More waspish whining

[avevale_intelligencer]

I can't remember where I saw it now, but I read somewhere that a national survey had declared Roald Dahl most popular children's author of all time. The survey, the article went on to say, was conducted as part of "Roald Dahl Weekend."

Is it just me?

Maybe it is. Maybe I have a crabbed and suspicious nature. That's probably why I view with similar suspicion the claim by UK Drama that David Tennant was voted the most popular Doctor of all time. I mean, maybe he was, there are all sorts of reasons why he would have been...but if the voting had gone to, say, Patrick Troughton, would they have broadcast an entire weekend of back-to-back black and white wobbly-setted episodes with him in? Far more sensible to take all the votes and then declare the winner to be the one with the recent crop of bright shiny episodes that look like quality twenty-first-century product.

Democratic consultation, after all, only has to be seen to take place. It doesn't actually have to be acted on.

Comments

[pink-sweater-uk.livejournal.com]

At the risk of sounding like a curmudgeonly old fart, I think that most of this is down to sustained hyping on recent film/telly appearances. Tennant is apparently the Best Doctor Evah because he's the one that's been seen most recently (for all of the fact that his character isn't a patch on Billy's, Pat's, or either Baker's, to name but some): while Dahl, through frequent celluloid re-imaginings/re-releases,is somehow held to be superior to the likes of (to pick but a few) E Nesbit, Nils Olof-Franzen, J P Martin, Joan Aitken...

It's the same recent bugbear. Nothing's worth nothing if it ain't been on telly recently.