|
5/12/05
I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here! (ITV1/2) As I’m typing this, there are only a few hours left before the current series of I’m A Celeb comes to an end. Good. Am I the only one sick of reality TV? Surely not. The producers of these programmes point to viewing figures of around 9million people to show their popularity. Thing is, they seem to forget the UK has about 60million people living in it. So that’s 51million people not watching. Yeah, that’s popular… One more point about viewing figures before I move on. On commercial channels especially, these viewing figures are what determines whether a programme is kept on, dropped to a ‘graveyard’ slot or dumped completely. And how are these figures calculated? By 1000 people across the country attaching a little black box to their TV which monitors what they watch. 1000 people determine whether a programme that’s had thousands or millions of pounds spent on it is viewed or not. It’s just wrong. (Knew I could get that in somewhere.) To the actual programme then. And to be fair I’ve never seen a whole episode. But to me, watching a group of people who have been paid to spend a few weeks in a jungle, complain about spending a few weeks in a jungle is not my idea of good telly. Nor is seeing someone eat live bugs. How we laughed a few years ago at the likes of ‘Tarrant On TV’ showing Japanese TV shows where the contestants had to eat insects to win prizes. “Oh how funny those Japanese are.” We said. “We’d never sink that low.” We said. Sigh. Ed (Channel 4 – Weekdays @ 12:30) On a (much) happier note we have ‘Ed’. Those of you who have seen ‘Scrubs’ will know Tom Cavanagh already; he plays JD’s brother. Here he is the star of the show as Ed, the bowling alley lawyer. Stay with me. I only caught it by chance a couple of years ago, but I was hooked. Now on its 4th, and last, series on Channel 4, the programme finished in America early 2004. Channel 4 being Channel 4, they last showed it about a year and a half ago, leaving the last few crucial episodes of series 3 unbroadcast. But now it’s back! Why am I raving about it? Because dear reader, it is perhaps the finest example of a comedy/drama I’ve ever seen. No other programme has made me go from laughing out loud (something very few do anyway) to feeling so sad at the latest twist to the Carol and Ed saga. (Bit of back-story, Ed moved to Stuckeyville to be close to his childhood sweetheart Carol. Then spent 3 years pursuing her, her turning him down, her pursuing him, him turning her down, before they finally saw sense and got together.) Forget about ‘Cold Feet’ and ‘Sex And The City’ (which was utter tripe anyway), ‘Ed’ is unmissable TV. Watch it! Go now! Well, when it's on anyway... |
|
|