Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1281593
10 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 23 AUGUST 2020 Raphael Vassallo OPINION End of the road… I know this will probably come across like that classic, clichéd preamble to every racist argument you've ever heard: 'I'm not racist, BUT…' And, well, that's probably be- cause the same dynamics apply perfectly to my own sentiments right now. I, too, feel the need to start this article off with a small disclaimer. So here goes: I am not a fan of 'Xarabank'; and have never been in all the 23 years that show has been airing on TVM. (In fact, I eventually got rid of my old TV set altogether… just to make sure I never accidentally stumbled on an episode, while mindlessly chang- ing channels on a Friday night.) I could probably fill this entire newspaper with all my reasons, too: for instance, the way it tended to reduce complex, serious issues to the most basic of binary 'Y/N' choices imaginable… as immor- talised by that oft-repeated (and excruciating) Peppi Azzopardi catchphrase: 'Inti taqbel? Cempilna issa...' Or how it so often doubled up as the onscreen equivalent of 'Mortal Combat' or 'Tekken 3': in which divergent opinions – the kookier and more extreme, the better - were invited to simply slog it out it a gladiatorial arena, to satisfy the bloodlust of an equally combative, dichotomised audience… Or how around two-thirds of its total running-time was invariably devoted to 'thanking the sponsors' – basically, the entire Yellow Pag- es of Malta's commercial/indus- trial sector - leaving individual panellists with little more than a fraction of a second each to make their entire case (only to be inces- santly interrupted by that other insufferable Xarabank cliché: 'Fil- qosor…') BUT… Actually, there are quite a few 'buts' I could add, at this stage: starting with the fact that my own opinion about the merit or other- wise of 'Xarabank' – both as a tele- vised discussion/variety show (call it what you will), and also as an undeniable Maltese pop-cultural icon in its own right – is ultimate- ly neither here nor there. For one thing, I am clearly a minority in my aversion to that programme: as attested by Xara- bank's consistent topping of all the BA's annual audience surveys, throughout its entire 23-year ex- istence. For another, my reservations do not translate into an automatic dislike of all the people involved in its production: starting with Peppi Azzopardi himself… who – love him or hate him - has been noth- ing less than a formidable televi- sion presence in this country for almost a quarter of a century. (Oh, and it's worth mentioning that I have often brought up my mis- givings with him directly, on the many occasions our paths have crossed over the years.) Besides: regardless how the show actually handled all the indi- vidual issues it has dealt with, in its two-decade run on the airwaves… fact remains that some of those issues would probably have never been discussed at all, had they not been dragged kicking and scream- ing into the public domain, by the same TV show we all loved to hate so much. I, for one, find it highly unlikely that Malta would have gone from the incurably homophobic coun- try I remember from my teenage years, to a world leader in LG- BTIQ rights – all in the space of around 20 years – were it not for the fact that 'Xarabank' chose to highlight this previously taboo issue way, way back in the late 1990s… i.e., a time when dino- saurs still roamed the earth; and most of them (myself included) barely knew what the word 'ho- mosexuality' even meant. Likewise, the 2011 divorce ref- erendum might have yielded a very different result, had Xara- bank not provided a public plat- form for people to air their views on both sides of the debate. Not only did those discussions bring to light human stories that would radically alter public opin- ion on that particular issue – ex- posing them, it must be said, to a much wider and more diverse audience than any other Maltese media house could (and still can) muster - but they also exposed flaws and contradictions in the 'No' campaign, with results that are now history. Having said all this, though: by the same token, I can also under- stand why a programme that has been chugging steadily away in the background of our collective consciousness for so long – often with all the grace and elegance of the archaic Maltese buses (or rather, 'rust-buckets') that orig- inally gave the show its name – might eventually come to the end of the road. Malta has, after all, changed in more ways that those can possi- bly be influenced by a programme like 'Xarabank': and one of those changes concerns precisely the pivotal role of television itself, as the dominant source of public news and information. Yes, indeed: I can perfectly envis- age that there may be valid reasons to phase out the TV phenomenon that was 'Xarabank'… or at least, to insist that it updates its formula to something more suited to the digital age we are now living in. The only problem – and this is the biggest 'BUT' of them all – is that I haven't actually heard any such justification for the decision. Nor, for that matter, has any offi- cial announcement yet been made (at the time of writing, anyway) to confirm that the programme has, in fact, been axed as reported. As things stand, we only got to know about it because of an an- nouncement by Peppi Azzopardi himself, in a Facebook status up- date on Friday. And while there would be nothing at all amiss with that, had Xarabank aired on a pri- vate station… well, the 'P' in 'PBS' stands for 'public'; and unlike any privately-owned television sta- tion, the national broadcaster has an added Constitutional obliga- tion to provide a 'public commu- nity service'. This, in turn, is another reason why it shouldn't matter what you, I or anyone else actually thought of that programme. To me, there is something deeply sinister about PBS's sudden, unannounced deci- sion to simply terminate any pro- gramme at all – still less its most successful flagship programme by far - without any warning or ex- planation. At the very least, PBS should have informed its major share- holders – i.e., you, me and the rest