Is Joel McHale ripping off Adam Buxton now?

Look, I really like Joel McHale. He's great on Community and he seems like a really nice guy, but it's just been announced he's producing a new E! pilot called COMMENTS SECTION. The show will find comedian Michael Kosta taking a sardonic look at the 'bottom half of the internet', where cretinous people leave dumb comments. (No offence to the wonderful commenters of DMD, who are the clear exception to the rule). I'm talking more about YouTube commenters and the like. But does anyone else think that sounds worryingly close to a remake of Adam Buxton's live stage-show (and subsequent Sky Atlantic series) BUG? Hmmm.

Did THE SINGER TAKES IT ALL find its voice in week two?

Last week's premiere of THE SINGER TAKES IT ALL was mired by an embarrassing failure of its app, which meant the first three singers were actually being voted on by 100 back-stage helpers as a contingency plan. Hardly a promising start, although I quite enjoyed how this show wasn't taking itself seriously and is offering audiences something new with instant interactivity. (Well, when it works.) Britons seem to like the whole idea, too. Channel 4 were quick to reveal that 142,000 votes were cast during last week's debut (14.3% of the hour's available audience across all channels). More than 3,500 video auditions have also been uploaded to the app, mostly after the first episode was broadcast.

ITV spent £1 million on X FACTOR trailer, but only uploaded it in 480P

Things are about to get loud.

THE X FACTOR is returning on 30 August, with Simon Cowell back as head judge, joined by returning pop star Cheryl Cole Fernandez Versini, new judge Mel B, and old hand Louis Walsh. ITV spent £1 million on this Game of Thrones-inspired trailer for the new series (where each judge is the general of their own bellicose army, unleashing hell), but for some reason they only uploaded it to YouTube as a 480P stream. What a bum note.

MSN TV: Channel 4's THE JUMP

Over at MSN TV today: I reviewed the first instalment of Channel 4's new celebrity reality show THE JUMP, where 12 celebrities compete in a variety of winter sport disciplines...

Timed to capture the spirit of this year's Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, Channel 4 has essentially remade 2003's The Games with a larger budget and more potential for serious injury. Indeed, during training in Innsbruck, Austria, two celebrities have already dropped out: US actor Sam Jones (who played Flash Gordon) over a shoulder injury, and Tara Palmer-Tomkinson – who decided the show wasn’t for her after all. Maybe the perceived pressure of being hot favourite (as daughter of an Olympic skier) was too much. Despite those unfortunate losses (if only for the certainty of hearing Queen's Flash Gordon theme during Jones's events), The Jump still has a decent line-up. This is perhaps indicative of a show offering a genuine challenge and chance to learn new skills, unlike Big Brother and I'm A Celebrity.

Continue reading at MSN TV...

MSN TV: Channel 4's THE TASTE

Over at MSN TV today: I've reviewed THE TASTE; the British remake of the US cooking competition with judges/mentors Nigella Lawson, Anthony Bourdain and Ludo Lefebvre. Is it a dish to die for, or will it just give you indigestion?

Inspired by Fox's The Voice (where singers aren't seen during their first audition), last year ABC launched a cookery series with a similar gimmick. In the first round, judges sample anonymous spoonfuls cooked by contestants hoping to join their cooking team. It wasn't a seductive dish for Americans, as The Taste's ratings from a premiere high of 5.82 million viewers to a finale seen by just 3.36m, but maybe Brits will be more receptive? After all, the UK's a global hub when it comes to celebrity chefs and cooking formats—having already exported Gordon Ramsay, Hell's Kitchen, Jamie Oliver, MasterChef, and the Great British Bake Off around the world.

Continue reading at MSN TV...

* Please note that my star-rating was actually ★★ (out of five). Oh, politics.

MSN TV: ITV's STEPPING OUT

Over at MSN TV today: I've reviewed the premiere of ITV's new five-week dancing competition STEPPING OUT, where six celebrities perform a variety of dances with their real-life partners. Hosted by Davina McCall with judges Mel B, Wayne Sleep & Jason Gardiner.

As if to fill the Strictly Come Dancing-shaped gap before its return later this month, new ITV series Stepping Out's been pushed on to the dance floor for a brief five-week run. It feels like ITV is hedging its bet by testing audience reception first in order to save money in case it's an embarrassing flop. It's interesting comparing Stepping Out and Strictly Come Dancing; clearly the creators think the BBC show has flaws and/or areas for improvement, hence this vehicle.

