This week we review Lookwell (Pilot) Lookwell was a television pilot written and produced by Conan O'Brien and Robert Smigel, the latter of whom would become a primary creative voice for O'Brien's late night show. It starred Adam West. Despite being a "personal favorite" of NBC chairman Brandon Tartikoff (who had left that position by the time the pilot aired and was replaced by Warren Littlefield), the pilot was not picked up as a series. It was broadcast on NBC on July 28, 1991, in a summer we...
Sep 27, 2022•46 min
This week we review Not Going Out (Series 12 Episode 5) Not Going Out is a light-hearted, fast-paced mainstream sitcom based around the life of a man un-burdened by ambition or drive. Lee deflects criticism and bad news with his trademark wit and one-liners but deep down he is looking for love, a steady job and a flat he can call his own. By series 7, the will-they-won't-they tension between Lee and Lucy reach new highs, with Lee eventually proposing to Lucy. In series 8 we pick up the couple's ...
Sep 20, 2022•44 min
This week we review Bob’s Burgers (Series 12 Episode 1) The show features the Belcher family. Bob, his wife Linda, and their children Tina, Gene, and Louise. The family runs a burger restaurant on Ocean Avenue in an unnamed seaside community (informally known as "Seymour's Bay" among the show's writing staff). Bob's Burgers is located in a green two-story building which features an apartment on the second floor where the Belcher family lives. The restaurant is sandwiched between two other commer...
Sep 13, 2022•46 min
This week we review Bristow (Series 2 Episode 1) Bristow is a buying clerk (18th in line for Chief Buyer) working for the Chester-Perry organisation (the company's boss, Sir Reginald Chester-Perry, is never seen), who dreaming of grander things. Hoping the world is listening, he gives his opinions on life to anyone around, and if no one is around, is quite happy talking to himself. His work colleagues include his friend Jones (although he claims to be 18th in line for Chief Buyer), Miss Purdy th...
Sep 06, 2022•45 min
This week we review Age Of Outrage (Series 1 Episode 1) A pioneer of virtual production in sketch comedy and the most popular and successful TV comedy show (of 2020) featuring a sketch based in a bakers' shop. Providing fodder for internet trolls since February 2020. With Miriam 'two bread rolls please' Isaac, Geraint Rhys 'too many characters' Edwards, Zak 'thinking' Ghazi-Torbati and Mali 'sourdough' Tudno-Jones. Featuring a special appearance by 'Godfather of Gunge' Dave Benson-Phillips. Writ...
Aug 23, 2022•45 min
This week we review Steptoe & Son (Series 3 Episode 7) Living at Mews Cottage, Shepherd's Bush, Albert Steptoe and his son Harold are a family business. They are rag and bone men. With a yard full of battered furniture, tyres and scrap metal, Albert refuses to sell half of what Harold collects and keeps it, filling the house with worthless ornaments rather than pay the bills. Albert is a war veteran and lived at home with Harold since he was a child. His wife has passed on leaving just the f...
Aug 16, 2022•44 min
This week we review Police Squad (Series 1 Episode 5) Created by David Zucker, Jim Abrahams, and Jerry Zucker, and starred Leslie Nielsen as Frank Drebin, Police Squad was first broadcast in the United States on the ABC network in 1982. A spoof of police procedurals, the series featured Zucker, Abrahams, and Zucker's usual sight gags, wordplay and non sequiturs. While a parody of many television shows and movies, it bore a particular resemblance to the Lee Marvin cop show M Squad (in particular ...
Aug 09, 2022•46 min
This week we review Hacks (Series 1 Episode 1) Deborah Vance, a legendary Las Vegas stand-up comedy diva, needs to re-invent her aging act to avoid losing her residency at the Palmetto Casino. Ava is a young comedy writer who is unable to find work due to an insensitive tweet and her reputation for being self-centered and arrogant. When Ava's manager sends her to work as Deborah's new head writer, the two slowly bond as Ava pushes her new boss to take more risks and Deborah, in turn, helps Ava s...
Aug 02, 2022•45 min
This week we review Ankle Tag (Series 3 Episode 1) Former convict Bob is forced to live with his uptight son Gruff, sympathetic daughter-in-law Alice and granddaughter Carys whilst on parole. Gruff is a new father whose own father, Bob, suddenly comes back into his life after a long absence. Bob is a convicted fraudster, released from prison on licence, who wants to inveigle his way back into his estranged son's life. He's charming, optimistic and warm. People like him. That's why they gave him ...
Jul 26, 2022•45 min
This week we review Only Murders In The Building (Series 2 Episode 1) Three strangers share an obsession with true crime and suddenly find themselves wrapped up in one. When a grisly death occurs inside their exclusive Upper West Side apartment building, the trio suspects murder and employs their precise knowledge of true crime to investigate the truth. Perhaps even more explosive are the lies they tell one another. Soon, the endangered trio comes to realise a killer might be living among them a...
