Checking In On: 10 O’Clock Live

The British satire news programme, 10 O’Clock Live, is currently hitting the midway point of its first series, and I must say, it’s been- well, interesting.  A winning on-air team of very smart, funny people has given the show instant cult status and instant critical derision. The show is an oxymoron wrapped in a question wrapped in an enigma wrapped in bacon. It both aggravates and delights me.

Basically, I’m sitting here say I love the show despite its flaws and because of its strengths. It could be my own actively political mind, my deep interest in the United Kingdom as a political and social  entity, or that I am a bit in love with each one of the Gang of Four that host the show. But I am really enjoying it.

Many of the issues I have with the show itself- Lauren Laverne’s role is still being figured out, the round tables and interviews are still feeling rushed and unfinished, pacing issues abound- are still being worked out. But the things I love- the rants by David Mitchell and Charlie Brooker, Jimmy Carr’s monologue,  Lauren’s dresses ( I WANT THAT WARDROBE)- these things are perfection.

The show is doing a nice job, however, at stirring up some trouble. Milo Yiannopoulos created a brouhaha when he proclaimed that protesting was ineffective, a large enough one for him to write a column about the fall out of his appearance ( which was more a bitchfest about mean ol’ commies taking over Twitter). Weeks after the show had a roundtable about the selling off of  government-owned forests, the plan went into “review”, or placed on the back-burner until the outcry dies down. Chances that the Royal Mail will be privatised are slim, seeing as a generation of politicians in the U.K. have tried and failed to get that idiotic idea off the ground. The show has been on during a spell of activity on the international stage has gotten the hosts plenty to work with, made easier by the delusional speeches given by horrible despots, most of them backed by an unending series of governments at home in order to keep the status quo.

Over the last few weeks, I have seen Lauren and Jimmy take on an interview with Stephen J. Dubner, one of the authors of Freakanomics. It was one of the smoothest interviews  in the shows history, as Lauren has experience in sitting back a bit and allowing the thoughts flow naturally, and Jimmy seemed to follow her lead there. I love David Mitchell to bits, but honestly I always thought Lauren should have dealt with the majority of one on ones. I still think the show is afraid to leave her on her own unless they have her in an edited piece, which is just unfair. I’m sure that’s not what is going on, but it feels like that to me as a viewer. I do particularly love David Mitchell’s pedantry. “Literally” and “figuratively” are not interchangeable, Sally Bercow.

The show is developing an easy, breezy feel, with excellent regular features. The cast is settling into their roles well, and the interviews are feeling a bit less rushed, although they still have a way to go. The roundtables are still too shouty. But when the four hosts sit together at the table and talk- its bloody brilliant. The chemistry among the four of them is wonderful. Some moments I wish it was just the four of them discussing the news for an hour at the table and nothing else.

So the good things again: the cast of Jimmy Carr, Charlie Brooker, Lauren Laverne, and David Mitchell; the rants; the four host’s at the table chatting; the monologues; David’s pedantry and history nerd ability to reference William of Orange and the fall of Sparta in one episode; Lauren’s wardrobe.

The not so good: the shouty roundtables; Charlie Brooker’s hair; Lauren’s attempt at an American accent.

Getting better: interviews.

I am delighted with the show’s current state of growth and am looking forward for the next several weeks if snark and laughs. I hope by the end of the run, we’ll have figured it all out.

 

10 O’Clock Live: What’s Right and What’s Not

As I said two weeks ago in my review of the first episode of 10 O’Clock Live, live television is the toughest gig in the world. Throw in the fact that this show is not run by trained journalists but very smart comedians and one former musician turned presenter and you can see where some of the work needs to be done. It’s first episode was uneven. The second one was a near train wreck ( as much as I adore David Mitchell, he wasn’t great up against spin meister Alistair Campbell, who clearly is great at spin even if I disagreed with nearly every word he said. And that was a highlight for me). The third one sees the show finding its rhythms a bit better. It’s far from perfect, but as I have said since the beginning, it’s got a great premise and a strong on air team.

Now, they just need to use Lauren Laverne better.

Obsession of the Week: Peep Show

It’s that vaguely naughty title, right? It intrigues. I know the first time I saw it my SuperChannel lineup, I turned to my daughter and said “It’s gotta be British, possibly Channel 4, and it’ll be entirely about sex and men being idiots.”

I wasn’t wrong. But I was being dismissive.  And that, in itself, is wrong. When one works and worships in the biz called show, one must never outright dismiss anything. It is about men being idiots and sex, it is a British sitcom, and it is on Channel 4. But it is simply the best sitcom in the world not starring Tina Fey.

It was just a bonus that it stars the genius double act of Robert Webb and David Mitchell. They don’t write it, unlike their other brilliant work, That Mitchell and Webb Look.  The latter is an uproarious sketch show that almost equals for brilliance A Bit of Fry and Laurie. No, Peep Show, randy title and all, springs from the minds of Sam Bain and Jesse Armstrong. What deliciously dark and weird minds they are.

Some Levity Before The Next Album List Post

Seeing  as my next album list post is music I am finding both depressing and oddly life affirming, some comedy from my favourite double act, Mitchell and Webb.