So it's the post-Christmas, pre-new year gap, and I'm just glad to be finally tasting food again. After a Christmas Day that involved waking up and bursting into tears because I felt so ill, and then went on to involve NO turkey, NO chocolate orange, NO booze, and NO presents on Christmas day as I was too weak, I'm just glad to be able to sit up straight now. I must be the only fucking person in England who LOST weight over Christmas. BOO!
But anyway, who cares about my ailments? Only me and all those within germ-spitting distance. I still managed to squeeze in a healthy amount of Christmas TV in between crying, chain-sucking strepsils, and avoiding particularly offensive family members.
Just before the worst of the fever struck, my mum said 'Do you want to watch a film?' and I archly said 'I only like kitchen sink dramas.' in my best Morrissey voice. Sadly, she took me quite seriously and put on 60s black and white drama Saturday Night and Sunday Morning. Actually, it was quite good, if you don't mind very little happening in a film, which I didn't. I like seeing how things used to look as well, and everyone looked very cool and smoked a lot. It had a bit of a weird ending though; like it ended in the middle.
On Christmas day itself, I opened my eyes for the Top of The Pops Christmas special; which was oddly enjoyable. The soaps were good but not great; I think Eastenders hit the mark the best with the Sean-baby saga. Tony sticking Jed in the box on Corrie was good fun; but not quite as dramatic, somehow.
I hated Deal or No Deal at Christmas, it's rubbish without the usual contensants when it's for some person who's 'deserving'. Zzzz. I slept through most of those.
I think it was Boxing Day when I watched ET on ITV2, which was dreamy; still just brilliant. Thank God CGI hadn't been invented to mess it up then. Pure perfection. Elliot is like a proto-type Conor Oberst. Drew Barrymore is fab. Harry Hill was good that day, too.
The rest of the schedule was pretty awful; we had to resort to playing games (not that much fun when you can't drink). We watched Cloverfield again (very good) and a zillion countdown shows; annoying people, best films, best songs, and so on. Lists and lists and lists.
Worst programme of the festive seasion was the utterly dire 8 out of 10 Cats- Best Bits. If those were the best bits, I shudder to think how chronically unfunny the rest of the fucking thing was. I thought comedians were meant to make you laugh? I pity the likes of the dazzling Charlie Brooker and always-great David Mitchell having to pretend to laugh at that one that looks like Billy Mitchell, and tha fat cunt off of Gavin and Stacey. I can't even bear to look at that pig-faced charisma-void, he makes my skin crawl. Utterly awful in every way, I strongly advise you to walk slowly away from that burning car crash, Jimmy Carr. Another serious of Your Face or Mine? would be seven billion times it's superior (seriously; that show rocked). Halfway through we switched over to a repeat of Ponderland and the relief of unbridled laughing at someone genuinely talented was a stark contrast to the back-slapping bullshit we had been suffering through. Oh yeah; and Christmas Ponderland was brilliant too; although Russell's new beard makes him look sinister. Still, thank God we still have him; because lord knows, we need him.
The only other thing of note we watched was the E4 special Why I Love Celebrity Big Brother. It was really fun to see all the previous years; the best of which had to be the heady mixture of Chantelle, Preston, Jodie Marsh, Pete Burns, Barrymore and George Galloway. Just magical. Jodie Marsh was robbed; she definitely had more to offer. How I loved the innocence of Chantelle's green eyeshadow! Sigh. So yes, I am VERY much looking forward to the new series on Friday. And still hating Jade for getting it cancelled this year. It gives me something to mouth off about anyway and I can't wait!
Showing posts with label Deal or No Deal. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Deal or No Deal. Show all posts
Monday, 29 December 2008
Thursday, 11 September 2008
Bedsit TV
I have some news. I have stopped liking some of my favourite programmes. How did this happen? Did I go all arty? Did I get a social life? Did I get old? No, I think it's living on my own. There is something empty about watching Deal or No Deal alone. And as for the X Factor? Forget it. Even my mum's enthusiastic text messages can't spur me on. It all seems as hollow as Dannii Minogue's face.
