The Wily Mr Murdoch's

The end of 2011 is approaching, and this year's Formula 1 seasons has come to a close, after a great year of motor sporting action, with some brilliant races which will be remembered for years, and records which will take many years to eventually be broken. In the United Kingdom, we have been able to watch all this on the BBC, which has provided a great deal of in-depth analysis which has informed and, more importantly, entertained. I'm sure the next season will produce the same great quality sport. However, no longer will the BBC be showing the footage of sport in the same way they have for the past two years. And why? Sky!

Sky have come along and pounced on the healthy chicken, and dragging it back to their den with their teeth firmly gripping hold of the neck, just like a fox might. They are stealing the entire healthy crop that every other channel has. Another example of it happening this year is Glee.

Channel Four took the chance and aired the first two series. No-one knew whether or not it would transfer well to a British audience. Channel Four hand-reared this little foreign chick, until it became a hit, with a large fan base of people who listen to the terrible music. Then, just when it was at its healthiest, Sky came leaping in with their multi-millions, and ran off with the high-pitched chicken shrieking out a Britney hit.

That is what Sky does; they let other channels take the risk with a new show, and then when it becomes popular, they take it and add to their collection of hits. The sneaky bastards.

Now, I have no real issue with Sky taking Glee. In fact, they have done me a favour. My girlfriend watched it in the days when Channel 4 had it, but due to us not having Sky, and me never being likely to have it, she can no longer watch it, meaning I am saved from having to listen to crap actors sing crap songs with crap voices. However, I DO have an issue with them spearheading Formula 1 away from the BBC.

I have never really had a passion for a sport before, but I do have an enormous desire to wake up at 5:30am on a Sunday morning to sit in bed for four hours to watch the race, as well as all the coverage before and after the race. It is an experience which, in the two years the BBC has had it, has made it a real personable show. It is a show which you feel a part of. It is an experience which is better than actually being at the race. At the race, you can't go and listen to every race driver talk profoundly in a friendly manner about their emotions at winning a race.

The F1 Forum, which always followed the race on the Red Button, gave this us, the audience; the chance to see a sportsman express human emotion up close, which was something to have not been done before. The BBC also go and interview people at the races, such as mechanics who has take a break from rushing to get the car ready for the race, to talk to nosey film crew. The presenting team go and mingle with the public, especially at the British Grand Prix, and then you also get interviews with celebrities such as Sir Paul McCartney and Rowan Atkinson.

And now, because of Sky (although not entirely their fault; we can also blame the Government for not raising the TV License, meaning the BBC had no extra money to afford both BBC 4 and the F1. I mean, why could they not sacrifice BBC 3 instead?), that coverage has been sacrificed. The BBC still have coverage, but it is very limited. From 2012, they will only be showing half of the races live, with the others being limited to just two hours of highlights.  And Sky? They're creating a whole channel, because they have money to piss away on everything.

Sky has also stolen a considerable amount of the BBC presenting team. So, not only have Sky stolen another program which a channel has worked hard on to make a success, but they have also stolen their talent. Why? Because they're greedy, but they're also lazy. Essentially, they take the credit for the hard work done by other people.

In case you were not aware, News Corporation own part of Sky, with their bid to take complete control being blocked earlier this year after the News of the World scandal.

Not a great year for the Murdoch's overall. But then, hey, feel no sympathy for them. I mean, they APPARENTLY never read emails to them which informed them of the illegal methods that their journalists used to get stories. If that's true, they're incompetent idiots. If it's false, then they're bastard liars who will go to any mean who protect their sun-warped faces. Neither option is great, but I think we can all agree that the latter is probably the true option.

P.S. Think about it: Are Sky going to produce clips such as these?

Flee From Glee

Well, what can I say? Oh dear. America, when did you turn so gay? I don't mean in a homosexual way (however, that too is appropriate), I just mean, when did you become so happy and cheesy? Since you started bombing Iraq and Afghanistan, your TV seems to have become brightly coloured, with merriment, young people and 'improvised' dancing. First we had that High School Musical, in which over-aged actors and actresses play young teenagers who play basketball in between dancing, singing and lessons. That finished years ago. However, its soul lives on in a very slightly more mature way, in Glee.

Look at them, smiling. You wait until they get mentally crushed by real life!

