Not TOWIE again

The BAFTAs: a glitz, glam, showbiz evening which celebrates some of the greatest things British television has to offer. The 2012 nominees have just been announced, and this year the competition seems fiercer than ever. One category fills me with dread. That one such category made me so angry last year that I now refuse to buy magazines when a certain group of tangoed busybodies grace the front cover – to be honest, it has saved me a lot of money seeing as they love sharing intimate details of their life with almost every magazine.

The BAFTA awards are decided by a group of behind-the-scene panellists who have, let’s be honest, one of the sweetest jobs in the world: being provided with a bunch of television programmes and then having the strenuous task of having to watch the programmes and decide which one is the best. However, one award is decided by popular vote. Through _YouTube_, the public can vote for the _YouTube Audience Award_. So who actually won the award in 2011? _The Only Way is Essex (TOWIE)_. This orange group of attention-seekers jumped on stage to grab their award, screaming and celebrating (probably half-drunk) with Amy Childs elegantly yelling ‘‘Shu’ Up!” into the microphone… no, not for any particular reason.

I think my disgust can be summed up by Martin Freeman’s face. When TOWIE won, Freeman’s expression was not one of anger or jealousy but of pure disgust. How these reality stars had won such an important award when they were up against such competition? How had they managed to snatch the award away from the likes of _Sherlock, Miranda_ and _The Killing_? Had there been a mistake? Had the voting been fixed? Had the award presenters, The Inbetweeners crew, simply got a bit overexcited at the prospect of hugging the likes of girls dressed in layers of fake tan and silicone? Or was it simply the fact that our generation genuinely thought that TOWIE was quality television worth voting for?

Our generation are YouTube’s main audience. Students spend hours searching for countless videos online, whether it be music videos, vlogs or videos featuring people doing idiotic stuff. So it fills me with great despair that our generation actually believe this is a quality show.

I am not a television snob. I do enjoy _Made In Chelsea_, and did sit down and watch the first series of _TOWIE_. However, most of the time I am sat with a group of friends, all laughing at certain characters’ stupidity, and continually pointing out that the shows and story lines are obviously planned and rehearsed (note to the editors: between shots don’t change someone’s hair/clothes/make-up; it makes it very obvious a ‘five-minute awkward conversation’ took the best part of two hours to film). It’s entertaining and a bit of fun, but in no way is it quality television.

So why am drawing attention to this 2011 disaster again? Because voting is, once again, open for the _YouTube Audience Award._ The moment you click onto the _YouTube_ home page you are prompted to take five seconds to vote for what series you truly thought was entertaining this year.

Luckily, due to the fact _TOWIE_ won the award in 2011, they are not eligible for the golden face. Instead, the nominees are _Celebrity Juice, Educating Essex, Fresh Meat, Frozen Planet, Sherlock_ and _The Great British Bake Off_. So the next time you’re on _YouTube_, perhaps take two seconds to vote. Vote for a proper television programme, a programme that has actually had some hard work and effort put into writing and producing it to ensure the result is something really worth watching. We don’t need television producers believing that crap television is in demand.