John Byrne says goodbye to Gogglebox and 'ello to Episodes in this week's look at the telly.
Reviewed: Gogglebox (Fridays, Channel 4); Charlie Brooker's Election Wipe (Wednesday, BBC 2); Episodes (Monday, BBC 2); The Good Wife (Tuesdays, RTÉ One); Empire (Tuesdays, E4); No Offence (Tuesdays, Channel 4)
There were tears in my eyes as I watched the final episode of Gogglebox (Fridays, Channel 4). And no, I wasn't getting sentimental about the end of the fifth season. It was just so funny.
I know new posh couple Mary and Giles – well, they must be posh as there are books behind them, on shelves and all - have been getting a lot of good press, but there's still no beating the unstoppable Scarlett Moffatt.
Everything seems to amaze her, especially if its on Britain's Got Talent. This week I loved the remark she made when arguing that northern English folk are friendlier and more fun than frosty southerners. "Down south," she said with her usual sense of theatrical disbelief, "all they do is walk past each other and moan about the tube."
Scarlett on Simon Cowell's indoor sunglasses:
I've often felt that Gogglebox is like a democratic version of Charlie Brooker's Weekly Wipe, as it features several ordinary folk from around Britain rather than Brooker's London-based industry insider. But Charlie Brooker's Election Wipe (Wednesday, BBC 2) is a different beast altogether, as it takes the British political establishment to task. The latest edition was broadcast on the eve of a UK General Election that saw the Conservatives romp to victory, the SNP put a tartan stamp on Scotland, leaving Labour and the Lib Dems alone in states of despair and jeopardy.
But before that, Brooker took no prisoners as he showed the leaders of the main parties acting as champions of working people – only the first syllable in each 'working' comment was beeped out to imply that they were saying something a little more Anglo-Saxon. Russell Brand got a bellyful, but best of all was the phoney report by the superbly-titled Emily Surname, who gibberished her way through a spoof report on immigration. Brooker can be annoying and his permo-angry man routine a bit tiring, but when he's on his game he's both on the ball and hilarious.
Emily Surname's report on immigration:
I caught up with a couple of episodes of the hugely enjoyable Silicon Valley on Monday, but ultimately ruined the day by watching the return of Episodes (Monday, BBC 2). How this show got beyond the pilot stage, never mind a fourth season, is a source of great bafflement to me. It's just not funny. Never was and, at this stage, it's safe to assume it never will be.
The cast is fine. Tamsin Greig proved her comedic chops in the superb Black Books, although Friday Night Dinner is hardly the new Seinfeld; Stephen Mangan can stroll through a script; while Matt LeBlanc has nothing to prove after his stint on Friends. Where this show fails, and fails constantly, is in the writing.
At this stage the premise is ponderously predictable. Two English scriptwriters can't stand LA bull, but – at the start of season four – find themselves winging back to Tinseltown from Blighty as the US version of their hit UK comedy has been saved from cancellation because another network is interested.
Matt LeBlanc's season 4 character profile:
Instead of writing witty, humorous or even ironic dialogue, what viewers get from the script is a string of f-words and the kind of one-liners that would get you beaten up in the writers' room on Saturday Night Live. Brendan O'Carroll gets sneered at for being much better than this. Episodes just doesn't work, and that's another half-hour I've sacrificed just so I can tell you to avoid crap such as this.
Finally, given that this column comes together on Tuesdays, it would be instantly out of date if it featured Tuesday night shows. So-o-o-o, here's a small plug for three of the finest:
Empire trailer:
The Good Wife (Tuesdays, RTÉ One) has begun its superb sixth season with Cary Agos deep in doo-doo and TGW remains the best current TV show; newbie Empire (Tuesdays, E4) is now in its third week and it's like a hip hop version of Nashville – OTT soapy fun with Taraji P Henson (previously Detective Jocelyn Carter in Person of Interest) perfectly cast as, eh, 'colourful' matriarch Cookie Lyon; and No Offence (Tuesdays, Channel 4), the latest from Shameless creator Paul Abbott. It's a typically grubby, funny and quite warm look at life on the job for a group of Manchester cops, with our own Elaine Cassidy and the ever-superb Joanna Scanlan both in fine form.
No contest: these three shows are the best things about Tuesday night telly.
John Byrne
