I enjoy watching satirical current affairs TV programmes like ‘Have I Got News For You’ and ‘Mock The Week’. I find the humorous approach to what is going on helps puncture egos, although sometimes I feel they go too far and I wish some of the comedians did not feel they have to be crude to get a laugh.
I also really enjoy watching ‘QI’. This is a programme that explores many different aspects of human knowledge and offers things that are ‘quite interesting’ (hence the name). It has good comedy value, but it is informative as well. I was thrilled a while ago to have obtained tickets to be in the audience for a recording of QI. It would have been really interesting to see how they record the programme, how many times they might tackle a question (to get rid of outtakes and bloopers) and how spontaneous it really is. Sadly Sally and I were unable to go because the date coincided with me being in hospital for an operation. Boo. (You can see these programmes on the BBC iplayer at http://www.bbc.co.uk)
I have been interested in how TV programmes are put together into the format we see on our screens ever since I was invited to take a group of young people from my first church to take part in a discussion programme on sex before marriage that was broadcast on Channel 5*. I watched the discussion unfold from the Green Room with the parents of some of the other participants, and was chuffed when one of our young people, Rosie, made a very perceptive and sensible comment as part of the discussion. The recording continued for quite a while afterwards and then after another young person had made a comment the host said, “Well, that seems like a good point on which to end.”
When the programme was broadcast I was astonished and delighted to see that in the editing process Rosie’s comment became the last comment of the show, and they edited in the host saying, “Well, that seems like a good point on which to end.” It was very revealing – what we see on the screen and is presented as a recording of what happened ‘live’ has been edited and changed before we get to see it.
That same process happens to the news broadcasts, websites and newspapers from which we get so much information about what is going on in the world. We need to be wise about that and recognise that what we see and hear has been filtered (or edited) before it gets to us.
I have occasionally had the experience of watching coverage of the same event on different news channels and being told different things about it! Once we have realised this it enables us to have a more enlightened approach to what we see and hear. We can weigh up what we are learning and discern whether it is really true.
This Sunday morning we reflected on truth. Jesus famously described himself as ‘the way, the truth and the life’. If nothing else, he was claiming that you can trust him to discover how to be in a relationship with God, to discover what God is like, and to receive new life from God.
(Before reading this joke you should know I am from the West Country originally.)
A man with a strong West Country accent walked into a store. He found a great TV and went up to the assistant.
“Sir, Oi’d loike to buy that there TV over there.”
“Sorry, we don’t sell those to people from the West Country.”
So, he went away, put on a false moustache, glasses and a funny hat and tried to change his voice to represent a Southern American accent. Then he went back.
“Sir, Ah’d lahke to bah that TV over thah.”
“I’m sorry, we don’t sell those to people from the West Country.”
So, he went away again and this time he changed his clothes, put on a wig and got some stage makeup and went back AGAIN. He tried an Eastern European accent.
“Zir…I’d really like to buy zat TV over zere.”
“…I’m sorry…we don’t sell those to people from the West Country.”
“AHHHH!” He cried, “HOW DID YOU KNOW I’M FROM THE WEST COUNTRY?!!!!”
“Well…because that’s a microwave…not a TV.”
* to clarify – the programme was not about sex before marriage that was broadcast on Channel 5, it was broadcast on Channel 5 and was about sex before marriage.
nukelearfishing 
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