The perhaps original 'Reality' TV show was a show aired on the BBC and ITV in 1964 profiling the lives of 14 British seven year old boys and girls. It was called 'Seven Up!' Seven years later, when they were 14, Granada produced a sequel, '7 Plus Seven,' which followed up on the group as teenagers. Despite changing circumstances and some drop outs, the series has repeated every seven years ('21 Up!,' '28 Up!,' ... '40 Up!'), directed, since the second installment in 1970 by Michael Apted. Here in the U.S., we've been able to follow it in repertory movie theaters and on PBS.
The news is that '56 Up' is set to be released in a few weeks, in May. I am so excited! This is m-m-m-my generation. The first one I saw, I believe, was '21 Up', and I've been hooked ever since. It's an unparalleled look at the lives of these British folks as they grew up negotiating the enormous changes that marked the end of the 20th and beginning of the 21st Centuries, like many of us. Remarkable. Touching. Insightful. For the humanist and voyeur in us all.
You can find clips from the series on the YouTubes starting, say, here.
[Also, birthday celebrations today include Shakespeare and Nabokov.]
3 comments:
52 up (and counting), Jim H.
I've never seen any of that. Will check it out on your reckies.
~
So what kind of prize do they get after all but one have been voted off the race?
You all are so old.
@Thundra: You're gonna' love it. Won the Oscar for best movie of ... all time. Even over The Highlander. I jest, of course (thx, Ricky Bobby). Was voted one of the best documentaries of all time. When you see them, you feel like you're re-acquainting with old friends. And now, I guess, I mean 'old'.
@RG: Tosser of the year? Wanker of the week, I don't know. Hey, you kids, get off my lawn!
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