the good and the bad of t.v. this week

Unless you were unaware, I don’t own a t.v. I watch dvds and online t.v. like BBC iPlayer etc. if I want to watch anything. This means that I’m never constrained by the t.v. schedules and I can pick and choose what to watch and not just watch something ‘because it’s on’.

On that note I have two pieces on t.v. news this week.

The Good

I have found a really, really funny new comedy show that I love. I say new, it was made in 2008/9 and had two series, but I have never heard about it until I found it randomly on channel 4’s online service 4od this week.

I was watching a new Peter Kay stand up, The Tour That Didn’t Tour, and when that was finished there was a list of suggested programmes for me, and this was one of them – ‘The Kevin Bishop Show’. You may have seen the titular person in The Muppets Treasure Island when he was a little nipper-let.

The format of the show is as if you are flicking round the channels trying to find something to watch, and as you are doing so you come across random programmes, adverts and film trailers. This is the type of show where I have to pause it for laughing so much.

The material is often rude and offensive, so it’s not for everyone, but it’s right up my street hehehe :P

Being a Yorkshire lass, I thought this was an appropriate example to ease people in. The UK version of American Pie ‘Steak and Kidney Pie’:

It’s on 4od if you’re in the UK, but luckily enough a lot of the shows are on YouTube in full yay!

Next we go to the other end of the spectrum...

The Bad

I had seen ‘Citizen Khan’ pop up on the featured section of BBC iPlayer and thought “pass”. However, it has received a hefty amount of complaints and I read an article about it saying it offended people and it was a totally unrealistic and offensive representation of Muslim people.

So I thought I’d give it a go. To see what the fuss is about. Um, yeah.

I’m not offended, I just think it’s crap! It relies on ridiculous stereotypes and outdated ways of getting a cheap laugh. A lot of the ‘jokes’ had me thinking, “Was that it? Was that the joke? Why was I supposed to laugh?”. It felt all together like a spoof show on something else.

They actually did a ‘using ginger as a racist term’ sketch. Pretty pathetic.

I used to love ‘Goodness Gracious Me’, which was an Asian comedy sketch show. I also liked ‘The Kumars at No. 42’. But those shows were good, they were funny, the jokes made sense.

I wish there was a forum to complain about t.v. not because you are offended by the content, but because you are offended by the quality of it! Please use the money and resources to make better shows! I’m glad I don’t pay a licence fee ;)