Continue reading at MSN TV...

MSN TV: ITV's YOUR FACE SOUNDS FAMILIAR - Week One

Over at MSN TV today: I've reviewed ITV's new entertainment reality show YOUR FACE SOUNDS FAMILIAR, where six celebrities impersonate famous pop acts.

Britain's Got Talent and Saturday Night Takeaway have finished for the year, and X Factor is still a few weeks away, so ITV have bought the format to a Spanish show that essentially just adds an element of random choice to a Stars in their Eyes celebrity special. Wouldn't it make more sense to just revive Stars in Their Eyes and tinker with the format?

Continue reading at MSN TV...

BRITAIN'S GOT TALENT 2013 finale

It was the Britain's Got Talent final last night on ITV, which was somewhat overshadowed by a bizarre act of sabotage from 30-year-old orchestra member Natalie Holt (also of musical group Raven Quartet, who didn't make it through BGT last year). The violinist invaded the performance of Richard and Adam's opera singing, to throw eggs at Simon Cowell while smiling happily, before being escorted off-stage by security. The hilarious/outrageous moment can be seen in the embedded video above. The incident occurs at 1:45.

MSN TV: BBC1's THE APPRENTICE (series 9) and Sky Living's HANNIBAL

Today over at MSN TV: I've reviewed the series 9 premiere of BBC1's business reality show THE APPRENTICE; then cast my eye over Sky Living's US crime drama HANNIBAL, which brings Hannibal 'The Cannibal' Lecter to the small-screen. (The latter review is an abridged version of my original review when the show made its US debut.)

I was a dyed-in-the-wool fan of The Apprentice for years, but I must confess I gave up on it last year. Its durable format suddenly felt worn; with similar "personalities" among the entrepreneurs and tasks that didn't feel fresh or interesting. It's been recycling its various tics and tropes for ages, but the producers usually find ways to make you either forgive or forget this repetitiveness.

Continue reading 'The Apprentice' at MSN TV...

Hannibal Rising, the atrocious 2007 prequel, appeared to kill off everyone's favourite anti-hero. However, the franchise has found an unlikely champion in Bryan Fuller - a writer best-known over here for quirky flop Pushing Daisies and now the man behind Hannibal, one of the most anticipated Sky Living acquisitions.

Continue reading 'Hannibal' at MSN TV...

MSN TV: ITV's BRITAIN'S GOT TALENT

Over at MSN TV today: I've reviewed the return of ITV's BRITAIN'S GOT TALENT, which is going up against BBC1's The Voice in a Saturday night light entertainment battle...

In a crowded marketplace of reality competitions, Britain's Got Talent finds itself at the top of the pile ever since the X Factor started floundering. It helps that it's chiefly designed to be fun and entertaining for viewers. It has a less pervasive feeling of audience manipulation, or Simon Cowell making decisions based on who will line his pockets the quickest. Maybe the show is just better at hiding the business side of itself, but there is a much nicer vibe to proceedings. This premiere didn't even verbally eviscerate the no-hopers who turned up to the Birmingham auditions. I'm also glad the judging panel hasn't changed because the mix was almost perfect last year.

Continue reading at MSN TV...

MSN TV: BBC1's THE VOICE (series 2); BBC2's LIFE'S TOO SHORT special; Channel 4's LABYRINTH

Today over at MSN TV: there's an apt trinity of reviews for Easter, as I cover the series 2 premiere of THE VOICE on BBC1; cast an eye over the hour-long return of spoof documentary LIFE'S TOO SHORT; and assess the first part of Channel 4's fantasy adaptation LABYRINTH.

The Voice is the Netherlands television format phenomenon, once tipped to usurp X Factor as the UK's premiere reality talent show. However, while the BBC1 series premiered to critical acclaim and a ratings bonanza last year, audiences fell away once its signature Blind Auditions ended and The Voice UK's live shows could only offer tweaks on the illustrious X Factor formula. This didn't stop The Voice UK becoming the BBC's most successful entertainment series launch for a decade (with a consolidated average of 9.2 million viewers), but it was clearly a show with kinks to iron out.

Continue reading 'The Voice' at MSN TV...

