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Charlie Brookers Best Work

Started by Bilko, February 27, 2004, 12:58:34 PM

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Bilko

Which out of TV Go Home and Unnovations do you think is Brookers best work.

Both sites here.
http://www.zeppotron.com/unnovations/index.html

http://www.tvgohome.com/

I do think TV Go Home is very repetitive and therefore I prefer Unnovations. Unnovations is more expansive in progressing the joke. But what do you think.

Darrell

The TV versions of both were equally as shit as each other. Though Brooker would probably blame it on the budget, as though good jokes cost money or something.

Anyone can do a Radio Times pastiche or spoof print ads, that's why every comedy book ever has them. Compare TV Go Home to Radio Active Times or Not the Royal Wedding, and you see how little talent Brooker actually has.

Neville Chamberlain

I like them both equally as much! They're some of the best stuff I've read on the net and I can lose myself in TVGoHome for hours. Yes, it's the same formula over and over again, but at least he sticks to what he's best at and, despite the sheer volume of stuff it contains, I'd say about 90% of it is absolutely brilliant.

So yeah, thumbs up for that.

Charlie Brooker's not very popular among the comedy police, though, is he?

EDIT: As Constable Darrell up there says, Not The Royal Wedding and RAT are extremely funny as well. But I'd say Brooker's the only one who's come close to emulating them. Every other spoof listings site I've seen has been utter and complete shite.

Vermschneid Mehearties

Screen Burn's always good for a laugh every Saturday.

Rats

QuoteNot The Royal Wedding and RAT are extremely funny as well

Thankyou, thanks a lot, no really, thanks a lot. Funnier than mundays, yeah, cheers, thanks a lot (waves), yeah, cheers chiao, thanks a lot, nice one, yeah (gets on plane), ok, love ya, cheers, thanks a lot, nice one, yeah, cheers.

Darrell

We should start a TV Listings thread in Multimongia, it should be good for a giggle. Though the difference is that we're not trying to make a career out of it...

alan strang

The problem with most net comedy is that in order to build up its audience it has to use the same 'framework' each time - hence the continuous use of news-site / TV listings / newspaper spoofs because they're simple pots to piss in.

In the good old days of comedy books, such parodies only constituted a small part of the whole - usually the 'filler material' (alongside the My Guy photostory parody, the fake recipe page and the Dear Deirdre pisstake) which sat alongside the more character-based pages of a larger book - one which had a running theme throughout.

Online they tend to be presented as the main feature. It's a limiting frame, which naturally only serves to limit the actual writing. There's no real character behind it, beyond 'Charlie Brooker Is Doing Some TV Parodies'.

This is actually quite odd because you'd assume that the canvas could be quite expansive and intricate considering the possibilities. Why limit it to that same frame each time when you could let your imagination run riot? Why only do Flash animations of cute bunny rabbits blowing up or people having their nobs sliced off when you could do something more intricate?

The argument they'll always offer in return revolves around the need to 'keep peoples' attention'. You can sort of see where they're coming from - you can't curl up in bed with a plugged-in PC in the same way you can with a second-hand copy of the Smith & Jones Coffee Table Book. But that attitude doesn't show any great wish to change people's viewing habits or extend the form in any way. It just comes across as disposable.

And Brooker's writing isn't really terribly good either, to be frank.

TJ

The funniest spoof TV listing I have ever seen (aside from one that John "This Way Up" Connors did for a laugh about ten years ago) was in an issue of "Oink!" in about 1988; truly demented stuff that did nothing more profound than give the genuine average TV listings of the day (they even had "Pages From Ceefax" and "Rolf Harris' Cartoon Time" in the right place!) a gentle yank into the realms of ridiculousness. I don't suppose anyone has a copy of this to hand, do they?

"Terry returns home to find June has turned the house into a football stadium. Last of series".

Purple Tentacle

I thought that the TV version of Unnovations had its moments, like "The Dirty Circle".

But then that's a wanking gag, and I can't be bothered to be frowned at today. So I'll stop.

Neville Chamberlain

Quote from: "alan strang"And Brooker's writing isn't really terribly good either, to be frank.

That's odd. I've always found his writing to be exceptionally good and always a pleasure to read - concise and engaging. It's also grammatically immaculate, which makes a huge difference too and is something of a rarity these days. Cuh!

Whether you find him funny or not, I find it baffling how you reach the rather pompous conclusion that his "writing isn't terribly good either, to be frank".

Anyway, yes, the TV versions were bollocks though (apart from The Flailers)

TJ

Quote from: "Jim"Whether you find him funny or not, I find it baffling how you reach the rather pompous conclusion that his "writing isn't terribly good either, to be frank".

