Shipwrecked (13:05, Sunday 25th November, C4)
Far better than previous series, I only caught this by chance, but was so glad I did as it's pretty hysterical viewing. Like in all the best reality tv, there's much bitching, arguing and loss of sanity.
Made all the better by the five girls who refuse to work, and admit any of their faults, how it'll survive post the loss of the comedy-tastic French girl is open to question, but at the moment it's still great tv.
Being Mick (21:00, Thursday 22nd November, C4)
Self indulgent travelogue as we follow Mick around various parties and recording studios. And what did we discover about the life of the faded rocker?
Well, bar that he’s not that funny, reality doesn’t come a knocking that often, and Lenny Kravitz lives in a 1970’s version of the future accommodation wise, very little.
He’s a bit posh, he’s earnest, he means it man, but he just isn’t that good anymore. Ever get the feeling he’d be more respected these days if he did open a corner shop with Keith?
So the launch of a tea time chat show for the tedious twosome hardly filled me with anything approaching excitement, but upon watching it I found fluffy, light entertainment that certainly entertains more than anything C4 has previously shown in that timeslot – though admittedly pretty much everything the channel makes is better than Ricki Lake and Pet Rescue.
It’s tabloid tv, chatty interviews and a vague attempt at tackling serious interviews – well, if you count a man who wishes to cut his feet off live over the net, for medical reasons rather than just
And it is a slight improvement on their morning show, with a thankful absence of makeovers and cookery spots, and the odd bit of irrelevant but fun nonsense such as snippets of viewer’s recordings of family members or partners snoring, and the story on the Ramsgate Robin Hood created a few chuckles.
Guest wise R&J are given slightly better celebrities to talk too, with Robert Llewyn proving that he’s far more amusing than Red Dwarf allows, and Ramona from Cold Feet chatting briefly about the show, though as I loathe that particularly vomit inducing comedy-drama, this wasn’t exactly a highlight. But Kyle Machlachlan was, and to see Kyle chat normally, and casually was a delight, and perhaps part of the reason why R&J are so popular. All of their guests seem extremely comfortable around them, and the sense of fun is apparent, though those looking for searching and/or difficult questions will never find them here.
So it’s okay, and like all fluff-lite tv, if you have nothing else to do and wish to smile occasionally, it’s barable stuff. But anyone who tunes in daily should seek help now.
Taboo (21:50, Wednesday 21st , 28th November, BBC2)
As all digital tv channels know, the easiest way of getting away with soft core pornography is to pretend in some way that it’s a documentary and thus has some vague social value. And whilst the BBC seems to have given up pushing back the boundaries in it’s drama and comedies, it’s more than happy to present us with forty minutes of controversial imagery under the guise that it’s exploring society’s moral values.
Whilst it’s more artfully done than anything shown on digital channels, with arty cuts and blurry shots, and the very sensible Joan Bakewell handling presenting duites, you have to question the need for such an exploration. Not only has the material been covered umpteenth times before, but in far more depth too. For example, whilst art was skipped over in the first episode in under five minutes, the recent Empire of the Nudes Omnibus devoted an hour to investigating the relationship between art and nudity, and with much more insight too.
Bakewell seems desperate to let everyone know how liberated she is, and how everyone who was anyone in the sixties is a personal friend, but it comes across as rather sycophantic, and whilst she tries her best to appear open minded, her distaste at nudity becomes more and more apparent as the series continued, leading to her describing sexual organs as ‘meat’ in the second episode. Which, if you so wished, you could apply to any part of the human body. And whilst she makes the series far more respectable than it deserves to be, a younger, more liberal host exploring this subject could have made for more captivating viewing.
Yes, there is much of interest here, some fascinating points made – James Ferman commenting on how Jack Straw is the only political figure ever to become personally involved in censoring material during his long reign as the chairman of the BBFC made for particularly disturbing listening, but these new nuggets of information are few and far apart.
And it’s odd in a series that tries to cover everything, from art to pornography, strip shows to cinema, that so much has been left out. No mention of the incredibly taboo subjects of Prostitution or Paedophilia, and so many aspects of humanity’s different takes on a sexual life were ignored as well.
So, of some interest then, but ultimately, frustratingly, flawed.
Alex Finch.
Stephen Tomkinson returns to comedy by playing his first dislikable character, a charity shop manager who’s tediously anal. It’s okay, with a fair few laughs to be had at the expense of the old lady types who run these sort of shops, but it all felt just too predictable to be truly funny.
When you compare it to his performance as Damien Day in Drop the Dead Donkey, it seems all the worse, and ultimately it just made me hanker for the return of the aforementioned sitcom.
It’s disappointing too, because if the character had been about 90% more evil, this could have been a new Blackadder. Instead it’s just a new Thin Blue Line. Another shame.
Linda Green (21:00, Tuesday 6th November, BBC1)
Yes, yes, I know Lisa Tarbuck’s never ever done anything in her life before to suggest this would be even barable - indeed her stint presenting Blockbusters on Sky One has to go down as some of the most excruciatingly bad tv ever shown.
But this is fun, well written drama that could just make a star out of the girl. And that’s something that I thought would never happen. Isn’t it nice to be pleasantly surprised for once?
Mutant X (17:00, Sunday 4th November, Sky One)
Another US fantasy based Action-er, with the usual collection of beautiful looking twenty-something’s playing teen heroes.
A blatant x-men rip off, with an Andy Warhol lookalike as the main villain and not one ounce of originality, it’s amongst the worst programme’s Sky have ever shown. And everyone knows how horrifically low they’ve sunk too in the past.