Maybe it's just the formats are tired, or maybe it's just me? I can't get into Cheryl Cole's monotonous drone (come back, Sharon).
I still enjoyed Big Brother as much as I could. But apart from that, I just seem to be filling up my recordable freeview with programmes and not watching them.
There does seem to be a lack of freakshow/ makeover-type stuff on at the mo, my favourite kind of silliness. I'll probably watch Secret Diary of a Call Girl. But what else is there to look forward to? I've gone off Wife Swap. Even Dragon's Den is boring me.
The weird part is though, I don't really miss any of it. I'm not exactly going out on the razzle every night (once a month though, come on, I've still got it), but I don't seem to get bored, or run out of things to do. I have a bunch of Eastenders and Corries to catch up on since Amsterdam, and it just seems like a chore, not a pleasure. I don't want to see Billy, Peggy, or Bianca. I don't even want to see Christian.
Have I weaned myself off shit TV? Or do I just need to get married or something to bring the valium-like qualities of council-pop talent shows and desperado-style reality TV back into full focus?
I don't want to feel this way about good TV, like Curb Your Enthusiasm though. I know I will regain the passion, it's in me, like my love of plastic tat.
On the plus side, I still like music, and I haven't taken up DIY or gardening, so there's still hope *clings onto youth*.
PS: It's not a bedsit, it's a studio.
Maybe it's just the formats are tired, or maybe it's just me? I can't get into Cheryl Cole's monotonous drone (come back, Sharon).
I still enjoyed Big Brother as much as I could. But apart from that, I just seem to be filling up my recordable freeview with programmes and not watching them.
There does seem to be a lack of freakshow/ makeover-type stuff on at the mo, my favourite kind of silliness. I'll probably watch Secret Diary of a Call Girl. But what else is there to look forward to? I've gone off Wife Swap. Even Dragon's Den is boring me.
The weird part is though, I don't really miss any of it. I'm not exactly going out on the razzle every night (once a month though, come on, I've still got it), but I don't seem to get bored, or run out of things to do. I have a bunch of Eastenders and Corries to catch up on since Amsterdam, and it just seems like a chore, not a pleasure. I don't want to see Billy, Peggy, or Bianca. I don't even want to see Christian.
Have I weaned myself off shit TV? Or do I just need to get married or something to bring the valium-like qualities of council-pop talent shows and desperado-style reality TV back into full focus?
I don't want to feel this way about good TV, like Curb Your Enthusiasm though. I know I will regain the passion, it's in me, like my love of plastic tat.
On the plus side, I still like music, and I haven't taken up DIY or gardening, so there's still hope *clings onto youth*.
PS: It's not a bedsit, it's a studio.
Tuesday, 12 February 2008
TV Round Up: Bin Raiders!
I've been watching a bit of anything and everything lately but nothing enough to write a whole blog about so I'm just going to do a general mash-up.
Obviously I've been watching Curb Your Enthusiasm, but I already saw them online. Still, a consistent joy. I've also really been enjoying Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares; god knows why, I hate good food so I must just love shouting. I am also alway loving American Idol, Deal or No Deal and Harry Hill's V Burp.
I've also got into watching a zillion episodes of Maury. Bloody hell, are they ever about ANYTHING than paternity tests? Where are the progerianoids when you need them? There was one woman who tested NINE men to be her baby's father and still didn't find him. Nine! It should be two at an absolute MAXIMUM. And even if it's two, just abort for God's sake. Maury's alright though, he's nice and crinkly. On a further talk-show tip, I've watched a couple of Nothing But The Truth's with Jerry Springer. That's kind of stupid and annoying. The lie detector senses you are lying! If lie detectors are so bloody accurate we'd have no need for a court of law.
Today for the first time ever I watched The Real Hustle, which I thought was pretty good in a Derren Brown meets Trigger Happy sort of a way. They are not showing you how to AVOID being conned, they are showing YOU how to con people. Cool.
Wife Swap is just going to drastic levels this year, Sunday's episode saw a millionaire who lived in what looked like a comedy haunted house swap with some Christian Bin Raiders! Yes that is as disgusting as it sounds. They'll never top Lizzie Bardsley so they may as well just forget it.
