Charlie Brooker’s Screen Wipe
I’ve always enjoyed Charlie Brooker’s Screen Burn columns in the Guardian, so I was interested to see that he’d got a TV show on BBC Four called ‘Screen Wipe’. It’s broadcast well past my bedtime, so we’ve been recording it and watching it at some later date while eating dinner. His Screen Burn column often made me spray coffee all over the table when a funny phrase caught me unawares, but now Screen Wipe results in the considerably more painful (and messy) snorting of pasta out through the nose.
Brooker is fabulously venomous about TV that he finds ridiculous, but also enthusiastic about programmes that he likes. There was a segment on the last programme about breakfast TV which was absolutely hilarious, including some clips from some dreadfully saccharine Australian TV programme for kids that appears to be his favoured early morning viewing.
He also did a bit on Noel Edmonds’ ‘Deal Or No Deal’—-a game show that I’m glad to say I’ve never seen. However, his description of it as the first game show based on quantum mechanics (more or less replicated in print here) was so funny that I’m tempted to watch it to see what he’s on about. Well, maybe not.
1
Unless you are an Hyperintelligent megabeing from another planet, you are never going to understand Deal or No Deal. I tried. then went back to trying to read The Seven Pillars of Wisdom (No don't, life's too short!)
I haven't tried to double cilick all evening!----- Ha! I said practically the same thing here. Now I look like I just copied it, especially given the very good fact that he wrote that weeks before I did mine.
by hobbes @ 14/03/2006 11:04 pm • Permalink •
2
"snorting of pasta out (your) nose"? This image will trouble me all day and I´ve had to change the dinner menu. Thanks for sharing. I think you should stop watching all sci-fi immediately.
by john(jc.) @ 15/03/2006 8:04 am • Permalink •
3
this was just the post I had been wanting to write... I caught the first episode ( I think ) a couple of weekends back and it was great to see him strutting his stuff, with a tv budget to spend.
I wish I had BBC4 here... I'm half expecting one of his shows to be entirely devoted to "24".
by chris @ 15/03/2006 9:04 am • Permalink •
4
I liked his analysis of the cost of making programmes - throwing money at the staff, gratuitous use of copyright material. Hilarious, informative, and abusive all at the same time.
by pete @ 15/03/2006 12:04 pm • Permalink •
5
Jonathan Briggs: A pan-dimensional hyperintelligent megabeing, I assume.
"I havenât tried to double cilick all evening!" Wha? Do you mean 'right click'? 'Cos we Mac types double-click all the time. Known for it.
hobbes: Ah, but he has the advantage of that time machine, so really wrote it first.
john(j.c.): I do apologise. It was something of an exaggeration, but I do fear for the openness of my airways when Screen Wipe is on. Mr. Bsag has to be ready with his Heimlich Manoeuvre.
chris, pete: Yes, that piece was actually rather educational. I was laughing, but at the same time thinking, "Hey, you're spending our money to tell me about how people spend my money!"
by bsag @ 15/03/2006 7:04 pm • Permalink •
6
Screen Wipe left me wondering when I had last laughed out loud at a TV programme.
by steve @ 30/03/2006 7:03 am • Permalink •
7
A second series starts on Thursday - thank Christ for that.
by H @ 10/07/2006 11:08 am • Permalink •
8
"Screen Wipe" is the dog's glistening knackers. Good soundtrack, too.
by Tom @ 20/07/2006 9:07 pm • Permalink •
9
We recorded it last night and are planning to watch it tonight - can't wait! Even the trailers were a work of genius.
I meant to mention it before, but he wrote something in his Screen Burn column about Doctor Who that almost perfectly summed up my opinion of David Tennant's Doctor:
"1: Curb the zaniness. David Tennant's Doctor alternates between "boggle-eyed schoolroom wacko" and "concerned intergalactic statesman" almost without warning. There's too much of the former, not nearly enough of the latter, and precious little in-between. A bit of mucking about is fine; too much and it all starts to resemble The Adventures Of Timmy Mallett In Space."
by bsag @ 21/07/2006 9:07 am • Permalink •
10
His Friday Guardian G2 column have had me squealing in disbelief and joy, especially the one where he ponders on productive uses for children. Watched 1st of new series of Screen Wipe last night and almost coughed up someone's lung laughing. I am hoping that he gets to work on Derek Achora's Ghost Towns as that awful, awful programme needs disecting by his precision tool and disembowling like the utter trash that it is. I bet he'd love it.
Gaily
by Gaily @ 21/07/2006 9:07 am • Permalink •
11
Oh word! I have long been a Brooker fan, and so had unreasonably high expectations for this program. It delivered way beyond the call of duty, and despite the fact I hadn't eaten in an hour, I somehow managed to snort some pasta through my nose also. Will he review it in his next screen burn column?
It's been too long since television last saw quality of this ilk. Way to go the big man. And what a soundtrack.. good shout
by Fox @ 21/07/2006 9:08 am • Permalink •
12
Next episode tonight: can't wait. I have a small thought about last week's however, I was hoping somebody could maybe clear up??
The dispicable baby mind reader from last weeks episode. Was that clip actually taken from a real TV program? There was only two actors and a baby in the scene, and it is wholly redolant of the signiture brass eye flair: a program for which he has co-written several episodes. Did that program actually exist? Did anyone actually see it or spoke to anyone else that did? Has he made it up?
The opening ep was devoted to educating the viewer on how fake TV actually is. It starts to make some sense.....? Can anyone help a suspicious fan? That over uses question marks??
by Fox @ 03/08/2006 1:09 pm • Permalink •
13
It seems to be TV Burp with more venom - no doubt due to the timeslot giving Brooker more freedom. Coincidentally, both have Quantick involved as writer, and you can tell from the curmudgeonly apathy displayed in some of the descriptions.
I liked he talked at great lengths about Deadwood - did he say it was the best show in 5 years, or one of the best? It is very good, but it's not The Wire.
by craig @ 04/08/2006 5:08 am • Permalink •
14
This is exactly what I was looking for, thanks for the great information.
by charley @ 25/10/2006 4:11 pm • Permalink •
15
Sadly the baby mind reader was actually a programe it was despicable
I LOVE CHARLIE BROKER!!!!!!!!
by molly @ 21/05/2007 7:00 pm • Permalink •
Page 1 of 1 pages