Five things we've learned from the weekend's TV – from Louie Spence to Nick Clegg
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Version 0 of 1. Nick Clegg is a jolly good egg I could not have been more sceptical about the idea of Nick Clegg appearing on Adam Hills’ The Last Leg (Channel 4, Friday) to supposedly shake young voters out of their apathy. It turned out to be a joy to watch. Russell Brand he ain’t. But Clegg has something else: a genuine self-consciousness that translates into humility. He is a bit of a wally. But he is a well-meaning wally. When asked to rate, on a scale of one to 10 how bad he felt about tuition fees (one = “no regrets”, 10 = “can’t sleep at night”), his sheepish “nine and a half” got him a round of applause. The cynical take? “Trying out his post-election career,” tweeted @richbu1. Whatever Clegg was doing, he aced it. Bang on, as the presenters of The Last Leg would say. Carrie Fisher has a dog called Gary Fisher Carrie Fisher has a dog called Gary Fisher (full name at all times). The dog has a dry, distended tongue which never goes into its mouth and just hangs out all the time. Carrie Fisher occasionally flicks Gary Fisher’s tongue. It stays where it is. Fishers Carrie and Gary popped up in absentia on The Graham Norton Show (BBC1, Friday) thanks to their roles in the (excellent) new Channel 4 sitcom Catastrophe, with Sharon Horgan and Rob Delaney. Blink and you’d have missed Norton’s breathtakingly excellent barb at broadcasters: “Congratulations. You’ve written a funny sitcom that made it on to television.” I’d like to hear him say A LOT more about this. Stars in Their Eyes is not working. Or is it? The fourth outing for Harry Hill’s Stars in Their Eyes (ITV, Saturday) and Twitter is still flooded with criticism. Personally I am transfixed by the surreal, purposeful madness of it. The eight-year-old in our house thinks it’s the best thing on TV. And Harry’s singing quiff was superb. Not to be written off yet. There is such a thing as “foga” (football and yoga) On Take Me Out (ITV, Saturday) Jamie, an exceptionally game busker from Kent, balanced a football on his sacroiliac joint while being evaluated by a woman with pink hair who rated him five out of 10. If this is what you have to do to get a date nowadays, thank foga I’m not a young British male on the pull. One unanswered question. One contestant said she was a “visual merchandiser”. What is that? A SpecSavers model? Someone who sells glass eyes? It was not explained. Winter sports are terrifying – unless you’re a reality-TV star Within the first five minutes of The Jump (Channel 4, Sunday), they had issued a warning about not letting go of “the Skeleton” – a horrific 110kph body sleigh – to avoid sustaining a multiple wrist fracture. (It happened last year.) The award-winning sportsmen were humbled. Joey Essex and Louie Spence just laughed hysterically. The Jump has the feel of Big Brother hosted by the family Von Trapp. Have there ever been this many contestants in a reality show? Why so many? Natural wastage. Six were already injured in training. Two – Ola Jordan and Sally Bercow – so badly that they had to pull out. From what we’ve seen so far, let us not underestimate pink furry dance-dynamo Louie Spence, who beat former England rugby player Mike Tindall easily. As Louie might put it himself, he’s not one to pull out early. Who’s the favourite to win? Davina, of course. She must be trousering a gazillion for holding this pack of slush together. |