Big Break (Big Break)

Member Name: polydeuces

Product:	Big Break
Date:	08/08/08 (0 review reads)
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Now those who have read my review of Jim Davidson in the Generation Game will already now I am not a fan of this man. In fact not to pout too fine a point on it I think he is as all the grace and humour of a Swedish riot policeman.

Not content with the BBC foisting him on for half the year on the Generation Game they seem to think we'd go cold turkey if we didn't have him on screen in Big Break for the other half. To be fair to Davidson (though why I should I don't know) it does seem however that he has toned his comments down a little bit for this show. The end result is he does not make my flesh creep quite as much as normal. There you have it, that is as near as I will come to praising him.
I have watched some of the recent shows and think that not only is Davidson one of the least watchable personalities on TV but the entire show is now getting past it. The format is so limited and limiting. It seems now we are going through the same tableaux of jokes, asides and comments about the prowess of the various snooker players who come on. At John Virgo was refreshingly naïve and different but he has himself become a cliché and a self-parody.

The contestants who come on appear to be chosen on the basis of their personality, that is they all haven't got one. They become paired for the evening with a snooker star who play the shots which earn the prize money and ultimately for the winner the prizes. With the regularity of a metronome these stars prove that they truly did have a wasted youth which was not devoted to academic study. They might be able to calculate whether they need snookers with a number of reds on the table but apart from that and a good cueing action they are completely devoid of talent.
The contestant and snooker player combinations go through a series of eliminators based on some very easy general knowledge and the snooker players scoring points in the time earned. One loser, and I use the term in the nicest possible way, gets to replicate a trick shot which John Virgo does. Often this takes a few attempts by Virgo so cue (no pun intended) fatuous remarks from Davidson. If they achieve it the contestant gets a prize.

The hapless contestants seem to spend most of the show stood about while everything goes on around them. After an eliminator earning some prize money for the last 2 the winner receives prizes based on how many balls the snooker ace pots. The only way the contestant influences the outcome is if he fails to answer a general knowledge question most 10-year-olds could answer.

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