I didn't particularly like Life's Too Short when it aired in late 2011, so I didn't expect to enjoy this special episode (potentially) concluding the show. However, against expectations, this Easter special was one of Life's Too Short's better episodes and provided enough laughs and fun to please most viewers. It hasn't made me reconsider the weak and dawdling first series in hindsight, but it felt like an improved pilot that fixed a few problems.

Continue reading 'Life's too Short' at MSN TV...

Labyrinth splits its story between two time periods. In the present day, ostensible heroine Dr Alice Tanner (Vanessa Kirby) is helping with an archaeological dig at the Pit De Soularac in France. Inside a cave, Alice discovers two skeletons and a strange ring engraved with a labyrinth symbol, before experiencing a frighteningly vivid hallucination of being stabbed in the abdomen. She leaves the cave to witness a mound of bodies being burned by 13th-century knights.

Continue reading 'Labyrinth' at MSN TV...

David Brent does Comic Relief

The highlight of last night's Red Nose Day telethon was undoubtedly Ricky Gervais reprising his breakthrough role as The Office's David Brent, for a ten-minute sketch revealing what the character's been doing over the 10 years he's been off-screen (ignoring a few cameos in the US Office). The sketch itself was perhaps a bit underwhelming, as it started to bore me after a few minutes, but it was nevertheless fun to see Brent again. I was pleased to see Gervais can still play the character, because after an extended break there's often a danger of a performer copying everyone else's impression. So even if the actual sketch wasn't laugh-out-loud stuff, it felt like a fair catchup with one of my favourite sitcom characters.

ARGUMENTELLY: Red Nose Day

Welcome to a new recurring feature called ARGUMENTELLY. It's a portmanteau of "argument" and "telly", geddit? The concept is simple: each edition showcases an argument for and against something relating to television. I will invite guest bloggers to write one side of any chosen argument, but the longevity of this feature depends on the level of response and quality of submissions.

Having read each opinion on a topic, you can then vote for the one you most agree with. The results will be made available in an embedded poll, which will close after six days to decide the winner. I also encourage continued debate in the comments area below each article, but please keep it civilised.

So, without further ado, here's journalist Iain Hepburn blowing a big raspberry in the general direction of Comic Relief:

MSN TV: ITV's FOOD GLORIOUS FOOD & LIGHTFIELDS

Today over at MSN: a double-bill of reviews from last night on ITV; the Simon Cowell-produced cookery series FOOD GLORIOUS FOOD and supernatural drama LIGHTFIELDS.

Simon Cowell's production company is behind Food Glorious Food, which explains why it feels very much like X Factor for amateur chefs. The pacing and editing evoked memories of X Factor audition episodes, but instead of self-deluded, tone-deaf fools murdering I Believe I Can Fly, viewers were treated to dotty women crushing cabbages with their bare feet. Presented by Countdown's Carol Vorderman (who's only counting the money these days), Food Glorious Food kicked off in the pretty spa town of Malvern in Worcestershire. It was obvious from the start that the show intends to play on an audience's sense of cultural idealism.

Continue reading 'Food Glorious Food' at MSN TV...

The most interesting thing about Marchlands was how it was a rare thing in television; a UK remake of a US pilot that didn't go to series. The concept is definitely suited to the British drama model, which means the story doesn't outstay its welcome across five episodes, and yet the show can return as different incarnations. The triptych of tales woven together for Lightfields takes place in 1944, 1975 and 2012.

Continue reading 'Lightfields' at MSN TV...

MSN TV: ITV's SPLASH! - Final

Over on MSN today: I review the final of ITV's celebrity diving series SPLASH!, having missed the semi-final the week before. (Don't worry, it still made perfect nonsense to me.) I'm so relieved this Saturday night water torture's over...

You have to give Splash! credit for maintaining an audience of over five million viewers, although it's perhaps less of a statement on the show's quality and more the lack of family-friendly entertainment in general. In the wake of the BBC axing Total Wipeout and Harry Hill's TV Burp ending, Splash! is the only Saturday night show you can plonk an eight-year-old and 80-year-old in front of without anxiety. That's not quite true of crude dating gameshow Take Me Out, let's be frank.

Continue reading at MSN TV...

