Wonders Of The Solar System [Open Thread]

If you're not watching this on BBC1/HD every Sunday, do yourself a favour and catchup. Professor Brian Cox, keyboard player for D:Ream who literally proved that "Things Can Only Get Better" by becoming a particle physicist, is our tour guide to the spectacular sights in our galactic backyard. Wonders Of The Solar System's first episode focused on the Sun, while last night was all about the order that came from the chaotic birth of our solar system, with particular attention given to Saturn and its magnificent rings.

You may think this show will just reiterate facts familiar from your school days, embroidered with fancy computer graphics, but it's proven to be more instructive and entertaining than I expected. I had no idea Saturn was so interesting (its rings are thousands of miles long but only two metres thick), or that it has 61 orbiting moons that are equally as remarkable. Did you know that one, Enceladus, erupts a gigantic boiling geyser into space from its frozen pole, fuelled by the gravity of Saturn literally contorting its surface to create energy through friction? You do now.

Cox himself is the perfect presenter for something like this. He's educated but accessible, passionate and engaging, quite handsome, yet peculiar enough to be kind of a fascinating watch himself -- with his soft Lancastrian accent, thin lips, boyish hairstyle and waxy features. My only complaint is that he sometimes asks stupid questions to other experts (e.g what would happen if you drove a car into a tornado?), which makes him look a bit dense around his peers. If he's only asking on behalf of any dimwits watching at home, I think he should credit us with more intelligence.

It's intriguing how Wonders Of The Solar System has tried to provide a balance with religion, too. The spiritual sensation of a solar eclipse didn't go uncommented on during scenes of one occurring over India, Cox himself admitted the Aurora Borealis resembled green spirits leaving the mountains for the heavens, and last night's episode began in a Mosque. There seems to be a conscious effort to assure people that science doesn't negate religion, they can work in tandem. Where some people see pure cosmic coincidence that our moon's exactly the right size, shape and distance from the Sun to create regular total solar eclipses, others see intelligent design.

Whatever you believe, theists and atheists will surely agree that our universe is a majestic, incredible creation of vivid beauty and hidden wonder. I'm enjoying this immensely, how about you?

14 MARCH 2010: BBC1/BBC HD, 9PM

THE BUBBLE 1.3 [Open Thread]

This will be the last time I chime in on The Bubble, until it perhaps alters its format or otherwise improves. I still think the potential behind quizzing celebs on news stories they've been cocooned from is being squandered; the game reduced to guessing which ridiculous news report/tabloid clipping is too ridiculous to be true, or so ridiculous it must be true. My dark side longs for a well-timed celebrity death to at least inspire a "guess who died?"-style bit of irreverence one week, but that's in the hands of fate and The Bubble's producers.

The Bubble's too timorous to tackle such things, I feel -- so "gorilla found on Mars" and "chickens murder fox" stories are the order of the day. After three episodes, I find it amusing enough to pass the time (mainly because of David Mitchell's celebrated wit), but the game itself doesn't involve me until the final quick-fire round. So, that's me done reviewing it here, although I hope it comes back for another series, provided they find a way to tackle more relevant mainstream news. I don't expect them to wisecrack about Jamie Bulger's now-adult killer being sent back to jail after breaking the conditions of his release (as happened this week), but The Bubble has got to show its teeth somehow.

What's your final verdict?

5 MARCH 2010: BBC2, 10PM

THE BUBBLE 1.2 [Open Thread]

There's fun to be had in this new comedy gameshow, where three celebrities are quizzed on the week's news after being denied access to the media, but it's a pity so little of it derives from the actual game in question. The Bubble has yet to make good on the promise of its high-concept, basically. Rather than try to guess the correct news report/press clipping, the game the celebs are really playing can be more accurately described as "deduce which of the following is most likely to have been faked by a television comedy show", while the majority of this episode's highlights was unrelated to the central game: a few anecdotes (such as host David Mitchell's rant about keeping a particularly hardy tropical fish), footage from Taiwanese news of a CGI reenactement of Gordon Brown punching his staff, and the pre-show events inside "The Bubble" itself -- where contestants Jon Richardson and Ed Byrne related the pain of being locked away with feminist author Germaine Greer, to play XBOX and argue over Scrabble.