Soaps! Corrie's been alright, enjoyed the wedding fiasco. He shouldn't have married dopey Maria. I quite fancy Ryan, the school boy, which is a worry. Not so keen on the other son, and he looks about five years older. Stick with Ryan, Michelle. I quite like Hearsay woman. She's alright.
Enderz. Is it just me or has Tanya suddenly got 12 billion times sexier than she used to be? She looks two stone lighter. I still would with Sean. Max= the fatther who must be killed. The following characters need to be sacked: Stephen (in fact all of Ians kids) Yolande, the postman, the postman's nagging bint of a wife, STACEY'S MUM, Gus (wife beater), Chelsea, that bloke with the chav kid, Max's bratty daughter, Mickey and that new girl who keeps gurning over people's shoulders. Thanks.
Obviously I've been watching Curb Your Enthusiasm, but I already saw them online. Still, a consistent joy. I've also really been enjoying Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares; god knows why, I hate good food so I must just love shouting. I am also alway loving American Idol, Deal or No Deal and Harry Hill's V Burp.
I've also got into watching a zillion episodes of Maury. Bloody hell, are they ever about ANYTHING than paternity tests? Where are the progerianoids when you need them? There was one woman who tested NINE men to be her baby's father and still didn't find him. Nine! It should be two at an absolute MAXIMUM. And even if it's two, just abort for God's sake. Maury's alright though, he's nice and crinkly. On a further talk-show tip, I've watched a couple of Nothing But The Truth's with Jerry Springer. That's kind of stupid and annoying. The lie detector senses you are lying! If lie detectors are so bloody accurate we'd have no need for a court of law.
Today for the first time ever I watched The Real Hustle, which I thought was pretty good in a Derren Brown meets Trigger Happy sort of a way. They are not showing you how to AVOID being conned, they are showing YOU how to con people. Cool.
Wife Swap is just going to drastic levels this year, Sunday's episode saw a millionaire who lived in what looked like a comedy haunted house swap with some Christian Bin Raiders! Yes that is as disgusting as it sounds. They'll never top Lizzie Bardsley so they may as well just forget it.
Soaps! Corrie's been alright, enjoyed the wedding fiasco. He shouldn't have married dopey Maria. I quite fancy Ryan, the school boy, which is a worry. Not so keen on the other son, and he looks about five years older. Stick with Ryan, Michelle. I quite like Hearsay woman. She's alright.
Enderz. Is it just me or has Tanya suddenly got 12 billion times sexier than she used to be? She looks two stone lighter. I still would with Sean. Max= the fatther who must be killed. The following characters need to be sacked: Stephen (in fact all of Ians kids) Yolande, the postman, the postman's nagging bint of a wife, STACEY'S MUM, Gus (wife beater), Chelsea, that bloke with the chav kid, Max's bratty daughter, Mickey and that new girl who keeps gurning over people's shoulders. Thanks.
Friday, 28 December 2007
Christmas Viewing/ Watching/ Reading (but not eating)
Well as usual, TV was pretty crap, but that should be of little surprise. I haven't watched what was probably he best thing on TV Harry Hill's TV Burp because it clashed with Eastenders. I have sky plussed it though and will watch it later tonight. I'm sure it was the best thing on.
So was Eastenders worth watching instead? Well, finally, for two episodes, it was. After the longest build-up in history, the Max/Stacey affair was finally revealed. Having them all discover it at once via the DVD was genius. It's a shame the child who plays Lauren couldn't act. She was unable to show emotion on her face, and was completely out-acted by her little sister, the annoying one with the guinea pigs, who normally breaks into song every five minutes. Luckily, everyone else involved acted pretty well for once and the fall out was all exactly what I wanted to see as a viewer, although perhaps not on Christmas day (slit wrist with your turkey?)
Will Bradley take Stacey back? Probably! Bless him. Max proved himself to be as evil and selfish as expected. Boo! Unfortunately yesterday we were back to all the usual dross, with Parklife, Stephen (Didn't Go To) Acting School Beale, and Ronnie and Roxy (with her My Little Pony hair and frowny forehead). Zzzzzzzzzzzz. Give Phil Mitchell a new year drink, for fuck's sake.