MSN TV: ITV1's SPLASH! Week Three

Over at MSN today: there's still an appetite for SPLASH! reviews, so I've obliged with some thoughts on the surprisingly popular ITV show's third heat...

Last week, Tom Daley's Splash! unquestionably improved from its horrendous opening episode; this week maintained that same quality. The trouble now is that the format and timetable of each 90-minute episode has taken firm root, so the show as a whole is starting to go stale. At least when it was outright bad, you didn't know where things were going. But now Splash! just floats along and we know it's heading for a pointless finale in a fortnight's time.

Continue reading at MSN TV...

MSN TV: ITV1's SPLASH! Week Two

Today over at MSN: owing to the astonishing popularity of my SPLASH! review last weekend, MSN invited me back to critique the second week's episode. It was an offer I couldn't refuse, naturally...

ITV's light entertainment spectacle Splash! launched to a tidal wave of animosity last weekend, most notably on Twitter. I was part of the baying crowd, but also aware that (generally) viewers don't enjoy "hating" something unless it's entertaining them on some inexplicable level. The idea of a competitive celebrity diving show isn't necessarily a bad one; it just depends on how well it's executed. I was pleased to see an improvement in week two of Splash!, although there are still many problems that prevent it being anything other than a harmless travesty.

Continue reading at MSN TV...

MSN TV: ITV1's SPLASH!

Over on MSN today: I review the premiere of ITV1's celebrity diving show SPLASH!, which is their new light entertainment hope for Saturday nights. As I can't resist puns, do you think it sank or swam?

I can understand the thinking behind Splash! getting commissioned by ITV; in the wake of the sport's increased popularity thanks to Tom Daley's sex symbol status, the desire to extend the nation's athletic positivity post-Olympics (also a reason the BBC revived Superstars, also with Gabby Logan), and a format that doesn't taking itself seriously. The latter point is worth further thought, seeing as the show felt as throwaway and knowingly pointless as the BBC's Let's Dance for Comic Relief (which likewise has celebs doing something out of their comfort zone and receiving tongue-in-cheek analysis). The difference is that Let's Dance has the excuse of existing for charitable reasons, whereas ITV assumedly believe Splash! has potential to be an honest success. Bombing isn't allowed on the show, but tell that to the ratings.

Continue reading at MSN TV...

THE VOICE UK is getting hoarse

It began impressively enough, with over 10 million people tuning into the "blind auditions" stages of BBC1's singing contest The Voice. The UK version of the Dutch global hit was even beating Simon Cowell's juggernaut Britain's Got Talent when the two shows overlapped (although that's understandable when you factor in the BBC's lack of adverts, and people's tendency to record ITV shows to fast-forward through commercials). But still, whichever way you cut it, The Voice was a huge hit for the BBC and the mammoth ratings justified the £22 million they spent acquiring it. But now, chest-deep into the series, way past the "blind auditions" phase (with its signature revolving chairs) and the ludicrous "battle rounds", The Voice has lost half its audience and is hovering around the 5-6m mark.

So what's gone wrong?

Unfortunately, this is a question with many simple answers. Take away the revolving chairs and the inherent "will-they/won't-they-turn?" drama to choose contestants, and The Voice is just a limp version of X Factor. There's nothing to make it stand above Cowell's durable series, as even the standard of performances has dropped. It's curious how so many people, who sounded superb in their blind audition, are now exposed as just above-average club singers. Well, with a few exceptions (i.e. the handful of people most viewers are waiting to get to the bloody final already).

The Voice went to great pains to separate itself from the "manipulative" and "fake" X Factor—by refusing to showcase "bad singers" in auditions because that's often exploiting the mentally-challenged (a laudable principle), or to take "novelty acts" through to the latter stages (who are only really there to be laughed at). But it feels like many viewers miss the entertainment-value those elements provided reality singing contests. The Voice, by its very nature, couldn't allow a Wagner of a Jedward onto the stage at any point, but that means the bulk of its contestants are dull and every weekend's a parade of boring competence.

There are other problems, too:

The coaches

Will.i.am, Jessie J, Tom Jones and Danny O'Donoghue (who are seated too far apart, limiting banter) look fine on paper, but the format of the show's neutered them in too many ways. Most obviously, it's hurt the show that every coach who spun their chair round instantly bestows a "blessing" on those lucky contestants. Coaches would now look stupid if they started back-tracking and saying a singer isn't really that great, especially as it could be constructed that the negativity's coming from the fact they've SEEN what they look like now.

