In all honesty it's not been a bad month on Tv. Shooting Stars with Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer returned with much hilarity on BBC2, Monday 9pm or there abouts. This long running comedy quiz show (I say that loosely) just gets better with age and still manages to be fresh after all these years, it's surreal, it's bizarre and more importantly it's a bit of irreverent fun.
Reality show Big Brother entered the fray in resurrected sense on Channel 5 (daily 10pm) after it was dropped by Channel 4 some time ago. First up is the celebrity version before the long running public one begins proper. There was much hype surrounding it but to be honest a B-list celebrities are all that entered the recreated opulent house and I turned off after just two episodes, according to viewing figures over 5 million viewers dumped it after the first night too.
Dragon's Den is also in full swing on BBC2 (Sunday 9pm usually) but I really feel the format is looking tired now despite the entrance of new down to earth female dragon 'Hilary Devey'. I'll still stick with it as there's new innovations of interest but generally it's much of the same.
Cheesy reality talent show 'The X-Factor' also reprised on UK screens this month (ITV Saturday 8pm) but even though all the judges are new despite Louis Walsh it still feels very 'Simon Cowell'. Mr Cowell is already ruffling feathers by replacing chart singer Adele with Sinitta for the boot camp stages at the alleged judges houses. Though I must confess to watching the early shows its just purely for laughs as deluded hopefuls try and prove they have what it takes to be the next manufactured robotic pop act that is ultimately launched by Cowell's label 'Syco'. Fair play to Mr Cowell, he plays a shrewd game and why scout for new talent when you can get it to come to you via a televised format? Sadly a large amount of the younger British public buy into the whole thing because of the show and thus we have groomed manufactured mundane pop acts all over the UK charts.
You can't blame some people for trying but sadly a good majority think they are recording artists after getting through the first audition. The fact is the finalists are fast tracked to fame and don't really have to work hard at proving themselves like aspiring acts did years ago, it's all too easy via the X-Factor, the result is generic rubbish that end up doing an album of cover versions until they are dropped back into obscurity they were once plucked from, none will have longevity of the likes of the Rolling Stones or Bowie.
Next up was the excellent 'Seven wonders of the Buddhist world' (BBC2 24th Aug) presented by the very gorgeous Bettany Hughes. What a refreshing hour and 15 mins of great television as Bettany guided us around the world to view shrines and temples of the Buddhist world from Thailand to Cambodia, from Nepal to the USA. Regular readers know I'm not a faith orientated person but buddhism does interest me as it is one of the few faiths in the world with a lot of common sense attached to it. I'd been to the Buddha shrine on Lantau Island in Hong Kong several years ago and I found it to be an amazing place and I smiled broadly in fond memory when Bettany visited it on the show.
Lastly we have 'Francesco's Italy tip to toe' on BBC4 Tuesday 8pm) in which eternally smiling elfin Italian Francesco da Mosta travels from his native Venice to the toe end of Italy whilst criss-crossing this beautiful and historic country. I blogged about him a few years ago when he did another travelogue style program sailing from Venice in search of the old Venetian empire around the Adriatic coast, Greece and Istanbul. Francesco is a proud Italian historian/traveller with plenty of character and deserves wider recognition for his great shows and books.
Reality show Big Brother entered the fray in resurrected sense on Channel 5 (daily 10pm) after it was dropped by Channel 4 some time ago. First up is the celebrity version before the long running public one begins proper. There was much hype surrounding it but to be honest a B-list celebrities are all that entered the recreated opulent house and I turned off after just two episodes, according to viewing figures over 5 million viewers dumped it after the first night too.
Dragon's Den is also in full swing on BBC2 (Sunday 9pm usually) but I really feel the format is looking tired now despite the entrance of new down to earth female dragon 'Hilary Devey'. I'll still stick with it as there's new innovations of interest but generally it's much of the same.
Cheesy reality talent show 'The X-Factor' also reprised on UK screens this month (ITV Saturday 8pm) but even though all the judges are new despite Louis Walsh it still feels very 'Simon Cowell'. Mr Cowell is already ruffling feathers by replacing chart singer Adele with Sinitta for the boot camp stages at the alleged judges houses. Though I must confess to watching the early shows its just purely for laughs as deluded hopefuls try and prove they have what it takes to be the next manufactured robotic pop act that is ultimately launched by Cowell's label 'Syco'. Fair play to Mr Cowell, he plays a shrewd game and why scout for new talent when you can get it to come to you via a televised format? Sadly a large amount of the younger British public buy into the whole thing because of the show and thus we have groomed manufactured mundane pop acts all over the UK charts.
You can't blame some people for trying but sadly a good majority think they are recording artists after getting through the first audition. The fact is the finalists are fast tracked to fame and don't really have to work hard at proving themselves like aspiring acts did years ago, it's all too easy via the X-Factor, the result is generic rubbish that end up doing an album of cover versions until they are dropped back into obscurity they were once plucked from, none will have longevity of the likes of the Rolling Stones or Bowie.
Next up was the excellent 'Seven wonders of the Buddhist world' (BBC2 24th Aug) presented by the very gorgeous Bettany Hughes. What a refreshing hour and 15 mins of great television as Bettany guided us around the world to view shrines and temples of the Buddhist world from Thailand to Cambodia, from Nepal to the USA. Regular readers know I'm not a faith orientated person but buddhism does interest me as it is one of the few faiths in the world with a lot of common sense attached to it. I'd been to the Buddha shrine on Lantau Island in Hong Kong several years ago and I found it to be an amazing place and I smiled broadly in fond memory when Bettany visited it on the show.
Lastly we have 'Francesco's Italy tip to toe' on BBC4 Tuesday 8pm) in which eternally smiling elfin Italian Francesco da Mosta travels from his native Venice to the toe end of Italy whilst criss-crossing this beautiful and historic country. I blogged about him a few years ago when he did another travelogue style program sailing from Venice in search of the old Venetian empire around the Adriatic coast, Greece and Istanbul. Francesco is a proud Italian historian/traveller with plenty of character and deserves wider recognition for his great shows and books.
Below is the Buddha shrine at Lantau island, Hong Kong, featured on Bettany Hughes's 'Seven wonders of the Buddhist world' . I took this photo when I visited some years back.
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