Friday night saw the first in a new series of Genius on BBC2. It’s a TV transition of the popular Radio 4 comedy presented by Dave Gorman. The radio series is very funny. The TV version is also very funny, being basically the same, except that you can see some of the mock-ups they’ve built of various “Genius” ideas suggested by viewers/listeners.
Now I’ve had bad things to say about Sam Wollaston’s TV reviews for The Guardian here in the past. He’s obviously angling for his own column rather than being really interested in television. So perhaps I shouldn’t have been so disappointed.
But I think that one sentence really gives him away in his Saturday review of Genius:
This is not about real ideas; it’s about comedy. Actually, it’s already been a Radio 4 comedy (three words that have rarely sat together well in my book) for a while.
[My emphasis] Do I take it that Wollaston thinks that all Radio 4 comedy is bad? Does he actually ever listen to comedy on the radio?
I wouldn’t for one second say that every comedy that Radio 4 puts out is comedy gold, but I think it covers a lot ground with a “something for everyone” approach. While there are certainly duds, the quantity that it commissions means that it does get quite a few hits. Whatever you think of The News Quiz – it’s pretty much the same as Have I Got News For You.
The Now Show’s always entertaining; “Clue” is recording a new batch sadly without chairman Humph; Ed Reardon is unfailingly excellent; and I enjoy Clare in the Community. Then there’s other returning series like Heresy and The Unbelievable Truth (on tonight). And I’ve just picked up CDs of series 1 of Bleak Expectations following Barry Cryer’s recommendation at a Radio Academy event last week. Then there are Armando Iannucci’s Charm Offensive, Down the Line, Nebulous and Chain Reaction.
Has Wollaston listened to any of these? Is none of them funny in his eyes (or ears)?
Saying something like that is just a display of his own ignorance. He really doesn’t deserve to share a column with Nancy Banks-Smith.