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!