I used to follow this sketch show every week, breaking it down into sketches, but I'm not going to bother now. This opener for the fourth series was underwhelming, and it irritated me that David Mitchell and Robert Webb have chosen to stick with the Get Me Hennimore and Remain Indoors sketches, which both ran out of steam halfway through series 3. It also opened with a Fry & Laurie-esque moment with the duo standing in front of the live studio audience as "themselves", which for some reason just doesn't seem to work for Mitchell & Webb.
There were a few highlights (like a pedant who kept killing employees for their bad grammar during a pitch meeting, or Caesar being taught how to refer to himself in the third person, a mumbling actor who can't read the line "I don't know what you want anymore" with the required energy, and a scientist for Laboratoire Garnierre being chastised for using his skills to cure Alzheimer's), but even allowing for the "hit-and-miss" nature of sketch shows, this episode felt more weak than usual. And if it's true that all sketch shows broadcast their best half-hour first, to ensure viewers come back for a few more weeks at least, then I'm worried about series 4 as a whole. Still, as usual, Mitchell & Webb's work never patronizes its audience and doesn't rely on recycling jokes and catchphrases, so for that I'm grateful and will still be tuning in.
13 JULY 2010: BBC2, 9PM
