The second episode of “Billy Connolly’s Route 66” aired today in England. And, like clockwork, the same fellow on YouTube has posted it in five parts.
This episode goes from St. Louis to Oklahoma City:
The second episode of “Billy Connolly’s Route 66” aired today in England. And, like clockwork, the same fellow on YouTube has posted it in five parts.
This episode goes from St. Louis to Oklahoma City:
Billy pretty much breezed on through Oklahoma, didn’t he? His comments about the Oklahoma City Memorial were fitting but the swap meet in Kansas got just as much air time—4 minutes for the state with the shortest stretch of 66 and 4 for the state with the longest–with rest of the segment being devoted entirely to Missouri. The two seconds that Blue (Whale) appeared on screen Billy was still in Missouri and there was no mention of where Blue was found–it could have been anywhere. Billy mentioned that the weather was stormy just before filming at the Memorial. I’m wondering if he had weather to contend with as he rode through Oklahoma. Also wondering if the series was scripted or the segments that were filmed depended on serendipity. Of the 4 states covered so far in the series the segment about Oklahoma is the only one that showed no countryside, no people, no towns. The segue from Kansas to Oklahoma was the map graphic with the redline connecting Galena and Oklahoma City with no shots of Billy riding through hills or prairies or towns as was done in the other states. In the other 3 states he talked to people. There wasn’t even a person glimpsed in the background of the OKC segment. I don’t get it. The comments about the Memorial seemed heartfelt but the shots were so dark (dusk, I know) and all too close to see the graceful sweep of the Memorial layout. If this was to be the only thing portrayed about the entire state, I wonder why he didn’t talk to someone on camera about the Memorial—a visitor, one of the Memorial designers, a survivor–someone. There was no visual context for the Memorial shots. Like Blue, it could have been anywhere. There wasn’t even a brief establishing shot of the OKC skyline. So far Oklahoma is the only state—and I’ll bet it will be the only one in the series—that is mentioned but not shown. Very puzzling,especially since the accompanying book as advertised online seems to include a great deal of material about Oklahoma, 26 pages with California the only state getting a larger number pages. Was the weather bad for shooting and the budget too small for the crew to remain until the conditions improved? Did someone in Oklahoma offend Billy or his producers? ????
To be fair, Susan, the show was only halfway through Oklahoma at the end of Episode 2.
Well, perhaps there will be a bit more about Oklahoma in Episode 3. The lead in (both words and graphics) for next week sounded like it was going to be about New Mexico and Arizona and of course, he’ll have to do something with Texas before he gets to those. But maybe he will show some of Western Oklahoma first. Perhaps one of the Route 66 museums in either Clinton or Elk City. Guess we’ll have to wait until next week to see. I guess I’m just shocked that there wasn’t a drive-by shot of Afton Station, the Coleman, the Cyrus Avery Bridge, Rock Cafe, the Round Barn or POPS and that Blue was left unidentified and with no mention of where he could be found and as all of those things are east of OKC we can be sure that they won’t appear in Episode 3. I love Billy Connolly and think this series has potential for soliciting UK visitors to 66. I just hope they get to see a little of Oklahoma so that they’ll want to spend some time here, too.
We’ll see. I’d much rather the series be compelling and have to leave stuff out, than add almost everything and the program be lousy. As someone who’s done video editing myself, you have to be ruthless to be effective.
And remember, the program has only 3 hours to fill.
Well, of course, you’re right. I wasn’t suggesting that everything in Oklahoma be included–just something.
If you wanted “something” in Oklahoma, I’d say the Oklahoma City Memorial certainly qualifies.
I love the Memorial. It’s dignified and fitting for the tragedy it memorializes and Billy recognized that and said it well. I’m just sad that the only impression of Oklahoma many people in the UK now have is one of a dark place (literally and figuratively). English friends who drove the 400 miles of Oklahoma 66 with me in July, 2010 and are returning next month to do it again, have been watching the series the past two weeks and sending me the links. This is the note that accompanied this week’s links: “Very disappointing from our collective perspective, even though I think he’s doing a good job overall. I was ranting! More drivable miles of Route 66 than any other state and he sidelines it? How dare he? I made the same comment about Blue. Having viewed some pages of the accompanying book via Amazon, I suspect that he visited many more places that simply didn’t survive the cut. The Oklahoma chapter isn’t included in the preview, but is entitled “Oklahoma City Looks Oh So Pretty”. With the exception of California, though, it’s the longest at 26 pages, so there must be more to it than OKC.”
It’s wrong to refer to the United Kingdom as “England.” Not just wrong, but insulting to the Scots, Northern Irish and Welsh. Given that Billy Connolly is deeply Scottish and that my parents in Scotland gave me a heads-up about this show, please consider making the correction.