Flogging a dead horse ?
TV
HIGNFY - time for a change ?
Screen Grab A TV column by Jamie Hill I ’ m a bit bored with panel shows .
There was a time when Never Mind The Buzzcocks , They Think It ’ s All Over and Have I Got News For You were mainstays in my viewing calendar .
In the days of Mark Lamarr , Nick Hancock and Angus Deayton chairing they were something new and unpredictable . But those days are gone . There ’ s no more Buzzcocks with its storm-outs and Simon Amstell just being brilliant . No more They Think It ’ s All Over with Gary Linekar feeling up a frogman trying to guess the sportsman . Both are gone now . Have I Got News For You still manages to surprise sometimes but most of the time seems to simply rely on Paul Merton looking increasingly confused by modern life . I still remember the time when Merton was the young alternative upstart to Ian Hislop ’ s older establishment figure but in some inexplicable twist of time logic their roles have reversed over the years .
I miss Shooting Stars . A brilliant send-up of everything about light
entertainment which no other panel show will ever be able to match .
But over the last decade our channels have become overly reliant on these ‘ newer ’ panel shows .
You can ’ t move for them . Every time you turn on your television there ’ s Jimmy Carr or Andy Parsons mugging inanely at you as they utter another joke about The Queen ’ s bottom .
It ’ s as if the TV production companies in the UK have given up on trying to make any scripted , proper comedy dramas or sitcoms and have just thought to themselves ‘ let ’ s just chuck a few funny people in a room with some quiz that no-one really understands and let them make jokes . It ’ s cheaper and less risky .’
Okay . One of the consequences of the panel show over-saturation has been fantastic for our country - the ever-growing popularity of stand-up comedians . Panel shows give these comedians a chance to be seen and make a name for themselves for their live tours , which is never a bad thing .
Without panel shows the likes of Romesh Ranganathan and Sean Lock would never have reached a wider audience and that would be a loss to us all .
I just wish live music had the same outlet on national television but apart from Jools Holland walking about a bit late at night , there really isn ’ t anything that promotes live music on the box any more .
Okay , there are still some panel shows that do it for me , QI being one of them and sometimes I find myself glued to Would I Lie To You , but both of them offer something else other than just the comedy to hold my interest .
I think the straw that broke the camel ’ s back for me was Eight Out Of Ten Cats Does Countdown . A bastard mash-up that never needed to see the light of day .
Whatever next ? Mock The Weakest Link ? ( I surprised myself there coming up with that one and if any television company wants to nick it they will now have to pay me royalties .)
It ’ s about time that we started striving for more originality in our television programmes again and stopped flogging a dead horse ( which incidentally is the name of a new Channel Five panel show coming this Autumn !).
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