So it's rare that a coach will tell the truth and slate a bad performance every weekend; instead choosing to talk gobbledygook with the occasional reference to things being "too pitchy". Pitchy has become code for "terrible".

Only the coaches who didn't spin their chair for Singer X or Singer Y can actually speak their minds freely. And, of course, just like X Factor, coaches who are mentoring singers are even more unlikely to criticise their own acts. The show would work a lot better if the judges were unbiased, as they used to be back in the days of Pop Idol, but X Factor's own tweaks to that format have somehow become ingrained in the format of these shows.

And are the coaches really that good in practise? The Black Eyed Peas' Will.i.am was something of a coup to get on this show, but I'm not a fan of his jabbering attempts to be funny. That said, he's at least the most likely person to speak the truth when someone's bad, so that gives him some brownie points. Jessie J's been good because she comes across as nice and genuine, although behind-the-scenes report of diva behaviour has damaged her image somewhat (even if they're untrue), and you don't always care what she says. Tom Jones gets credit for being the most hands-on with his singers (although I daresay his diary's emptier than the others), but whenever he talks on the show he's in danger of putting people to sleep. Danny O'Donoghue gets a lot of flack for being relatively unknown (although it's surprising how many The Script songs you do actually know), but he's at least enthusiastic about everything. The only problem with him is how, during the blind auditions rounds, he usually refused to push his button until someone else did. The last person you want on this show is someone who can't make up their own mind!

The staging

The production itself also leaves much to be desired. X Factor is a studio-based show, too, but it doesn't really resemble one. In contrast, The Voice looks small, quaint and "shiny floor". There's nothing impressive to look at, or any pomp and ceremony to proceedings. It's just a TV show. The studio atmosphere is absent, so nothing translates to the viewers watching at home. The Sunday night results show is also pre-recorded on Saturday to save productions costs of re-staging everything (which I understand), but that kills a lot of the appeal for those at home. Jessie J even spoiled The Voice's most recent results show by tweeting a photo of her two finalists before the result had been broadcast! Oops. The BBC clearly thought a pre-record would be fine, because it actually works for Strictly Come Dancing, but they need to rethink that for series 2.

The amateurism

It's also worth mentioning the embarrassment of Saturday night's show, when a live performance was stopped by Jessie J because her microphone failed. This left presenter Holly Willoughby filling for time while the sound problem was fixed. I know it's live TV and anything can happen, which is what's so great about it, but how many times has this occurred on X Factor in seven years? Never. The Voice just can't help feeling rather amateurish as a result.

More irritations

Finally, there's just lots of irritations flying around that soon stack up: like the pointlessness of co-presenter Reggie Yates, trying to make the backstage "V Room" appear more exciting than it really is, while giving us useless updates on what Twitter's saying (only tweets that are on-message, of course); the fact will.i.am thinks tweeting during someone's performance is acceptable behaviour; the anonymity of the studio audience, shrouded in darkness; the lackluster staging and choreography of most performances, which seriously lacks any wow-factor; the horrible theme tune; the use of sob stories, which X Factor wisely cut back on because the public got fed up with them; and, in general, The Voice just feels like a TV show that pre-dates X Factor, like a this relic from 2002 the BBC have only just decided to air. Beyond the spinning chairs, nothing about it feels new and interesting.

Talent overkill

Also, while American audiences can evidently cope with a year-round parade of singing contests (American Idol, The Voice, X Factor), I don't think UK audiences like being bombarded with things that are too similar. We embrace variety. That's why the X Factor and Strictly Come Dancing rivalry works well in autumn to winter, because the shows gives Britons options: celebrity or wannabes, singing or dancing? The Voice isn't clashing with X Factor, but we already spend half the year watching a TV show crown a popstar, who only really has a 50/50 chance of amounting to anything. Do we really need another one from spring to summer? Does anyone really feel that The Voice's winner is going to be held in as much esteem as X Factor winners are, seeing as even X Factor winners are forgotten about by February nowadays?