Shown on Wednesday’s, and for some reason repeated every Sunday eve when I unfortunately often catch it, I only managed to sit through it’s hour running time in the knowledge that soon the Simpsons would soon soothe my insidious boredom.
Gimme Gimme Gimme (21:30, Friday 2nd November, BBC1)
Back for what's promised to be the final series, and I pray every minute of every day that this is so.
It's camp, it's painfully loud, it's the same joke repeated over and over again, and alas it wasnt a funny one in the first place.
The worst sitcom the beeb has produced - yep, even worse than Lee Evans: So What Now. Horrible Horrible Horrible.
The half hour that followed Dr Terrible’s introduction (Coogan in one of many roles throughout the series) was one of the longest I have ever sat through. I couldn’t believe how unfunny and boring this programme was. The format of the show is that Dr Terrible introduces a different story each week, each one starring Coogan and each one spoofing a different Brit horror film.
This one was called Lesbian Vampire Lovers of Lust (a very poor title) tried really hard to capture the atmosphere of classic near soft porn as Vampire Lovers, Lust for a Vampire and Twins of Evil (It even contain a pair of twins) but managed to fail to recreate the atmosphere of those films. Coogan is Captain Hans Brocken (you see he had a injured arm, geddit?) visiting Carpathia with his bride. Finding that the inn is closed they head over to stay in the local castle which is, as you would expect owned by Countess Kronsteen, a lesbian vampire. Anyway you can probably guess the rest of the plot.
After I’m Alan Partridge I was really expecting great things from this series but a so far I’ve not been very impressed. Lets hope that it gets better. More very bad Rocky Horror than Hammer Horror.
Paul Monk.
The Kumars at No. 42 (21:00, Monday 12th November, BBC2)
His family (Mum, Dad and Grandmother) are the innovative element, making frequent incursions in
This, the first of the series, featured Richard E. Grant and Michael Parkinson, both seasoned chat show guests, and alas due to the format of the show it’s unlikely that you’ll of learnt anything that you didn’t know before, but that, as with Mrs Merton, isn’t the point. And moments where they took the piss out of Grant for appearing in Hudson Hawk, and when Sanjeev repeatedly questioned Parkinson on his retirement date were pure comedy gold.
How long the format can last without getting repetitive is open to question, but for the time being this is essential viewing, and refreshingly fun when compared to Skinner, Ross and so many of the new breed of chat show hosts.
Alex Finch.
Tv Comment Special: Breakfast Tv
Click above for reviews of BBC Breakfast, GMTV and The Big Breakfast.
So he needs to brilliant comeback with his next venture "Beverly Hills Gun Club". To achieve this he elists the help of Writer Adam, and former child star turned prostitute (played by Illeana Douglas) whom he recruits as his assistant. The blatancy of this humour is the star here, as various scenes have in-jokes and leave you laughing out loud; like the Disney Exec, who pays Douglas to be stripped to minimalistic clothing, wear a pink face mask and indulge in his cleaning fetish.
Certainly close to the bone, but enjoyable as a result.
Currently the most under-rated and important drama to hit our screens in along time. "The Corner" is based around the culture of drugs on a Baltimore Street Corner, and is the follow-up book from Homicide:Life on the street Producer David Simon, who wrote the inspirational book "Homicide: A year on the Killing Streets".
It has jumped into the spot vacated by the Sopranos and has over the past 5 weeks, been the best drama on the box in a long time. What makes it so special, is it is based on true stories of a family that has seen their lives destroyed by drugs and illustrates how a son tries to get his parents away from drugs, whilst trying to avoid himself from succumbing to the lure of "The Corner".
The drama features numerous under-rated ER cast members including Khandi Alexander, who would play the insignificant role of Benton's sister in ER, but sparkles like a diamond with her portrayal of Fran Boyd, mother of DeAandre and DeRodd McCullough. Also outstanding is T.K Carter, playing Fran's former partner Gary McCullough, who went from high-flyer to junkie. Also featured are various Homicide and OZ alumni, who add to this extraordinary cast ensemble.
Despite all the acclaim the Soprano's got, it tended to rely too much on the sexual aspect of the mafia lifestyle, but in "The Corner" we have an emotive insight into the world of drugs at street level, which is at its most graphic, and blatant. Sheer brilliance, and as it ends it's six week run I am already hoping for a repeat.
Craig Aston.
Friday Night With Jonathan Ross (22:35, Friday 2nd November, BBC1)
Another dismal, tired format, which Ross has tried but failed to pull off in the past, is trotted on to our screens once again – yep, it’s a chat show. With B-list guests. And an uncomfortable looking sidekick. Sigh. It’s as if the lessons learnt from the TFI debacle have been forgotten already.
Ross trots out his repetoire of sexual innuendo, not realising that it was only funny very briefly back in ’95 in the height of laddism, reviews the news in a tiresome and distinctly unfunny way, and ‘interviews’ three guests all too briefly. As usual the guests have little chance to say anything as Ross roles out poor joke after poor joke, and those that did had very little to say – John Lydon rambled inanely as usual, Tamzin Outhwaite smiled and giggled a little, and every time Neil Hannon opened his mouth, Ross belittled him, so it’s no wonder he gave up after a while.
Produced by Suzi Aplin, of TFI fame, this is so conventional, so familiar that there’s no point in it’s existance. Worse than Parkie, Graham Norton, and, yes, really, Des O’Connor. Ross simply should not be hosting any tv series, let alone a major chat show, or Film 2001 for that matter, and it’s time for him to disappear in to tv obscurity once again..
Alex Finch.
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