Not The 10 O'Clock Live

Image Source: That Mitchell and Webb Log

I want to use a stronger word than disappointing, but I feel that in this instance it hits the nail on the head perfectly, something the 10 O’Clock Live just doesn't do. It’s a shame too, because information and advertising about the programme before it was aired was very promising.

The show is essentially an unusual collection of rag-tag ‘comedians’, as well as the totally irrelevant Lauren Laverne, who adds nothing to the shows discussion segments other than an often un-educated interjection of a conversation with a whimsical idea such as e-mailing their complaints to a Member of Parliament (very original Lauren). She’s kind of like an annoying first year student who walks around at a house party ruining every interesting conversation she comes across with unrelated comments. The rest of the hour time slot consisted of flat ‘comedic’ sections that try to discuss current events against an animated green screen, Charlie Brooker's jokes regurgitated from Screenwipe, Jimmy Carr's un-necessary interruptions of interviewees, as well as a series of close up shots of his equally un-necessary blank looks and five un-cut minutes of David Mitchell’s views on current issues. It's a shame that Brooker has let himself fall into this seemingly 'cool' Channel 4 crowd because his BBC Screenwipe shows were such a refreshing protest against the often docile world of today's television. It seems as if he's unknowingly turned into the very bullshit he was once mocking so well.

The show actually does well at times to give a very un-biased view on contemporary topics such as the recent increase in student tuition fees, which would normally be completely skirted around by every other news programme on T.V. by focusing their whole broadcast on one idiotic student that threw a fire extinguisher from a very tall building. And these parts were often presented by Mitchell, a comic who actually seems more at home as a news caster, with the occasional interesting interview from Carr when he eventually stops pulling ridiculous faces.

I can’t help but feel that the show would have had much more impact without the inclusion of the studio audience who seemed to provide nothing constructive other than laughing incessantly when one of the hosts tries to upstage a guest. Instead, the whole thing just felt like a bunch of children had come together to create their own news show so that they could express their points of view - kind of like ‘Kids Newz’ from that old episode of The Simpsons.