Overall, Quite Interesting - QI

News getting you down? Sick and tired of a recession you did nothing to cause but seem unable to fight back against?  Feel that taking a break from all your worries sure could help a lot? Then 'QI' (BBC) will provide you with some nourishing soul food and grey matter stimulation in this end of days. Polymath and all-round smarty pants Stephen Fry is our laid back host taking us down pathways of quite interesting facts and figures. It's like a very clever pub quiz with no music rounds. The success of the programme on BBC1 is all the more remarkable considering that LCD TV has become the norm, ...that's Lowest Common Denominator stoopid! 'QI' always makes 'thetvreviewguy' think of a New Yorker cartoon: funny, smart and cultured. Panel games, when good, can be a flagship part of a Controller's programming. 'QI' along with 'Have I Got News For You' prove that the BBC can still cut it. But with their license fee frozen by the ConDem coalition for the next six years, there will be less and less of these types of programmes being made. Somethings, no matter how seemingly small, are worth fighting for. Give 'thetvreviewguy' 'QI' anyday over 'Mock the Week'; there's a world of difference between smart and smart alec.

Not Half Baked - Saturday Kitchen Live

'thetvreviewguy' freely admits to not being a great cook. He's not proud of it; it's just the way it is. However he does enjoy the early Saturday morning fare on the BBC of 'Saturday Kitchen Live'. A chilled out double hosting team, James Martin and the lovely Louise Redknapp (definitely Posh Spice's quieter and classier older sister), soothe the sleep from our eyes with engaging and intelligent banter and some alluring cooking. Hungover? Well, don't worry, you'll be gently guided back into the land of the living in a relaxed atmosphere with, mercifully, very little loud noise. Avoiding the irksome cheeky chappiness of Jamie Oliver and the laughable square-bashing of hod-carrier Gordon Ramsay, there's a good degree of charm and affability about this show; more lightly scrambled than hard boiled. Ideal for getting your weekend off to a good start, 'Saturday Kitchen Live' shows that cookery programmes don't always have to be a cheap option. Without wishing to ladle the point, it's an a la carte treat for the unfussy diner. A fine blend of a production. 'thetvreviewguy' says it's puree genius. Now, back to wok...

Digging Up The Neighbours - Time Team

'Time Team' is another one of those Sunday afternoon programmes which you've never quite seen a full episode of, don't particularly dislike but have no desire to see from start through to finish. Even though 'thetvreviewguy' enjoys a bit of history, he doesn't quite dig 'Time Team'. Whether it's the all round nerdiness of Beardy Archaeologists with their 'geo-phys' kits or the constant muck and rain, it's definitely an acquired taste. Yet, like 'Last of the Summer Wine', the series has been on for what seems like forever. Tony Robinson is, well, amiable, and the edition with James 'Jim' Cameron is a hoot as Tony chronicles the Big Ego's Titanic dives. There's something reassuring about its' presence on our TV; like newspapers, and AM/MW Radio, we won't really notice it till it's gone. Okay, 'thetvreviewguy' probably remembers the archaeology society as on of the less cool ones in college but he doesn't begrudge these preoccupied diggers their fifteen minutes of fame. Ideal viewing when half asleep on a drizzly day.

Vincent Browne - Essential Maverick

'Tonight with Vincent Browne' (TV3) has become cumpulsory viewing as Ireland reels from one recessionary shock to another. The veteran broadcaster, dubbed 'Mad Dog' by both fans and enemies, has, of recent years, been afflicting the comfortable and comforting the afflicted. Browne frequently baits his guests in his often sucessful attempts to rope a dope. He can claim to having called it correctly on the banks, never particularly cared about being unpopular and has always been 'thetvreviewguy's favourite Irish contrarian journalist. Browne, to the amusement of his viewers, blows his top, huffs and puffs and occasionaly lands the killer punch. In full flow, he can be brilliant. Other times, he doesn't seem to be trying that much. But most of the time, he tries to speak truth to power. His hobby horses can be annoying but he can scarcely be called an opportunist. His programme is like an Inquisitory version of 'Meet the Press' - he is a great 'Insider Outsider'. The main problem with 'Tonight with Vincent Browne'...it's on too late, 'thetvreviewguy' values his sleep!

The Simpsons, Still Crazy After All These Years

Okay, it's an obvious one but it's still up there in the TV Comedy Pantheon. 'The Simpsons', a great alternative to the nightly drip-drip of depressing and exasperating recession-filled news, helps us laugh at our daily woes, reminds us of the power of humour and makes us feel smart without feeling smug. Never afraid to tilt at politicians, celebrities and human foibles in general, the series provides, to paraphrase Homer, a welcome distraction from the twin drudgeries of work and family. Very few TV shows have lasted more than twenty years; it is testimony to the quality of the writing, universality of the characters and bite of some of the wittiest writing on TV that audiences are still loving this brilliant series. Yes, some episodes are funnier than others but 'thetvreviewguy' has always felt that the least funny 'Simpsons' episode is superior to the best of what has passed for TV comedy in the last two decades. Homer is Everyman and the older one gets, the more hilarious he seems. It is, by now, an American cultural icon. Here's to another twenty years of comedy gold.

Two and a Half Men not Quite Half Good

'Two and Half Men' (TAHM) is another on-in-the-background show and programme that never ceases to amaze 'thetvreviewguy' at how lucky Charlie Sheen is. His father was the most popular fictional US President ever, he (Charlie) never appears to be actually acting, and, most galling of all, he gets paid about a million bucks an episode. The storylines mirror Sheen the Younger's life to an uncanny degree; hookers, drinking and, in Philip Larkin's phrase, avoiding the 'toad work' where and whenever possible. His daffy next door neighbour is always chasing him, his brother is never quite as cool as Charlie and both do a passable job of bringing up the half man in question. It's never hilarious and frequently hackneyed but always comforting in its familiarity and is occasionally quotable. Charlie is the Slacker Supremo; we don't really want to dwell to much on his demons in the real world, we just want predictable guffaws and a easy wind down after the working day. TAHM mostly has 'thetvreviewguy' thinking 'Now why can't I get paid a shed load of money writing stuff like this?' but less so than over a myriad of worse sit-coms out there.

'Middle' Brow

 'The Middle' is one of those production line, US, ordinary Joe, family comedies that 'thetvreviewguy' would normally flick past. Instead, he likes this 'Malcolm in the Middle' copy that capitalises on Patricia Heaton's ('Everybody Loves Raymond') talents as a down-trodden Soccer Mom heading into middle-aged territory. Her hapless (okay, nobody said this was hugely original) husband and kids provide some nice comedy foils for the viewer. It's the sort of show you might have on in the background while web-surfing or reading a paper (you've heard of newspapers, right?); this is more than passable. Ideal family viewing, it takes a few swipes at the Bush legacy; we suspect that Frankie Heck is, at the very least, a Blue Dog Democrat. Worth a watch and you will find yourself smiling if not belly laughing; 'thetvreviewguy' advises a 'Hold' on this TV share.