TV Comment is the section where we, y'know, make comments about Tv. The titles' kinda self explanatory. But the basic idea behind this page is that it gives us a place to review shows, point out moments on tv that may have amused us or horrified us, and is just another excuse for us to rant a lot, quite frankly.
And so Christmas is over for another year. Which’ll hopefully mean the return of some quality tv at least. Because most of the dross shown over christmas should be put all together in to a giant box, and then set on fire. And stamped on a lot. And what made me particuarly angry?
Well, Eastenders was oh so predicatble as per usual, the choice of xmas films has been appalling and dull (apart from Il Postino on BBC2 – which is quite simply one of the most ‘relaxing’ films ever made, and perfect for xmas day), and even Channel Four failed to entertain that much – I mean ‘Time Bandits’ as their late night xmas movie. For Christ’s sake. And I haven’t watched anything on ITV in almost a week now, bar the dreadful Flint Street Nativity Play which (as previously mentioned) was so bad I couldn’t even be bothered to watch the second half.
So, what has been good? Well, the sight of Valerie Singleton and Goldie chatting casually on ‘Snow Graham Norton’ made me smile, I hate to say it, but Chris Evans gave away a million in some style, even though his smugness rating has taken over that of Tony Blair’s nowadays, the Paramount Comedy channel has shown some superb stand up of late, including Lee & Herring on xmas day. Last Christmas was a little disjointed, and at least twenty minutes overlong, but threw up some interesting questions, and the performances, bar that of the annoying Quirke, were superb.
And anything really special?
Well, yes. A few things. Robbie the Reindeer is a serious contender to Wallace and Gromitt’s animation throne, and the best thing the BBC has shown in quite a while. Harry Hill’s xmas special simply made me laugh throughout, and, and, and……. Oh. That’s it. No real surprises there then.
Christ, xmas tv so far has been bloody awful so far - The Flint Street Nativity must be nominated as one of the worst tv programmes of this or any millenium, simply being unfunny, tedious and patronising.
The films have all been uniformily average (The Phantom! Jingle All The Way! Fuck Me!) and only Harry Hill has restored any faith I might have in the 'seasonal special'. The 11 o'clock show seemed to gain all it's 'laughs' from liberal swearing, which was funny at the beginning. But only the beginning.
And whilst Ricky Gervais makes me laugh outloud, no one else does. South Park, Father Ted and Louis Theroux have entertained. But that's about it. Sigh. I get hopeful every year that tv might do what it's supposed to do - avert conversation between annoying relatives. And I get the feeling that this christmas is going to be a very long one.
Alex FInch.
Having watched both the filming and the broadcast of this show, I have to say I was a little disappointed with the broadcast. Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t a bad show. In fact, it was a very good show. It’s just that they left out a fair few good bits.
For what reasons, I don’t know, I could only speculate. For instance, take the Frank Carson interview. Less than a quarter of the interview made it to television, yet Frank stole the show during his studio interview. He had the audience in fits of laughter, and even had Daisy Donovan reeling at one point, somewhat of a rare occurrence. There were parts of his interview that were never going to be broadcast, simply because they were too risqué, but I feel that the producers have left so much out so Iain Lee and Daisy aren’t shown up. I don’t know if this is true, but it could well be the reason. I like Iain and especially Daisy a lot, but to all in the studio, Frank shone brightest during the five minutes or so of the interview.
Other bits that were noticeably missing were a section from Iain Lee’s religious reports, which were very funny, but very offensive, probably why it didn’t make it, and the whole of Danny Bhoy’s Sportsman of the Century segment. As a sports enthusiast, I found his segment highly interesting and amusing, but I guess it wasn’t good enough to fit in. Thank God they left out the line that Daisy read that out went down like a lead balloon though.
The one thing that they did broadcast that I thought they might not was Ricky Gervais’ Penis Puppet Theatre. I found this segment highly amusing, and as yet I have not seen or heard of any backlash. Seems they may have got away with it! Another thing that got in, was Frank Carson making the fart noises. He was doing that from backstage during breaks in filming all night and Iain was constantly blaming and taking the mick out of Daisy. Very funny. And he slipped a couple in the broadcast too. Except Daisy didn’t get the blame there.
Incidentally, I did get on TV in a few crowd shots. However, those that saw it and knew me had to look very closely to spot me.
So, to summarise, a very decent broadcast. However, there were bits left out that I feel could have made a very good broadcast into an excellent one.
Simon Bailey.
