The King of Rock’n’Roll, Elvis Presley, died on 16 August 1977 – some 37 years ago – at the age of 42.
As we approach what would have been his 80th birthday, on 8 January 2015, Channel Five is having an Elvis Night tomorrow.
They are showing NBC’s 1968 Comeback Special and the 2005 television documentary Elvis by the Presleys. And to cap the evening off, the channel is repeating an episode of its Autopsy series, The Last Hours of Elvis Presley (which confirms the 1977 autopsy findings and offers severe constipation as the cause of Elvis’ fatal heart attack).
The selection is highlighted by the TV Times magazine as its “Pick of the Day”. This is a fair enough choice, if we restrict it to the ’68 Special. But Elvis by the Presleys is a dull collection of bane anecdotes; while the Autopsy programme is repetitive to the point of boredom before it “reveals” that they come to the same conclusion as the original autopsy.
However, what I found most interesting was that the TV Times described the collection as “NEW”.
The 1968 Comeback Special was filmed in – can you guess? – 1968..
The documentary Elvis by the Presleys was released in 2005.
And Autopsy: The Last Hours of Elvis Presley is a repeat.
How can any of these warrant a “NEW” flash?
And what “NEW” material can be produced by an artist who has been dead for almost 40 years?
New or old, I’ll enjoy the ’68 Special, but I’ll be giving the rest a miss.