Well they really should bring back Angus shouldn't they. Some of the guest presenters have been barable, some even quite good (Martin Clunes especially) but none have managed to be actually better than him. So come on auntie, admit you've made a terrible mistake and get him back on the show asap.
Early Doors (9.30pm, Mondays, BBC2)
Well, its better than the rather abysmal Royle Family (which I despise with a passion, and cant believe others don't find it ridiculously patronising), but it's only getting a one or two laughs per episode ratio at the moment. It's amiable enough, but just not anything ground breakling or even innovative. Catch it, yeah, but don't expect too much.
The Soprano's (11.15pm, Tuesdays, C4)
Well, I was wrong yet again. In the review of the fourth season I wrote back last year when I caught the first few episodes on e4, I worried that the series was running out of steam, and was getting a tad repetitive, but well, it hasn't. It's carefully and subtly developed, got a lot funnier, and somehow the performances are even better than ever. So if you're not watching it? Well you're just crazy then.
AliG In The Usaiiiiiiii (10pm, Fridays, C4)
Hmmmm. Lazy's the word. Sometimes funny, sometimes fantastic, but the seen it all before, and lots of times before too, feeling, was way too overriding. Cohen did Bruno back in 96 for the Paramount channel, and did little with the character, whilst only Borat really developed, and that was just in too the stereotype of a foreign pervert. Poor. Funny at times, but poor overall.
I’m A Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here (9pm, Everynight, ITV)
I tried not to watch it, I honestly did. And hey, I succeeded for the first week. But then by accident I tuned in, and well it’s just poor isn’t it. All the celebs get on, all of them have confirmed what we thought of them before (which is, bar Phil Tuffnell) that they’re all annoying twats, and this year there haven’t been any angry confrontations or comical drunken ramblings and it hasn't been fun at all.
100 Greatest Movie Stars (9pm, Saturday, Sunday)
I shouldn’t watch these sort of things, they only make me angry. But well, lets face it, they prove (as Alexi Sayle convincingly argued once on Room 101) that the general public are completely idiotic. Well those who vote in such things anyway. And thus Al Pacino wont it (despite not having made a decent film in 20 years now), Tom Hanks came third (despite not having made a decent film), and such legends as Peter Sellers, James Dean, Michael Caine and Humphrey Bogart were rated below Bruce Willis and Tom Cruise. Sigh. But what can you do? Except not watch it? So that C4 will stop making such shows? Now there’s an idea.
40 (10pm, Tuesday – Thursday, C4)
Billed as an enormous event by C4, hyped to the max and trailed for far too long, 40 turned out to be a huge disappointment. Ultimately, this was due to the fact that the story it told just wasn’t that interesting, and it was only due to the confusing structure that any curiosity was first aroused. Eddie Izzard turned in an appealing performance, but bar that, it was all a little wearisome. C4 really should be making better programmes than this you know.
Alex Finch.
Big Brother’s always been hard for me to review as I worked on the first two series, and had two of the best summers of my life whilst doing so. I wish I could go in to more detail but alas a hefty confidentiality agreement prevents me from ever doing so, but well, the point of me bringing this up is that last year I did wonder whether it was due to not working on it for the first time that was responsible for my not liking it.
But this years lot seem to be far less annoying, though one of the strange things about Big Brother 4 though is that my opinion’s changed on an almost daily basis. Sometimes the episodes have been mildly amusing but nowt special, whilst at others I've been laughing harder than I ever have before at a reality tv show. In one episode the only real highlight was the revelation that Chewbacca's dead, in others it's been non-stop surreal insanity. Somedays I despise someone, the next I really like them. And why? Well, it’s more to do with the nature of the show I guess – what moments are shown, how others are acting and reacting to various events and people, and all that kind of thing. But overall, so far I’ve watched it nightly, and have yet to get bored.
