Last week's TV - the inthenews.co.uk view
James Corden's new sporting quiz show A League Of Their Own began last week
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By Adam Leveridge
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Monday, 15, Mar 2010 04:37
Matt Robinson on a promising start for James Corden's new sports quiz, a disappointing take on the 'famous' exploring unemployment and an amusing new series from Rhod Gilbert.
A Question of Sport has for a long time been the only staple sports quiz on the box, so it was rather refreshing to see the launch of Corden's A League of Their Own on Sky One last week. It was very much the James Corden show from start to finish, and asked far less challenging sporting questions - like which of these sportsmen has more tattoos - than Sue Barker's BBC vehicle, but nonetheless was still very entertaining.
Team captains Freddie Flintoff and Jamie Redknapp added a touch of sporting weight to proceedings; however the pair were only there to be the butt of Corden's wise cracking jokes. At an hour long, I expected it to drag a little, however it flowed surprisingly well, adopting the usual comedy panel show element of spending 15 minutes on just one question. The laughs came regularly with one notably highlight being the revelation that of three sporting lookalikes - Michael Schumacher, Arsène Wenger and Freddie Flintoff - the Arsène Wenger impersonator was the one who has received the most bookings in the past twelve months. For what? Well nothing impressive really just your usual village fetes and such like.
Fresh from his guest presenter stint on the last series of Never Mind the Buzzcocks, Corden was well at home here. He was confident and funny throughout, taking to lead presenting duties like a duck to water, showing huge improvement on his presenting debut with Mat Horne at the Brit Awards a few years back.
It was a rather impressive first outing overall which suggests that Sue Barker had better watch out. James Corden is coming and fighting for the sporting panel show host crown, plus he has David 'The Hayemaker' Haye behind him for support, so who would want to mess with him.
Away from the sporting arena the mood on the tube was a much bleaker one, as 'famous' faces embraced the realities of the recession, unemployment and the working class professions. In Rich, Famous and Jobless four celebrities were forced to live for four days on job seekers' allowance in unemployment hotspots across the UK and charged with the task of finding a job. The supposed famous faces were former EastEnders actor Larry Lamb, Noel Gallagher's ex-wife Meg Matthews, garden designer Diarmuid Gavin and the Duchess of Cornwall's niece Emma Parker Bowles.
Rich they may be, but famous, really? To begin with, it appeared that this two-parter was set to be an interesting experiment and a thought provoking exploration of how the recession and unemployment has affected ordinary families. Sadly, it soon became clear that Rich, Famous and Jobless was in fact a pointless exercise focusing on how celebrities adjusted to having their luxuries taken away and coped with living in less favourable conditions.
Employment experts Emma and Craig were behind the experiment and took great delight in stripping the hapless four of their possessions, handing them a bin bag of rather unpleasant, musty clothing and their budget for the next four days - £39.
Matthews threw herself into the task, managing to land several jobs with relative ease, in a rather good -natured and motivated manner. Lamb on the other hand was the complete opposite, who set out to prove that he could live quite comfortably on just under a tenner a day. "Patronising bulls**t! Excuse my French," he yelled. "I don't want to go drifting round knocking on doors, because I've got enough grub in my belly. Forget about it. Not doing it." It was a shame really, because he was clearly the most recognisable one of the lot. Although arguably what he did prove was in some respects the whole point; you can spend your day sitting on the sofa in front of Jeremy Kyle drinking coffee and still live a relatively comfortable lifestyle.
Parker Bowles and Gavin were somewhat more emotional about the whole experience which bought back haunting memories for them both. Recovering alcoholic Parker Bowles had to take a job in a pub, while Gavin who previously found himself penniless, found the hunt for work and the stigma of being unemployed too hard to handle - it only took him five hours to descend into misery, it normally takes people about five weeks.
The affair continued the next night as the celebrities were sent out to stay with families suffering hardship and surviving on benefits. It was here that the real life stories of the experiment came to light. We had an ex-prisoner who is struggling to find work, a family of three in which the father had recently been made redundant from his £35,000 a year job, a single mum of one, and the couple with five children, with one on the way, who roam the halls into the early hours of morning and rely solely on benefits. Whilst the plight of these cases was clear, and the celebrities offered what little help they could, it didn't have anywhere near the social impact you might expect. The Secret Millionaire changes people's lives, all this show did was give people a confidence boost and potential leads on potential jobs.
Overall it was rather misconstrued television, and rather silly. All it proved was that it is not that difficult to find work and it is relatively easy to live on job seekers allowance.
The theme of employment was also on display in Rhod Gilbert's Work Experience which, having proved popular on BBC1 Wales, is now getting an airing on BBC2 nationally. The premise sees the popular stand-up comedian set out to experience life in various professions. First up he took to the streets as a refuse collector. He learned all the tricks of the trade and the strict rules of manual handling, which included avoid twisting and no bending of the knees.
Gilbert couldn't resist winding up Brian and Steve of the 'waste enforcement team', who police the beaches of Barry Island in the early hours of the morning trying to catch the irresponsible owners of pooping dogs. It was pretty funny stuff, which lead the trio to turn into amateur detectives on a quest to find the origins of poo. Despite the humorous banter, having completed his gruelling day on the streets as a bin man, Gilbert ended the show with total respect for the teams who keep our streets clean, for just above the minimum wage. He even got a gold litter picker for his efforts, despite putting the team two-and-a-half hours behind schedule.
It was a very funny half hour, and a great start to a series which will see Gilbert also tackle being a hairdresser, parent and a soldier.