It's a worry when the best element of a satirical gameshow appears to be the preparation behind-the-scenes. It's kind of like discovering that rehearsal footage of a West End musical is far more entertaining than the show being performed each night. Right now, there doesn't seem to be much belief that The Bubble's game is compelling or funny enough to entertain, so Mitchell and his guests often wander off-topic. The actual show itself only really buzzes to life during the climactic "true or false?" round, mainly because Mitchell has no option but to be focused and its quickfire nature elicits some pace. So, after two episodes, I'm laughing... just not at the right bits.

But what was your verdict on The Bubble's second episode?

26 FEBRUARY 2010: BBC2, 10PM

QI, 7.13 - "Gothic" [Open Thread]

Mistimed for Halloween, but well-timed as the thirteenth episode, QI continued its "G" series with a look at "Gothic". This was probably one of my favourite episodes in quite some time, not least because I'm saturnine enough to appreciate ghoulish trivia about gargoyles (they're actually water-spouts, the purely decorative ones are called "grotesques"), zombies (it would take about a month for one zombie to infect the entire world[*]), novelty coffins (a modern tradition in Ghana, apparently), etc. Plus, great comedy does tend to bubble up from the darker corners of the human experience. To that end, misanthrope Jack Dee and the cynicism of Jimmy Carr were employed well, and Sue Perkins proved (where Sandy Toksvig and Jo Brand have failed to this year) that, yes, women on panel shows can be funny! Spooky.

But what was your verdict?

19 FEBRUARY 2010: BBC1, 8.30PM

[*] Provided people don't fight back or hide from the increasing zombie hordes, one assumes...

QI, 7.12 - "Gravity" [Open Thread]

Some episodes of QI are quite funny, others are quite interesting. The best episodes combine the two to become extremely entertaining, but I think "Gravity" will have to settle for quite interesting. Actually, make that very interesting. This was one of those episodes where the sheer wealth of astonishing trivia overshadowed the jokes because the guests were hanging on Stephen Fry's every word. Ordinarily, I'd grumble about them being paid to sit there as glorified members of the studio audience, but I actually don't blame them because I was similarly fascinated...

Regardless, it was a shame Rich Hall didn't make much of an impression here, as he's ordinarily good value as the laconic interjector, but my low expectations for QI newbie Barry Humphries were proven well founded. He's only ever funny in the guise of his alter-ego Dame Edna Everage (and even the hilarity of Edna's debatable), and his lacklustre performance here proved so. Humphries' garish clothes were the only thing memorable about him. So yes, we'll have to put this episode down as a something you'll fnd yourself enjoying mainly for non-comedic reasons. I'm still fascinated by the fact it takes 42-minutes to fall through the Earth's surface to any point on the planet (be it London to Australia, or London to Paris), and that the bullet from a gun fired while aimed parallel to the ground at arm's length will hit the ground at the same time you simply drop a bullet held at the same height.

The frustrating thing about QI is that it's increasingly difficult to impress people down the pub with the littleknown facts it throws up, as it's become so popular (and it repeated so often) that your source is always never in doubt.

But what was your verdict?