This comedy programme is not nearly as funny as it should be. Okay, Ali G's brilliant, but he did not appear in this episode and his absence leaves a vast, gaping unfilled void. Iain Lee is okay at what he does (bad Hugh Laurie impressions, mostly) and Daisy Donovan, though lovely, is not really much better than adequate. Of the supporting players, Ricky Gervaise shines whenever he's on, which in this episode was only about a minute.
A lot of the "topical" jokes are obvious and, considering the audience of 80 was made up of 27 "guests" (family and friends of the production) - That's over 36% fact fans! - very little hilarity was provoked in the studio. The out-and-about scenes - as always, in London - are the kind of sub-Chris Morris antics that woul be as at home in Noel's House Party as in late-night comedy.
Spare a thought for all of the people who queued outside South Bank Television Centre in the cold to get into this show - all with tickets - and who were turned away cruelly by some jumped up bint who couldn't resist, even whilst delivering bad news, referring to her friend "Iain". What's the point of issuing hundreds of tickets some might say, if they're not worth the paper they're printed on? Well, it's to ensure that the audience is always full, of course, and screw anyone who gets left outside on a freezing night in London as a result.
Of course, some of the crowd got into Blind Date, but for those of us who'd rather muse bitterly on their disappointment then see Cilla and her gameshow whoremongering, all that was left to do was to brood and plot revenge. Fantasizing that one day Iain Lee will be there in front of me and on fire, blazing and screaming, so I can decline to urinate on his smouldering soon-to-be corpse.
Yes, I watched the episode on TV, but that doesn't replace the £7.80 for the necessary travel card to get me to Waterloo. By it's subtitle "The News Alternative" this show obviously means that ITN won't rob you of the best part of a tenner. To be fair, THE 11 O'CLOCK show is okay and probably deserves to come back for a new series. However, funnily enough I'm not feeling very fair after last night.
Chris Denton.
The state of television horrifies me sometimes. And it's time to have a look in detail, methinks.
Sky’s schedule is filled with repeats of their top rated animated shows, crappy american sitcoms, star trek, and those ghastly holiday piss up docu-soaps. Sure there are a few gems amongst the schedules. The Simpsons still entertains, and Family Guy was a joy to watch. But they don’t seem to take risks with programmes, presumably unless they’re very cheap to make. None of which explains why they haven’t treated their audiences a little better by showing final series of cancelled shows etc, etc. or why they show Chicago Hope whenever the have a hole in the schedule, but rarely often.
But at least you have a chance of finding something entertaining on satellite, not that there’s much chance that it’s never been seen before, but still, and the Paramount channel seems to be gradually improving after it’s dreadful summer rut. UK Gold shows a few good shows a week, and the Omnibus Doctor Who’s amuse (well, the Tom Baker ones, anyway), and aid recovery from the previous night’s alcohol abuse. And…..well, the movie and sports channels have saved me from many a very dull evening.
Because right now, the four terrestrial channels (sorry, but I just can’t be bothered to talk about Channel 5) our in a terrible state. Drama on tv is at an all time low. Can you name any home grown long running shows which aren’t soap operas? In this strange tv world, it doesn’t seem to matter how bad these shows get, the tv companies are always ready to inject new cash, sets, and ‘stars’ in a desperate bid to retain viewers. Hence Steve Owen’s ridiculous plot line in Eastenders. But will they inject the same amount of money in to other areas of TV drama, such as, dare I say it, new writing? Will they fuck. So both ITV and BBC 1 desperately stick to the formulas ‘More sick animals! More gardens! More weather disasters from hell! More tabloid shit tv which aims for the lowest common denominator, and at times even insults them!
And when big budget productions are made, do they invest in exciting new writing? Or do they throw out another bastard Dickens/Austen/Eliot adaptation? Sigh. And why are we continually forced to watch these tedious costume dramas which add very little to the one made on the other channel a few years ago? Because they sell well in America. Which is a piss poor reason to make tv if ever I’ve heard one. So is there any hope? Well, BBC2’s ‘Birth’s Death’s and Marriages’ was a little over the top, but interestingly shot, and it had a fair few decent moments. And Channel Four has entertained us this year, with the excellent ‘Queer as Folk’, and ‘Kid in the Corner’. But quality drama should be on every week, and for far longer than one hour.
Still, drama is in a better state than mainstream comedy, which has basically died. In a world ruled by inferior Friends clones, dodgy sketch shows, and bland panel shows, few programmes have distinguished themselves. Only ‘The League of Gentlemen’ and ‘Spaced’ have raised more than a smile in the last twelve months. A major problem seems to relate to the time it takes British production companies to make six episodes of a show which simply cannot compare to America’s tv factory, where each season lasts at least twenty episodes, characters are developed, and expanded upon as the show finds it’s roots. Take Buffy for instance, which is a terrible concept on paper, but given it’s ‘from dusk till dawn lite’ violence, and smart, self-parodying script, and well, by the end of the first series the show was slowly picking up a big enough fan base to keep the show afloat, and the 2nd season developed it’s ‘winning formula.’
