First visited : February 1983
Channel Four's first attempt at kids TV could hardly have proven more controversial with the programme, all 6 episodes of it, sill cropping up on all those Bad TV compilation shows.
Minipops was originally a kids troupe put together by Martin Wyatt as a showcase for his little daughter Jo. When their version of the old Connie Francis number Stupid Cupid was a big hit in France in 1982 , Channel 4 commissioned Supersonic's Mike Mansfield to build a TV show around the group and held auditions to expand the cast..
I only tuned in very briefly. I couldn't bear the butchery of the songs or Mansfield's painfully garish sets ; the deeper controversy passed me by entirely. It just didn't seem to have occurred to anyone that sex is a pretty large ingredient in pop and if you're going to have primary school tots performing contemporary material you've got to sift it pretty carefully. Video Killed The Radio Star was fine ( though musically an abomination ) but Sheena Easton's 9 to 5 was always going to be dodgy with that "Night time is the right time, we make love" line. When it was performed by five year old Joanna Fisher in a white bath gown with groping gestures to emphasise that line, it wasn't surprising that critics started suggesting that Channel Four was taking its brief to cater for minorities a little too far. The bosses took fright and cancelled the series after one season.
It was a trifle harsh on the guys behind the show, none of whom have been accused of any actual crime then or now and nobody protests about the screening of films like Taxi Driver or Bugsy Malone with Jodie Foster in jailbait roles.
The group itself survived the show's cancellation, toured Canada and released six albums before disbanding in the mid-eighties. Jo Wyatt is a successful voice actress while Joanna Fisher has made her mark in showjumping
No comments:
Post a Comment