This is not necessarily representative of my own views on the subject, but... how can you possibly deem that to be a 'pompous conclusion'? You either find writing good or bad, simple as that.

Neville Chamberlain

Quote from: "TJ"This is not necessarily representative of my own views on the subject, but... how can you possibly deem that to be a 'pompous conclusion'? You either find writing good or bad, simple as that.

Yes, yes, true enough. No, I was just intrigued, that's all. One of the first things that struck me about Brooker, aside from the content, was just how exceptionally good I felt the writing was. In an internet full of incredibly sloppy and unreadable shit, it was a relief (I felt, at least) to read something written by someone who seemed to pay incredible attention to detail and boring things like proper grammar and punctuation.

I can understand if the humour isn't someone's cup of tea, but you can't knock the writing, surely. Or so I thought. Therefore, I'm naturally intrigued as to why some would knock it.

alan strang

QuoteI can understand if the humour isn't someone's cup of tea, but you can't knock the writing, surely. Or so I thought. Therefore, I'm naturally intrigued as to why some would knock it.

I meant I don't consider his comedy writing particularly good.

And I don't get excited by punctuation.

king mob

Quote from: "TJ"The funniest spoof TV listing I have ever seen (aside from one that John "This Way Up" Connors did for a laugh about ten years ago) was in an issue of "Oink!" in about 1988; truly demented stuff that did nothing more profound than give the genuine average TV listings of the day (they even had "Pages From Ceefax" and "Rolf Harris' Cartoon Time" in the right place!) a gentle yank into the realms of ridiculousness. I don't suppose anyone has a copy of this to hand, do they?

"Terry returns home to find June has turned the house into a football stadium. Last of series".

That was Kev Sutherland's pride & joy, have a look at his site, he used to have Oink pages up there to download.

Rats

You can read an issue here http://www.oinkcomic.co.uk/ it might have the tv guide in it

Quote from: "Darrell"We should start a TV Listings thread in Multimongia, it should be good for a giggle. Though the difference is that we're not trying to make a career out of it...

There have been such threads in General Bullshit in the past and they were indeed good for a giggle, bloody funny in a lot of cases. Which goes to show how easy it is I suppose. (who was it who came up with the 'Just Toast' sitcom again?)

The Plaque Goblin


garlicberet

the prankcalls that used to be on his old Superkaylo site... them and the Horny Estelle comic strip

The Plaque Goblin

Quote from: "king mob"That was Kev Sutherland's pride & joy, have a look at his site, he used to have Oink pages up there to download.
Just looking around this site and noticed that the top of the 'o' and the 'ic' have been obscured to form the word 'cum'


Emergency Lalla Ward Ten

His heart's vaguely in the right place and he can be occasionally great (eg, Shit Film Liker magazine), but a friend of mine summed him up quite well recently by saying that his Guardian column consists of him 'posing awkwardly'.

Neil

Finally saw the "How To Watch TV" thing the other night...it's alright, nowt special, no big laughs. A few Morris intonations in there I notice, but not as many as when he used to do the Digital Update on Radio 1.  

I liked the comic strips on SuperKaylo, but TvGoHome has never worked for me.


A Passing Turk Slipper

Quote from: "Neil"Finally saw the "How To Watch TV" thing the other night...it's alright, nowt special, no big laughs. A few Morris intonations in there I notice, but not as many as when he used to do the Digital Update on Radio 1.  
I watched this for the first time two days ago. I thought it was going to be shit because of the sheer amount of people that seem to hate him around here but actually thought it was quite good. There were quite a few Morris-like intonations in there weren't there, but all in all I thought it was quite funny. The few bits of TVGo Home I have seen I thought were a bit shit and I don't really want to read any more of it. Screenburn in the guide is normally alright but is a tad repetetive. Why do people hate him with such passion though, is it his contributions to the BES or what? I don't know enough about him to hate him, I'd rather spend my time hating the people who thought up Dare To Believe.

Neil

Well I think Brooker (unfairly) gets a lot of vitriol directed his way simply because he's on the internet.  There are a lot of people who seem to attack him ("haha that Brooker what a CUNT!") rather than his work, possibly because they think he's "one of us" due to the internet background, and maybe to try and troll him into an arguement?  Oh, he worked on the 11OCS too, I'm sure that doesn't help.

Godzilla Bankrolls

His work is very repetitive and lazy on TV Go Home and Unnovations.

NobodyGetsOutAlive

I'm sure that this has probably been asked umpteem times before, but does anyone actually know what his contributions to the BES actually were?

Emergency Lalla Ward Ten

Quote from: "NobodyGetsOutAlive"I'm sure that this has probably been asked umpteem times before, but does anyone actually know what his contributions to the BES actually were?

He bought the pen.

Neil