Who actually talks like that?

I've been re-reading old scripts today. I suppose that actually, I ought to be running lines some time today in order to be more prepared form this evening's rehearsal. Anyway, my sidetrack into old scripts isn't actually nostalgia or such like. In fact it's more related to looking at dialogue. It occurred to me last night when watching a sitcom. Characters in TV, in films, and even many stage scripts use each others names more often than people do in day to day speech. It occurs to me that, of course there is a reason for this. If you catch an episode of a show that you've never seen before, you have a chance of getting to know the characters.

My observation was that one character was explaining that a second character was 'the dumbest man I've ever met'. Now, that is a perfectly acceptable piece of dialogue, but I'm not sure it is what would be said in a real conversation. More importantly, if you are talking directly to someone you wouldn't necessarily preface the statement with the person's name. After all, they already know you are talking to them. Instead you might just say 'you are the dumbest man I've ever met' or maybe even just 'you dumb fuck'.

Maybe I'm wrong in my observation but I know that I've certainly sat through long conversations where I've never said the other person's name. On one date with a girl we both went two hours before saying 'sorry, what was your name again'. Okay, so those weren't the exact words but genuinely we'd forgotten. We were both awful at remembering names. That said, it could also be a cultural thing. I've noticed that this propensity for littering otherwise realistic dialogue with names seems to occur more in US shows and the more modern and ITV shows. That's not to say it doesn't occur in theatre, it just seems to happen a LOT less. Ditto for film.

I do, of course understand the reason. Even if the reason is one that I've invented in order to explain this (perhaps fictional) issue. You see, by making sure that every character is named or identified in each new scene a new viewer to a show (established, or otherwise) is able to get a grip on the character's names. Hopefully, allowing the viewer (and I'm guessing here) to be able to identify and begin to learn about the characters will draw them into the show. This in turn will hopefully draw new viewers in. In the case of established shows it might also flog more DVDs. I know In only ever came to Big Bang Theory toward the end of season 3 and bought the box set of DVDs as a quicker way to catch up than waiting for one of the endless repeats on E4.

The assumptions for film and theatre though are quite different, the assumption is that people sit and watch a film right the way through, same with theatre. The idea is that you've been watching since the beginning and don't need to hear the characters' names in every scene to remember who they are.

This gets me to wondering. How many shows with big overarching storylines do this? Do they decide not to because coming into the story mid season would cause the viewer to lose out on too much back story. I'm thinking of something along the lines of The White Queen (BBC, based on Phillipa Gregory's books). In that show you have few examples of characters addressing each other using their names. Sure there is the odd occasion and there are of course the use of titles, but from what I can make out character's names are mainly used when said characters are off screen and being referred to by characters on screen.

I should sign off here, mainly because soul cafe, where I'm writing, is going to close soon...that, and I ought to head to Dead Reckoning rehearsals.

If you've noticed the same thing and actually know the reason, or if you thing that I'm talking nonsense do tell me. It'd be interesting to see if it is just me being weird (no change there) or me pulling writing apart and looking at it in too much detail.

Bye for now!