So I was surprised , and pleased, to hear that Sky have invested in a new sitcom written by David Baddiel and Jonathon Ross, and will be making about twenty episodes a series. It should be interesting, at the very least.
And music tv? Well, simply but, you’re not going to see any good bands on music channels unless your up very late at night. Jools Holland has one good (ish) guest on each week. TFI has none. Still MP3’s seem a far easier way to hear new good music anyway.
And is there a point to all of this?
Well, kind of, yes. It’s pretty clear that most of the best shows are imports, any good british tv seems to disappear from our screens all to quickly, and there seems to be a shocking lack of new writers being allowed to take any sort of risks.
And I get the feeling that it’s not going to get much better either.
Johnny Vaughn's film show is without doubt (and this may seem a little extreme) the best film review show on television.....ever. Packed with intelligent, yet still well-known, guests who are given plenty of sharp questions to flex their film reviewing muscles, the shows just a joy to watch. What Jo Whiley's music programme should have been like. Vaughn is almost too smarmy, but is just charming enough to make it work, and as a result of this the show is often very funny, informative, intelligent, and most importantly of all, it tells you all you need to know about a movie before going to see it. Jonathon Ross should take note.
Last night's Pop Up Video (C4, post midnight) featured the interesting fact that "If You Tolerate This" By the Manics was the first Welsh No.1 since Shakin' Stevens' "Merry Christmas Everyone" in 1985. So? Well, rather worryingly, I own one of them. The embarrasing one. Ahem. Moving swiftly on........
Jo Brand's Commercial Breakdown wasn't as bad as nearly every critic seems to think it is. Compared to the rest of the BBC s recent output, at least it had several laugh out loud moments, and Brand is no where near as irritating as Tarrant.
gc(uk) recommends: The League Of Gentlemen, currently being repeated on Friday nights on BBC 2. Possibly the best sitcom of the 90's? Well, as each week grows increasingly more disturbing, it just gets better and better.
Thank God I went away this weekend and fortunately had much better things to do than sit around watching tv. Not one single 'entertainment' channel provided anything worth watching.
The only thing I caught any of was 'The Apocalypse Tube' which is the main point of this update. Somehow this piece or rambling, occasionally amusing, often 'interesting, at least' it tv proved to be the only thing worth watching. Moyles irritated less than he does on his UK Play show, and Donna Air was predicably useless, but comedy-tastic nonetheless, and well, pretty enough. The music line up wasn't exactly great, with the show sticking to the established 'alternative' bands at it's best. Belle and Sebastian sounded impressive, and Travis, with their new single 'Turn' are becoming the new Ocean Colour Scene infront of our eyes. Scary. Very.
But the highlights of the show were some of the comedy bits. And whilst some were terrible, some were v.funny. The Dance Alphabet, and the interview, and the accompanying videos, with 'The Pod' were hilarious. Julian Barrett deserves his own show soon. Marjorie Dawes made me smile from time to time, and, well, it was okay. Now if Sky could produce a show of that quality weekly (though maybe a bit shorter), then I'd be impressed. Should be interesting to see how many viewers it gets when its shown on C4 on New Years Eve......
Shock Horror! After harshly criticising Hippies last week, the 2nd episode has given me new hope. Pegg's becoming more and more pretensious as Alex simply grows cooler, which amuses, while the blonde from Smack the Pony still annoys. Well, you can't have everything. So for the time being, I'm willing to keep an open mind on the series, and, reluctantly recommend it.
The new series of South Park on Sky One got off to a great start on Sunday, with a fantastically over the top episode featuring the 'get gay with kids' choir. Cartman's as offensive as ever, Kenny falls in love, and, in one fantastic moment, is resuscitated by his girlfriend, to the other kids amazement......
15 to 1 has it's fair share of difficult questions, but gc(uk) was, well, surprised to say the least, when William G. Stewart asked one contestant 'What breed of dog is Scooby Doo?' The contestant had no idea, and neither did we. And after a brief survey of friends and associates, no one else knew. The answer? Well, Scooby Doo is a Great Dane. So there you go.
I hate to admit liking Buffy, but, ahem, it's true. The script's are pacy enough, everyone's settled in to the gently tongue in cheek tone, and, well, it's just a lot of fun.
