Friday, December 28, 2007

Right Back Where We Started From

JIVE! The Strictly Come Dancing Story, BBC1, 7.00pm
LIVE! Flight of the Conchords Special, BBC4, 2.10am

Has the recent loss of certain brilliant shows left life seeming empty and pointless? Fret no longer, because the BBC understands and is tonight filling your televisual abyss with a couple of tasty retrospective treats.

For those of you in the early stages of Strictly Come Dancing withdrawal, there’s a history of ballroom dancing at the BBC hosted by original Come Dancing presenter, Angela Rippon, which leads us to ponder why Rippon (and her lovely legs as revealed by Morecambe and Wise) isn’t the one co-hosting SCD with Brucie. Surely that would be completely great?

If you’re missing New Zealand’s “formerly fourth most popular guitar-based digi-bongo acapella-rap-funk-comedy folk duo,” or if indeed you missed the entire series of Flight of the Conchords , it’s worth rousing yourself from your post-Christmas carbohydrate coma, lifting the remote before your muscles entirely atrophy and turning to BBC4 to watch the repeat of their Live Special tonight (OK, technically very early Saturday morning). It’s preceded by some Screenwipe action to boot!

Fans of the series will recall that there was little in the way of actual on-screen gigage, so this your chance to witness the Conchords in their full live glory. The live act was in fact what led to them getting a proper telly show, so it’s an interesting introduction for those new to the lads, as well as an exciting historical artifact for existing fans.

If anything, the Conchords’ songs are even funnier out-with the context of the TV show and their employment of about 20 different musical genres and sub-genres back-to-back appears even more impressive. It’s a largely acoustic set, which lends a pleasingly ridiculous quality to their rap number. There’s no Murray or Dave, Brett is beard-free and Jemaine’s amazing wardrobe doesn’t get much of an airing, but the brilliance of the chortlesome twosome more than makes up for it. If you did miss the series when it was on, no doubt after watching this you’ll be rushing out to spend that record token you got for Christmas from your auntie on the DVDs.

Labels: Flight of the Conchords, Strictly Come Dancing, TV

By Kellie :: Post link :: ::  
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Tuesday, December 11, 2007

Folk off

MUSIC! Flight of the Conchords, BBC4, 9.30pm

We're fairly certain that the entire point of BBC4 is that every programme should teach us something. Charlie Brooker's Screenwipe, for example, taught us that shouting at the television is not the behaviour of a crazy person, but indeed the only rational response in an otherwise loony world of pointless reality shows and sexed-up news. The lessons we learned from Flight of the Conchords are a little less obvious, perhaps, but they're still there: we learned that doing a convincing New Zealand accent is harder than you'd think (our attempts keep accidentally veering into South African), and that numbers are extremely important when you're in a band.

The importance of numbers came up once before when the duo inadvertently tripled their fan base (in other words, it was Mel plus two new girls), and tonight it turns out that three is, as was previously suspected, a crowd when the ever-clueless Murray hires a bongo player to join the band. Bret and Jemaine are furious, obviously - although when they give him a chance, it actually looks like he might be doing the band some good after all. He's certainly a charmer, that Todd.

Other important numbers today (it's a bit like Sesame Street, isn't it?) are 12 and zero, meaning that this is the twelfth episode of the series and there are zero remaining, so we will have to face a Conchord-less Tuesday for the foreseeable future. Frankly our Tuesdays just aren't going to be the same without the surprisingly sharp pop pastiches, the many failed attempts at forming relationships with women, the deputy cultural attachés who double as hotshot band managers, and the ever-present sense of barely acknowledged homoeroticism. We're going to go and listen to 'If You're Into It' and cry a few salty tears, while wearing a plaid shirt and a nonplussed expression, as our tribute to New Zealand's fourth most popular guitar-based rap-funk-folk duo. They're going to be missed.

Labels: BBC4, Flight of the Conchords, TV

By Steve :: Post link :: ::  
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Tuesday, October 02, 2007

There's nowt so queer as folk (music)

COMEDY! Flight of the Conchords/Charlie Brooker's Screenwipe, BBC4, from 9.30pm

Tuesday is at risk of becoming our absolute stay-at-home, don't-answer-the-phone television treat night. Or it would, if we hadn't just ruined that by signing up for an evening class. But since you don't really need to know about our daily schedule (and if we explained it in too much detail some internet shyster might try to rob us when they know we're going to be out), we'll get to the point, since Tuesday night now means two things: Flight of the Conchords and Charlie Brooker's Screenwipe directly afterwards. Both series started last week, and perhaps we should have warned you about them then, but now having seen an episode of each, we just feel more informed of their brilliance.

Flight of the Conchords, for the unfamiliar, follows the eponymous duo, billed as "formerly New Zealand's fourth most popular guitar-based digi-bongo acapella-rap-funk-comedy folk duo", as they attempt to make a (slightly shorter) name for themselves in New York. Hampered by their manager-slash-New Zealand Deputy Cultural Attaché Murray, who last week memorably attempted to film their new video on his mobile phone, and in possession of a fanbase of exactly one, they have their work cut out. There are some nice moments of the standard sitcom variety, but the real kick lies in the songs. Last week Bret and Jemaine duetted on the heartfelt ballad 'I'm Not Crying' when Bret's former girlfriend Sally broke up with Jemaine, including memorable lyrics such as "these aren't tears of sadness because you're leaving me / I've just been cutting onions / I'm making a lasagna / For one" and "I'm not upset because you left me this way / My eyes are just a little sweaty today".

Following that, the man who needs no introduction (though we'll give him one anyway), the wondrous Mr Charlie Brooker, patron saint of all those who yell angrily at their televisions. (We must invite him around to watch Hollyoaks with us.) Last week's show featured an analysis of the current crisis of trust in TV, and how even old favourites such as Cash in the Attic are LYING TO US. We especially liked it when he used The X Factor as an extended example, because it was almost like looking into our own heads. We don't know what he'll be getting riled up about this week, but whatever it is, we'll almost certainly be in stitches. So there you have it: the best hour of television this week, for our money.

Labels: BBC4, Charlie Brooker's Screenwipe, Flight of the Conchords, TV

By Steve :: Post link :: ::  
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