Steven Cookson's Blog

Posted by Steven Cookson

To cut right to the chase I started off this week still reeling from the disappointment of Red Dwarf by watching a bit of the new Hell’s Kitchen on ITV1. It’s not bad this year, mainly down to having the likes of Ade Edmondson rather than Jim Davidson. But putting it on at the same time as The Apprentice on Wednesday nights might be a problem. I can’t speak for everyone else but I prefer to watch vain business people being swore at by a bearded bloke over a bunch of vain celebs being sworn at by a grumpy chef.

As I’ve said before it’s a nice touch by the BBC to come up with something like The Speaker, in that teenagers are given the opportunity to show their public speaking talent and not just seen as mindless thugs. It’s not the best talent/reality show but I’d choose this over Piers Moron patronising 10-year-olds and old women on Britain’s Got Talent any day.

Being someone who doesn’t discriminate against most TV, except anything with the words celebrity or “Graham Norton” in the title, I decided to give the new CBBC series Horrible Histories a go. It wasn’t half bad actually and managed in 25 minutes to get more laughs than Horne & Corden or Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps have ever raised from me.

I was hoping to get to see In The Loop this weekend but as the only cinema in Chester isn’t even showing it but instead putting on crap such as Fast and Furious and Paul Blart I have to wait until Tuesday and make a trip over to Liverpool. A review will turn up next week and hopefully I’ll get to see State of Play too as I have a huge interest in it due to being a massive fan of the BBC series.

As well as the new series of Lost (great episode this week) I’ve also been checking out a series called Fringe, basically like The X-Files for the new generation. It’s ok, it has some mystery, but it’s formulaic and episodic and the chances are the answers will be a bit dull. I could be wrong but I’m hardly being blown away by “oh look someone died in the first five minutes in a strange way but it’s ok because our team will have it resolved by the end of the hour”.

Posted by Steven Cookson

This week got off to a very good start with Channel 4’s brilliant new documentary series Henry VII: Mind of a Tyrant, fronted by David Starkey. I don’t really watch too many historical programmes but this was genuinely interesting, well presented and a joy to watch. Basically everything that Piers Morgan’s rich man travel series wasn’t (Moron is back with the horrid Britain’s Got Talent).

For lack of anything else to do I watched the third episode of the new Apprentice series. Usually at this point I’ve chosen the person who I want to follow until the end - I have to admit I did want that tool Simon to win a few years ago - but here it’s hard to come to that conclusion. On the basis of entertainment value I have to say Phil, as he really grew on me this week by showing that he’s more than just a moaner.

Then there was Red Dwarf: Back To Earth on Dave. To be honest I did expect it to be a little disappointing as the last few series have been terrible. There were far too few laughs for what is one of the most popular comedy shows of the last 20 years and the plot was ripped straight from The League of Gentlemen’s Apocalypse. Come on Doug I know it’s hard to write something new and original but taking an idea from a poor film isn’t going to get you anywhere.

There’s also been an announcement for a new series of bizarre 90s panel show Shooting Stars. Still not sure how to take that one yet as it could go either way given that the last special wasn’t exactly groundbreaking. The rest of my TV week was spent with Greatest TV Show Ever(TM) The Wire again, Stewart Lee’s brilliant show, Would You Save a Stranger? on Channel 4, the BBC giving the youth of today a chance to have their voice heard on The Speaker (but given some of the misguided views it’s best if some of them didn’t bother), a poor Doctor Who special and a rather fantastic episode of Lost (more Ben and Locke, no Jack and Kate).

On the point of music, not really relevant to TV but what the hell it’s my blog, I have to make a point about my favourite album of the year so far which is Carboniferous by Italian trio Zu. I just can’t praise it enough, I’ve been listening to it constantly for the last few weeks and I’m still blown away by how good it is and how impressed I continue to be by its mix of crazy jazz and metal. I recommend it as the perfect antidote to the radio friendly Nickelback crap that’s around or if you’re fed up of Kings of Leon torching their career.

Posted by Steven Cookson

Another week down, another batch of variable TV which makes you question just what the hell are you spending your time doing. Instead of writing discovering a way to help the homeless or invent a new life saving drug I sit about watching a middle-aged actor walking about with scales on his shoes. But more about that later.

Dispatches: The Trouble With Boris on Channel 4 was interesting. Being a fan of Boris’s TV work it was an eye opener into some of the rash decisions he has made during his time in office. It wasn’t one of the most impacting episodes of Dispatches but I did like that they focused more on his policies rather than his embarrassing ping pong speech.

Mid-week on ITV1 there was a new reality series called Cops with Cameras, which was about as inventive and exciting as the title built it up to be. Look, I have no problem with documentaries following people during their job but I do get fed up of things been overblown for the sake of entertainment which is what went on here.

Friday nights on BBC Two have traditionally been the place to be for comedy. This has dissolved somewhat over the years but a new gameshow thing called Genius, presented by Dave Gorman, tries its hardest to tip-toe on the line between weird and just downright crazy. This week had Jonathan Pryce, who actually was a lot more entertaining than the comedians from past episodes.

Other stuff I watched this week were peerless drug/cop series The Wire on BBC Two (which I’ve seen but there’s no harm in watching it through again), Stewart Lee being “tediously politically correct”, James talking himself into a hole on The Apprentice, Horne and Corden’s latest public humiliation and the outstanding quotable mockumentary This Is Spinal Tap on ITV1.

I’ve also just rounded off the second series of US serial killer drama Dexter. Seriously, I wish we made more TV shows like this over here. While not being the best American import (although it features some excellent riffing on one of my favourite films - American Psycho) it does display the huge gulf in quality and originality between the UK and the US when it comes to drama. Except for the dark and disturbing Red Riding Trilogy of course.

