samkely Reviews

Alan Davies: As Yet Untitled (2014– )

Toe-Curling

[1/10 · 1 November 2023]

I've never been able to watch more than a few moments of this programme. It's the format. The participants, as far as I know, are accomplished comedians who normally entertain and amuse audiences with their scripted and/or improvised routines, but the idea of sitting them round a table talking to each other, as-living and surrounded by scores of dimly-lit giggling deferential supplicants, whom they completely ignore, is nauseating. Involve the audience for goodness' sake, or operate without them, but don't humiliate them.

The notion that the performers are the superiors of the audience is one of the worst aspects of religious idolatry.

The Gadget Show (2004–2023)

Craig Charles is a Distraction

[6/10 · 9 March 2022]

The content is entertaining, useful and informative and the three regular presenters are excellent, as indeed they were before Craig Charles was parachuted into the show a couple of years ago. He seems to be the Boss, sitting at a desk while the others line up to pay homage to him for some unexplained reason. He's a well-known face on British TV but he seems to positively revel in knowing less than most about, well, gadgets. If the idea is that he is the Everyman figure among the experts, well the idea doesn't work. The show was, and would be, better without him.