Loss leaders

In Britain we seem to like success but are fascinated by failure. This is reflected in our popular television. We loved a failed manager (The Office), a failed hotelier (Fawlty Towers), failed totters (Steptoe and Son), failed human beings (Hancock’s Half Hour). Admittedly, comedy is about the gap between aspiration and achievement, and that means failure, yet the Americans, who adore success, manage to find humour in largely functional characters. Frasier might have been clownish, but he was an esteemed psychotherapist. Cosby was a thriving doctor, and the various Friends had decent jobs, most of the time. Even Joey, the only idiot among them, starred in a daytime soap.

It’s not just comedy. We relish failed restaurateurs (Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares) and failed amateur cooks (Come Dine With Me). Bossy people such as Trinny and Susannah tell us how we’ve failed at dressing ourselves. Captains of industry arrive to rescue businesses whose owners are racing towards the bankruptcy court. Or take quizzes. The Weakest Link is all about the losers — whoever notices the winner? Everyone might want to be a millionaire on ITV, but almost nobody is. Eggheads centres on the daily hope then humiliation of the amateur team. When Gail Trimble did so well on University Challenge the papers were full of articles moaning, in effect, that she wasn’t playing the game by getting a few wrong. The BBC had to use a technicality to turn her team into losers, but since her Corpus team still has the trophy, in effect both teams lost — a perfect British result.