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Tuesday 22 May 2012

Royal Wedding Overkill

Monday, 21st March 2011

Whatever you think of Prince William and Kate Middleton - good luck to 'em says I - and the coverage of their wedding, console yourself witht the thought that it's unlikely the British coverage, extensive and often absurd as it may be, can be anything like as ghastly or over-the-top as that provided by American television.

The cousins appear to be losing their minds. CNN, for instance, is sending 400 people to London to "cover" the nuptials. This Wall Street Journal story lays out the detail of the nonsense in all its splendid gruesomeness. It is, naturally, all unintentionally amusing:

"It really is a Cinderella story and that hits the sweet spot of female audiences," says Barbara Walters, who covered Princess Diana's wedding and funeral for ABC and will spend a week in London ahead of the wedding to host "20/20" special "William & Catherine: A Modern Fairy Tale."

[...] TV wedding specialists—there are a surprising number—are over the moon. "On a scale of one to 10 in big TV events, this is a 10 plus, plus," says Kim Martin, president and general manager of WE tv and Wedding Central, cable channels reaching 76 million and 3.5 million homes, respectively. In the five days before the big event alone they'll air 109 hours of wedding-related shows including "How to Marry a Prince," a user's guide to nabbing a royal fiancé. (Hint: Do not sleep with the prince on the first date.)

"William and Kate are celebrities to Americans. Prince Charles was perceived as a more stodgy kind of guy. But William is hip and cool. She's drop-dead gorgeous, and she's a commoner. It's that princess story we're always seeing in movies," she adds.

[...] Ms. Middleton is "this classless underdog who Americans can relate to," says CNN host Piers Morgan, who covered the royal family for years as the editor of Britain's Daily Mirror and will anchor his nightly talk show from London all that week.

She didn't exactly grow up in poverty, but last week, NBC's "Today" aired a segment called "From Pit to Palace: Kate's Coal Mining Ancestry," about Ms. Middleton's ancestors who worked in England's coal country. "We love her humble background," says Executive Producer Jim Bell.

[...] Syndicated CBS celebrity shows "The Insider" and "Entertainment Tonight" will broadcast across the street from Buckingham Palace. "I've done the Oscars for 16 years and it's always fun, but it doesn't even compare to this," says Linda Bell Blue, executive producer of both shows.

And how can anyone not love this?

Hallmark's movie "William & Kate: A Royal Love Story" will premiere in August, well after its competitor Lifetime airs its fictionalized account "William & Kate." To shoot the Lifetime movie in 20 days and get it ready in time for its April 18 premiere, UCLA served as Scotland's University of St. Andrews, where the couple met. "Fortunately, L.A. was very overcast and rainy when we shot and had sort of an English weather feel," says executive producer Frank Konigsberg.

I'm sure it did.

All this confirms the fact that Americans are suckers for Royalty. Not a surprise, of course, since they treat their own Head of State as a Priest-King and then wonder why the man proves a disappointment. A Royal wedding allows the same fawning and embarrassing, ridiculous gushing but, happily, without the dismal intrusion of politics.

[Via Doug Mataconis.]

Filed under: Americana (479 more articles) , Lunacy (138 more articles) , Prince William (20 more articles) , Television (181 more articles)

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Anna

March 21st, 2011 5:28am Report this comment

The hype media creates sometimes for such events is ridiculous. Everyone tries to capitalize on this the best they can. From Royal wedding mugs to t-shirts to even design contests. People come up with the strangest ways to capitalize at other people's expense. Just recently I came across a design contest for the royal wedding monogram at some site called mycroburst.com. Seriously!

and I'll go to bed at noon

March 21st, 2011 6:55am Report this comment

Never ceases to amaze me how a country founded on a rejection of royal authority is capable of the kind of drooling deference that is rarely seen here, these days at least. In a similar vein, the country that has separation of church and state codified in its constitution has religion as a ubiquitous fact of public life, while in the UK, despite our established church, religion is a) much less popular (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-12799801) and b) largely a private matter.

I suppose all humans, everywhere, carry the contrarian gene.

Kathryn

March 21st, 2011 8:09am Report this comment

A Priest King as head of state? How is that different from a Queen who is head of the Church?

American television is geared for the 24 hour news cycle. Charlie Sheen has made it his dog and pony show. Don't be too impressed with yourselves. You have shiny princes and palaces, from our vantage cross the pond. We don't know it's an unpopular institution dangling precariously on one octogenarion's personal good will from her people. We think Chuck and Cams is your next king and queen, and since it's the official position, so do you. So, is this another of your train wreck royal romances in the making? The king and queen who will never be? (Only sympathetic, unlike the WE debacle, right?) Or will they overcome all that, and lead you through it, like the charismatic figureheads they might turn out to be? I don't know. It's the Truman show of our lifetimes.

I guess the only comfort we classless americans might take, in a moment like this, is how annoyed the french must be with your royal wedding by now. Maybe they'll send you notes on how to get rid of a nasty royals infection - I heard they had that sorted.

Sam Davidson

March 21st, 2011 12:28pm Report this comment

Well, the beautiful thing about Monarchy is that it's separated from and above the murky dealings of the democratic state. There's something wonderful in the fact that however the "country" feel from one day to another, they don't have any choice whatsoever as to who the Monarch is or how much power they have.

The idea that the power of the Monarch derives from "people and parliament" and that he or she rules with their consent is a Whiggish illusion that has proved very helpful over time. The real solidity of the British system lies not in that we are an ancient democracy, but in that we are an ancient hodge-podge of castes and classes, all deluding themselves and each other to just such an extent as to keep the whole thing afloat.

God knows I'd choose that over the alternatives.

Sir Graphus

March 21st, 2011 12:45pm Report this comment

Kate is young, photogenic, and on her popularity rests the the fate of the royal family.

Does this remind you of anyone? I started to become seriously worried about the poor girl a month or so ago, when press interest started ratcheting up.

On the plus side, she has had a few years to observe and weigh up what she's getting into, and the Royal machine should have learned from past mistakes how she needs to be protected (psychologically, that is).

Bella

March 21st, 2011 4:48pm Report this comment

Actually, Kathryn, the French couldn't care less either way.

Baron

March 21st, 2011 5:20pm Report this comment

If it cheers up their lives, what’s wrong with it?

Kathryn

March 21st, 2011 9:53pm Report this comment

About the royal wedding, Bella, perhaps. But the french have been interested in giving brits tips on deposing a monarchy for some time.

“The best government is a benevolent tyranny tempered by an occasional assassination.” - Voltaire

Bella

March 26th, 2011 8:05am Report this comment

Voltaire was a long time ago, and the English managed to cut off a royal head all by themselves (great success, as I'm sure you know, ensued). For the French, monarchy is just something that happens to other people but that really isn't worth too much thought. Being French I might know.

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