of satrical student revue) was celebrating it's 30th year but the brief compilation of clips did not seem to go back beyond the mid-80's.
Channel 1 does seem to be a bit strapped for cash, still using tubed (or a clones of) Ikegami cameras, home produced faire seems to be very low budget and only sponsored programmes (such as their Friday night 'Wheel Of Fortune' event) seem to have a decent budget and production. I guess keeping a good archive is the least of their problems.
Although the Soviets were all keen archivists, I'm not sure if this went as far as storing and maintaining a TV archive, if it had then I guess that since 1991 this has been in serious neglect due to lack of funding.
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Post by William Martin on Sept 30, 2004 15:41:47 GMT
how likely is it that the Soviets stored copies of European(inc UK) programs for their cultural, propoganda and psychology departments? they would certainly have watched our programs to gain an understanding of western psycholology.
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Post by dubs again on Sept 30, 2004 17:45:49 GMT
"Channel 1 does seem to be a bit strapped for cash, still using tubed (or a clones of) Ikegami cameras"
Haven't I heard Ikegami's are the Hasselblads of the video camera world, Clive?
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Post by H Hartley on Sept 30, 2004 19:44:45 GMT
how likely is it that the Soviets stored copies of European(inc UK) programs for their cultural, propoganda and psychology departments? they would certainly have watched our programs to gain an understanding of western psycholology. I heard that it was the fire at the Crossroads Motel and expulsion of Meg, that lead to the collapse of the Berlin Wall
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Post by CliveUK on Oct 1, 2004 10:14:30 GMT
You may laugh, but I remember reading somewhere that Roumania or someplace decided to show Dallas as an example of the evils of Capitalistic greed. It had the opposite then intended effect and became an immediate hit and gave the first sparks to the revolution. If they had stuck to the Norman Wisdom films then I am sure the Soviet Socialist Republic would still be alive and kicking
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Post by William Martin on Oct 1, 2004 15:44:16 GMT
strange but absoloughtly true, you couldn't make this up .
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Post by Gary on Oct 1, 2004 22:10:53 GMT
Clive UK.........You may joke. but in former hardline communist Albania Norman Wisdom was a superstar there! And of course Albania is now democratic and Norm is still a superstar.
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Post by CliveUK on Oct 2, 2004 8:34:55 GMT
Exactly, the Norman Wisdom films fit in well with the Communist ideal, the little man struggling against the er... big Capitalist Union Dairy....
Throw on something like Dallas which is about people trying to get richer and richer and living a life of luxury then it's not hard to see why your average hard done by Albanian started saying "We want to live like that !" The perception was that all people in the West lived like that, having had very little exposure to Western Culture.
So I guess the Soviets didn't spend too much time analysing the Western media, they were not has paranoid as made out and firmly believed their system was the best and their citizens fully supported it.
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Post by H Hartley on Oct 2, 2004 9:02:23 GMT
In parts of the Ukraine,women identified with the matriarchal figure of Noel Gordon working her Meg on Crossroads.Not only could she look after the family, she could also run a business as well! The all macho male role model image in the Ukraine was smashed by characters such as Vince the postman and Mr Lurvejoy the chef who showed a more casual, relaxed attitude to husbandry and cooking.
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Post by Gary on Oct 2, 2004 14:57:32 GMT
Clive UK........ I agree with all your comments ;D I know it's slightly Off topic from the thread title, but I wonder what other tv surpises there are/were around the world. I mean I just think it was amazing Norman Wisdom was such a huge hit in Albania, which was one of the most closed secret societies in the world, much like North Korea still is today. Yet Norman was such a hit. There must be other countries around the world that hold similar such surprises. I know that in Cambodia they really used to love 'On The Buses' Massive hit over there. Anyone know any other weird countries with a strange fascination for vintage British tv. Bear in mind I did read this in a tabloid some years ago, so not sure of the accuracy (tabloids being tabloids!), but apparenly it was shown all the time in their cinemas. People couldn't get enough!
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Post by John G on Oct 2, 2004 20:49:51 GMT
In Germany they have been showing an obscure little British comedy film every Christmas since 1963. Never heard of in the UK, something to do with a butler serving dinner.
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