ITT an open and frank discussion about the journalist, critic and polemecist Charlie Brooker

*don't see the link between the biafra campaign and the counter-culture

Yes, that seemed a little glossed-over. Then again: I have a feeling that the format might impose awkward demands on both Brooker and his contributors (no evidence for that; just based on the fact I think the BBC is packed full of useless cunts).

Tim Key, by the way: can he fuck off, or what?

he is to an adult what Ronnie Corbett chair bits were to a kid (well me at least)

Corbett's monologues were gold, you were supposed to turn off during the Miss Elaine Paige song.

i was too transfixed by her radiant beauty

http://img.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2007/09_03/rearyearsG1909_468x498.jpg

L-R: Paige, Corbett, David Frost

this from week before last was good too

ad-curt was right about the way they report bad shit in the less developed world. i was watching something about thailand (iirc) the other night on the c4 news and, although it was five minutes long or so, they never explained what was behind it. just people be protesting, police be hitting them. JUST LIKE IN ZANU-LABOUR BRITAIN KIDS.

enjoyed and laughed a lot at this week's even tho it's all so horrible. i guess the show aims to instil this sense of smugness/superiority in viewers because they recognise how awful news media is, offsetting the depression which would otherwise make it unwatchable. maybe it should be more good-natured and constructive ultimately tho?

Key always brings the light titters in our house.

I've only seen the first Newswipe and the most recent one, but has it always used as much background music? Initially I thought it weas just for effect (Gordon's 'party') but it was everywhere and really disctracting. Not sure I remember Screenwipe using as much. I realise I sound likea Points Of View blowhard, but the point remains.

Always Good choices though. Johann Johansson, IBM 1401, A User's Manual!

And lovely snatches (pun intended) of (Cunts Are Still) Running The World at opportune points in the last one.

wow thats real shitty. what year is it from? was he trying to be a kids tv guy, or was it a late-night videogames show?

charltonbrooker: Worst videogame bosses ever? Email yr suggestions to gameswipe at zeppotron dot com. Make what you will of that email address.

I might actually email that, Belger from final fight.

ah, an article about... spotify.

i'm backing you, charlie, of course, but the party wants you to go now, with dignity.

The concept behind the playlist is amusing though. Especially putting 'Unsolved Child Murder' on there.

As I've just posted this to that thread - but I repeat - what is moodkilling about the theme to All Creatures Great and Small"?

I can see Carol Drinkwater's cardigan unbuttoning even now...

I have been watching You Have Been Watching.

The ITV News clip in this week's episode pretty much defines WTF.

If this is the same as the one I saw yesterday..

The bit about the comparing MJ's funeral with Diana's on the basis of "who had the most celebs" / "Who had the grandest" etc...

Normally the joy of Brooker is that whatever he says, you think: “That’s so true.” But in this case it just isn’t. Or funny. And I’m really not saying that because I’m a friend of Dan’s. (There’s probably even a schadenfreude part of me which quite enjoys seeing the overexposed baldie being given his comeuppance) (xxxxDan). I’m saying it because, judging Brooker by his own high standards, it’s lame, totally uninsightful, woefully unamusing. And because, worst of all, it evinces exactly the kind of intellectually lazy, identikit-left, student-bar, group-think which Brooker is normally so quick to condemn and mock.

God how I would like to see Brooker satirizing his own performance here. By the end he’d feel so awful he’d never dare show his face on screen again.

And I’m really not saying that because I’m a friend of Dan’s.

yes

yes you are

James Delingpole is a writer, journalist and broadcaster who is right about everything. He is the author of numerous fantastically entertaining books including Welcome To Obamaland: I've Seen Your Future And It Doesn't Work

http://www.incgamers.com/News/16303/Charlie-Brookers-Gameswipe-Confirmed

I'm glad there's gonna be a relatively mainstream gaming TV show on British TV. Compared to how popular gaming is, it seems incredible that the niche is not currently being filled.

Getting pissed is very popular but we seem to bump along without having a TV show dedicated to it.

I guess this filters back into the whole "is gaming art" thing, but that discussion (or a discussion on whether there needs to be a discussion) has to happen on a larger, more established media, like, I dunno, TV?

What was that gaming show on BBC Scotland that ran for a few seasons? I'm hoping for something a bit like that.

I don't have any strong feelings about a gaming show but was just saying there are big chunks of popular culture that don't really have their own terrestrial TV shows.

charlie brooker's boozewipe

The connection between gaming shows and boozing shows: most of your target audience are more likely to be engaging in their favoured pastime than watching TV.

http://www.cadred.org/Images/Articles/ce47f5972e456f17f92dd56ae219effb.jpg

http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/games/consolevania.gif

http://www.binaryzone.org/retrostore/images/bits5_large.jpg

holy shit, i did not realise the postgrad type who writes the videogames column in the guardian was one of the presenters

my mind has been blown in a very minor and subtle way

Getting pissed is very popular but we seem to bump along without having a TV show dedicated to it.

― fun is for people who can't cope with life (Noodle Vague)

but there are countless well-known websites dedicated to reviews & videos of computer games. not so many on 'getting pissed'. it IS bizarre that there hasn't ever been a decent successful gaming show

But there is a TV show dedicated to getting pissed!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Booze_Britain

there were also several print publications of which several still exist. tv just isn't the ideal medium for everything ~

also lots of tv shows feature scenes in pubs, but you never get an episode of Eastenders devoted to Dot and Jim having a bash at Guitar Hero 3

hypothesis i:

watching usain bolt run 100m is waaaaaaay more exciting, to anyone, than watching me run 100m, which would be a bit dull

whereas watching me play street fighter iv would be no more or less exciting than watching the current world champion to even nine-tenths of the potential gaming audience, nevermind the public at large

xpost

lots of those 'scenes in pubs' are based around the old idea of the pub as a kind of community social space, not just somewhere you go with yr mates though - going round someone's and playing videogames kind of works as a substitute for the latter and not the former

i've always enjoyed watching video games being played on tv but i'm weird. if this is more about discussing games and interesting things about the industry then that's even better. still only seen about 5 minutes of videogaiden ever tho.

also (this is a really banal point:) you don't get many scenes of people listening to a cd, or reading a book, or watching a dvd, or watching tv, or other similar experiences. we just don't really tend to do embedded other entertainments in this way.

or: HOW COME THE PEOPLE IN EASTENDERS NEVER WATCH EASTENDERS EH EH

xpost i think watching ppl play videogames has to be, like, more akin to top gear or something like that. which is really depressing. but, you know, more about people who can articulate something when experiencing it fairly viscerally than about ... i dunno. 'criticism'.

How come the people in Eastnders never commute, that's what I want to know.

I was supposed to make an appearance in an episode of Bits, when I was 15, stayed up till 2am or whenever it was on on a school day to catch it, and where was I? NOWHERE. :'(

The BBC Scotland video game show was VideoGaiden. It was good. I still enjoy keeping up with and watching video games even though I don't play them now, so I'm one of the few people in the country who really needs a TV show. Since I'm not aware of the existence of the internet.

i want someone in the uk to make a version of Game Center CX. can't think who i'd want to present it tho.

dominic diamond? dexter fletcher?

Violet Berlin redefining NAGL here

http://www.whizzbang.tv/Violet_Berlin.JPG

Like an Yvette Fielding who doesn't know how to dress age-appropriately.

this starts tuesday at 10pm on bbc4.

am kinda hoping there's enough retro things on it to keep me interested without being a lol80s nostalgia-fest.

It's a one-off, not a series.