TV - Reviews by alexlincs

TV - Reviews by alexlincs

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Member	Item		Review/Comment
alexlincs 28th Dec 2023		TV Hale And Pace (1988 - 1998)	Rated 7/10 Coming out in an era when satire was king with the likes of Spitting Image and Ben Elton doing his laborious, but pointed stand-up. Hale & Pace like slasher horror films of the 1980s is a great example of something that was a critical failure, but a commercial success. Much maligned throughout it's incredibly long run; sometimes justifiably, often unfairly. A common criticism was "two straight men"; an unwritten rule of comedy being a straight man and a clown a la: Morecambe & Wise and Laurel & Hardy. However, there are many successful comedy double acts with two jokers like Dick & Dom, Trevor & Simon and Vic & Bob. The criticisms of being vulgar are true and often the laughs would be based on someone saying a rude word or a vulgar punchline about bodily functions. However amongst the throwaway sketches there are some sketches that are as good as anything on any other sketch show at the time: "Yorkshire Airlines", "Piss Off Mr. Chips", "Billy & Johnny" - two kid's TV presenters who hate each other. Weirdly, many comedians who criticised H&P pretty much did the same albeit in a slightly more clever way: Harry Enfield, Lee & Herring, Baddiel & Newman. The mantra being nob gags are OK if there is a literary reference in there. Another thing people forget is just how good the performances of Hale & Pace are. Both having a gift at regional accents. Norman Pace is a surprisingly good singer, while Gareth Hale often bring a pathos to some of the sketches. It may have gone for the cheap laugh or have been unecessarily violent and rude, but it represents a time when there was entertainment for the pre and post-pub audience. I will pick the worst of Hale & Pace over the best of Naked Attraction, which is the late night fare du jour. 1 person found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
alexlincs 4th Jul 2022		TV The Charlotte Church Show (2006 - 2008)	Rated 3/10 I've reviewed this on Imdb under the title "It's Pants Boyo" The Charlotte Church Show was designed to appeal to the post-pub / pre-club crowd of 18-30 year olds. Later on Channel 4 would score a megahit with The Friday Night Project in 2007 and this would get axed a year after. The Charlotte Church Show attracted a lot of negative criticisms much like programmes in the previous slot: The Girlie Show, Something For The Weekend, The 11 O' Clock Show and quite rightly so; it's complete cack. There are two good points that make this show memorable. The programme showcased a lot of comedians who went onto become household names in the 10s people like: Adam Hills, Michael McIntyre, Lee Mack, Rhod Gilbert and Frankie Boyle. The musical performances which consisted mainly of covers with Charlotte Church providing backing vocals are also excellent and there's no denying Charlotte Church is a great singer. Some of the acts are like a whose who of mid-00s pop acts: Amy Winehouse, The Script, McFly, Sharleen Spiteri, Orson, Beth Rowley and Nelly Furtado. The show is now quite sort off for these two reasons, but it is sadly unavailable on all non-user generated streaming platforms and has no commercial release on DVD or Blu-Ray. The comedy sketches/skits and some Charlotte Church's banter with guests and the audience is truly cringe; cashing-in on her bad girl image of the early 00s when she was pictured getting drunk and falling out of taxis. Really grown worthy puns about Wales and forced ladette humour which was popular with its predecessors like The Girlie Show. The show ran for a surprising 3 series from 2006-2008 despite negative reviews. There is around 20 hours worth of footage in its entirely, but maybe one hour of it is any good and worth your time. I can't recommend it, but would like to see All4 make it available. 1 person found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
alexlincs 24th May 2022		TV Spice Girls: How Girl Power Changed Britain (2021)	Rated 7/10 This was review was first posted on IMDB by myself This was broadcast under the title "Spice Girls: How Girl Power Changed Britain", Girl Powered is the working title. This documentary is a history of The Spice Girls with references to the girl group promoting feminism. Love them or hate them, The Spice Girls were no doubt the biggest bands in the UK and maybe the world for about two years. I appreciate that they have been a massive influence on pop culture and I like some of their songs, but I'm certainly not a superfan. The documentary features a lot of talking heads from people like Miranda Sawyer who attempts to clumsily make out The Spice Girls are in some way feminist icons. Matthew Wright who wrote several hit pieces on The Spice Girls attempts to clear his name after being made out to be a villain. Some of The Spice Girls PR team from back in the day recount their experiences of the band. It is all good stuff, but like most people I would have liked to hear from the girls themselves. Instead we are just shown archive clips. The documentary manages to gloss over a few key events and the cynic in me would suggest this feels more like a puff piece than a serious documentary, especially given it is nearly 3 hours long in its entirety. The Spice Girls panned commercial flop "Spice World" movie wasn't mentioned to my knowledge or if it was I blinked and missed it. A pivotal moment in that it suggested The Spice Girls maybe weren't as