Glee. Now this is pretty much the same format, but they apparently tackle more adult situations. I don't know what they could be. Maybe in a later episode, they sing the hits of Gary Glitter, and a few of them get sexually assaulted by their teacher. Maybe in a later episode they sing Gangsta Rap and a crazed American screams into the Glee Club and shoots them all in their gormless faces before turned the shotgun on himself after a 5 hour standoff with the police. Maybe they will have a Nirvana special, and the guy in the wheelchair gets bullied, causing him to hang himself. During Madonna week, did one of the blonde girls sing 'Papa Don't Preach' after finding out she was pregnant after a one night fling? I don't know, I didn't watch it, but I don't suppose that happened.

The remnants of High School Musical can be found in other American shows too. Camp Rock and Hannah Montana to name two. Both have the same format as High School Musical. 'Actors' 'singing' for the entertainment of snot-nosed children who cannot tell the difference between creativity and liquidised puke being poured into their ears in the form of an electric guitar and a teenager covered in more make up than someone attacked by a boots beautician with a vengeance. It's not the fault of magazines that 10 year olds want to be slim and wished they were prettier, blame Miley Cyrus; who is essentially a pile of fur balls choked up by an adorable kitten, with raisins stuck on for facial expressions, and a fire damaged novelty card which shouts at you every time you open it as a singing voice.

Anyway, yes. Glee. I understand that it is equally just as cool to not like Glee as it is to like Glee. If you are unaware and apathetic, then I am jealous of you and your better quality of life. If you've ever sat on your sofa and thought 'I wonder what it would sound like if some American adolescents sung some of my favourite songs badly and tried to attach them loosely to a story line', or you're easily mesmerised by moving colours, then Glee is the show for you! Mind you, do you remember ITV's version called 'Britannia' which was on TV a few years ago? Well, in comparison, Glee is great; but that is a very small victory.

I mean, honestly. If you consider yourself to be a fan of music in any shape or form, you just wouldn't watch that show. It's musical suicide. They may as well have a tick list of great performers who they have murdered through their computer generated voices. Say what you like about High School Musical, and I have, but at least they sing new, original songs. If you're going to be rubbish, then don't take successful musicians down with you!

We're also supposed to empathise with these characters. I empathise more with violent dogs which have been out down after mauling the face off a toddler than I do with them. The characters seem very one dimensional. In fact, they are exactly what you expect from an American show with teenagers in them. I can tell all of that by barely paying any attention to one episode.

I was glancing my eyes through the TV listings, and all of a sudden the words 'Rock Horror Show' captured them. A repeated look indicated the words 'Glee' where also very close by. I had never watched an episode previously. I had heard songs. You find it hard to go through life without hearing their version of 'Don't Stop Believing'. I go to the Pantomime and they sing the song. They then expect me to actually clap along! Excuse me, but I didn't pay for that. I paid to see grown fools make idiots of themselves to the loose script of a fairy tale and for the chance to hark back to my childhood. Not to be told to clap along with a cheap version of what was already a perfectly good song.

I digress again. Glee. Rocky Horror Show. Right.

I thought I would give Glee a chance. They're performing songs from one of my favoured musicals. The Rocky Horror Show is obscure, random, mind-boggling, bewildering, fun, sexy and outlandish. Glee certainly made their mark on the original. It made for an interesting interpretation. Not good interesting though. I got very bored of the tediously slow 'plot' and pathetic attempts at romantic and intimate moments. Mind you, whatever I say, the singing isn't awful. I've heard worse singing and I expect it would be quite refreshing to listen to after a night of karaoke singers in some tiny pub. However, they're all miming, badly. Which then makes you suspicious that isn't there real singing voice you're listening too. One of them is either fantastically brilliant at singing in a voice completely different to his speaking voice, or there has been some manipulation. The former would indicate talent, so it must be the latter.

Then again, I do dislike anything popular. My retired Godmother watches Glee. She likes it. It comes to something when a retired woman who enjoys cricket and Cliff Richard, is more down with the popular television shows of the younger generation than her 18 year old Godson...

A lot of people watch Glee, and from the episode I've seen, I cannot fathom out why. It isn't for the story line. It isn't for the singing. It isn't for the acting. It isn't for the characters. It isn't for the dancing. It isn't even for the songs. If you like music, go to a charity shop, buy some CD's and discover some brand new artist with brand new songs to get excited about, instead of bad interpretations of good songs. Which therefore takes me back to the point of people watching it for the moving colours; or maybe they find something enjoyable in watching forced smiles prancing about on their screen for an hour.

We will never know.