12 FEBRUARY 2010: BBC1, 8.30PM

MOCK THE WEEK 8.3 [Open Thread]

Is there still an appetite for open threads about Mock The Week, or have we exhausted discussion? The guests this week were Stewart Francis (who clearly knows his brand of one-liner comedy isn't suited to panel shows, so spent most of the episode poking fun at his own incongruous presence), Andrew Maxwell (who was pretty decent, all said) and Andi Osho (who's funny, but didn't get a chance to shine to any great extent.) As an aside, this was the first episode of the series where Russell Howard's squinty grinning irritated me again, while Andy Parsons and Hugh Dennis have just become background noise now. As usual, my growing frustrations were put to rest by the always funny "Scenes We'd Like To See" final round, see below:

4 FEBRUARY 2010: BBC2, 10PM

QI, 7.10 - "Greats" [Open Thread]

I don't have too much to say this week, because I think I've covered most of my feelings towards QI these days, and the guests who featured in this latest episode, "Greats". Jo Brand shoehorned in some gags about being fat or eating a lot[*], Sean Lock was okay but nowhere near as funny as he is on 8 Out Of 10 Cats, and David Mitchell remains the best at balancing genuine knowledge and sharp wit.

The topic of "Greats" threw up some fun trivia, though; everyone in Europe are related to all Europeans who existed in the 13th-century, that tortoises actually taste divine (so much so that early explorers regularly ate them rather than take them back to England for further study), and that most dictators we believe to be diminutive (Napoleon, Stalin) were actually of above-average height for their era. A decent episode, but I still find it gets bogged down at times, and the guests are now too familiar with the format to be tripped up with klaxons unintentionally. Incidentally, does anyone think QI XL (the edition shown on Saturdays with a 15-minute extension) is better then the abridged Friday show?

29 JANUARY 2010: BBC1, 8.30PM

[*] And when Jo Brand did step out of her comfort zone it was to make the astonishingly weak gag that David Mitchell's brothers are Phil and Grant Mitchell from EastEnders. A joke so amateur that David was forced to spin it off into something half-amusing (about fictional people being considered real) just to save Jo's utter embarrassment.

MOCK THE WEEK 8.2 [Open Thread]

Do I detect a slightly more relaxed and free-handed atmosphere now Frankie Boyle's not around to dominate proceedings? Mock The Week still can't match 8 Out Of 10 Cats' jovial atmosphere, but it's certainly getting there. The guests all got a chance to shine, which was the main thing. Chris Addison (best known for his role in political satire The Thick Of It, but also a stand-up comedian) got a few big laughs (mainly with his suggestion that we counter a tidal wave created by the Chinese jumping simultaneously with a similar wave borne of the UK's obese children), and stand-up comedians Sarah Millican and John Bishop both made enough of an impression to prevent total domination by the regulars.

But I'm still disappointed MTW even has so many "regulars" – because what's wrong with the traditional two team captains format? It just feel unbalanced and, frankly, I've grown tired of Hugh Dennis and Andy Parsons' shtick. And it still irritates me when the stand-up round features topics designed to give the guests the opportunity to reuse their stand-up routines (I mean, "Language"? The broadness of "Politics"?), but otherwise this was a fun episode -- if still something you'll have forgotten about by ten o'clock.

28 JANUARY 2010: BBC2, 9PM

QI, 7.9 - "Gallimaufrey" [Open Thread]

I missed Stephen Fry's explanation of what "gallimaufrey" means, but it's apparently "a motley assortment of things", which basically means this edition of QI wasn't constrained by a strict topic. It made me wonder: is QI's alphabetical adherence to topics in its best interest? I know it gives the show structure and order, but there must be times when the behind-the-scenes "elves" are tearing their hair out trying to think of compelling subjects/trivia with a vague connection to the year's particular letter. God help us when we get to "Q" or "X"...

The guests this week were again rather restrained. Hugh Dennis and Andy Hamilton are both intelligent people, which can help push the show onwards without it getting bogged down in too much toilet/sexual humour, but they can also make it feel a little plodding. Still, I always like it when the guests throw in their own "quite interesting" facts, such as Hugh's story about a communist state altering their highway code so "red" meant go and "green" meant stop, but forgetting to change all the traffic lights.

Phil Jupitus continues to have a very odd presence on this show, looking half-embarassed to be there, or unsure of himself in some strange way. Alan Davies was okay, but it always bugs me when he bludgeons a joke to death with repeated play -- this week, his impression of German car inventor Mr. Bentz writing his own driver's license. Funny once, not so funny the fourth time.

