This is not great art,we're not admiring the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel."Guernica " it isn't."On the buses" is a cheaply made comedy from the era of the Ford Cortina and the Austin Maxi.It was hugely popular with ordinary Brits who drove Ford Cortinas and Austin Maxis.It was their misfortune to be unaware that their predilection for seaside postcard humour would be regarded with contempt by a future generation many of whose values no doubt they in turn would have regarded with contempt. We must be careful whilst criticising their taste to remind ourselves that in 1971 TV was not awash with gutter language,explicit sex and extreme violence.Sitcoms were cheeky,yes,but nobody took them seriously.It was comedy,for God's sake. Is it possible that there is a correlation between the increased "awareness" of the media on the sensitive issue of sexism which their policy makers seem to believe can be dealt with by ruthlessly crushing any reference to the female sex in a comedy programme that is not totally adulatory,and the increased amount of disrespect and violence shown towards women in society in 2006?When Reg Varney made some outrageous remark to a large-bosomed bus conductress was he perhaps exorcising vicariously some deep need in the male members of his audience to do exactly the same thing themselves?Robbed by the self-appointed arbiters of public good of the opportunity of such relief,the nagged,the hen-pecked or the simply inadequate become more and more frustrated, sometimes with tragic results. There are no real people in "On the buses".Everyone is an escapee from a Donald McGill postcard.Cheeky bus driver,frustrated housewife,fat lady with glasses,miserable husband,buffoonish authority figure........ I watched "Footballers' Wives " last night.A blind man was thrown down a lift shaft,women were portrayed as scheming,greedy ,lying ,immoral and stupid.That's progress?I can't quite see how that empowers women - perhaps I'm missing something. Compared to "Footballers' Wives","On the buses" is a source if innocent merriment.
Review of On the Buses
