2011 - Jon Snow's Year

2011 may well be seen as a year as pivotal as 1968 and 1989 when we look back in the coming decade. 'Jon Snow's 2011' (Channel 4) presented some amazing footage and interviews from an astonishing year; Snow has always been one of 'thetvreviewguy's favourite anchormen - conscientious, professional and impartial...a great hack. The 'Arab Spring' has to be an epochal occurrence; the Arab 'Street' took matters into their own hands in Tunisia...in Egypt, the revolution is ongoing while in Libya, Colonel Gaddafi was toppled and lynched. The changes were incredible; too long seen as immutable, despotic Arab leaders succumbed to the masses; the people were shown to be sovereign, overthrowing tyrants in their wake. 2011 was the year of Occupy and while the legacy and impact of the movement are hotly contested, the international movement raised one of the key questions for 2012 onwards; how do we make an unequal world, more equal? Then there was the horror of the Japanese Tsunami, some of the footage from which is still impossible to watch; human calamity on such a scale and devastation not witnessed for decades, if not centuries. England had her riots with Left & Right sharply divided on the causes of the events and solutions to future urban unrest. Snow let his hair down a bit when he covered the Royal Wedding in Britain and it was a year when Wendy Deng saved Rupert Murdoch from being pied but not from being disgraced. For anyone in their late thirties, it's hard to believe that it's 10 years since 9-11 and the World has surely not become a safer place since then. News and time rolls on...Snow ably corralled monumental global events into an hour...and 2012 will be momentous yet, for better or for worse. Let's hope it's a good one.

Let's Dignify HIGNFY

'Have I Got New For You' (BBC1) has been going since...well, five Prime Ministers (1990) and HIGNFY is still funny. A simple formula (look at the news, satirise it/take the piss with a bit of wit and some invective) has given viewers exactly what they want, i.e. Paul Merton pretending to be dumber than he is and Ian Hislop enjoying being the youngest old fogey in town. The series has had some grave lapses of taste in the past (Stephen Milligan's death funny anyone?) but usually hits most targets in the sweet spot. Guest-hosting, now the norm after Angus Deayton's forced departure (driven out partially by Merton and Hislop's moralising), was awkward at the start but just seems a good fit now. Satire, and 'thetvreviewguy' is a big 'Private Eye' fan/collector (nearly all issues since 1997), is hit-and-miss; it can be unfunny for several reasons, among which being a) too much for those 'in the know' b) needlessly cruel ('thetvreviewguy' prefers the ball, not the man to be played) c) too obvious and d) irrelevant. To be fair to HIGNFY, it usually avoids most of these pit-falls but Merton and Hislop, while both being very funny guys, do stray into unfunny territory now and again, particularly within the paramaters listed above. It is, of course, and this is dangerous territory for a topical new show, an institution. But HIGNIFY is sharp and able to cleave some worthy targets and despite younger, brasher imitators, is still the best in show. Scores highly with 'thetvreviewguy for never underestimating the intelligence of the audience, HIGNFY could well be with us in another 20 years, if, indeed, we all are in our current incorporation...

Peston on the West on Hard Times

Robert Peston knows his onions. In a two-parter, 'The Party's Over: How the West Went Bust' (BBC2), Peston displayed his considerable talents; he is a distinctive and distinguished broadcaster (albeit one with an eccentric vocal delivery unique to himself). Much of TPOHTWWB was a tour-de-force summary of the 2008-plus 'great correction' i.e. current World Recession/Depression. Some insightful interviews with market players and analysts helped explain the depth of the hole we're in and how we got into such a state. However, while most blame was rightly apportioned to 'the banks' and the financial sector, Peston is of the 'We all Partied' point of view when it comes to public/sovereign debt.whereas those who got us into this mess (the financial services sector) aren't paying for their vandalism, ordinary schmucks and the poor are. On the plus side, Peston emphasised the importance of education but failed to address the question of what those who don't qualify as scientists or engineers are supposed to do. His take on German corporatism was particularly good; workers councils, small-medium buisnesses, and links with local communites are an integral part of the German economic story. Like a lot of us, 'thetvreviewguy' is pretty much recessioned out, but TPOHTWWB was a welcome addition to Debt TV and left him a little wiser but, if not wealthier.