I came down with "man cold" on Friday, but feeling sick did give me a chance to sample a full evening of Saturday night entertainment the next day…
Harry Hill's TV Burp, ITV - 6.30 pmA welcome return for this essential, affectionate ribbing of the week's TV, with Harry Hill our good-natured guide. A lot of material was playing catch-up (from months-old EastEnders storylines, to last summer's Big Brother), but Harry still found fresh laughs from old stuff. This show never fails to impress with its ability to pick up on minute details and the idiocies that infest soaps and little-watched shows on digital stations. Very funny.
Primeval, ITV - 7.00 pm
A quite enjoyable continuation from the awful first season's cliffhanger finale. It made a few interesting and credible changes to the set-up, but essentially boiled down to more of the same. My full review can be read here.
FILM: Shallow Hal, Channel 4 - 9.05 pmI've seen this before, so I only dipped in and out, but it's one of those films that gets better with age. I've always enjoyed the Farrelly Brothers' comedies, and this 2003 film was their last big success. I'm not a fan of Jack Black, but he's very good in this story about a guy who's hypnotized into seeing peoples' inner beauty – and begins dating an obese woman, who he sees as slim, sexy Gwyneth Paltrow. Funny, inventive and actually rather touching.
Al Murray's Happy Hour, ITV2 - 10:05 pm
A repeat from Friday -- but better scheduled at 10 pm on a Saturday, I think. Al Murray returns as his Pub Landlord alter-ego in this entertainment chat-show, with guests James Blunt (humble and surprisingly witty, often coming up with better gags than Murray) and I'm A Celebrity couple Marc Bannerman (who once starred alongside the Landlord in Time Gentleman, Please) and Cerys Matthews. I thought Bannerman -- who found "love" in the jungle with Cerys, despite having a girlfriend back home -- came across as a selfish, cockney, jack-the-lad idiot.
FILM: Re-Animator, Film4 - 11:40 pmWith the evening pressing on into midnight, this 80s classic was perfect late-night fare for any discerning horror fan. Jeffrey Combs stars as the eponymous "re-animator" Herbert West, in a gruesome horror-comedy adaptation of H.P Lovecraft's story, itself inspired by Frankenstein.
And then it was time for bed. Against expectations, my Saturday entertainment was dominated by ITV, which is always being criticized these days. I'm no slouch in flinging crap their way, either -- as I did for Echo Beach this week -- but they certainly know how to handle family entertainment.
What did BBC1 come up with to entice viewers their way? The always-tedious Weakest Link, pale Stars In Their Eyes rip-off The One & Only, that useless National Lottery-based quiz with Dale Winton, the running-on-fumes Casualty and Match Of The Day? Do me a favour. I bet they're counting the days for Doctor Who to return…
