Like Jane Austen for idiots (The Jeremy Kyle Show)

Member Name: edinburgher

Product:	The Jeremy Kyle Show
Date:	06/03/09 (256 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Wonderful dialogue, snappy replies and grown men crying

Disadvantages: Jeremy Kyle can't change the world

*Please note: my tongue was firmly in my cheek when I wrote the following.

A cutting slice of satirical excellence, the Jeremy Kyle Show has graced our screens for what seems like an eternity. On said programme, the acerbic host destroys the carefully constructed witticisms of a range of down to earth guest stars with his razor-sharp mind and memorable catchphrases, the finest of which must be 'put something on the end of it!'

*The origins of the show*

Like Jane Austen and Shakespeare before her, the Jemery Kyle Show is representative of mass culture and concerns over illegitimacy, affairs of the heart and duplicity are handled delicately, with a modicum of panache and mature and balanced commentary.

Artfully dressed in the linguistic attire of the day, these matters are explored in a manner that allows the studio audience at home to appreciate their innate superiority, while belittling the lot of the 'prattling classes'.

The initial concept for the show was based on Victorian rural fairground entertainment for the upper classes - where top hatted gentlemen and their simpering wives would play pranks on their servants by spreading misinformation, tricking them by gluing ha'pennies to the dirt that made up the surface of the down at heel local town square. The modern day equivalent of this heartless form of entertainment, however, has been brought bang up to date and is now the equivalent of having the lower classes sit in stocks while the demonic host batters them with an angry monologue.

*Common themes*

Like all fine shows that capture the Zeitgeist, the Jeremy Kyle Show is to be praised for only covering topics that merit discussion and are the concerns of the populous. Yes - barely a day goes by when I don't wonder who the father of my child is, where my wife slept last night, or whether my father's anger issues are tearing our household apart. I often find myself anxiously awaiting the results of the ubiquitous 'ly detectur test' - a sure-fire scientific method that proves beyond all reasonable doubt whether or not the invited guests are scummy.

The show is also to be commended for its excellent follow-up journalism, in which the key protagonists will return to the studio for a further dose of yelling. Some return after an evangelical transformation and now meet the standards of behaviour expected by the host and the studio audience, while others have returned to their sinful ways and are pelted with stale custard-filled doughnuts. Each week the audience are allowed to vote for their favourite character and this star is given a quick 'phone call a week or two later to make sure they haven't overdosed.

*The host*

Jeremy Kyle (real name Jeremiah Genevieve Palpatine Kyle) is one of the finest investigative journalists in the world and is also an anti-hero in the finest Victorian tradition, doling out common sense and Solomonesque wisdom by day, while stealing the straw mattresses of the indolent by night. His high-brow ways and genteel manner belie the fact that he has 'gone native' - as can be witnessed by the recent dearth of suitable catchphrases. He is a prime example of the degrading effect of the wilfully poor and downtrodden and his insightful mind is gradually atrophying as it struggles to deal with the anger of yet another show about a man who has run of with his cousin's horse.

Nb*: A little known fact about Mr Kyle is that he was the inventor of the aforementioned 'ly detectur test' and is also rumoured to be the conceptual genius behind the welfare state, which hands out free money to the key demographics featured on the Jeremy Kyle Show

*Some considerations on the Jeremy Kyle Show*

1. The guests (like all chavs), don't realise that they are leading a lifestyle that could be condemned by any self-respecting family.
2. By watching the programme, you are taking money away from the arts and are helping destroy popular culture. Watching the Jeremy Kyle Show is every bit as wasteful as being permanently glued to YouTube or MySpace and your individuality is fading away.
3. Jeremy Kyle would have to get a real job in any normal reality.
4. It's so bad that it prompts crazed rants like this one from Dooyoo members with logorrhea (like myself).

Summary: Largely nonsensical, this review takes a lighthearted view at a bizarre cultural phenomenon