10 Moments Of Genius From Charlie Brooker

3. You Have Been Watching

you have been watching TV is overloaded with panel shows these days, so the prospect of a TV nostalgia-style one hosted by Brooker had me a little worried. Thankfully, it's a bit of a treat and doesn't feature the likes of Keith Lemon anywhere. Evolving from his Wipe work, it's an enjoyable mix of highlighting terrible TV, with some nice questions to genuinely likeable and enthusiastic panelists (David Mitchell, Armando Ianucci and Reginald D. Hunter among them). Questions like "How did they attempt to bring Murder She Wrote up to date?" have answers like "Did they rename it Murder She Faxed?" and there a very few guests who don't bring something good to the party. Brooker makes a good host as well, a mix of miserable shouting and seeming contempt for the wrong answers. Again, the bile reinfoces his love for the medium, and his sweary putting down of Lauren Laverne over her defence of the BBC sticking Graham Norton's cartoon face over Doctor Who is just lovely. Feeling like a late night Radio 4 show, it's certainly a more mainstream vehicle for the Brooker style, but the two series are packed with a lot of laughs. Plus, any show that highlights a programme simulating IRA vs. Taliban deserves a second look. Genius Moment: Brooker asks his guests to emulate kids TV and explain difficult concepts to a puppet called Mr Fuggles. The result is comic cuteness at its absolute finest.
Contributor
Contributor

I'm a Westcountry exile now living in Yorkshire with lovely wife and cats (also lovely). I'm a big fan of films, robots, timetravel, and films about timetravelling robots, as well as lots of other action, sci-fi and comedy. I'm currently trying to write a sitcom that doesn't involve robots, and I also blog nonsense on timolsky.blogspot.com. Thanks for taking the time to read my stuff, and feel free to comment.