popular at that time than was made out. Very little was mentioned of Mel B's single - "I Want You Back" with Missy Elliot which was massive. Also to my knowledge no mention of the Mel B documentary "Voodoo Princess" which was made for Channel 4. If I remember correctly there was no mention of the original demo version of Wannabe which was a slow R&B song similar to something like The All Saints "Black Coffee" in terms of tempo. There's no doubt in my mind giving it a fast paced europop style tempo gave it the kick in the face it needed to be a chart success; especially given dance music was dominating the charts in 1996. The latter half of the documentary manages to segue in some frankly jarring references to feminism and even features footage of recent-ish protests for nearly 15 minutes. I think it's maybe a stretch too far. The Spice Girls were absolutely massive, but as important as Stevie Nicks or Debbie Harry at influencing young women into pursuing musical careers? I honestly don't know. I do know nostalgia for the 90s is bang on trend at the moment. The 00s will be next! This documentary took a few years to put together and 100s of hours of clips were sorted through and carefully selected. It is a real shame that some of the footage isn't better quality. A press conference video on episode 3 looks like an awful 240p YouTube clip and some footage looks has watermarks. On a big budget documentary I expect higher production values. With a press conference surely the original source clips are available. This isn't the only documentary to use low quality clips, but it is a real shame especially now as most people watch films and TV on HD quality equipment. This is a mixed bag. The opening episode is fantastic and gives a good history of how the band got started with some rare footage. As the documentary goes on it looks like a bit of a filler was used or maybe my interest ran out. I think for anyone interested in 90s pop culture or asks the question "Mummy, who were The Spice Girls?" this is a pretty good watch. 3 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
alexlincs 31st Dec 2021		TV The Undateables (2012 - Now)	Rated 5/10 It's a topic in itself, but a lot of "factual" and "reality", not to mention "comedy" programmes often consist of what would be an excellent 10 minute YouTube video dragged out for an one hour. Maybe attention spans are shorter than they were two decades ago, but The Undateables for me is incredibly slow moving with a recap after every ad break of which there are multiple long ones. The cynic in me says this is yet another attempt to peer in at the window of humanity and sneer at people who are different. Sadly, all mainstream TV channels are guilty of this. The fact clips of this show have become memes and appeared on "try not to laugh" compilations on YouTube says it all; as does the title. To sum up, a 10 minute programme dragged out for 45+ minutes is not my idea of a good time. Sally Phillips easy-going voice can't save it for me. Ignoring the offensive factor, it's just tedious. 5 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
alexlincs 25th Jun 2021		TV The Bronx Bunny Show (2003 - 2007)	Rated 4/10 The first series was an Irish production by the team behind Zig & Zag, Double Z Enterprises for Channel 4 / E4. I think Zig & Zag worked mainly because they timed it right. In the late 80s\early 90s there was a penchant for slightly risqué humour as well as TV that appealed to both children and (stoned) adults see also Maid Marion and Her Merry Men, The Crystal Maze and Rainbow. The puppets Teddy T (a giant panda with a cigarette in his mouth) and Bronx Bunny (a brown bunny) some how manage to be even more grotesque than Zig & Zag. I'm not doubting the talent of Mick O'Mara and Ciaran Morrison, especially when it comes to voice acting and improv. I just don't like the characters. This came out in 2003. The "American" series was 2007 and featured bigger guests. Unfortunately like a lot of TV at the time it suffers from featuring celebrities who were of the moment: Steve-O, Judy Reyes, Jessica Alba, Seymore Butts. And occasionally household names: Hugh Hefener, William Shatner, Bryan Cranston. It's basically interviews with the puppets swearing in every sentence with really crass comedy sketches such as, Teddy T (a giant panda) having sex with a woman to spoof porn films! And Sesame Street-style spoofs spelling out words like Skank Ho. I'm not offended or bothered by it, there's just no cleverness to it beyond the basic premise of spoofing Kid's educational TV. There a lot of crude comedies I find hilarious: Bottom, The Young Ones, Nathan Barley, Curb, F Is For Family, even the odd Hale and Pace sketch; unfortunately this isn't one of them. Series 1 is still available on All4 for the curious. Series 2 is available on Prime USA. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
