Contrived, schizophrenic and, essentially, crap. Surely Channel 4 will see sense and pull this canned whoop-fest soon?
It's a good job they all have other careers to go back to...
10 O’Clock Live shouldn’t be live. Or on TV. Channel 4’s Alternative Election Night was the prototype and that time round it worked; the sense of dread in the air brought out the best in all the presenters who ad-libbed and managed to hold debates passionately whilst retaining a sense of humour. This series was hyped up to within an inch of its life and billed as the UK answer to ‘The Daily Show’ but in the end the premiere was an hour of one-liners, awkward reading off cue cards and painful setting up of each other’s jokes. But after glazing over and turning off the first installment I wondered if it would’ve matured over time like a fine peach Lambrini. It hasn’t.
As mentioned already, there are a lot of niggles but far and away what makes me want to punch myself in the face the most is the audience. They are the absolute fucking worst and I hate them. Nobody whoops in the ‘Question Time audience’, can you imagine it? Surely the screw-face Dimbleby would shoot someone that did a ‘Jerry Springer’ style whoop? When did it start being OK for us to whoop? Anyway, I hate them- bright eyed and bushy tailed, offended by life’s inequalities on cue, applauding at every pop at The Daily Mail, heatedly updating their Twitter with pithy comments. What a bunch of liberally biased fuck flannels…wait….oh God…they’re me.
So technically I should love this but the bias makes for an atmosphere of circle-wanking, self-righteous guff that can’t make up its mind whether it’s reporting or cracking jokes. Jon Stewart’s lampooning on ‘The Daily Show’ and prodding of the angry Rottweiler that is the likes of the Tea Party feels purely like piss-take and moreover it’s likeable. In comparison 10 O’Clock Live rushes through topical jokes then schizophrenically goes into another segment that attempts to be reasonably serious. It all feels as if it’s an A Level project clubbed together by a ham-fisted sixth-former desperate to impress and cover all areas.
I wonder how the misanthrope in Brooker feels about performing to a crowd of seals clapping in agreement. “Sing for us Charlie! Tell another joke, be our bitch Charlie”
Where I feel it really suffers is the debates that involve even more audience whooping and panto booing that ruins any attempt of it being informative by descending into a slanging match. This week taking on the anti-immigration debate is notable Tory simpleton Shaun “that money was just resting in my account” Bailey versus the snarling Medhi Hasan and some other woman who’s too reasonable to get noticed. Medhi shouts over Bailey, “something something NHS run by immigrants something something foreign culture” the audience fist pumps the air and whoops again. Since everyone including David Mitchell starts employing the ‘saying my point louder makes it more valid’ debating technique it’s impossible to follow. You could agree with everything Hasan brings up, it’s just that he’s given free reign to show up what a shouty, sanctimonious cock he is.
In contrast the discussion on NHS reform with quiet and rational science man Robert Winston and Dr Dan Poulter politely disagreeing with each other’s argument makes Mitchell and his gentle ribbing look like a mouth-breather. There is no whooping for this topic, you can’t whoop at their rationality. So, although the subject is interesting, without Mitchell having some overzealous sociopath to feed off it kind of gets lost.
The beacon of light in it all was Charlie Brooker’s rant, but this was in an hour where my attention could’ve been better sustained by a tub of margarine. However this week’s tirade against iPads and Charlie Sheen, as funny and accurate as it was, kind of made my teeth sweat. The crowd pleasing and snappy soundbites conjured up images of said audience members exclaiming, “OMFG Charlie Brooker is a hero!” Which is great but I wonder how the misanthrope in Brooker feels about performing to a crowd of seals clapping in agreement. “Sing for us Charlie! Tell another joke, be our bitch Charlie”
Hopefully 10 O’Clock Live will be gently taken out behind the back of the barn and shot at the end of this run. Or even better someone somewhere will revamp it; remembering how great we used to be at dreaming up satisfyingly cruel news satire shows that weren’t filled with obvious gags and confused non-journalism.
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