Tuesday, May 18, 2004
BIG NIGHT IN
Monday, May 17, 2004. Will this date go down in history as the best night of telly ever? Well, maybe.
Things started well with a brilliant episode of Coronation Street at 7.30pm. No sign of the bummers, but poor Fred was unwittingly hurtling towards heartbreak once again as he prepared for the arrival of evil Orchid, his beauty from the East (East Didsbury, that is). Cupid had speared Shelley through the heart as well, but she found herself stranded behind the bar of the Rovers when cheeky Charlie failed to turn up for their date. Of course, we all know that her old slapper of a mother, Bev, had lied about him phoning to postpone the date, just because she's a bitter old shrew.
EastEnders was OK too - Dot and Pauline had some good comedy moments, and it was fun watching Kat turn a peculiar shade of orange as Andy made her squirm. We still can't work out exactly why it beat Corrie in the recent Soap Awards, though - it's really treading water at the moment (Vicki's matchmaking was particularly cringeworthy). We can't wait for Phil Mitchell to return to administer a good hard boot up the arse to Andy, for a start.
Back to Weatherfield at 8.30, where we discovered that Rosie Webster is now a maths genius, giving Sally something else to get obsessive about. We're worried about the effect all this is having on the Websters' other daughter, Rosie, though - Sally picked up a completely different child from school at some point last week, and has been too wrapped up in Rosie's activities to even notice. Janice's ire about being described as rough and ready was also a delight to watch.
After all that, it was time for the triumphant appearance of Tanya Turner from Footballers Wives in Bad Girls. We were a bit disappointed, but only because Tanya has not yet come face-to-face with Jim Fenner. Everything else about it was every bit as good as we had hoped - Tanya's attempts to befriend Darlene for her own devious ends were particularly hilarious. There's more tonight at 9pm, as Tanya finds herself accused of Al's murder.
Following that serious drama, it was time for some laughter. Unfortunately, we had to wait half an hour until I Am Not An Animal was finished. A workmate's report that it was the best thing she had ever seen on television proved to be slightly overenthusiastic. The jokes were a bit rubbish, really. But talking animals aren't everyone's cup of tea.
The new run of Coupling has started on BBC3, and it was quite good last week, showing the same sequence of events from three different points of view. Episode two was not quite as good, though. If it's supposed to be a Friends rip-off, they should really have thought about putting a few more jokes in.
To our great surprise, we found ourselves enjoying Two Pints Of Lager And A Packet Of Crisps, which was on just after, much more. We're sorry. It won't happen again.
This left just enough time for an episode of Nighty Night before bed. It was the one where Jill abandons Cath at the bottom of a hill, then uses guilt to make Cath buy her some expensive jewellery as a gift, before changing her mind at the last minute. ("Actually, Cath, I would rather just have the equivalent in cash, if you don't mind"). Even though we've seen it about 20 times now, it was still the funniest of the night's comedy offerings. It certainly beats Coupling's laboured jokes about being executed by a sword-wielding foetus.
By Paul :: Post link
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