Screenwipe

The title made me sound sad, now i'm going to make myself sound sadder still. I saw my first episode of screenwipe halfway through series 4. I had just finished watching QI on BBC4, i was going to turn it off when Charlie Brooker's Screenwipe started and i couldn't move I just sat and watched it through to the end completely captivated my only movement being when i laughed- most of the time then. After that i have watched it religiously and i suggest everyone else does the same.

When series five came out last week i didn't even want to miss the advert break that came before it. My debating club finished at ten and i ran home to be back in time to watch it at the proper time. The next day i tuned into i-player and watched it again, i watched it another 4 times before the next episode came out yesterday.

If a program can be so good as to captivate me like that and turn me into some mad obsessive it surely has to be worth a try. Watch it! I don't think i need to say anymore.

This program is possibly one of the funniest program on television. Brooker bitingly analyses TV and (very occasionally) doles out praise. But mainly the fun comes from when he gets on obscure or dire programming and subjects it to his sarcasm. That's where the fun begins. He is the most sarcastic person that I've yet to see on television. He is so scathing that occasionally I actually gasp and laugh at his comments; practically a first for me: this man is that good.

Overall, one of the funniest programs on television. And one of the greatest cases for leaving in all the crap of it: let this man comment on it for evermore.

The journo/writer-performer Charlie Brooker lifts the lid on his opinions of modern day TV,both in the UK and US.His savagely witty criticisms in the Guardian Newspaper have by and large,been successfully adapted to this digital TV programme.Brooker's clever,bitterly acerbic,imaginative,often hilarious critiques are further helped by breathlessly quick pacing and editing.He actually does like some TV programmes(most notably THE WIRE,shamefully neglected by terrestrial TV in the UK),but inevitably his most entertaining rants are at TV shows he hates(reality shows,daytime programming,etc.)which are gleefully attacked with rottweiller-like insane relish.Brooker's eternally stylish wordplay is sometimes over-balanced by frequent use of profanities which,though occasionally funny,sometimes go too far and take the reviews/sketches/interviews out of context and defeat the object at hand.

Charlie's unique brand of sophisticated scatology will certainly not be for the easily offended,but often gloriously entertaining for those who don't mind whatever he says.

Rating:7 and a half out of 10.

This is truly one of the most acute and sophisticated analysis of current tele-tat that we are all being subjected to on a daily basis. Brooker does not just articulately demolish some of these visual atrocities on our regular prime-time diets but he also manages to point us in the right direction. His occasional hints towards the greatness of some of the yester-years television feasts are as much part of the programme as the infectious comedy portrayals of the all the things that are wrong on that virtual world on the other side of screen.

I commend Brooker's bold attempt for a fabulous and yet hard hitting message-worthy programme and hopefully, it keeps us all more in touch with our sarcastic and bitter side, with many more of its episodes.

Sheer genius from the BBC.

Those of us who read the Guardian on a Saturday (in my defence, my girlfriend buys it) will know whether or not they will enjoy this short series that premiered on BBC4 in the UK. Within the review section is a weekly page called Screen Burn where Charlie Brooker reviews a couple of TV shows that are on in the coming week; although his reviews tend to be rather funny and contain such great turns of phrase that I can't help but laughing. For example we can all say that we think the people on Big Brother are horrible but it was Brooker that described one of them as having a voice that is "like listening to rainwater seeping into your own coffin".

I wish I had that imaginative phrasing and it is the reason that I enjoyed the TV version because he never just says things are good or bad but rather presents everything in the same way. Not wishing to infuriate anyone who has seen it but, for those that have not, imagine if you took Harry Hill's TV Burp, gave it a late night slot, turned off all the lights, took away the audience, cut Harry with a knife till he was enraged and bloody and then started the show – then you'd pretty much have Screen Wipe. The formula is basically the same – Brooker talks about the shows in between clips – but it is very funny just because of his writing and delivery. His reviews include 24, The Apprentice, breakfast TV and so on but no matter what it is or whether he likes it or not his delivery is funny and very imaginative.

The only downside is that regular readers will recognise some of the material and the fact that the series is only 3 episodes long reflects the fact that Brooker's weekly column really only takes 4 minutes to cover. In other words he wrote an entire column on the new series of 24 but in episode 2 of his show he did all the jokes in under 4 minutes. Likewise I recognised his Apprentice material from his column as well. Of course this isn't a problem for me because it was all still funny and Brooker never comes over like he is struggling to find the material but I reckon this is why the series was so short.

Brooker himself runs the risk of annoying some viewers because he is a rather smug and acerbic guy who could easily be taken as a smart-arse but, as long as I was laughing then this didn't really bother me and his intelligence and imaginative dialogue were the things that stuck in my mind. It isn't like he is Giles Coren (who also ventured onto TV recently with his movie review show) who is privileged, posh, acerbic and sarcastic but, because he doesn't do a good job presenting, all that sticks in the mind is that he is a bit of a posh tw*t.

Overall a great find that I really enjoyed. The writing is as good as his Screen Burn column and his ability to put together phrases is impressive as he does it with wit and imagination. Not to everyone's taste because Brooker's targets will often be TV that some people love but I was laughing whether I agreed with him or not.