The Wire

I just finished watch Season 3 last night. I wrote a humongous post about it, and WordPress deleted it when I clicked “publish”. I’m still angry. Watch the clip below, it’s better than my original post anyway…

Review of the Year

Well this is the start of a long and arduous post covering the last 12 months in British TV. Twas a fine morn on the 1st January 2006 when I settled down to watch Superman 2: Electric Boogaloo and came upon Celebrity Big Brother promos… Oooo, I wonder if that lovable rogue Jade Goody will be in it this year I said to myself…

I have no business reviewing the year in Television when there is absolutely nothing I can add to Charlie Brookers commentary. Watch the Screenwipe recap of 2007 in three parts here, here aaaaand finally here. Even if you find him patronising and can’t stomach someone telling you about your own TV habits, settle down with a bovril and give it 28 minutes of your time… just this once.

Oh and check out the tribute to Ronnie Hazlehurst at the end of the show after the jump. The composer died earlier this year, if you grew up on British Telly in the 80’s, you know his work. This is the guy from Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace and The IT Crowd covering the theme tune to Ronnie Corbett’s Sorry. And if that last sentence was too much of a mouthful for you… thats what she said. Merry New Year everyone!

Screenwipe S04E03

This weeks Screenwipe had us in stitches, it truly is a show that I wish I had created, commisioned, written, starred in and shat on all at the same time. His rants included the BBC’s guidelines for closing credits, a craptastic show on BBC One that I imagine millions watch called Street Doctor and the highlights of Billie Piper’s new soft porn show on ITV2. But the best bit by far was a quick rundown of someone who wants a career in TV. Watch it and laugh/cry (delete as applicable) after the jump:-

Screenwipe

I guess I could call this my favourite thing on TV, because there is nothing I look forward to more at the moment. I only noticed once I had installed the BBC’s iPlayer, but apparently Charlie Brooker returned to BBC Four last week, and he came out swinging against Reality TV, Heroes and even his own channel towards the end. watch a clip (not the best moment of the show, just the only clip I could find) after the jump.

Charlie Brooker’s Screenwipe S03E04

I am a big fan of Screenwipe, have been ever since the first episode. Imagine my surprise when, over the end credits of the fourth episode, the announcer says that it was the last episode in the series, and Screenwipe will return later in the year. What is it with this country and it’s television practices. If it’s comedy, the writer can only write six a year. If it’s drama, the writer can only write two episodes, and they are essentially the same story chopped in two, and they have to air over consecutive nights. However If it is a soap continuing drama, writers can knock up between 250-300 episodes a year, without a break.

What I watched last night…

For someone who writes a blog about TV, I think you all would be shocked how little TV I actually watch. and by that I mean TV that involves me sitting down in front of the idiot box at a scheduled time and changing a channel to look for something to watch. I just don’t do it. I do shift work, so I tend to download what I like and watch it in my free time, which doesn’t often coincide with the 8pm-11pm that TV execs would like.

So imagine my surprise tonight, when I found not one, not two, but three programs to watch. I got home to catch Skins on E4+1, but then I noticed that my current favourite program Charlie Brooker’s Screenwipe started at the same time. Not having Sky+ in my room, I decided I could catch the last 20 mins of Skins some other time. It was worth it, Brooker was brilliant as usual, taking presenting classes and reviewing something or other, making me laugh.

After that, and still on Channel of the Year BBC4, I watched Soul Britannia, a celebration of Black Britain’s contribution to the soul movement. In fact, I’m watching it now. and posting. I know, I can multi-task. But I still put my trousers on one leg at a time people, one leg at a time.

Charlie Brooker’s Screenwipe

The man is a genius and I want to work with him. He thinks almost all the same things I think about TV, only he has a louder voice! If you are unfamiliar with Charlie Brooker, you may want to read some of his wok here. His latest article features a savaging of the latest season of 24. As much as I don’t agree that it’s quite that bad, it is clear that Jack is headed for Chuck Norris status far sooner than any of us would have thought. Anyway, back to Charlie Brooker.