Trends are better than single readings

Sunday afternoon sigh. I'm reminded of what Douglas Adams once wrote:

In the end, it was the Sunday afternoons he couldn't cope with, and that terrible listlessness that starts to set in about 2:55, when you know you've taken all the baths that you can usefully take that day, that however hard you stare at any given paragraph in the newspaper you will never actually read it, or use the revolutionary new pruning technique it describes, and that as you stare at the clock the hands will move relentlessly on to four o'clock, and you will enter the long dark teatime of the soul.

On this particular Sunday afternoon, television is offering a contrast. An early episode of Top Gear against an early Time Team. A contrast because these are two long running British shows ostensibly dealing with factual subjects also have a lot of similarities. Over time these series have acquired bigger budgets and become much slicker and ambitious as a result. Interesting because one show has become much more watchable and informative since those early days - effectively using that extra budget to make the spectacle more interesting. The other has become overblown and self indulgent losing the important aspects of what made it great in the first place.

But which one is which? I suspect that opinions will differ.