Tag Archives: BM23TVReviews

Mrs Brown's Boys, TV, TV Review

Mrs Brown’s Boys…The Best the BBC Can Offer…

2 Comments
Submit to reddit Share

Image

When you look at the top of the ratings table of British TV over the festive period, you don’t find quality TV shows which will in time become classics, it isn’t even TV shows which are considered highly by the critics and it also wasn’t a one off special series or episode which was made just for this time of year.  No it was none of these, instead it was Mrs Brown’s Boys, a comedy which would’ve have looked out of date and pretty shit in the 1970’s.

Although it isn’t actually clear from my introducing statement, I don’t mind Mrs Brown’s Boys.  Yes it is clearly a shit comedy and neither the acting nor the jokes are that good, but it is a nice enough show.  The characters are likable and it is sort of funny in its own sort of way.  It isn’t funny in a smart well-constructed episode or joke way but it is funny as in a man dressed as an old lady way.

I can remember when Mrs Brown’s Boys came on at first (I think it was after something like Graham Norton or Match of the Day or something like that), I watched the intro and thought this looks like so much shit you have to wonder how it was ever made.  Not intending to I ended up watching the full episode and actually enjoying it, unbelievably it ended up becoming the crown jewel in the crown of the BBC’s comedy production.  However as it gains viewing figures the funniness (as basic as it was) has decreased series on series.  The simple fact is that there are only so many times that seeing a man dressed as a woman carry an entire cast of “actors” (god I’ve used that word loosely) whilst doing the same sort of jokes be funny.

Mrs Brown’s Boys is a perfect analogy to the problem with British TV just now, it isn’t very good, it certainly isn’t clever and it is about thirty years out of date.  British TV has regressed drastically over the last ten years, and the fact that Mrs Brown’s Boys is one of the BBC’s most reliable and biggest shows is further evidence of this.  It is a sad state of affairs when the two most watched comedies in Britain are Mrs Brown’s Boys and Miranda…what is the country coming too? (Stupid David Cameron!)

Anyway, as I said I think Mrs Brown’s Boys is ok and is fairly funny in a total shit way (unlike Miranda which is total shit in a total shit way), it’s also a good comedy to watch with your family (apparently kids love it…or so I’ve been told).  The two episode that they made for the festive period were fairly good but as usual nothing special.  Watch it, take it for what it is, and don’t expect anything special.

So what did you think of the Mrs Brown’s Boys festive specials?  Do you think that this show epitomises everything that is wrong with British TV and comedy or am I just a grumpy goose?  Let me know and leave a comment.  Plus find all the latest updates for bm23tvreviews on Facebook and Twitter.

Submit to reddit Share
South Park, TV, TV Review

Remember When South Park Was Good? The Season 17 Edition.

Leave a comment
Submit to reddit Share

Image

Do you remember the days when South Park was at the cutting edge of satire?  When a new episode of South Park would be met with a joyful glee?  I know it does seem so long ago, and yes it hasn’t happened for a while.  However keep remembering the good old days and things get better.

So why is it that you keep tuning in to a show that quite frankly isn’t good anymore?  It can be described quite easily in one word, loyalty.  Loyalty to one of the best comedies ever created, a comedy which defined its generation, and a comedy which was once hilarious.  That is the sad thing about South Park, it WAS once brilliant, not it is brilliant.

South Park has went from hitting in almost every episode in about the first 10 seasons, to missing in almost every episode of the recent seasons.  Season 17 was no different to the few seasons that preceded it.  I think the first six episodes of season 17 epitomised the problem that I think South Park has suffered from in recent years; too much stupid comedy, too many episodes centred on crazes and very little long term planning.  That was then followed by the last four episodes which were actually pretty good.  Why were they good?  Maybe it was the combination of two things I like (Game of Thrones and computer games) or maybe it was because they had actually went out their way to have a plan in their writing for these episodes.  Yes there was still the stupid unfunny jokes that seem to have crept into South Park in recent years but there was also an episode plan that lasted longer than what happened in the last few days.

I think that is one of the biggest problems with South Park nowadays, they seem to base the storyline for the week on whatever is making headlines at that time.  The problem with that for me is that things like Honey Boo Boo (not this season to be fair) won’t be relevant in a few years, so the episode won’t be relevant in a few years.  This came home to roost when this year an episode wasn’t able to be produced because there had been a power cut, which truly shows the blatant lack of preparation that the writers have for more than a week ahead.  Of course this used to be one of the great things about South Park, because it could make current and relevant jokes which other cartoon comedies could only dream of.  However the writers have clearly ran out of ideas, and that is beginning to show quite drastically because of their lack of long term planning.  Remember when South Park used to have season long story arcs?  Yeah you’re right, it has been ages since they did stuff like that.