What was your verdict?

22 January 2010
BBC2, 8.30pm

BELLAMY'S PEOPLE 1.1 [Open Thread]

Adapted from Radio 4 spoof phone-in show Down The Line[*], Bellamy's People (Of The United Kingdom Of Great Britain and Northern Ireland) is another venture for The Fast Show's Paul Whitehouse and Charlie Higson. Here, radio DJ host Gary Bellamy (Rhys Thomas) tours the country in his Union Jack-emblazoned Triumph Stag "personality vehicle" to meet his eccentric callers in person, using them to paint a picture of modern Britain.

It's the manifesto of Little Britain without the immature toilet humour of that other radio-to-TV series, spliced with a "celebrity travelogue". Whitehouse and Higson both remain gifted comic performers, and there were some amusing moments and characters here: an obese hermit with a cereal craving, two aristocratic sisters who have divided their country mansion into fascist and communist wings, a scatterbrained old gent, a Muslim "community leader", etc. Great support was also provided by comic actors like Felix Dexter, Amelia Bullmore, Adil Ray, Simon Day, Rosie Cavaliero and Lucy Montgomery[**].

It's just a shame it started to bore me after 10 minutes and seemed to go limp on the screen. It's the kind of show I can admire for attempting something different, and for the fun performances, but I'm not a fan of half-improvised comedies in general. It's well-observed, but there's a lack of proper jokes to keep me engaged. Plus, Rhys Thomas' straight-man makes for a bland, tiresome lead. If the episodes continue to give us brand new characters every week, that should definitely help sustain interest, but it feels like this idea (or the central joke behind it) was a better fit for radio.

Buy hey, comedy's a very subjective thing, so what was your verdict?


21 January 2010
BBC2, 10pm

written & performed by: Paul Whitehouse, Charlie Higson, Rhys Thomas, Simon Day, Felix Dexter, Lucy Montgomery, Rosie Cavaliero, Amelia Bullmore & Adil Ray directed by: Paul Whitehouse & Charlie Higson

[*] This radio comedy from 2006-08 is a blind spot of mine, although I hear it's very funny and its first few episodes fooled many listeners into believing the callers were real people. That same trick is, of course, impossible to replicate on TV when everyone's so recognizable in the flesh, which in turns means Bellamy's People instantly fails to adapt the main selling point of its origin.

[**] The real-life wife of Rhys Thomas, no less, who was far better here than on the likes of Tittybangbang.

MOCK THE WEEK 8.1 [Open Thread]

Frankie Boyle's been lanced, Russell Howard's wearing specs, but it's otherwise business as usual for satirical news quiz Mock The Week; a fusion of Have I Got News For You? and Whose Line Is It Anyway?, with irrelevant scoring and a weird mix of rounds that go from sitdown quiz to standup performances. It's all a mere conduit for ribpoking of the week's news stories, and MTW is perhaps more consistent than its contemporaries because five four of the pannelists are regulars.

The downside of that consistency is that Hugh Dennis stopped being funny in the mid-'90s[*] and Andy Parsons has never been funny[**], leaving host Dara O'Briain and Russell Howard to shoulder most of the comic burden. And, like a great many modern panel shows, a lot of guests just become glorified audience members, desperate to shoehorn in paraphrased segments of their standup material. This week, Mark Watson coped well as a guest (he's a veteran of this format), Patrick Kielty had the confidence to soldier through any difficulties he encountered, and while Milton Jones sometimes struggled to recycle his material appropriately, he at least didn't just sit back and do nothing[***]. It helps that his stage persona is a spaced-out weirdo, so his weaker moments and slipups could be forgiven as part of his "act".

I'll leave you with a clip of Mock The Week's primary reason to watch, the excellent "Scenes We'd Like To See" round:

But what was your verdict? Did the show miss Frankie Boyle's contentious "gag grenades", or is the show better off without him?

