The Best Thing Since Sliced Bread! (The Day Today)

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Product:	The Day Today
Date:	29/07/02 (18 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Hilarious, Original

Disadvantages: No New Series

Why are all of the BBC's latest 'comedies' so bad? (Example: My Hero) They're so bland, boring, and the scripts are something you would expect to come from a CBBC show, not BBC shows. Back in the mid-nineties there was a comedy program that was superb - The Day Today. And what else could you expect from one of Chris Morris's creations? Chris Morris, the deeply controversial but also brilliantly funny front man from Brass Eye. You'll find The Day Today to be quite similar to Brass Eye (if not toned down a bit, and less controversial).

So what is it? Well, it's a spoof news program with Chris Morris and Steve Coogan (The Parole Officer) along with another cast full of raving comedians. The 'headlines' are ridiculous but very funny, including 'Prime Minister and Queen in big fight', 'Sacked chimney sweep pumps boss full of mayonnaise' and 'Headmaster suspended for using big faced child as satellite dish'. The fact that the jokes are so, stupid, and ridiculous is what makes The Day Today so different and original next to other comedies.

Inside the actual show are spoof documentaries and soaps, like:

The Pool - A mini-documentary into the life of a swimming pool. The best bits include the lazy receptionist (when a man has lost his locker key she refuses to give him a spare one, so he goes home in his trunks) and the incredibly annoying but funny security guard who bores us with tales of how he wears women's swimwear at night.

The Bureau - A fake soap the BBC have apparently replaced the 10 o'clock news with. In the end the Bureau moves to the back of a van and does a tour of Britain.

The Office - A London based office company gets an American man in to try and make a more diligent and hardworking force out of the team. Look out for Anthony and his 'ummmmm....' problem, and when a pig is let loose in the office. At the end of the documentary one of th


e workers, John, leaves and becomes a butcher because he 'Likes working with meat'.

Steve Coogan plays Alan Partridge, the sports commentator. His reports include the Race Course, where he talks about people eating sandwiches instead of commentating, and interviews a woman getting changed, and the Tour De France, where he tries to get a man driving a car with spare bikes sent off for 'cheating'.

I've always wanted a second series of The Day Today to come out, but with the team now split off onto different channels, doing their own things, it looks increasingly unpromising. Still, I'm lucky enough to have the videos to watch when I want them. The BBC recently benefited from a re-run of the series, (at which point everyone I knew was asking for the videos) as part of a Steve Coogan biography-type-thing. There are usually re-runs on channels like UK Gold. Try to watch if you can.

I've literally just scraped the ice on the program. There are many more hilarious things in the program. But I want you to try and watch them if you can, on this fantastic program. I hope the BBC can manage to churn out some more programs like this one, but while they continue to scrape the barrel for ideas like 'Fame Academy' I don't think it will happen soon.


Check out www.bbc.co.uk/partridge for more info on Alan Partridge's input on The Day Today!

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