The future

Can The Voice be salvaged for series 2? Perhaps. Even in the US, they've decided to continue the revolving chairs idea into the "battle rounds" (although I have no idea how THAT will work, as they've presumably spun round in the "blind auditions" round). The BBC definitely need to encourage the coaches to be more plain-spoken (which they admittedly were last weekend), overhaul the staging, ditch the pointless V Room, lose the superfluous Reggie Yates, and perhaps look at some of the rules of the show for ways to improve them. 40 singers are too many for an audience to get involved with, to begin with, so it needs to get whittled down much quicker, for instance.

Anyway, those are just some brief thoughts which have been buzzing around my head and are hard to communicate in 140-characters on Twitter when I occasionally "live-tweet" the show on a Saturday. I say "live-tweet", but I really mean "take the piss". I just wish I was taking the mickey because it's enjoyable and fun to enter into a good-naturedly mocking spirit, and not because The Voice UK genuinely irks me now.

At least Holly Willoughby's wardrobe people are on the ball, to finish on a positive.

Review: THE VOICE vs BRITAIN'S GOT TALENT; the battle for Saturday night begins!

A tyrannical television battle played out on British televisions last night, as the BBC unveiled their long-awaited version of global smash The Voice, and ITV began yet another series of Britain's Got Talent.

Both had reason to draw a huge amount of interest. The Voice was developed off the back of the success the US version had last summer (where ratings bested what X Factor USA achieved in the autumn), and has freshness on its side because it's a brand new show. There are judges (nay coaches) we haven't met yet, too, in the impressive line-up of Will.i.am, Jessie J (the Elvira of pop), Tom Jones (or was that his whitened ghost?) and Danny O'Donoghue from The Script. But, more importantly, it has a signature gimmick that does away with the X Factor's nastier side...

Auditions are done with the coaches blind to who's performing, as their chairs are turned away from the stage. So "it's all about the voice", as the slogan says. This means there should be fewer people getting through on physical attractiveness alone. It also means there's practically no chance of X Factor-style "novelties" like Jedward or Wagner getting beyond a first appearance, especially as the BBC are against allowing "crazies" onto the show, because they've chosen to avoid auditioning the kind of person you'd avoid eye contact with on public transport.

I applaud The Voice for its noble intentions; which is get the TV talent show back to basics, because almost a decade of X Factor has eroded the genre into a freakshow/karaoke hybrid. Naturally, X Factor is still able to find major world stars (this is the week where third-place One Direction had a No1 album in the US), but overall the X Factor has become a place for viewers to point and laugh at deranged people. Or, failing that, the place where most of its own publicity is fuelled by real/manufactured arguments amongst the judges. There was a time last year where the UK was more interested in Kelly Rowland and Tulisa's off-screen tiff than any of the actual contestants on the show; while the antics of Frankie Cocozza off-stage (snorting drugs, bedding girls) overshadowed whatever song he was attempting to sing every week.

The Voice doesn't seem to have any patience for that kind of tabloid-courting nonsense. There was a more pleasing, upbeat vibe to it. The coaches get along and had good-natured banter, rather than petty squabbles. Only occasionally did their ego's overshadow the contestants; most notably when Tom Jones couldn't resist a suspicious Elvis anecdote (he didn't have a guitar in the house?) and Will.i.am tried to trump it with a Michael Jackson story. It also helps that the coaches on The Voice are talented performers themselves. They even sang together as a "super-group" to kick-off the show, although it's debatable if this unlikely collaboration worked. Still, individually, you can't argue with their credentials and success. Compare them to X Factor's judges; where Louie Walsh is a laughing stock clutching to his '90s heyday managing Boyzone; Kelly Rowland's career crumbled the moment former-bandmate Beyonce went solo; and N-Dubz's Tulisa was largely unknown to the public, and has only just started a solo career amidst a sex tape scandal.

Only, here's the thing: as much as I admire The Voice and all it stands for, it didn't equal an enthralling hour of TV. I came to the sudden realisation that, truthfully, I just don't care about the TV magic of discovering a singer. Or, to put it another way, of helping to sire a multi-millionaire popstar by phone-voting and perhaps buying their music in the summer. I really don't. I found myself hoping for an odd person to audition for a giggle, as much as it pains me to admit that. Maybe The Voice has arrived too late on British shores, because our early-'00s desire to "watch an everyday person become a popstar" has given way to "laughing at hopeless nobodies with dreams bigger than their ability". I don't like myself for this, but I just didn't feel compelled to watch more of The Voice... especially as its chair-spinning difference to X Factor will vanish after a month on-air, with the show becoming more of a traditional watching-singers-sing-every-weekend show.