And so I thought I'd make up for the previous paragraph by recommending something intelligent, but there's little of interest around in the schedules at the moment....'How Do You Want Me?' is well written black comedy, but hardly anything to get excited about. And the second series of 'The Cops' has disappointed, and it grows more like it's ITV counterpart The Bill each week.... Back soon, with, hopefully, something more interesting.......
BBC2's New sitcom 'Hippies' turned out to be one of the worst the station has thrown out in many a year. The jokes are either tired cliches about the 60's, or simply very, very familiar. Quite a few lines from the first show sounded suspiciously 'Simpsonish' whilst never getting close to the brilliance of the aforementioned cartton.
Simon Pegg, so good in Spaced, irritates here, and the blonde from 'Smack the Pony' is, somewhat surprisingly, even worse. A sitcom consisting of irritating charicatures, when compared to that awful ITV 70's sitcom effort (the name of which momentarily escapes me) the worse criticism I can manage is that they're really rather similar.
A terrible waste from the creators of Big Train & Father Ted.
The 11 O'Clock show is 'Chris Morris Diet-Lite' and suffers for it. Iain Lee goes for the obvious comedy jugular EVERY time, and despite trying to occasionally be controversial, he simply makes me cringe instead. Fire Lee, Bring in Morris, and the show might just have a chance. But as Ali G recycles material, and people rarely fall for the joke whole heartedly, I hardly imagine they'll be an outcry if this is the last season.
Both Futurama and Family Guy have ended their surprsingly short first series. Fututama gradually improved, whilst Family Guy was simply just wonderful. Sky One will be bringing both shows back, but when is open to question......
And finally, gc(uk) recommends: 'The Haunted Fishtank', and 'Vids' as great examples of low budget entertaining tv. And both which deserve far better time slots too.
Hoorah, Ali G is back tonight with the amusing enough, but a little uneven, 11'o clock show. Worth watching for him alone, mind.
Family Guy was once again far better than the Simpsons this week. Shockingly the programme is in trouble, with Fox currently looking for another timeslot for the show. Show support by going to the Fox website and emailing them......
Is StarTrek Deep Space Nine on every channel, all the time right now, or does it just feel like it is? hmmm.
The Paramount Comedy channel is getting just a little repetitive right now, but as it shows Seinfeld, Frasier and Larry Sanders every week night, we kinda just have to recommend it. And the Mailbox page on the teletext service is occasionally informative and oft. amsuing.
And finally, why does Granada Plus bother continuing. The Home of television Shit, without a doubt. The Sweeney might make you laugh for a few seconds, but that's about it. And don't even get me started on Corronation Street repeats.......
The Emmy Awards were as tedious as ever, but Halle Berry announcing the winner of the best mini series as 'Horatio the Hornblower' made us childishly snigger.
As does Christopher Pryce on BBC NEWS 24's entertainment magazine 'Zero 30'. His recent interview with ex corrie star Adam Ricket was sarcastic, and even occasionally nasty. And his comments on the state of the music industry are interesting and accurate. A must watch.
gc(uk) recommends: Spaced - Channel 4 - Fridays - 9:30pm. At first I didn't really rate the show. It seemed to be trying too hard, and Simon Pegg was the only likeable character. But now the series has become more comfortable with itself (and it's format) as the show has gone along, and now rates alongside the best comedy we in dear old blighty have made. And if this sounds a little excessive, well, it's been along time since a brit sitcom has worked well....
ITV at the Reading Festival is fun watching (especially if you were there) and the Divine Comedy's set (broadcast last Saturday) was just as magical as I remembered it....A few too many of Sunday's bands are given too much screen time, , but still overall, a decent show. I rarely say it, but well done ITV.
gc(uk) recommends: Family Guy - Sky One - Tuesdays - 9:30pm. With little fanfare or media interest, Sky launched the latest of America's 1/2 hour animated sitcoms after FUTURAMA. But this is far better.
Sure, the similairites to the Simpsons are obvious, but this has (dare I say it) a sharper sense of humour, where the best moments are always unexpected. Oh so much will be written about Stewie, the ultra intelligent 'Bond-like super villain' one year old child, but he really makes the show, and without him it would've been a much poorer effort (Like The Simpsons without Bart, I suppose). Brian the talking dog adds a touch of class to the proceedings (no, really) and whilst lead character Peter Griffin can be a tad annoying sometimes, the same could be said of Homer.
Enough, enough with the Simpsons comparisons. This is a decent show in it's own right, and expect it to become HUGE, anytime now......
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