REMOTE CONTROL
Brian Donaldson covers his ears at Tourette’s sufferers, weapons of war and moaning teenagers.
Amid the lmspectacled l’)lundering and the wide-eyed naivety. LOuis Theroux has made some Witty and insightful documentaries in his time. Whether it's been the all-too real worlds of the porn industry. white supremacy or Christian flllldéllllelltéillSlll. he has often shown some pretty awful and sad people being exposed for us all to see. mock and pity. With Louis Theroux: Gambling in Las Vegas IBBCZ w/c 73 Jan .0 l. all that is exposed is how you can get an ill- thought out idea stretched into one very long hour's telly if you're a big enough name. Did you know that gambling can be guite addictive and that the thrill of taking part WI” almost always overshadow the impending
and inevitable loss? Perhaps the biggest revelation is that the casinos actually maintain the facade that they are genuinely concerned about people losing money when this pain is the sole basis for their sprawling success. In one way at least. Keith Allen comes straight out of the Louis Theroux school of documentary making. Here. barely 20 seconds will go by Without the Sheriff of Nottingham in the cameras eye. upsettineg detracting from the so- called subjects of his documentary. Tourettes de France (Climine/ 4, Tho I 7 Jan, 70pm 00. l is ostensibly about a young bunch of Scottish kids. led by the iconic sufferer John Dawdson. going on a trip to France to Visit the hospital where the condition was discovered and which is also now notorious as the place where Diana spent her final dying moments. But as we get utterly irrelevant shots of Keith's phone going off. Keith collapsing into giggles while filming his narration or Keith pulling silly faces. you realise that this film tells us nothing that we don't already know
from (‘locumentaries such as John's Not Mad. the OED from the late 80s which turned Davidson into an tlliWIIlllig cult figure: mainly. what is involuntarily shouted is almost always the worst thing that could be said at that given moment. So the crews Ghanaian bus driver bears \‘/:tness to explosions of racist words while a gentle stroll past Buckingham Palace is rudely interrupted by shouts of ‘bombl' and ‘the Queen's a lesbianll' All the while this is going on. and you are laughing when you know you shouldn't be. it's hard not to cynically wonder what came first: the title for the show or the idea?
Review
Inventions of War rf-"ive. Mon 8 Jan. 8pm 00. l is guite possibly the loudest programme on TV since The liv'v'een/es controversial learn How To Shout at the Top of Your Voice' episode. lhe constant i‘at-a-tat. clanging and general smash bang- wallop of the weaponry on show will have you diving for the ear plugs. an appliance which the young ‘parents' involved in the ‘scientific' experiment of Baby Borrowers rBi-BCJ)‘. The 8 Jan. 10.30pm 0.. I clearly x.'.'ish they could have packed as they enter
(It )Ml {W l)l <‘z\i‘\.l/\ UGLY BETTY Channel 4, Fri 5 Jan, 9.30pm .00
their controlled living conditions. A gang of teenage couples aie placed into their own threebedroom .iouse. and over the course of four weeks are handed various things to take special care of. from pets to pensioners. You sit with mouth wide open and wonder about many things. none of them ver‘, nice. But above all. who on earth would let their own baby fall into the incapable hands of these spiteful. selfish and spoiled brats?
At 9.30pm on the first Friday night of 2005, Channel 4 introduced us to the most popular new American comedy in years, My Name is Earl. 80, when the exact same slot is filled by another heralded US import, you may well be steadying yourself for another jet-paced quirky comedy. While Ugly Betty features a similar central character from a poor, working class background, her goal is to drag herself up, not into a world of spiritual wellbeing, but into a distinctly Desperate Housewives-like universe of beautiful women, bad manners and bitchy backstabbings. But the setting here is not white picket suburbia but a red hot fashion magazine.
Owned by the mysterious Bradford Meade (Alan Dale), Mode has a new editor-in-chief, Meade’s son, after the tragic ‘death’ of the previous boss. This appointment goes down very badly with the horrible Wilhelmina Slater (Vanessa Williams) whose mission is to bring down the new guy. The show does have its funny moments, mainly revolving around misfortunes which occur to Meade Jr‘s PA, the braced-up, big-toothed Betty (having a very large dog take to her; the kidnapping of her fluffy toy rabbit; the alarming reaction to what is viewed as her imperfect image), but this is no Farrelly brothers‘ freakathon, leaning more towards schmaltz and mystery.
If the core message that unattractive people from the wrong side of the tracks are unworthy of anything but contempt, any outrage that this causes will either disappear or perhaps be heightened by the little victories gained by Betty in each episode. lntriguingly, in a heavy nod towards the fact Americans really are in love with Ricky Gervais, Ashley Extras Jensen pops up as a Scottish designer with a heart while Lucy The Office Davis is also in there as a snide presenter of Fashion Television. (Brian Donaldson)
THE LIST 79