21 January 2010
BBC2, 9pm

[*] Okay, admittedly Dennis is palatable on Radio 4's The Now Show, he puts in a good performance in Outnumbered, and he's good at the Scenes We'd Like To See round on MTW, but the '00s still largely consisted of him playing "Jed Cake" in Jack Dee's Happy Hour and a smug doctor in My Hero.

[**] Did you get his DVD for Christmas? Did you keep the receipt?

[***] In fact, similarly to fellow "oneliner comedian" Stewart Francis, he stole the standup round with his pithy jokes and wordplay.

NEWSWIPE 2.1 [Open Thread]

A welcome return of Charlie Brooker's Newswipe, which is essentially a more incisive and, well, necessary version of his Screenwipe series, intent on exposing the bullshit of global news gathering. This opener was all about the media's history of scaremongering to churn up material; from the '80s (nuclear war, AIDS, salmonella, acid house music) through the '90s (the flesh-eating virus, road rage, Y2K) to the present day (terrorism, of course.)

The show is basically a slap to the face for anyone who believes whatever the press tell us, without questioning motivations and taking note of biases. It's wrapped in the guise of a more acerbic Daily Show-style comedy, but it gets its message across far louder and clearer than John Stewart could ever dream. I was particularly struck by the segment about the outbreak of Ebola in Zaire; it killed 250 people and was given extensive coverage around the world because "killer viruses" were in vogue at the time, but when Zaire fell into a civil war that killed 3 million people just a few years later, that atrocity went shamefully ignored because it didn't fit any established "storylines" or feel like a threat to westerners.

I heartily recommend you tune into Newswipe, if you're not doing so already. I think international readers would also enjoy this eye-opening, polemical series -- particularly Americans, home of the execrable joke that is Fox news[*], so why not click here, here and here? Hurry, before those links are taken down.

But if you did see it, what was your verdict?


19 January 2010
BBC Four, 10.30pm

[*] Clips from which are regularly used to demonstrate the nadir of news broadcasting and so-called journalism.

8 Out Of 10 Cats, 9.2 [Open Thread]

After the high of last week's hilarious opener, I thought this episode was very flat overall. None of Sean Lock's flights-of-fancy left the ground, Jason Manford seemed to struggle for material, and the choice of guests wasn't very good. I'm not a fan of young standup Jack Whitehall, and while I find Josie Long strangely beguiling (it's her grinning, just-rolled-out-of-bed cuteness), she wasn't very funny here.

Peter Jones from Dragons' Den was subdued to begin with, but he warmed up in the second part -- and in doing so gave comedy ammo to the others about his millionaire lifestyle anecdotes. Fay Ripley wasn't a total loss because she got involved, but this episode was definitely slack and its content has already melted from my memory. You know it's a weak episode when a clip from the US version of Wife Swap (an irritating fat kid being denied junk food by his "swapped" mom) proved to be the highlight. See below:

What was your verdict?


15 January 2010
Channel 4, 10pm

QI, 7.8 – "Germany" [Open Thread]

The "G"-series topic this week was "Germany", with guests Jo Brand, Rob Brydon and Sean Lock joining regulars Alan Davies and "QImaster" Stephen Fry. As discussed last week, the juice of QI isn't as succulent as it once was, but you're always guaranteed some eyebrow-raising trivia and a few good moments of comedy banter. I'm frankly bemused Jo Brand still gets work (because she's like a comedy blackhole to me), and this episode wasn't helped by weaker than usual turns from Brydon and Lock.

Still, "Germany" was a topic that particularly interested me, as I used to live in Germany and once worked with a Germany lady living here in England, so cultural differences and Anglo-German relations is something I've discussed many times. It's certainly interesting subject matter for Brits, who have a strange relationship and perception of our European neighbours. In this edition of QI we learned that Germans don't care that England beat them in the 1966 World Cup, that they're unaware their countrymen have a reputation for rudely claiming sun loungers with beach towels while on holiday, and that they broadcast an old comedy sketch called "Dinner For One" every New Year's Eve (simulteneously, on every channel), which you can watch in its entirety below:

What was your verdict on this Germanic episode?