Jul 19, 2022•46 min
This week we review Henry IX (Series 1 Episode 1) Set in the fictitious, contemporary court of Henry IX, King of the United Kingdom, this is the almost universal story of a forty-something man going through a mid-life crisis, except this one just happens to be the reigning monarch, King of Great Britain and the Commonwealth. This three part sitcom has been penned by the legendary, multi award-winning comedy writing team behind Porridge, The Likely Lads and Auf Wiedersehen Pet, Dick Clement and I...
Jul 12, 2022•44 min
This week we review Benidorm (Series 1 Episode 1) The Solana holiday resort in Spain welcomes a regular group of British holiday makers each year. There are sex-mad swingers; OAPs; young families; singletons; dodgy dealers; couples; flamboyant homosexuals; pub quiz champions; dysfunctional families and everything in between. And they're just the guests! A similarly wild array of both Spanish and British staff members complete the line-up at Benidorm's all-inclusive Solana, where disaster never s...
Jul 05, 2022•45 min
This week we review The Music Teacher (Series 1 Episode 1 & 2) The Music Teacher is a musical comedy written by and starring 2009 Writers' Guild award winner Richie Webb as music teacher Nigel Penny. Shut away in a windowless practice room in a regional arts centre, Nigel endures a succession of pupils. The middle-aged bachelor with his homemade Moog; the six-year-old trombonist whose arms aren't quite long enough; and the female student who is forever in a state of tearful crisis and never ...
Jun 28, 2022•45 min
This week we review Superstore (Series 2 Episode 1) Starring America Ferrera and Ben Feldman (who both also serve as executive producers), Superstore follows a group of employees working at Cloud 9, a fictional big-box chain store in St. Louis, Missouri. Written by Justin Spitzer Produced by America Ferrera, Harry J. Lange Jr, Eric Ledgin, Sierra Teller Ornelas, Ben Feldman A Pitzer Holding Company / The District / Universal Production. Superstore is available here: https://bit.ly/3tNgkJi The Co...
Jun 21, 2022•45 min
This week we review Here We Go (Series 1 Episode 1) Here We Go follows the highs and lows of the Jessop family as they navigate a combination of life's everyday challenges - changing careers, keeping the romance alive within a marriage, adopting a healthier lifestyle, kidnapping a dog, destroying a swimming pool and sabotaging a wedding. Youngest son Sam documents the family across the year using his camera. Moving back and forward in time, each episode offers an intimate, observed and absurd ex...
Jun 14, 2022•45 min
This week we review Monty Python’s Flying Circus (Series 1 Episode 1) Surrealist, observational and curiously subversive, Monty Python's Flying Circus is a sketch show not quite like any other. Mixing off-the-wall animated sequences, observational humour, innuendo and plain silliness, it often shines an inquisitive and mocking light on the established conventions and idiosyncrasies of British life, and accepted ideas and norms. Some of the most celebrated and memorable Monty Python sketches incl...
Jun 07, 2022•44 min
This week we review The Secret World (Series 2 Episode 1) The Secret World allows listeners to eavesdrop on the bizarre, surprising and very secret lives of public people who have been caught unaware by the microphone. Parallel stories unfold from morning until night as the great and good become embroiled in the most unlikely situations. Although not topical or political, The Secret World is a surreal twist on the familiar "impression show" without parody, pastiche or the usual characterising. W...
May 31, 2022•46 min
This week we review Modern Toss (Pilot) Modern Toss is a couple of cack handed trouble-makers thinking up jokes and drawing them up for comics, greetings cards, books and animation. Prized by connoisseurs and collectors, their laugh out loud prints and artwork decorate toilet walls throughout the country. They made two TV series for Channel 4 along with an impressive stack of other short animations for the telly. Written by Jon Link & Mick Bunnage Produced by Rebecca Ferrand Directed by Joe ...
May 24, 2022•44 min
This week we review Peter Kay’s Car Share (Series 1 Episode 3) Car Share is written, directed by and stars Peter Kay. The sitcom follows John and Kayleigh who have been thrown together in a company car share scheme, forcing their paths to cross as they journey to their respective jobs at a major out-of-town supermarket. Each journey brings fresh insight into John and Kayleigh's lives, with twists and turns in their unlikely relationship. Written by Paul Coleman, Peter Kay, Sian Gibson and Tim Re...
May 17, 2022•45 min
This week we review Mum’s On The Run (Series 1 Episode 1) Sitcom starring Ronni Ancona as single mum Jen and John Gordon-Sinclair as Mr Rigby. Mum's On The Run follows Jen's hectic life as she finds herself spending most of her time as an unpaid chauffeur to her 14-year-old teenage existentialist son, Toby, and a tonally challenged harmonica practising 10-year-old daughter, Felicity. Meanwhile, she also has to cope with her jazz musician ex-husband, the fiercely competitive and annoying downstai...
