Thursday, December 03, 2009

Big what???

What a dreadful sit-com Big Top appears to be - certainly on the strength, or rather weakness, of its first episode which I endured for research purposes last night. If you avoided it (boy, am I envious!) the premise, as outlined by the British Comedy Guide, is thus: "Fraught with problems and dealing with a cacophony of egos, Ring Mistress Lizzie must struggle to keep Circus Maestro going... somehow!" Meanwhile, the BBC Press Office reckons that "Each week a story is unfolded, erected, performed and taken down just like the Big Top itself. Our circus is fraught with problems which the Ring Mistress Lizzie must overcome." Big Top is fraught with problems all right. It was a crash (crash being the operative word!) course in how not to write a sit-com, I thought. Although, who am I to think? How does a programme with so many stars attached to it get that far? Oh, I see. Strange that the writing is so secondary to lining up a cast that would satisfy the audience tuning in at peak time. Yet, such dross insults the audience's intelligence who are insulted enough as it is with all that low-level reality bunkum that floods the airwaves. At least X-Factor, I'm A Celeb... and Strictly... have some drama and occasional comedy amid the celebrity gurning. The circus used to come under fire for being cruel to animals. Big Top is similar, although it's the audience that's getting the nasty treatment. Big Top is, without a doubt, the least funny thing I've seen on the tellybox in many a year. And, as tedious as eastern European jugglers, clowns in cars that fall apart and trapeze artistes are, I'd rather go see a real circus any day. Or Terry & June and Duty Free, for that matter.

1 comment:

NQ said...

I'd go so far as to say i'd rather see 'Miranda' again.