tellyjelly

This Week on T.V. - 25th April 2008

The Diets That Time Forgot reached its climax this week in the final (sixth) episode. It managed to be quite moving despite the ongoing pantomime of the participants dressing according to the era of their designated diet. Sir Roy Strong came out unscathed, despite it being a dead cert that he would be by week two for his services to patronising. The favourite clips of the series have to be when Dave was chased by a ram, when Dave ran a 7 minute mile, and when Dave tried to resist temptation.

Eastenders was pleasant and warm for five minutes on Thursday (24th April) when Heather and Minty were finally married. I suppose it wouldn't have been the same programme if our emotions hadn't been mangled for the rest of the time and it looks like this will continue with the prospect of Gus becoming Sean's gimp. Poor Gus. If only Sean could have chosen someone who deserved it, such as Bianca or Ricky.

The viewing public had at least some form of justice in The Apprentice when Lindi got the boot, but even this was a bit of a disappointment as Jen the self-styled Ice Queen should have been made accountable for her exclusive idea. Prediction for the winner - possibly Raef's hair still with Lucinda's beret coming a close second.

The Good, the Bad and Ugly

The Good

• Roy Cropper and Sir Roy Strong.
• Fizz's new hairstyle.
• The brief return of Foyle's War.

The Bad and Ugly

• Rosemary and Thyme - apologies to the fan out there.
• Roxie's impending battle with drugs (yawn).
• Coronation Street and Emmerdale still not on the Sunday night schedule.

Separated at Birth

 Thanks to Rich W. we have Alex McLeish, manager of Birmingham City, and Paul Hudson (Look North weatherman): 

                                     Spot the difference

.

Separated at Birth

This is a good one courtesy of Judy E. and Tony C., but you have to look veerry closely:

This Week on T.V. - 18th April 2008

The new format of Come Dine With Me must be a disappointment for all the day-time fans. Squashing four guests into a one hour slot, instead of five over five half-hourly segments, just doesn't work as well. We don't have enough time to see the full madness of each contestant and more focus is placed on the food. The food was never as interesting as the idiosyncracies of the host/hostess and was always incidental to the bitching and restrained well-mannered cat fights that we have come to love. I'm also worried that this will herald the end of More 4's Sunday afternoon fest.

The Apprentice gave us a shocker of sorts this week as good egg Simon was booted out in favour of Claire and Alex. It is difficult to understand why anybody with morals would go on the show, though, and the inability to be a traitor is a definite weakness here.

Unlike the audience of You're Fired, this week's fall guy says he agrees with the decision and has gone on to compare himself with David Brent. Such self-reflection shows that perhaps he isn't suited to this world after all, as you need the ego the size of a barrage balloon - to match the boss's -to be the right man for the job.

Eastenders seemed to get more surreal as the week went on and Stephen's decision to become gay is as likely as Sean becoming canonised. The fake dog eating scene and the aftermath, where the nephew of Rusty Lee (who would have thought?), went on to vomit on Dawn was one of the few highlights. Bianca is as irritating and more unlikeable than ever; the same goes for Ricky but add gormless to the list; and the quest for Barmaid of the Year was almost as drawn out as the Heather and Minty wedding.

This Week on T.V. - 11th April 2008

Enter your search terms

Submit search form

Sadly, it was the final episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm on Monday night. This has been one of the best programmes on at the moment, but it has suffered the same fate as Seinfeld with the inconsistent scheduling (to celebrate the war in Iraq this time) and relegation to a smaller sister channel. There is always a feel-good factor with both shows as idiot savants Larry and George take selfishness to the extreme and relieve the viewers of their guilt. Because of this, they should be made compulsory viewing to those with an over-exaggerated guilt complex. Watch Larry and let go of the worries - nobody's that bad after all.

This week, Larry's tickly anus caused a problem as did the rumour about a gerbil.The usual convoluted plots were used and the final dream of becoming a member of the Black family could give him the lifestyle he has been missing. Looking back over the series, it has been filled with even more unlikely incidents and coincidences than previous ones and Steve Coogan's turn as an incompetent counsellor turned mugger last week was a fortunate surprise.

Coronation Street continues to be annoying and interesting. David's rampage was good viewing if we suspended any belief or disbelief of nobody being able to stop him (he should have had a gun) and how come Rita was surpised when told about the Barlow's window being broken? Apart from these minor but irritating quibbles, the talk between Audrey and Gail still managed to be moving even though this has been re-worked countless times. This could be a reminder to younger viewers about Gail's fatherless childhood, if they haven't heard it before; it could also be a way in for the scriptwriters to introduce her never seen father in the weeks to come.

This Week on T.V. - 4th April 2008

So, the second week of The Apprentice brings a new anti-hero in Jenny. Her bullying tactics have been admired and condoned. As we are constantly being reminded, this is the cut-throat world of business where weaknesses in the opponent have to be found. As with other reality shows, the decision to keep her in makes us to remember that we do have a code of morality and that involves something terrible happening to the bad guy or girl. I suppose this gives the show that extra bit of complexity for us as finding someone to favour is as likely as finding rocking-horse shit.

BBC4's Curse of Comedy starred Hughie Green this week. Despite him not fitting into the category of comic, this was of interest with Trevor Eve taking the lead role. For those unfortunate enough to have endured Opportunity Knocks, and Stars on Sunday with Jess Yates, this should have been quite enjoyable as the grubbiness of the two men was aired. Green is most memorable for meaning that most sincerely, folks (and for fathering Paula Yates), but this never did seem possible.