rolling tv thread

[gumdrops]

i just started watching 'him and her' on bbc iplayer. one of the best dramedies/comedrama (what do you call these things?) ive seen in a while. funny programme about a 20 something unemployed couple. combines the sort of realism/ordinariness of what i imagine gavin and stacey to be (never watched it) but without being anywhere near as banal/dreary and packs in quite a few genuine lols. but i just like it cos they seem like people i know. and theyre actually cool/interesting/funny characters. plus the girl is pretty fit. great cheekbones.

[craner]

The best thing I've seen on TV recently was a day-long rerun of the 1970 general election BBC coverage (Parliament Channel on Saturday) which I happened to switch on at 9 in the morning and remained glued to until teatime. Gripping and tickling moments throughout, like Harold Wilson's electric and dignified concession interview with a young and hairy David Dimberlby, or a fresh 'n fly Simon Jenkins being interviewed in a West London funk club alongside two twenty-something Tory voters, ten minutes after Enoch Powell doubled his vote and stirred terrifying celebrations in Trafalgar Square and beyond ("'e should be Pra Minist'r"). This was easily better than the new Mad Men series which is, you know, alright so far I suppose -- and even better (for me, anyway) would be to show '79, '92, and '97: watching these unfold with hindsight and distance but without retrospective editing or voice over would be, I imagine, perculiar and gripping and spectral.

[craner]

I'm watching The Apprentice for the first time in my life -- it's sensational, I had no idea! I refuse to believe that the people on it are the brightest young business brains in the country, but they are an entertaining bunch, and I've got the hots for an investment banker called Liz Locke -- perfect name for a foxy young capitalist. What is very pertinant pour moi at the moment (as I am steeped in CV-concocting, Transferable Skills mode) is the enormous gulf this programme exposes between the resume and the actual human being it allegedly refers to. For example, my CV is actually true, but I can't really remember doing any of it. It's pretty existential.

[nochexxx]

all 8 seasons of the US apprentice are on Youtube. i can't stop watching. 'the Donald' far supersedes Alan Sugar imo. my favourite part is hearing the way he says 'hello', gets me every time. watching immoral twats, dinning out on each other is fun too.

did everyone watch Ideal? kept me solidly entertained for some months.

[baboon2004]

I'm watching The Apprentice for the first time in my life -- it's sensational, I had no idea! I refuse to believe that the people on it are the brightest young business brains in the country, but they are an entertaining bunch, and I've got the hots for an investment banker called Liz Locke -- perfect name for a foxy young capitalist. What is very pertinant pour moi at the moment (as I am steeped in CV-concocting, Transferable Skills mode) is the enormous gulf this programme exposes between the resume and the actual human being it allegedly refers to. For example, my CV is actually true, but I can't really remember doing any of it. It's pretty existential.

having sorted through 100 CVs to shortlist for a job at my place of work, I can attest to this. It's a joke, and you might as well just stretch the truth to breaking point to get an interview, cos if you're good there no-one's gonna care about half truths.

I used to enjoy the Apprentice, not out of pure schadenfreude (no, out of total schadenfreude), but it does leave you existentially depressed after too many episodes. Ration it.

[routes]

did anyone catch that Winterbottom-directed thing called The Trip with Steve Coogan and the other guy? it was actually funny.

[craner]

Liz "Lip Lock" Locke is the cutest number cruncher on the box -- but she is also right out of a poor Martin Amis plot. How do you deal with this?

[run_time]

Working my way through Our Friends in the North television series

[craner]

I watched that when it was first broadcast -- best work Daniel Craig's ever done. I love dramas that move through decades -- the make-up department and actors did an amazing collaboration for this. This series was a political education for me: a bad one, but better than nothing. I'd love to watch it all over again, actually. I adored Malcom McDowell's Soho kingpin.

[baboon2004]

I watched that when it was first broadcast -- best work Daniel Craig's ever done. I love dramas that move through decades -- the make-up department and actors did an amazing collaboration for this. This series was a political education for me: a bad one, but better than nothing. I'd love to watch it all over again, actually. I adored Malcom McDowell's Soho kingpin.

I rate Daniel Craig - really liked him as Ted Hughes (prob historically inaccurate etc, but as a performance, it was good), and there's another thing I can't think of right nw.

[Sectionfive]

[craner]

BBC4 keeps coming up with the goods: that Reagan biography, the Thin Lizzy documentary and the thing about British Reggae (that confirmed my latent yet strong bent towards lovers rock over dub and roots) have all been gripping and life-affirming. I must watch that Fleetwood Mac one.

[hint]

I'm currently hooked on Surviving The Cut on Discovery, following the mind-bogglingly harsh selection processes for various hardcore military units.

[Sick Boy]

One of the best things I watched last year was comedian Louis CK's programme, "Louis." It's definitely worth a look. Really great stuff.

Also I only got round now to watching an episode of The Jersey Shore. Has anyone else actually watched it? There is a little bit of funny stuff in there, but it's really only funny in a mild slapstick or comedy-of-errors type way as you'd imagine. On the other hand, a lot of it is truly depressing. There are a few people in that house who are truly fucked up - mostly emotionally insecure in ways that seem to constantly express themselves in either patently depressive or psychotic behavior. It's very obvious too, even from the first episode when these folks weren't even famous. It really takes the humour out of the situations they find themselves in, because they so clearly need help from someone. It's really fucked.

[Corpsey]

Sometimes I wish I had been born in a remote amazonian tribal community, just so that I would have a better chance of being Bruce Parry's best mate. I would go through circumcision without anesthetic and have a big steel thing put through my nose for that.