There's a long television tradition for getting an 'expert' to pronounce on-screen in a documentary series about their specialist subject: it goes back to Kenneth Clark's marathon 13-part Civilisation in 1969 and beyond. The latest example is Michio Kaku, one of the originators of string theory, presenting a BBC Four series on the nature of Time and our perception of it.
The series is one of those factual productions that drive you crazy, like modern Horizon programmes. It has its video effect gimmick - in this case, speeding up and then suddenly slowing the playback, which is relevant to the idea of our perception of time changing according to brain chemicals et al - and, as usual, it is horribly over-used and becomes a real annoyance after it's appeared twice or thrice. Yes, we got the point the 23rd time, thank you very much.
Indeed, everything's like that in this series. Each point is repeated, re-stated and drawn out until it becomes so thin and tenuous you think you'll lose the string entirely. The theory, presumably, is that US viewers (although there is no indication of it being a co-production, it must at least have been sold, or has hopes of being sold, to PBS) have an attention span of 0.05 milliseconds (subjectively speaking) and have to have everything drummed into their heads a hundred times before it registers. But surely not even they are so stupid. To me, it drags and drags.
It's also a fact that choosing a knowledgeable person doesn't guarantee a charismatic presenter, which is what shows like this dearly need. Kaku is no David Suzuki, geneticist and Canada's leading science broadcaster, described as "one of the world’s most effective popularisers of science, alongside Carl Sagan and Jacques Cousteau” - regrettably you never see him in the UK. But equally, Kaku's not as bad as some.
Indeed, if time didn't seem to slow down so dramatically when the series is on (BBC Four, Sundays, 20:00-21:00 until March 19), I would watch the remaining parts. The real content of an hour's show would easily fit into 20 minutes: I suppose if I had the right chemicals in my brain, like the rat on marijuana in Part One, it would actually seem to last that short a time. Aha! maybe that's the problem with the potential US audience...