THE VOICE, BBC1, Saturdays, 7PM.

Overlapping The Voice by 20-minutes (don't you love petty TV schedulers?) was Britain's Got Talent. This show's been running for five years on ITV, and the tried-and-trusted format remains the same. It's basically a condensed version of X Factor, with a variety of people demonstrating a wider range of skills, and buzzers replacing the silly mentoring concept. The big news for 2012 is that Simon Cowell's back to judge, in an attempt to reverse the show's ratings decline last year (while he was prepping X Factor's US debut), and there are two new judges joining him and Amanda Holden on the panel. These are David Walliams (filling the "comedian slot" vacated by Michael McIntyre) and Alesha Dixon (controversially poached from X Factor rival Strictly Come Dancing to replace David Hasselhoff). Neither made much of an impression in this premiere, however. Walliams made some of his obligatory, predictable, sexually-ambiguous jokes in Cowell's direction, while the beautiful Alesha sat around perfecting muted "wow" and "WTF" expressions.

But the key thing is that BGT was more entertaining than The Voice. Its cold open alone, featuring presenters Ant n' Dec with a flashmob dancing around London, was funnier than the entire 80-minutes of The Voice—which seemed to take itself much too seriously for a Saturday night show. Naturally, the variety of people/skills on BGT was much higher, as the format allows you to both laugh at idiots, marvel at oddly-entertaining folk (like two gay ballroom dancers), and celebrate unexpected sources of genuine talent (like the stout young man with self-esteem issues who sang like Pavarotti).

In comparison, The Voice offered a monotonous stream of competent singers, and it was sometimes difficult to understand what was making the coaches decide to turn around in the first place. Sometimes it even felt like peer pressure! I mean, those they didn't turn for weren't bad singers, per se, and those they did turn for were hardly the nascent superstars the overly-optimistic coaches claimed they were. Also, with each successful performer getting to choose which of the coaches to ally themselves with, I'm still unsure why anyone would choose Tom Jones or Danny O'Donoghue over Will.i.am and Jessie J!

Which show pleased you the most? Was The Voice a refreshing return to the traditions and values of talent shows pre-Cowell, or a tedious bore with honorable intentions? Did Britain's Got Talent weave its magic once again, boosted by the return of Cowell himself, or is the magic fading? Or did neither take your fancy, because you were doing other things?

BRITAIN'S GOT TALENT, ITV1, Saturdays, 8PM.

My Random Tweets:

Jessie J. I have a lot of respect for a woman who chooses to wear funky ironing board covers. #TheVoiceUK

Audience members: spoil everything by bringing mirrors to the studio recordings. #TheVoiceUK

Can't wait for #XFactor's response to #TheVoiceUK's super-group moment. Cowell on guitar? Louis on bongo drums?

So, basically, #TheVoiceUK is the perfect RADIO concept.

So far, coaches turn around if (a) you sing a song of theirs, or (b) a coach thinks you sound like THEM. #TheVoiceUK

The last time a chair spun round like this on British TV it contained Patrick McGoohan in a monkey mask. #TheVoiceUK #Prisoner

Forget the chairs, this show needs trapdoors. #TheVoiceUK

I thought Tom Jones had fallen asleep in his chair for a second. Guy's old. #TheVoiceUK

Why are Holly and Reggie even here? Less screen presence than Steve Jones on #XFactorUSA! Oh dear #TheVoiceUK.

I think I took #TheVoiceUK's concept too seriously. I spent most of the show sat on my sofa, facing the other direction.

Unless there's a hairy man running in slow motion, or a stripper, what is Carmen Electra doing on #BGT?

Simon Cowell makes most of his decisions with his dick. How else do you explain BAYWATCH's Carmen Electra as a guest-judge of talent?! #BGT

The look on Alesha Dixon's face, knowing she had to judge some ballroom dancing without first sneaking a glance at Len Goodman's notes! #BGT

Still boggles my mind that Amanda Holden's on #BGT, judging talent. She must have been Cowell's '90s crush. Sinitta, 80s; Cheryl Cole 00s.

Follow me on Twitter @danowen79.