10 O'Clock Recorded...

I do not have a TV license, so I have to wait a while for whatever to get uploaded onto 4OD or iPlayer or uTorrent. Therefore, I missed out on the LIVE excitement of 10 O'Clock Live, which is a new topical satire comedy programme with the same cast as the Alternative Election Night, which actually beat ITV when it came to ratings. David Mitchell, Charlie Brooker, Jimmy Carr and Lauren Laverne. Looks good, it really does. However, something being live and made very quickly to keep it topical can disrupt quality. Let's look:

First off was Jimmy Carr running off the week's headlines. This format suits him, with snappy one liners, and it was fairly topical, some of the jokes about very recent events, like the resignation of Alan Johnson. It did tend to rely on crude innuendo, mainly the reason why Ed Balls will never be anything ever. These were hit-and-miss, as anybody will tell you over at Saturday Night Live and every sketch show ever. And Carr looks nervous.

David Mitchell has a table discussion about bankers, something which has been done to death, but Mitchell brings some new ideas to it and some enthusiasm. I'm guessing this isn't supposed to be a knock-out laugh, but it wasn't great, if very short as well. Not developed enough. Audience claps a lot after generic crowd pleasing statements all over the show as well.

Charlie Brooker does his usual narration thing about Sarah Palin (and later about Tunisia), which is good as he always is and above the usual swearing which people think that he is. Good segment to the programme. The less said about Lauren Laverne's solo segment, the better. However, she has received a lot of criticism for this show, when I say that, I mean Twitter, despite her not being known for comey and being brought in to be a sort of grounding force, I'm assuming.

Carr does a holiday broadcast for Tunisia, fairly funny. Mitchell does his corner thing and rants a wee bit. More Brooker, Carr talks to some mental environmentalist who likes white clouds, Mitchell debates tuition fees with a minister, round table discussion. END.

First of all, this is needed. A topical show is something that is incredibly lacking in the UK, with only Have I Got News For You being prevalent in the schedule and the rest of it being drama or sitcoms that appear only when they fucking want to. Great. Considering how much America has, with the Daily Show being the most cited example and rightly so as Jon Stewart is probably the most influential man in America right now. Probably. Actually, fuck it, he is. Yeah. So this is something the UK needed, it's here and it is...slightly above average.

The cast is solid, they work to their strengths. They bounce off of each other very well, delivery is decent. There is something missing, some warmth, some comfort. Everything seems rushed, it is early in the show's history, but I feel they are packing far too much in, everybody talks too fast and everyone seems panicked, whilst the issues being talked about do not get the depth that some of them deserve. As the show gets along, it may become more familiar and easier fo rthe cast and crew, they can get into a sort of rhythm.

Yeah, watch this. It'll take a while, but it'll get good. Hopefully.