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Comedy awards turn ITV into a joke

Posted by Remote Control on May 9, 2008 10:34 PM

Much gnashing of teeth in the press today over ITV's deceit towards viewers. You know the script by now. You thought you were ringing up to vote for something or to take part in a competition and either the votes weren't counted or they had already picked the person who was going to take part in the competition.

Personally, as a rule, I feel that if you're daft enough to think ITV really wanted to let you win £50,000 on one of its naff overnight quiz shows then you deserve to be taken for a ride. And as for voting on programmes, if it really meant so much to do, would you have left it to the last minute anyway?

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Nightwatch goes off the rails in Leeds

Posted by Remote Control on May 2, 2008 7:00 PM

I was about to blog about Jeremy Vine being made to wear a cowboy's outfit and wave a fake gun in the BBC News Channel studio on election night, but there are, in fact, more foul crimes being committed by journalists in the name of TV entertainment.

Step forward Steve Scott with his Nightwatch programme, which is either in a constant state of production or is, like Jeremy Kyle and Homes Under The Hammer, on constant repeat.

Nightwatch, for those new to this blog, is a) a programme I thoroughly enjoy taking the mickey out of but b) have only watched twice so far. Imagine one of those Jame Theakston-narrated tv-cameras-following-the-emergency-services-style programmes but without a) Jamie Theakston and b) any entertaining emergency services people.

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BBC News relaunch

Posted by Remote Control on April 27, 2008 10:01 PM

Much comment in the media this week about the £500,000 relaunch of BBC News - much of it based around two comments made on the BBC Editors' blog that the white screen with the fancy globe could give someone some sort of fit.

What I find remarkable isn't so much the fact that the BBC has relaunched its services, and promised better cross-platform working in a new-media newsroom, but the fact that the result has made it seem so cheap.

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How to make politics interesting? Give it the Rainbow treatment

Posted by Remote Control on April 27, 2008 5:51 PM

Perhaps it tells us something about the importance the internet now plays in local elections when Have I Got News For You turns to YouTube to find funny clips.

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Have I Got News For You lives on, My Family needs a quick death

Posted by Remote Control on April 26, 2008 2:56 PM

SAT in front of my computer last Saturday night, I was all set to muse about the possible need to knock Have I Got News For You on the head.

In theory, Jack Dee as as presenter, and the excellent Labour rebel Bob Marshall-Andrews as one of the guests should have made for an excellent edition - even more so the extended version aired on a Saturday night.

Wrong! Jack Dee didn't see interested, Bob Marshall-Andrews didn't seem to want to rebel, and not even the wit of Ian Hislop and instant humour of Paul Merton could get the programme going.

Was it, I thought at the end, time for the programme to move on? In hindsight, and with the benefit of Friday night's episode with Julian Clary, the obvious answer is no. Perhaps, in hindsight, the 40 minute version was just a little bit too windy.


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Message to Robert Peston: Stop gloating

Posted by Remote Control on April 18, 2008 6:31 PM

Just a gentle word to Robert Peston, the BBC's business editor.

You're very good at your job. It's excellent that you did so very well breaking a big news story in Northern Rock.

But do you really need an advert all of your own on News 24 announcing how great it was to break that story?

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Picks of the week

Posted by Remote Control on April 13, 2008 6:52 PM

For the first time in quite a while, I'm looking forward to several programmes on telly this week. One thing is for sure, the Sky+ will be rather busy ensuring the new arrivals this week are safely recorded for future viewing.

Here are my picks of the week:

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