David Craig, on February 23rd, 2015As the EU’s favourite soap – Greekenders – was entering its fifth season, we wondered if the writers had run out of ideas.
Of course, we still had all our favourite characters – tough, tight-fisted housewife Mrs Merkel, miserable old sod Mr Schäuble, suntanned, crocodile-skinned fashionista Ms Lagarde and stylish, suave Italian lothario Mario Draghi:
But with the endless austerity and falling viewing figures, we wondered whether Greekenders was on the way out as Europe’s favourite evening entertainment, whether we were heading for what we in the TV business call a “Grexit”.
Thankfully the Greekenders writers have responded to public concern about the series becoming a bit too repetitive with the introduction of two original and exciting new characters.
There’s the flamboyant young second-hand car dealer Alexis Tsipras with his flashing smile, filmstar looks and smooth sales patter:
And there’s the new accountant – Yanis Varoufakis. But the new Greekenders accountant is not some boring, besuited nobody. He’s a young, shaven-headed, motorbike-riding smoothie with a Mediterranean charm and a way with the numbers that might even put a bit of fire into the cold, stone-like hearts of grim misery-guts Merkel and the perma-tanned but fragrant Ms Lagarde.
Yup, just when we thought Greekenders was on the way out with an explosive Grexit, the show is back on our screens and in our papers again.
So, what can we look forward to in this seemingly never-ending saga of life on Athens Square?
Will the suave second-hand car dealer Alexis Tsipras manage to flog one of his dodgy, clocked, hastily repainted, clapped-out motors to mean, penny-pinching hausfrau Angela Merkel? Can the rock-and-roll motorbiking accountant Yanis Varoufakis ever be friends with grumpy old Mr Schäuble and maybe even take him for a ride? And could there be romance in the air between crocodile-skinned Ms Lagarde and Italian stallion Draghi as they share their passion for ever closer monetary and political union?
Hurray! It looks like Greekenders will run and run providing many more years of entertainment for all the family.
But don’t get too excited. It could still all suddenly end in tears if the money runs out.
(by the way, I think the comments function is working again. To leave a comment or read comments, just click on the title of today’s post)
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Nice one! I haven’t had such a chuckle over my breakfast muesli since reading about septuagenarian Berlusconi’s hair implant and subsequent romp with a clutch of teenage call girls!
It is indeed highly entertaining to witness the self-styled Great & Good of European politics ducking and diving, whirling and weaving, compromising on their previously loudly proclaimed immoveable principles, then when these antics don’t produce the desired results, doing it all over again.
We can only be mightily thankful that the UK is not actually a member of the Euro, so being slightly less directly involved we can afford to watch from the side-lines with wry amusement. Maybe when it’s all over and the dust has settled – and whichever way it goes, the ending can’t be anything but a stitch up from which all the main protagonists will emerge with more than a hint of ordure overlying their scent of roses – you might consider writing a Greekenders sequel, perhaps along the lines of “What the Euro didn’t do for Europe”.
Thanks for your encouragement. It seems that there is only one reader who shares what I have optimistically called my “sense of humour”. Oh dear, I guess that’s why I’m poor and unpopular
what language is the show recorded in. Also is it screened with subtitles.
“Greekenders” Love it.