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Big Bang Theory (T.V Show)
by sonic70 We kind of started watching Big Bang Theory in our house by accident and it soon became tea time habit to watch at 6pm. It is one of the very few shows that all 4 of us in our house love and never mind watching. It's a rare thing to find something to amuse both adults, my 10 year old son and a 17 year old daughter! We ended up watching ... different seasons at the same time so quickly had to buy the box set to watch it all properly from the beginning and in order. Yes it's yet another American sitcom but I feel it is by far the funniest I have seen for a very long time. It provides that real life sort of humour that always appeals to me - rather than the obvious, slapstick comedy my husband usually prefers. It is basically about a group of stereotypical nerds, a handful of girls and how they interact with each other and provides some very funny moments. Having watched this programme for some time now I still don't know whether I want Sheldon, one of the main characters, as a friend or not. He is seriously OCD and has little or no social skills but it is so funny to watch him try to navigate through life when the whole refuses to see that he is always right. It is one of those programmes that you can enjoy an episode even if you haven't seen any of the others but you gain so much more if you watch it from the beginning and see how the relationships develop and you really get to know the characters. I bought the seasons 1-4 box set for around £35 from Amazon and pre-ordered season 5 at the same time. It seems to be very catching too as 3 of my friends have also felt compelled recently to buy the set.We are now eagerly awaiting the start of season 6 next week. I would highly recommend this box set to anyone who likes to chuckle. Read the complete review |
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Classic Car Rescue
by thedevilinme So, Classic Car Rescue, a low budget reality TV show currently running on Channel Five where two so-called 'experts' restore old rust buckets to their former classic car glory so to sell on, four episodes in of six so far in the opening series, Monday night at 8pm the ignition time. Expert number one is balding East End Jew ... with attitude 'Berne' Fineman, a mouthy eye bulging cockney who goes off the handle very quickly, and a heart attack waiting to happen. Our second expert is Canadian Italian Mario Pacione, the more phlegmatic one of the pair who seems to be more car enthusiasts than mechanic, regularly making what appear to be costly mistakes with the cars construction, much to the annoyance of Bernie, his catch phrase being: 'Its costing me money'! Bernie knows his cars and more opinionated than most, in recent publicity blurb for the show claiming to be able to 'knock Clarkson out with one punch'. He is more TV presenter than hands on mechanic these days as he also appeared on a show called 'Chop Shop' on the Discovery Channel on similar restoration themes last year and claims to be the 'mechanic to the stars' with many celebrity clients. 'Chop Shop' is a somewhat ironic name considering how some of his restored cars end up here, the show failing to be the sums of all its parts, so to speak. Mario, on the other hand, doesn't seem to register on a Google search and just the dull straight man plucked from nowhere to complement this comedy double act, phlegmatic and a bit of a bungling idiot if the truth be told. As with most of these shows there seem to be 'staged incidents' that make the operation look a bitch chaotic and incompetent to please the casual viewer, Mario, if he was one of the Mr Men, very much 'Mr Clumsy' to Bernie's 'Mr Gobby', one episode backing a freshly painted E-Type into an engine block on a hoist and last week dropping a Ford Mustang windscreen on the floor when he claims to have cut his fingers on it. These incidents appeared set up for dramatic effect; again pumping that sense of tension you get from any show with time pressure added. The tirade of abuse on the C5 website message board toward this show matches Bernie's in the show to anyone present who doesn't agree with him and suggests those who know the car restoration business can see just how many set ups and erroneous situations there are going on here. It certainly looks somewhat fishy although as I'm no expert on cars and unsure if these guys are just a couple of cowboys who make a mint from selling rich people restored cars way over their real value, or a show that shows how tough it is to restore cars. There's even a suggestion on Wikipedia that one of the cars was deliberately wrecked for the show to save money and another unsafe when it was finished. With such a simple and cheap idea for a show it's fairly easy to enjoy and certainly unchallenging, so far the boys restoring four cars, an E-Type Jag, a Porsche 911, an MG and last week a Ford Mustang. A time element to get the car done from wreck to riches is introduced for dramatic and tension reasons although the shows producers say the clock ticking to bring down labor costs from a long restoration as that would minimize any profits to the restorers. The fact that viewers can win all six cars restored in the show through a £1.50 text competition suggests the two guys may not get the profits and the show simply wants to make money from the phone lines, a typical reality show trick. The set up... The boys go out on the road to locate the rusting wrecks and after agreeing on a price with the owner they bring it back to the garage - be it East London or Canada - to let them and their workers get to work on it. The cost of spare and new parts are bunged on top with labor costs and other sundries and then, when the restoration is complete (normally with minutes to spare), an important car valuation expert, Adrian Flux, arrives to inspect the finished car and sets the official price for respected car magazines to value it at. For some reason its normally thirty grand. The first episode was enjoyable, the much loved Jaguar E-Type first up for restoration. Mario takes a risk