Spitting Image

This belated and tired revival of Spitting Image is exactly what it shouldn't be, completely safe and quite boring - despite a wealth of ex-Futurama (!) voice/writing talent and some clever puppetry the whole series comes across as flaccid, dated, cheap and nowhere near the sharp satire we desperately crave. There are rare glimmers of potential in there - the Cummings-as-alien-overlord shtick was routinely very good and most of the UK cabinet bashing was semi-cathartic but generally it was more spinelessly preoccupied with celebrity egos and desperate slapstick than anything really meaningful or... well, funny. It wasn't funny. Fundamentally it should have at least had that. Existentially there were issues as well, in that it was relegated to a subscription service rather than on "normal" television - so barely anybody even saw it. Satire really should be available to everyone but when it's this tired and crass perhaps obscurity is a kindness.

With another series commissioned they need to do a serious re-think. Get some more talented impressionists (no offence to the bafflingly sidelined veteran US voice talent of Billy West, John DiMaggio and Phil LaMarr but full offence intended for the over-used Forde who can only really do Boris well), go after some hard targets, stop chasing the easy gags and REALLY don't feel like you need to do a song an episode. It's not really a modern satirical show but a lazy nostalgia project for people who half-remember what mainstream satire used to look like.

Thought I'd give this a try with a free britbox subscription. Not seen the original series.

The show doesn't hold back, seems rather uncensored and raw at times but this is refreshing in my opinion. It cuts through the dire politics either side of the Atlantic.

The content is topical and there's some clever ideas though also some sketches that aren't effective. Lewis Hamilton is done well but Keir Starmer less so.

The voice acting isn't the best but with caricatures this isn't the focus.

It's not so much laugh out funny as some of the content is just cringe. It will offend but that's par for the course.

Judging from the first episode would giving it 7/10.

A bit bland in my opinion, not as much passion and heart, and I know they're trying their best but it's got poor writing jokes that don't land and missed opportunities for good jokes in the scenes.

Lets face it, the only reason they've brought back the show after so long is because brit box obviously wasn't bringing in enough money for itv so they can now use spitting image as a marketing tool to get subscriptions.

To be honest the good bits in newzoids (which was a very good show when it got it right) are about the same level as this. It's frustrating too because I love spitting image and I see pottential in it but it just isn't delivering which is so sad to me considering it's already tarnished reputation from the 94/96 era.

The original Spitting Image was far and away the best satirical program on TV in the eighties, as evidenced by it's near world-wide popularity and the plethora of international adaptations.

This thing, not so much. It seems the writers has taken little to no inspiration from the biting political satire which made the original such a hit. Instead they have substituted it with largely toothless and bland humor and apparently rely on the (admittedly excellent) puppets to provide the laughs. Add in the shoddy, sometimes awful, impressions and you end up with a real dog's dinner of a show.

In general it seems that proper satire, political or not, is now a dead or dying art amongst today's writers. Or maybe the fault lies with the executives and their lack of spine. Who knows.

Anyway, I suppose there's still a glimmer of hope. The first season of the original series also fell flat and it wasn't until Rob Grant and Doug Naylor were brought in that it took off and became the jewel we all know and love. Fingers crossed then that the writers and voice actors are booted out post hase and some decent ones located.

This show is terrible, I couldn't find one aspect or piece of the show that made it worthwhile or likable. I hope the ITV flushes the toilet on this show before it's stench starts spreading to other shows. It should be less than 1 star rated