Ethan Guppy – Series Review
After 16 series, the slice of life series ‘Ethan Guppy’ aired its
final episode in April 2014 after plummeting ratings and viewer numbers caused
the higher ups on Channel 4 to can the show, quoted saying ‘Well it just got boring
in the end’. With the death of this titan we take a look at the last 16 years
of Ethan Guppy.
The series’ first aired in May 1998, to get great expectations.
Following the life of new young Bristolian Ethan Guppy, the series promised a
brutally honest view of a lad growing up in modern day England. However to the dismay of viewers, the first 4
seasons were arguably some of the worst TV ever broadcast in the Northern
Hemisphere. Many complaints about the series were that for the first few
seasons the main character, Ethan, never actually spoke, just a bunch of sounds
as he crawled about his daily business, sleeping and defecating. There was no
character development, little meaningful character interaction with only a few
characters ever actually being present at all.
It wasn’t until the show entered its 12th season that
the show really came into its own, rewarding the loyal fans who had stuck
around for 12 years of crap TV. Tonnes of new characters with varying
importance to the series, all of whom our protagonist hated to some extent or
another. Perhaps one of the greatest things about Ethan was his bitterness and
cynicism in situations, seeing as how the main character and Sod’s Law have a
great running relationship, as well as having relationships with some
classmates whose hostility rivalled that of North Korea and the Western world.
It seems during these seasons the producers realised the untapped
potential of the series, leading it down a more mature, blunt and crude
direction. Once the series moved post-watershed midway into the 13th
season, the series peaked when its mid-season finale beat out the greatly
anticipated Great British Bake Off final in October 2011, much to the dismay of
host Paul Hollywood who (allegedly) said ‘What the f… is wrong with this
country’. The increasing popularity of the series lead to guest appearance from
Greg Wallace, when the main character runs into him in a kebab shop in Brislington
village.
One of the greatest appeals of the series over its 16 year course
was the variety of scenery that our protagonist visited, going as far afield as
South East Asia and Devon, to exotic locales such as Indonesia, Thailand and
Barnstaple. Although Ethan planned to go further both West, South and East, to
the promising lands of Swindon, Nottingham and Mexico, the show has been axed
before his dreams of being a globetrotter could be realised.
Ultimately, it was the lack of creativity in the series that lead
to its untimely demise, as the show began to become too repetitive with the
main character repeating the daily motions for the best part of 3 seasons as
the main character settled into the routine of college. This was the final nail
in coffin as viewers feared another 12 years of mind numbing boredom and left
in the biggest mass exodus in TV since The Bill. It’s been a good 16 years of
top television but this is the end for the series as there is a snowballs
chance in hell that it will ever comeback.
4/10. Will
binge watch when unemployed.
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