and buys a dodgy looking antique rust bucket for £10,000 from a bloke's garage, a skip load of E-Type parts 'conveniently' available in a nearby dealers junk yard in Hackney to fix it. After an ugly red re-spray Mario backs it into an engine block on a hoist for one huge dent, which the angry mechanic has to bash out for the next two days after working all night to get it sprayed. But they get it done just in time and the posh man turns up and it's valued at £30,000, after costs a nice profit. The second week wasn't as good with a garish bright orange Porsche the restored result. This is the car critics believe was deliberately driven into a tree to make it look like wreck for the show. It was bought for £7,000 and valued at £22,000 after the refit. Old Porsches don't ware well and ugly little cars around that 1970 period this came from. The third episode was a disaster as the boys got only a five grand valuation for a restored MGB, which, to be fair, was a five grand crap box when they were built in the 1970s and certainly no classic car. It later transpired that the original car was a victim of identity theft by previous owners and that should have been spotted by the 'experts' and so C5 had to apologize. The boys result was what appeared to be a classic 'chop shop' car, which is actually illegal, welding two different cars together and using just one license number plate. The shows producers responded to the critic from various message boards and admitted 'extra bits' were used from 'other cars' to create the finished article. Last week's episode saw the boys go over the pond to America to seek out the so-called 'muscle car', the classic 1950s Ford Mustang the target, a stunning car in its pride. When they finally got the one Mario wanted it appeared not to have an engine and just a frame and parts for $5,000 US. They did find an engine from another rust bucket Mustang they turned down and made a decent little car from the parts. Sadly they painted it with a dreadful sky blue and go faster stripes. These babes should be black and chrome, end of. Any good... I think the critics and petrol heads miss the point here. This is a television show aimed at me and people like me and corners are always cut and artistic license taken to make it entertaining, like the guys do when the cameras are not there and they are restoring the cars for regular punters. We all know mechanics love to take time fixing cars so they can find more faults and bump your bill. They have to make money by taking liberties and unless you restore classic cars yourself then you will never know if it's a good job, why people with no real car knowledge would be the ones to actually buy a restored classic from guys like these two. Do we really want to some fat grease monkeys taking six months to rebuild a Mini Clubman with their ass crack exposed, what the business is really about? No. We want to see so - called experts making mistakes like we do. The secret of television entertainment is to bring celebrated people on TV down to our level, why the X-Factor and I'm a Celebrity works so well. The shows presenters are deliberately over-the-top and annoying at times and remind me a lot of the reality TV 'caught in the headlights' syndrome, first witnessed in the original reality TV series that I cant recall the name of but was set in a double - glazing firm in Coventry, where the main protagonist realize they are on telly so forget to behave naturally and so the way their business run appearing somewhat warped. These reality shows have to be real for them to work and I'm afraid this one feels very contrived and so only managing one million viewers so far. Saying that I like to see classic cars restored in some sort of form and that side of things is appealing here. You clearly can turn old rust buckets into something of their former glory. The big question then is just how much of the car is the original in the show, which doesn't seem much by episode 4. Is this merely Triggers trusty old council broom from Only Fools and Horses, we wonder? It's had six new heads and 14 new handles, which kind of sums up Channel 5 if the truth be told... http://www.channel5.com/shows/classic-car-rescue/the-cars Read the complete review |
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Hotel GB
by thedevilinme So, after Channel Four allowed Jamie Oliver's giant ego another bridge too far with 'Jamie's Dream School', where 'troubled' kids were put in a special school to be 'educated' by celebrities who specialized in certain fields like history and science, the plan to make lessons more fun (Jamie doing the home economics classes, of course) ... and so they learnt something, big rival Gordon Ramsay has hit back in the chef guru status with Hotel GB. The reality TV concept here is that another group of disadvantaged youth (or plebs, as that MP called them) will learn all aspects of the hotel trade from scratch and then thrown in at the deep end to actually run a working hotel for a week, the week in question right now, the plan to 'change their lives' - and, inadvertently, give excellent exposure to all the celebrities that come on the show as guests or hotel workers in the process. The show is a cross between Hells Kitchen and Jamie's Kitchen Nightmares and set in a working hotel in Bermondsey, South London, broadcast every night this week with a live update on their antics during an hours highlights show between 9 and 10pm on C4, hosted by the laddish Paddy McGuiness. The hotel is open right now and you can book a table or room online until Sunday night if you are that way inclined. Gordon Ramsay is doing the catering side and fashion diva Mary Portas is running the housekeeping side of things. Both are helped by those various celebrities - mostly Channel 4 - to cover all the hotel positions, the current maitre being Kevin McLeod from 'Location Location' whilst his partner in crime Kristie Alsop is doing the concierge desk job. Other celebrity departments in the hotel include the cleaning done by that Aggy woman and that pretty girl who suffered the acid attack doing the