It’s a shame really because we were once on top of the world when it came to hard-hitting, entertaining TV productions with some of the finest actors around. In the US they have stuff like The Shield, a really tough, well acted and superbly written series that shows that sometimes the people catching the criminals can be much worse. What do we have over here? The Bill. It’s just not fair.

Posted by Steven Cookson

When I was younger I remember watching This Morning With Richard Not Judy every Sunday, written by and starring Stewart Lee and Richard Herring. Although I didn’t get all the jokes it was still a welcome change to the usual boring line-up of religion and antiques and since then here hasn’t been a daytime programme that has been as edgy or hilarious, possibly due to complaints from the Points of View crowd. After TMWRNJ ended I didn’t see much of either of them.

It was years later when I rediscovered Stewart Lee's stand-up - I can’t remember how - and I liked his deadpan delivery and often agreed with the targets he chose, plus I’ve always preferred miserable comics to cheery ones possibly because it mirrors my own outlook on life. It was also different to what most comedians were doing as an almost championing of political correctness is even more radical than making racist or sexist jokes in an ironic way, like Jimmy Carr (funny guy but terrible stand-up comedian).

Despite this Lee is no stranger to controversy as the televised version of Jerry Springer: The Opera, which he co-wrote with Richard Thomas, in 2005 was immediately jumped on by Christian groups and received tens of thousands of complaints before it was broadcast on the BBC by people who hadn’t even seen the stage show. Much was made in the tabloid press about the number of swear words contained in it even though the figures were largely exaggerated and demonstrated that when it comes to mass hysteria in the media there’s no time for fact checking and balance.

I watched the televised version and I wasn’t offended by the content, but maybe that has something to do with me not being a reactionary bigot. What I saw was a fun and over-the-top production that wasn’t perfect but kept me entertained nonetheless. I was more offended by Christian Voice’s opposition to a proposed donation by the cast towards cancer charity Maggie's Centres that was rejected because of morals or something. People have a right to protest but that was just ridiculous.

After that setback it’s good that he’s been given a chance to showcase his talent on Stewart Lee’s Comedy Vehicle, a new stand-up/sketch show that follows a different theme each week (so far toilet books and TV). It's a welcome return to the box and a great way for him to reach the wider audience he deserves.

The only bitter pill for Lee is timing, as his new show started about the same time as BBC Three launched a new series called Horne and Corden - a sketch show by two average comedy actors that has obviously been pushed through production very quickly without quality control just to capitalise on their current fame. I promised myself I wouldn’t resort to slagging off H&C as just about everyone is giving them a kicking but it does demonstrate the idiocy of TV executives.

It’s another case of the BBC fast-tracking young stars that clearly haven’t paid their dues and is an insult to those who can’t get anything commissioned. Stewart Lee has been refining his act for the last 20 years where his audience know what to expect and are familiar with the topics he covers. Horne and Corden make sketches about one being fat and the other being a bit camp, and that’s it. It’s the type of lazy, lowest common denominator comedy that Lee has spent much of his time lambasting all these years.

One of the criticisms aimed Lee’s way is that his long-winded jokes and repetition of the same line is dull but he is quite clearly using it for comic effect and not to disguise any lack of improvisational ability. During one of his tours he told a story about interviewing Ang Lee about his Hulk film and that he decided to open it with the line: “Don’t make me Ang Lee, you wouldn’t like me when I’m Ang Lee” which is a bad Sun-like pun but the fact that he repeats it over and over in a monotonous manner makes it really funny. Especially when the punchline hits.

On Comedy Vehicle – and in some of his stand-up tours - he did a similar routine when he talked, rather loudly disapproved, about Del Boy falling through the bar in Only Fools and Horses as being the nation’s funniest TV moment. Never has a man lying on the floor, grumbling into a microphone been so funny.

The problem is though if his new series turns out to be a success will he lose the self-deprecating edge that makes his stand-up so compelling? A lot of his material is based around being out of the mainstream and his outside looking in act might be compromised if he becomes apart of the TV establishment (hyperbole intended). Either way, the chances are he’ll be refused a second series while Horne and Corden will run for a further five years. I’d love to be proven wrong.

Posted by Steven Cookson

Forget the Oscars, the results are now in for the most prestigious annual award ceremony in the world – the Kermodes. Decided and presented by Mark Kermode, resident film critic on BBC’s The Culture Show, the Kermode Awards (a small statue of the man himself) are given to films and actors that haven’t been shortlisted in that same category at the Oscars.

The aim is to give what Mark considers underrated films or those that have been unfairly overlooked by the Academy and, in his words, come up with a better list of winners than the Oscars. Previous winners have included David Cronenburg, David Lynch, Pan’s Labyrinth, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, Sam Riley, Nick Park, Annamaria Marinca and Jonny Greenwood from Radiohead.

The ceremony was broadcast on an episode of The Culture Show, which can be viewed again on the iPlayer as long as it is available. Those who are familiar with Mark Kermode's opinions on the films of last year will not be surprised by his choices. Above anything it gave the Good Doctor the opportunity to broadcast more love of High School Musical 3 (which he genuinely enjoyed and not in an ironic way) and say Of Time and the City was the best thing he saw in 2008.

There was also a short interview with Terry Gilliam (who, like at the BAFTAs, was presented with the Fellowship award) about his past work and if negative press or critical opinion about his films bothers him.

If you’re interested in finding out more of his views on the latest releases, Mark has his own film review show and general wittertainment, with Simon Mayo, on Radio Five Live every Friday at 3pm. This is also streamed live on the Radio Five website and can be downloaded as a podcast. And he has his own video blog on the BBC website.

So here is the full list of winners:

Fellowship – Terry Gilliam