However, it could all go terribly wrong if the interesting people leave the house too early. Big Brother shouldn’t simply be a popularity contest, it should be a chance for the viewer to shape life in the house – and thus whilst you may hate a particular contestant, if the rest of the house do as well then they really should be kept in the house for as long as possible. Alas, this hasn’t been the case so far - Anouska’s eviction has already spoiled the potential of this year’s show, and I just hope and pray that this isn’t a sign of things to come, and that we’re not left with a bunch of tiresome and tedious housemates all playing happy families.
The night after Anouska was evicted, I spent far too long drunkenly delcaring that the series was ruined, that the house would all too quickly become full of tedious boring types, but then the next night the tug of war task took place, and seeing the winning housemates dodgily dance around in the hidden room to Juniour Senior, all thoughts that the show was already declining disappeared. Add to this Federico's Avid Merrion impression in the diary room where he declared exactly how much he'd like to see Big Brother 'Take A Shit', and you have tv gold. And it really was about time too that one of the housemates messed around with BB, rather than taking it all too seriously. Unfortunately after Federico’s stern warning the next day, its unlikely to happen again, which is a real shame.
So who’s going to be remembered from this year’s Big Brother? Well, so far Jon Tickle's been the real star of the show (at least now Anouska has left), at times the most boring man on the planet and at others surprisingly funny. Sounding like an even posher David Baddiel, he's too droll or just too dull sometimes, but provides so many moments of unintentional hilarity that it's hard not to like him, and too feel a little sorry for him at the same time. However, he’s treading a dangerous line, and if he gets any more pompous, he could loose viewers affection. So lets just hope he doesn’t.
And the rest of the house? Well, alas thus far, most of the girls seemed to do little other than smile or talk monotonously - Sissy and Nush have had there moments, and suggest they could be fun, but Justine, Steff and Tania have added very very little to the show, and surely Big Brother's producers may be thinking that they've fucked up by choosing such tiresomely dull characters. Thats not to say that the boys are all that great either. Yes, Federico, Jon and Gos have performed well so far, but Cameron (nice, sweet, makes me fall asleep every time he opens his mouth), Scott (who should have been the person evicted on Friday) and Ray (who thinks he's far far far more interesting than he actually is) have yet to prove worthy of there place in the house. But, well, maybe without Anouska taking centre stage all of the time they'll have more space to flourish. I really hope so, as if they don’t, in nine weeks time few people may be watching.
Ultimately, it's going to be a strange one this year. With no obvious winner, a fair few really dodgy twats in the house (Gos, Jon, Steff, Justine) and little chance of any drama or romance. But there’s still a good chance it could be a great one. It’s just up to those voting not to screw up and make this not happen.
Alex Finch.
Discuss Big Brother on this thread on our forum.
But now they are all gone, we are left with a pretty stagnant relationship between Carter and Abby, Lewis in limbo, Weaver up to chief of staff, Corday without any intriuging storyline, Romano heavily
There needs to be a change in some of the actors, I feel, or more development to some of the new characters, as you find that despite the few paint-by numbers episodes of portraying the Plucky Gallant as, well as Gallant; and the cocky, self-assured Pratt as, well as a prat, you wonder if the scriptwriters are even trying anymore.
Scrubs (9.30pm, Thursdays, Sky One)
Meanwhile, Scrubs is getting it right. Moving on from its occasionally funny, but nervous first season, JD (Zach Braff) has nestled into his role of narrator and does a good job of building the story each week. H
owever, the stars are Turk (Donald Faison), the janitor, the Legal counsel, and the excellent John C. McGinley as Dr. Perry Cox, who despite losing some edge, has maintained the line between insulting and then sincerity, and has played both to equal success when required.
Great put downs and the fantasy sequences make this show what it is. Arguably the best sit-com on TV at present, and there's every hope that they continue the cycle next season bringing in new 'newbie' having JD, Turk, Elliot (Sarah Chalke), and Carla (Judy Reyes) become Kelso and Cox-like antagonists, and become increasingly adept at trading insults with their peers.
Craig Aston.
Hardware (10pm, Sundays, ITV)
Now everyone keeps commenting on how Hardware is rather fine for an ITV sitcom, how it’s at least got a roughly even ratio of good / bad jokes, and that the cast are all really great and trying there best.