Another sign of a show which is well past its expiry date is when entire episodes are dedicated to characters which are at best minor on a good day.  I’m talking about the Goth kids episode which was brutal and the Ike going through puberty episode which was even worse.  The irony is that the final episode of the season was centred around Wendy, and it worked.  Why did it work but the others failed?  Well Wendy is a much stronger character which has the ability to do more than be a sideshow to the main cast.  Wendy is one of those now underused characters in  the show who used to be a fairly central character, remember how much Kyle’s mum used to be in South Park?  She was a total bitch and a great character, now she is a shell of that.

It sounds like I didn’t like this season of South Park, and honestly I didn’t, but when you look at the actual episode breakdown I thought 4/10 were pretty good and there were only 4/10 which were brutal, which trust me for South Park in recent years is a very good strike rate.  It was a season which was more of the same old shit from South Park up until the Song of Ass and Fire trilogy which very much saved the season from being another disaster.

I would love to think that South Park will end after this season, but I know that is wishful thinking.  It sounds odd to be so desperate for a show that you love to end, but with every passing season Trey Parker and Matt Stone slowly chip away at the great legacy that South Park once had and it is only a matter of time until people will start to think of South Park as that shity cartoon comedy rather than what it should thought of as one of the greatest comedies ever.

 

So what did you think of South Park season 17?  Was it as bad as I am making out or am I being too harsh?  Let me know and leave a comment.  Plus find all the latest bm23tvreviews on Facebook and Twitter.

Submit to reddit Share
The Revolution Will be Televised, TV, TV Review

The Revolution Will Be Televised Series 2- For Those Who Like Satire.

Leave a comment
Submit to reddit Share

Image

Yes it is the second series of that show where two guys go along doing stuff to politicians, big business and poor innocent pedestrians in a number of different characters and sketches.  However sadly like children, people will always have their favourites and the guys from the Revolution will be Televised are no different, and clearly the guy that does the bad sketches is the one nobody really likes.

It isn’t that the two guys that make the show do anything which is particularly funny, but rather they have massive cojones.  It takes nuts to go up to David Cameron and give him a Bullingdon club book, it takes massive nuts to go to the European Parliament and pose as MP’s, it takes massive nuts to go to the Saudi embassy with a glass ceiling to install (before being told we ordered this years ago, what took you so long?) and it takes massive nuts to walk into a major organisation with a prop and act like you belong there and not have them figure it out.  That is where to show gets funny, you sit back and go ‘yea this show is preachy, but you have to admire how much stuff they get away with’.  It isn’t really funny when you consider they go and put a sign up over the Starbucks logo, but it is when someone comes questions it and accept that it must be right.  It just shows you kids, if you wear a fluorescent vest you can pretty much do anything.

Obviously some characters are better than others and I’m sure we all know which ones they are; Dale Maily (sounds familiar…) the fearless hetero journalist who tells people how it is and shows them the light of right wing politics (damn hippies!)  Then we also have James Twottington-Burbage of James and Barnaby, the Tory MP who lets poor yucky people know that they suck and probably smell badly.  There are others which are good, but these are the two outstanding characters.

TRWBT is truly at its best when they go after big political figures.  Generally the politicians squirm as they are talked to by a mere normal, but three moments stand out more than any other.  First off we have the time when James tries to get Nigel Farage to pay for a coffee he had with a UKIP MEP on his expenses, not only is Farage generally a funny guy (who doesn’t love right wing loonies?) but it was the way that he actually was entertaining the sketch rather than realising it was a joke like pretty much everyone else does after a while (UKIP 2015 kids!).  We then have the awesome episode where the guys go up to Scotland and do lots of independence stuff and we see why Alex Salmond is quite possibly the best politician in the UK, giving him an England shirt (ewww) and a Union flag to pose behind for a photo would have lesser politicians fumbling and dishevelled, but not Big Eck.  Unluckily for them, Salmond can spot a television camera (or any camera for that matter) from two miles away and never turns down an attempt at some good media, so the joke didn’t really work and Salmond got a free England shirt (always good for burning), for any non-Scottish people who are wondering why independence is even being discussed, it is because of the genius of this one man, who is one of the finest politicians in the world.  Finally we had the coup de grace of the entire series, old posh boy himself, David Cameron.  Not only is it surprising that they got a chance to even talk to Cameron, but to talk and walk with him down a corridor before giving him a book from his dark poshy past, ooft well done lads, well done.  Naturally Cameron swatted them away when he realised they actually hadn’t went to OxBridge like they claimed, and didn’t even accept their gift (how rude).  Lesson number two kids, dress and talk like a posh person and you get places in England.

The Revolution Will Be Televised is your classic hidden camera gauges your reaction show, but with a more intelligent and political twist.  It maybe isn’t the funniest show on Earth, but it is very clever and if you like British satire then it’s a must see.

 

So leave a comment on what you thought of the Revolution Will Be Televised series 2.  Also you can find all the latest bm23tvreviews updates on Facebook and Twitter.

Submit to reddit Share