15 January 2010
BBC1, 8.30pm

Open Thread: 8 Out Of 10 Cats, 9.1

8 Out Of 10 Cats is rapidly becoming the best panel show around, isn't it? I think a big part of that is how everyone seems to genuinely enjoy the experience. Half the guests on Have I Got News For You? look scared out of their wits, or spend their time walking on eggshells, while Mock The Week has always been very competitive and male-dominated, with guests often left to flounder amidst the regulars...

There's just a more pleasant atmosphere on 8 Out Of 10 Cats nowadays, and I really respond to that. Team captains Jason Manford and Sean Lock openly laugh at each other's jokes, Jimmy Carr appears to have toned down his cattiness, and this episode's non-comedians (EastEnders' Charlie Clements, presenter Claudia Winkleman, popstar Jamelia) didn't embarass themselves.

In fact, it appears that producers everywhere have realized Jamelia's TV gold with her ill-informed opinions and, well, good-natured stupidity. Can you believe she home-schools her kids?! She was better value than Iranian comedienne Shappi Khorsandi in this first episode, too. Shappi fell into the trap of mostly sitting on the sidelines and smiling at everyone else's gags, unless that was just very unfortunate editing. Also, am I alone in finding Sean Lock absolutely hi-larious on this show? The strange thing is, I find Locke's standup rather dull and tedious.

What was your verdict?

Open Thread: QI, 7.7 - "Girls & Boys"

As part of its current "G" series, QI explored the sexes in a "Girls & Boys"-themed edition, by dividing the four players into male and female duos (Alan Davies and Jack Dee vs. Ronni Ancona and Sandi Toksvig.) We learned many things, not least the scientific reason for why QI itself features so few women, how pink used to be the traditional colour for boys, and how all babies were called "girls" pre-1920's...

I still enjoy QI, but I find it less enthralling than I used to. Maybe the format's just become too predictable, or the facts are less interesting for whatever reason. I'm not sure. It's still amusing and occasionally fascinating, but I'm no longer quite so keen on it. Overexposure thanks to endless repeats on Dave, perhaps? In this episode, I thought Jack Dee was extremely disappointing (he recycled the "male drivers asking for instructions" cliche!), but Ronni Ancona was better than usual. Sandi Toksvig, a very quick-witted person (as her own BBC Radio 4 "News Quiz" proves), is somehow rendered smug and irritating whenever she's on television, too.

What was your verdict?

Open threads, opening for business

There seems to be support for "open threads" amongst readers, which I mentioned in a recent post about blog improvements for 2010. I listen to suggestions, so I will trial this idea for awhile (with a mix of shows), to see if it has legs. If you're unsure what an open-thread is, read on:

Open threads are posts with little to no initial content, because the intention is for readers to use the comments area to discuss a topic amongst themselves. They're more commonly associated with online forums, but can be used on blogs if the readership "community" is active enough to sustain them...

Which means it's up to you now. Are there enough committed readers to make this idea fly? If any of the open threads prove unpopular, they'll come to a swift end. It's as simple as that. I don't want DMD to fill up with too many sparse posts containing no comments*, but I'd love to see active in-house discussion about TV shows sans a review to kick things off. Suggestions for open threads are welcome, too. I've heard QI, Skins and Supernatural mentioned.

At this point, I'm unsure if I should "open thread" for TV shows I don't watch (or at least have a mild interest in), because I'm worried the blog may feel "hijacked". It exists to reviews/comment on media I, personally, watch and enjoy, and I don't want to feel like a stranger in my own blog. So, we'll play that by ear...

Also; don't worry, the majority of content will always be reviews from yours truly, so these open threads won't become too ubiquitous, even if they prove very popular.


* I had enough of that reviewing Paradox.