But, well, this simply isn’t good enough. A sitcom shouldn’t be praised because “it’s not as shit as every other comedy series the channel makes”, and it seems to me that it’s been over praised ridiculously anyway, there are a few genuine laughs, but most of it is predictable tiresome and ultimately just very very average material. Simon Nye struck gold once with is portrayal of bored / drunk twentysomething men in Men Behaving Badly, but ever since has been rehashing the jokes seen there, and has sadly proved that he’s just not that funny a writer (which, as anyone who ever saw Beast, has perhaps been clear for a while now).
Martin Freeman’s coasting way too early in his career, he should be doing this sort of thing after being successful for about twenty years, not two, and the rest of the cast are pretty fine too (apart from Ken Morley, but fortunately he has little to do most episodes), and hopefully they’ll be firing there agents soon, because, well, they just shouldn’t have risked there careers by featuring in such turgid nonsense.
Unfortunately a second series is likely to happen, and well, it’s just not worth viewing – infact you should be watching 24 over on BBC2 (more on which is below), which shows how far ahead the Americans are in making quality tv at the moment.
24 (10pm, Sundays, BBC2)
Well, I’m more than happy to say that I was wrong here. In my last review of 24, I questioned whether the series would be able to pull off convincingly another 24 hours in the life of Jack Bauer, whether or not it would seem to forced and too contrived, but well, as previously mentioned, I was so wrong, wronger than I’ve ever been before infact.
Bauer’s undercover shenanigans and confrontations with Nina have been gripping and never predictable, and the political intrigue surrounding David Palmer’s presidency is almost as fascinating as Bauer’s search for the nuclear bomb, with Sherry Palmer recently being revealed as one of those working against Palmer being a show highlight. Amazingly, Haybert’s performance has somehow gotten even better than last season, and every time he shares screentime with Sutherland (which alas has rarely happened so far this year), it’s utterly captivating and fantastic stuff.
Only Kim Bauer’s antics with the young daughter she looks after and her attempts to escape from LA have seemed out of place and a little dull (something I never thought I’d think, due to finding the rather gorgeous Elisha Cuthbert just a little attractive), and her place in Jack’s world has seemed forced from the outset, and hopefully she’ll be killed off this year and then go on to make movies which feature her naked. Did I just say that out loud? Ahem. Sorry.
My only complaint is BBC2’s haphazard scheduling, this is a show which doesn’t deserve to be treated so badly, just so that some dull sports event can be screened. But the BBC have a history of doing this, so alas it’s unlikely to change. Anyway, if for some crazy reason you’re not watching this series, you’re once again missing out on one of the tv treats of the year, and whatever you do, make sure you’re sat in front of the box every Sunday night at 10pm.
RI:SE (6.55pm, Weekdays, C4)
Well, this time around I’m sticking with my original review. Three months ago, when Edith Bowman and Iain Lee were presenting together, this was a fun piece of throwaway morning tv. But now that Edith has left, and Big Brother 3 winner Kate Lawler has joined, it’s absolutely appalling.
And the blame must lie with Lawler alone, as the format of the show has barely changed at all (though alas Txt-ecution is no more). Yes, she can read her lines well enough, but whenever she improvises or deviates from the script it’s a downhill ride, and not an enjoyable one. She shouts far too much, nearly every thing she says isn’t funny in the slightly, and if I hear her screech ‘I didn’t know that’ one more time I cant promise I won’t end up trying to kill her. Sorry.
Iain Lee clearly doesn’t like the lass, as can be seen from the occasional moments where the camera is due to cut away from them to either the news or an ad break but doesn’t, but unlike with his relationship with Edith, the loathing is one way only, as Kate seems oblivious to anything going on. And thus it’s not funny.
RI:SE was a ratings disaster from the offset, but now it’s likely to get even worse. C4 bosses are to blame, and Lawler should be fired and a credible host found immediately if the show’s to survive. Though I get the feeling that it’s probably already too late for that.
Alex Finch.
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