solarium. Unfortunately, if you were a guest in her solarium and didn't know her back story you would think she has had too much surgery for vanity reasons and another reality TV wannabe. A brave lady to comeback the way she has after 106 operations but you can see why the cynical C4 producers cast her here. She does look good after her ordeal though and gives hope to others who have suffered facial disfigurement, her dream job as a kid always that of TV presenter, ironic that it would be her terrible attack that would achieve that. Her first client was the suitably named David Guest (that weirdo who married Liz Taylor) with a suitable facial disfigurement of his own, taking the pressure off Katy some as he looks all very strange after going under the knife for vanity reasons, a cross between Pete Burns and Tom Jones. David demanded 'breast milk' on his first night stay, his luggage lackey and partner not allowed such a lavish treat. The show is tenuously legitimized by all proceeds going to 'employment charities' (presumably A4E), rooms around £100 pounds per night and a working restaurant for dinner, a competition running between the two halves of the hotel all week on who can raise the most tips. If guests are unsatisfied with any aspect of service they can refuse to pay. It's unsure how big the hotel profits will be and if the celebrities will take their fees, and if running's costs are deducted from the final take, but either way great PR for them and C4. The best two unemployed youngsters will be given a job at the end of the show by Mary and Gordon respectively. We presume some of the regular hotel workers are somewhere in the background to make sure the hotel runs smoothly. Gordon and Mary have a mix of morons, students and 'dole bludgers' under their wing for the week as their trainee staff, the interview process featured in show one clearly designed to wean out the capable ones and employ the more unstable, no doubt kid's staying unemployed because they have been waiting for this very chance to be on reality TV, their dream. Even that bloke off Shameless could get a job in recession hit London. The only female graduate on the show has already left as she quickly sussesed out there would be no training and you were there just there to be abused and patronized by the celebrities and guests, Lizzie asked to run reception with just three hours guidance from Mary. Lizzie didn't appear too bright and described her degree as 'writing'. Gordon, on the other hand, was taking every chance to rant at the kids in the kitchen in front of the camera and the guests for the most petty of things. Will, the other university graduate, is far too clever for Gordon and so quickly put in his place by the pseudo angry chef. Will just grins at his rants with a nod and a wink. I like Will. And Mary Portas? Well it's still unsure whether she is working on the well published government push to refresh our high streets, which she says was a bit of a stunt, which is rather ironic as her whole career has been, or still involved in selling those British made knickers in her factory? She does seem to spread herself around. Gordon, on the other hand, will do anything to get on TV, his disastrous series teaching prisoners to cook from a few months back not likely to trouble the TV Quick Awards this year. It's a constant battle between the chefs and style gurus like Portas to come up with these reality shows to keep them away from their day jobs, it seems. Alan Sugar seems more interested on being on TV than actually running his business, hardly entrepreneurial. On the front desk they have a trainee Gok Wong in the making (fitting as that irritant is in it too), unemployed 18-year-old John Harris a cross between Gareth Malone and the toothy bloke from the League of Gentleman, the one that keeps shouting 'Tubs'! He is clearly the star of the show for pleasingly thick and also the perfunctory camp one. He is too young to identify the celebs, which is the running joke on reception. Not that many people know who Jackie Collins is. Coupled with some excitable kids from the nearby Sarf Landan and young single moms 'on a journey', all the ingredients are present for some TV exploitation that the middle-class enjoy so much at home as they sip their Pinot Grigot. The old drag bag that is Hilary Duval showed up yesterday dragging a couple of those ghastly yapping toy dogs around the place pooing everywhere (the dogs that is) with her wig in their mouths, and was assigned to run a 'pop up' shop in the lobby, selling her particular style of gothic clothing, a token effort by the oddball. Meanwhile Gok is running the bar and Jimmy Carr dragged into host a dog fashion show. No, Hilary didn't win. Hunky gay doctor Christian Jessen from 'Embarrassing Bodies' is the gym manager. Any good? You start out wanting to hate these shows but they suck you in enough to get ringed in the TV guide for the next night, proof enough you have no life. In the early 'nougties' the trend was for celebrities to be cruelly humiliated in shows like I'm A Celebrity to earn their corn and for TV to run up phone revenue from those dodgy voting lines to remunerate the celebrity, whereas now it's come full circle with shows like this, revenge on those phone voters by the celebs. We get to see those wannabes made to look ridiculous and so see them off before any erroneous celebrity career should sprout. I'm sure the kids on the show are having a great time and they will make a few quid for charity but know your place is the message. It's not too late to dip in Hotel GB as it runs all week and mildly entertaining, although Ramsey's angry chef routine becoming a little predictable now. He has been awarded his 12th Michelin Star this week and perhaps time to go back to his restaurant chain. Mary Portas is likeable in her own inspiring way but, like the Dragons and Alan Sugar, these gurus are really looking for the easy celebrity life and so no longer the inspirers they are pitched as and once were. Everyone wants to be telly these days... Read the complete review |
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