Coronation Street wasn't quite as good as Eastenders, but I enjoyed the whole christmas present mix up and a good old festive beating. The question is, would ANYONE put up with Rosie's personality, no matter how good looking she is?
Deal or No Deal is normally pretty good over Xmas but instead of doubling the money, they decided to ruin Christmas by making it a charity thing. Zzzzzzzzz! I don't want to hear your sob story at Christmas. It's too depressing if they're dying and then they lose. It's just cruel! I was quite disappointed. No doubt they couldn't afford to double the money now they aren't rinsing it out of us via the phone-in competition.
I'm not ashamed to admit that I enjoyed Love Actually again, but perhaps inspired by this my mum made me watch Serendipity which was fucking awful! How unlikeable are Kate Beckinsale and John Cusack in it? I wanted to punch the pair of them. Just the word 'serendipity' makes me want to crush my own fingers with a a hammer rather than ever hear it again. Piss off. I was rooting for their girlfriends and boyfriends in it, as the leads were a selfish, smug pair of twats.
Just about the only other decent thing on at Xmas was Extras, which was the final ever episode. Quite an odd one this, as I watched it early with my boyfriend (we downloaded the US version as it was on earlier). Apart from some very strange American references in it (Kramer and Ryan Seacrest instead of Jade Goody and Same Difference- I mean, do Americans pander to us like this? I don't think so) I really, really enjoyed it. It's not laugh out loud funny, but Ricky Gervais' social (and emotional) commentary is always spot on. The cameos are alright, but they don't make it. I loved the Big Brother stuff, of course. I watched this again at my mums when it was on BBC1 and it went down like a dodgy mince pie. No one laughed once except me and everyone complained that it was boring and not funny. So I think it will probably split opinion and get slated in some parts. But Ricky is still the best.
Oh and further to them making the references more American in it- what's the point when half the jokes are around 'Barry off Eastenders', Dean Gaffney and the Carphone Warehouse? I find it quite patronising.
Oh, I also watched I Am Legend over the Christmas period and it was very enjoyable, up until the point... oh, I'd better not ruin it, should I? But yeah, you'll know what I mean. Is it a zombie overload in moviedom yet? Or do we still like them? I think I still like them a little, and Will Smith is OK, despite the ears.
Oh and I read a book over Christmas that my best mate lent me, which is the first book I've finished in fucking yonks. I've been reading Morrissey: The Albums for 6 months. But I read and finished The Illumination of Merton Browne, by Justin Shaw, which was a tale of a chav who liked to read (a lot) and is somehow incredibly loveable despite him being up to all sorts. It's very easy to read, which is lucky, because I'm lazy. It would make a good film, probably, which is what my mum always says about my stories. So yeah. Read that.
So was Eastenders worth watching instead? Well, finally, for two episodes, it was. After the longest build-up in history, the Max/Stacey affair was finally revealed. Having them all discover it at once via the DVD was genius. It's a shame the child who plays Lauren couldn't act. She was unable to show emotion on her face, and was completely out-acted by her little sister, the annoying one with the guinea pigs, who normally breaks into song every five minutes. Luckily, everyone else involved acted pretty well for once and the fall out was all exactly what I wanted to see as a viewer, although perhaps not on Christmas day (slit wrist with your turkey?)
Will Bradley take Stacey back? Probably! Bless him. Max proved himself to be as evil and selfish as expected. Boo! Unfortunately yesterday we were back to all the usual dross, with Parklife, Stephen (Didn't Go To) Acting School Beale, and Ronnie and Roxy (with her My Little Pony hair and frowny forehead). Zzzzzzzzzzzz. Give Phil Mitchell a new year drink, for fuck's sake.
Coronation Street wasn't quite as good as Eastenders, but I enjoyed the whole christmas present mix up and a good old festive beating. The question is, would ANYONE put up with Rosie's personality, no matter how good looking she is?
