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David Bowden
Don Draper: it’s time to buck your ideas up
In the battle of the quality American shows this spring, it’s Game of Thrones wearing the crown over Mad Men.
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| Friday 10 May 2013 |
David Bowden
Naff is fine... so
long as it’s funny
The Wright Way and Vicious: two old-fashioned sitcoms featuring big names but very small laughs.
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| Friday 3 May 2013 |
David Bowden
Drudgery vs Downton: which is more gripping?
Historical drama The Village is the Anti-Downton Abbey. But really, how interesting are the lives of the rural poor?
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| Friday 19 April 2013 |
David Bowden
TV docs: intensive care for ailing institutions
BBC2’s Keeping Britain Alive is a fascinating but uncritical look at day-to-day life in the National Health Service.
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| Monday 15 April 2013 |
Tim Black
So it’s okay for the Beeb to be ‘unethical’?
If a tabloid used students as a human shield to get a story, there’d be outrage. But by saying ‘public interest!’ the BBC can get away with it.
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| Friday 12 April 2013 |
David Bowden
Thatcher’s death: how did it make you feel?
This week’s televisual outpourings on the Iron Lady were less about Maggie and more about me, me, me.
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| Friday 5 April 2013 |
David Bowden
The Great British Primetime Stitch-Up
Turning baking into light entertainment was a surprise hit for the Beeb... but competitive needlework?
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| Wednesday 27 March 2013 |
Rob Lyons
This barking at politicians is getting boring
Eddie Mair’s humiliation of London mayor Boris Johnson was a triumph for anti-political cynicism, not journalism.
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| Friday 22 March 2013 |
David Bowden
In the Flesh: the braindead, with brains
The zombie peace process in Northern Ireland seems to be the inspiration for a fine zombie comedy-drama.
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| Friday 15 March 2013 |
David Bowden
TV, try telling me something I don’t know
Dan Snow’s flawed A History of Syria was still a rare bright spot in a week of superficial factual television.
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| Friday 8 March 2013 |
David Bowden
Scandi-noir: the saviour of British TV?
That both the BBC and ITV now risk slow-moving detective dramas confirms the massive impact of The Killing.
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| Thursday 28 February 2013 |
David Bowden
Seth MacFarlane: we saw him boob, that’s all
The Oscars host’s jokes may have been crass, but the over-the-top reaction to his performance was far worse.
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| Friday 22 February 2013 |
David Bowden
What’s so real about reality TV?
From poor Manchester boroughs to trendy London suburbs, fly-on-the-wall documentaries always come with a script.
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| Friday 15 February 2013 |
David Bowden
Stephen Poliakoff’s
self-indulgent tosh
Nazis! Mean posh people! Nice parties! Bad dialogue! It must be the BBC’s favourite Serious Playwright.
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| Friday 8 February 2013 |
David Bowden
Oh Netflix, why not
do something new?
The novelty of this video-rental service making its own shows is undermined by the fact that it has opted to do a remake.
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| Friday 1 February 2013 |
David Bowden
Queen of Versailles: laughing at ‘the 1%’
A film about a super-rich couple who madly plan to build an American Versailles is a raucous exercise in schadenfreude.
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| Thursday 24 January 2013 |
David Bowden
Utopia: ‘dark’ is the new black
Channel 4’s much-hyped new series fits well with the recent fashion for grim films, TV and music.
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| Friday 11 January 2013 |
David Bowden
Tom Daley: nice body, shame about the format
Splash! may be the naffest celeb show yet, but it’s given the nation the green light to perv over an Olympic starlet.
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| Friday 4 January 2013 |
David Bowden
Happy sanitised, overcautious New Year
Recent complaints about Big Fat Quiz of the Year and Miranda show the culture of offence is alive and well.
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| Thursday 20 December 2012 |
David Bowden
The timely death of The Killing
The Danish TV noir was groundbreaking in style, but rather conventional in its conspiratorial worldview.
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