Fazzinchi

Seven Days and Seven Nights

So, here we are a week into the show and I have already watched far more Big Brother than I vowed I would. The story (for want of a better word) so far is that what started out as an all-girl cast about whom my first impressions remain fairly unchanged, soon became not quite so “all-girl” as they were joined by sacrificial lamb/ stud/ lone voice of reason (delete as applicable) who has been thrust into the testosterone-free environs of the house to “mix it up” as I’m sure one of the (more…)

Zzzzzzzzz

Well, here it is. Big Brother The Eighth has hit our screens, not with a bang but a whimper. Immediately before the live launch show a solemn voice read out the statement from Ofcom to tell us what a right pig’s ear that Channel 4 made of the Shilpa v Jade racism row in the celeb version earlier this year. However, as soon as over-enthusiastic host, Davina McCall, was up on stage outside the house in front of a couple of hundred, wailing rent-a-crowd employees it was like nothing had changed. Production values were in desperate need of, (more…)

Look Busy, Here Comes The Boss

I imagine that the Apprentice is a show that made it to the airwaves 20 years too late, as it would have been a wonder to behold in those later years of Thatcher’s premiership.  A bunch of yuppies being put through their paces in such a way and delivering such abject demonstrations of business acumen that would have shaken the nation’s seemingly, unquestioning belief in capitalism to its very core.  However, here we are in the last vestiges of Blair’s Britain and a more cynical audience are (more…)

Tasty, Tasty, Very, Very Tasty

The most recent series of Masterchef Goes Large has been a surprising success in the ratings, especially when it was nearing the final that was finally broadcast last Thursday. For you delectation the winning dishes cooked up by the eventual victor, Steve, are snapped above. Long gone is the Loyd Grossman style that I recall having an unfeasably dark studio with guest critics who popped on to the set to sample the culinary concoctions of the participants. Here we have a (more…)

What Not To Cry Over

Today is Comic Relief day… the TV marathon usually comes over as a perfect case study in truly awful television but it becomes oddly watchable the more drink you consume. However, the clips of the less fortunate from home and abroad that are juxtaposed with the cringeworthy celeb scenes throughout the event, demonstrate the power of the medium perfectly and, on a personal level, almost all of these have the same emotional impact of Michael Buerk’s Ethiopian reports (more…)

Reality Bites

Ok, I am a self-professed fan of the show/format and I watched the launch show but after that, the Other Viewer and I decided not to bother watching any more Celebrity Big Brother because it looked like it was going to be a little dull.  Now look… viewing figures going into orbit, Carphone Warehouse pulling out of its sponsorship, Debates in parliament, and 27,000 complaints to Offcom.  It’s time to go back to Big Brother.  Other people (like TV Scoop) are posting sensible and (more…)