Deal or No Deal is normally pretty good over Xmas but instead of doubling the money, they decided to ruin Christmas by making it a charity thing. Zzzzzzzzz! I don't want to hear your sob story at Christmas. It's too depressing if they're dying and then they lose. It's just cruel! I was quite disappointed. No doubt they couldn't afford to double the money now they aren't rinsing it out of us via the phone-in competition.
I'm not ashamed to admit that I enjoyed Love Actually again, but perhaps inspired by this my mum made me watch Serendipity which was fucking awful! How unlikeable are Kate Beckinsale and John Cusack in it? I wanted to punch the pair of them. Just the word 'serendipity' makes me want to crush my own fingers with a a hammer rather than ever hear it again. Piss off. I was rooting for their girlfriends and boyfriends in it, as the leads were a selfish, smug pair of twats.
Just about the only other decent thing on at Xmas was Extras, which was the final ever episode. Quite an odd one this, as I watched it early with my boyfriend (we downloaded the US version as it was on earlier). Apart from some very strange American references in it (Kramer and Ryan Seacrest instead of Jade Goody and Same Difference- I mean, do Americans pander to us like this? I don't think so) I really, really enjoyed it. It's not laugh out loud funny, but Ricky Gervais' social (and emotional) commentary is always spot on. The cameos are alright, but they don't make it. I loved the Big Brother stuff, of course. I watched this again at my mums when it was on BBC1 and it went down like a dodgy mince pie. No one laughed once except me and everyone complained that it was boring and not funny. So I think it will probably split opinion and get slated in some parts. But Ricky is still the best.
Oh and further to them making the references more American in it- what's the point when half the jokes are around 'Barry off Eastenders', Dean Gaffney and the Carphone Warehouse? I find it quite patronising.
Oh, I also watched I Am Legend over the Christmas period and it was very enjoyable, up until the point... oh, I'd better not ruin it, should I? But yeah, you'll know what I mean. Is it a zombie overload in moviedom yet? Or do we still like them? I think I still like them a little, and Will Smith is OK, despite the ears.
Oh and I read a book over Christmas that my best mate lent me, which is the first book I've finished in fucking yonks. I've been reading Morrissey: The Albums for 6 months. But I read and finished The Illumination of Merton Browne, by Justin Shaw, which was a tale of a chav who liked to read (a lot) and is somehow incredibly loveable despite him being up to all sorts. It's very easy to read, which is lucky, because I'm lazy. It would make a good film, probably, which is what my mum always says about my stories. So yeah. Read that.
Sunday, 7 January 2007
The Death of Deal or No Deal
About three months ago I had the radio whilst I was washing up in the kitchen, and on the news someone announced that a contestant had won the £250,000 on Deal or No Deal, my favourite programme. I was VERY annoyed. Having kept this to myself for all this time so I didn't spoil the surprise for my boyfriend, today I got two texts, one from my best mate and one from my mum, saying 'did you watch Deal or no Deal today?' Despite the casual nature of these messages, I knew what this meant.
So, still keeping schtum, I sat down with my boyfriend to watch. It was still very good, entertaining and tense, and the contestant was very brave, but I'm sure it would have been better had I not known. It was cool to see Noel with a tear in his eye.
However, now the gold has been discovered, does this spell the death of Deal? Can there ever be such satisfaction at beating the banker again? Or do Noel and co face the inevitable decline that Millionaire has been wading through for... ooh, about five years?
I hope not. I love Noel and the Deal format. Hopefully next time, I won't know what's going to happen. And I'm still proud of myself for keeping my mouth shut for so long!
So, still keeping schtum, I sat down with my boyfriend to watch. It was still very good, entertaining and tense, and the contestant was very brave, but I'm sure it would have been better had I not known. It was cool to see Noel with a tear in his eye.
However, now the gold has been discovered, does this spell the death of Deal? Can there ever be such satisfaction at beating the banker again? Or do Noel and co face the inevitable decline that Millionaire has been wading through for... ooh, about five years?
I hope not. I love Noel and the Deal format. Hopefully next time, I won't know what's going to happen. And I'm still proud of myself for keeping my mouth shut for so long!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)