May 10, 2022•46 min
This week we review It’s A Fair Cop (Series 2 Episode 1) Former police officer and stand-up comic Alfie Moore presents this show in which he asks his audience what decisions they'd have made in a real life case that he has dealt with. After swearing in his audience as police officers for one day only, Alfie takes them through one case as it unfolded and asks them what they'd have done in his shoes. Along the way he spills the beans on what it's really like to be one of Britain's finest, tells us...
May 03, 2022•45 min
This week we review Defending The Guilty (Series 1 Episode 4) Will Packham is a pupil barrister: smart, dedicated and good-hearted. Or at least he is for now. Far from the glamorous world portrayed in TV, his job means dirt wages, being on call 24/7 and endless travel to far-flung municipal buildings. His clients are at least as guilty as sin, his cynical pupil master Caroline thinks he's only good for fetching pastries and he is vying for a job with three other pupil barristers, all of whom wou...
Apr 26, 2022•46 min
This week we review It Ain’t Half Hot Mum (Series 2 Episode 1) As World War II is coming to a close, the Royal Artillery Concert Party in India are doing their utmost to keep themselves away from the front line. Battery Sergeant Major Williams sees his men as an embarrassment and is determined to knock them in to shape. However, he has little support from his senior officers who enjoy the theatrical aspect of their job. Nevertheless, they are thrust in to situations which call for more than just...
Apr 19, 2022•45 min
This week we review George Fouracres - Black Country Gentlemon Based on George Fouracres's 2019 Edinburgh Fringe solo debut, Gentlemon, in which the stand-up and sketch comic celebrated his Black Country roots. This special "is loosely about changing post-industrial landscapes, pigeon flying, faith and aspirationalism" he announced on social media. "But chiefly it's just impressions of my family, all of whom are funnier and more interesting than me." Written by George Fouracres Produced by Richa...
Apr 12, 2022•46 min
This week we review The Witchfinder (Series 1 Episode 1) It's the year of our Lord 1647 and fear of witchcraft is rife. Puritanical Christianity, deep-seated superstition and a willingness to scapegoat outsiders have created a tinderbox of suspicion in which few are safe. A failing witchfinder, Gideon Bannister, transports a suspected witch across 1640s East Anglia to a trial that could change his fortunes forever. His captive is the worst possible travel companion: an inquisitive, uncouth woman...
Apr 05, 2022•45 min
This week we review Drop The Dead Donkey (Series 1 Episode 5) Topical sitcom set in the production office of GlobeLink News, a television news company undergoing transformation under the hand of unscrupulous new owner Sir Royston Merchant. Having recently acquired the company, the multi-millionaire media tycoon and business tyrant orders that the staff should start taking a more sensationalist, tabloid stance in its reporting. Yuppie Gus Hedges (who speaks in a myriad of boardroom 'buzzwords' an...
Mar 29, 2022•45 min
This week we review People Just Do Nothing (Series 2 Episode 1) A mockumentary that goes behind the microphone of Kurupt FM - the second most popular pirate radio station in West London, receiving up to eight texts per show and playing the finest in UK garage and drum 'n' bass. Co-founded by the MC Grindah and DJ Beats in 2002, the station has now built up a following of over a hundred people and has attracted the attention of the BBC who are making a documentary about the lives of those behind ...
Mar 22, 2022•45 min
This week we review Conversations From A Long Marriage (Series 3 Episode 1) Joanna Lumley and Roger Allam play a couple who have been married for over 40 years. Children of the Sixties, they're still free spirits, drawn together by their passion for music - and each other. The show follows their conversations that take them from the local café, to their kitchen table, taking in her resentment of new glasses - a symbol of ageing - and fury at being lectured by the dental hygienist. He has a dodgy...
Mar 15, 2022•46 min
This week we review Vent (Series 1 Episode 1) Vent is a dark radio comedy about a man recovering from a coma. The main character, Ben doesn't get out much because he's in a coma. However, he does have an active imagination, a comfortable bed and his mum and wife at his side. Amongst the humour we find an original comedy about how a life-threatening illness can change peoples lives and is based on the writer's own experiences when in 2001, Nigel Smith was rushed to hospital with a brain lesion so...
Mar 08, 2022•46 min
This week we review 30 Rock (Series 1 Episode 2) Liz Lemon, head writer of a sketch comedy show, has to deal with her arrogant boss and eccentric stars. Regardless, she must run the TV show successfully without losing her mind. Created by Tina Fey, it’s based on her experiences as head writer for Saturday Night Live. It takes place behind the scenes of a fictional live sketch comedy show depicted as airing on NBC. The series' name refers to 30 Rockefeller Plaza in New York City, the address of t...
Feb 28, 2022•46 min