alexlincs 10th Mar 2021		TV The Adam And Joe Show (1996 - 2001)	Rated 8/10 Brilliant series, but seemed to divide people. I saw it first time around and I think it passed a lot of people by or they didn't get it. Ironically, I think its format and sketches have been like a prototype for many series that started as a web series such as Limmy's Show and Consolevania. For those that haven't seen it has Adam and Joe playing characters and doing silly hidden camera stunts like eating the 10% free portion of a box of cereals, Vinyl Justice where they looked at people's record collections such as Frank Black and said if they were crap or good while dressed as policemen, Adam's Dad reviewing pop music, silly observations of things to try spoofing the format of Why Don't You?, the most famous bit spoofs films and TV using toys such as: Toy-tanic, Furends (Friends), Stuff This Life etc. IMHO it wouldn't get commissioned today due to Channel 4 focusing on what is middle-class safe reality TV or pseudo-game shows such as The Circle, Four in a Bed or really patronising shows featuring an excuse to show excessive full frontal nudity. Back in the late 90s they out-shined BBC in terms of comedy content (Brass Eye, Father Ted, buying big American comedies like Frasier and treating them with respect by showing them at a time when people are awake - Seinfeld at 2am come on BBC 2!). It would probably have been a successful Youtube channel instead if it was invented a decade later. The Adam Buxton podcast is well worth checking out for more of the same with high school chums Joe Cornish and Louis Theroux as recurring interviewees, as is their now defunct BBC 6 Music and comedy show. 7 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
alexlincs 23rd Oct 2020		TV The Office (2001 - 2003)	Rated 7/10 Hailed as a classic and one of the best sitcoms of all time by both critics and viewers alike. This series made stars of everyone involved. The character David Brent has appeared on many best comedy character lists. Brent is an egotistic narcissist, but unlike Alan Partridge he is maybe a bit more ignorant and sympathetic, Partridge is more of a Machiavellian monster than a loveable idiot; both are victims of their own arrogance though. The Office was one of the early "Cringe Comedies" along with I'm Alan Partridge, Peep Show and Curb Your Enthusiasm in the USA and followed by series like The Inbetweeners and maybe Nathan Barley and Friday Night Dinner to an extent. So, the question is: "is this a classic and is David Brent a great character?" The answer is yes to both. This is nowhere near the masterpiece it is made out to be. I measure how good a TV series is by whether I would watch it again in its entirety and I've had no desire to revisit it since I saw it upon its first broadcast. For me there's just something a bit naff and dated about the "mockumentary" format a bit like sitcoms with canned laughter. The cynic in me says the BBC elevated this well above its status to fill a comedy void, bear in mind at the time the BBC had very little in the way of new comedy, with most shows being long running ones like Never Mind the Buzzcocks and the lasts series of I'm Alan Partridge. 3 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
alexlincs 23rd Oct 2020		TV The Weakest Link (2000 - Now)	Rated 6/10 Anne Robinson was a good choice of presenter. She previously presented Points of View in a cynical way. Calling her the "queen of mean" is generous hyperbole. It's clearly an act and she can be seen breaking character by smiling or even laughing in a few instances. The game is a basic quizshow with a banking mechanic and a voting system. Contestants would often vote off who they saw as the most competition. These two mechanics I've not seen implimented before on a quiz show. I know shows like Catchphrase had a banking mechanic, but it was automatic and didn't rely on the contestants saying bank and they would often forget or say pass by mistake. The cash prizes were often pretty small, I think £10, 000 was the maximum and most players took home around £4,000 or less. The game was a bit cheap as the questions got harder and more obscure as the game went on, not too mention more long-winded to run the clock down. Overall, this was a cold and cynical gameshow with a metallic set to match; see also Who Wants to be a Millionaire?, Shafted and Golden Balls. Anne Robinson was a hit with viewers and the show ran for a massive 12 years and had a US spin-off with Anne also presenting. There was also a spin-off game for PS1, PS2 and Windows which I wouldn't recommend as it's dull and for trivia fans Anne Robinson was sampled in a cheesy hard house record by the usually excellent Pants & Corset (Paul King). 4 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
alexlincs 2nd Oct 2020		TV Harry Hill's TV Burp (2001 - 2012)	Rated 7/10 I was pretty fond of this at the time. I think a large part of the humour depended on your knowledge of UK Soaps, especially ITV ones. Like a lot of Harry Hill's stuff this was (largely) family friendly, slightly surreal and very silly. The TV series had a large team of talented writers including Stand-up comedians John Moloney and Chris Addison and David Quantick (who provided additional material for Brass Eye, On The Hour, Spitting Image). I think largely what killed it off was the tight deadlines (if I remember rightly this was broadcast weekly) and the fact the writers would need to sift through hours of TV to find a 20 second funny clip. For something like Emmerdale you are looking at 2 hours worth footage a week, now imagine that across multiple channels, then there's issues of licensing the clips, getting special guests etc. Frankly it must have been the equivalent of pointing your house to work on. All that said I got some big laughs out of most episodes and thought it was good twist on the overused clips show format. For anyone curious the compilation TV Burp Gold DVDs are a good place to start and very cheap often costing less than £1 each. But be warned some it is a bit dated given they are referencing TV and pop culture from nearly 10 years ago. 6 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?