Catch Up Round Up: 02/05/13 – 08/05/13

A brief summary of what’s still available on Catch Up/On Demand from a pick of the previous weeks TV.  All dates are as of Thursday 9th May 2013.

Would I Lie to You? – Aired Friday 3rd May BBC1.  Sadly only 2 days left.  Run home now and watch, you don’t need a job.

New series of the hilarious panel show.  I know, I know, it’s another panel show, but it’s the king of panel shows.  Not only do you get (sometimes a quite disturbing) insight into C-list celebrities lives, but it is far more chaotic and physically involved than other shows of this type.  However the main reason to watch is David Mitchell and Lee Mack arguing to the point of combustion over semantics: ‘I think you can swivel things with the use of things that the things are attached to!’.

2 Broke Girls – Aired Saturday 4th May E4.  23 days left.

I was expecting to hate this, but actually the lines aren’t too bad.  After a quick Google search I found that the show has come under criticism for it’s sexual content and appalling racial stereotypes, which I saw some evidence of (it looks like E4 has very poorly edited out some of the risque content, presumably so they can repeat it ad nauseam every 2 hours).  The real problem with this show is the acting.  Everyone shouts everything, with no intonation or emotion.  The worst is Kat Dennings, who plays Max I think – I don’t plan on remembering these characters – who has the most grating voice ever known to man.

Perspectives: Hugh Laurie – Copper Bottom Blues – Aired Sunday 5th May ITV1.  26 days left.

If you are a rhythm and blues fanatic, or like me have had a mild flirtation with it in the form of Jools Holland albums, you’ll enjoy this pilgrimage across America.  Hugh Laurie is a welcome guide, with his ever present dark wit keeping you entertained, and the music is pretty good as well.  The only issue is Hugh performing with his band, watching it is a bit like what I imagine a teenager at a youth centre receiving a visit from Ed Milliband must feel: cringe worthy.

Motor Morphers – Aired Monday 6th May Ch5.  Almost a fricking year left to view!!

I spent the first 15 minutes of watching this planning how I was going to put jokes in here about watching Scrapheap Challenge instead, mostly due to Jason Bradbury shouting and telling me over and over again what the mission was.  Then he shut up and we got to watch the men get to work.  Yes it is Scrapheap, but it’s slightly less silly and dare I say a bit more engaging.  I didn’t understand a word of it as it sadly lacked Scrapheap’s patronising diagrams, but if you like engineering and men in overalls swearing, I recommend it.  This could have legs, welded on from bits of a forklift.

Bankers: Fixing the System – Aired Wednesday 8th May BBC2.  20 days left.

I was hoping for an intelligent deconstruction of what happened last year with the LIBOR scandal.  Instead this is a sensationalist, unstructured and poorly explained attack on the banking sector.  It is plugged full with so much stock footage of the eighties stock exchange, arty shots of balloons floating into oblivion and the kind of sound editing you only see on Homes Under the Hammer, that you can’t focus on anything.  To be fair, it may have improved after the first 15 minutes, but I couldn’t stand to watch this any longer.  If you managed to sit through this and find you have not exploded with rage and confusion, let me know in the comments.

10 O’Clock Live – Aired Wednesday 8th May Ch4.  28 days left.

If you can’t be bothered to watch the news or read a newspaper and you like your humour satirical and sweary, this is the show for you.  I am overjoyed that they brought this show back, as the viewing figures didn’t seem to reflect it’s awesomeness.  After a few false starts this series, it seems to have found it’s footing again.  The only shame is they keep messing with the format.  In series 1 it was 70% David Mitchell, in series 2 it was a few bits for everyone.  This series they have lost Lauren Laverne’s guide and Jimmy Carr’s skit for a random comedian of the week, with mixed results.  Though I do like the fact this has ended up in more time round the table with the four hosts, with often side-splitting results.