Breeders, Intelligence and Hitmen Reviewed

Yesterday I was up a nearby hill looking across the Peak District with Anna appreciating that we live somewhere with access to the countryside. Glossop itself was quiet aside from the distanced conga lines of shoppers outside Aldi and M&S and even the cat had taken to Facebook rather than her usual saunter around the back yard.

Whilst things were quiet offline, online things had heated up. In these unprecedented times unprecedented things happen. In my case this has meant I've actually started to view comedy showcases, Edinburgh hours and even articles written for beyondthejoke. Anna and I have also started to experiment with comedy series on Sky thanks to our Now TV entertainment pass, with varying outcomes...

Breeders
Easily the best thing we've seen this week. And not just because it revolves around a middle class couple in their forties struggling with young children and unpredictable parents. Though not parents ourselves, the plot is a pretty accurate interpretation of a thousand Facebook updates from those I know in the position and the liberal smattering of sarcasm, swearing and stress puts it head and shoulders above more family-oriented affairs like Outnumbered.

Intelligence
Ross from Friends makes what begins as a teeth-grittingly awful parody of Spooks (with a dash of Line of Duty) into something fairly watchable if you're open to accepting the raging stereotypes who make up the rest of the cast. The entire series appears to be built on the joke that Americans are brash-but-powerful whilst Brits are modest-but-incompetent. Oh look, the photocopier / retina scanner / any piece of equipment keeps breaking down because MI6 is underfunded. Ho ho ho.

Hitmen
However, given the choice between Intelligence and Hitmen I would rather watch jokes about team building and shouting USA like a mantra any day compared to the absolute car crash that is Hitmen. Mel and Sue are back together in a sitcom which appears to be the product of a production meeting where the aim was to recreate Killing Eve with a double act delivering one liners and poorly conceived comedy set pieces centre stage to a background of murder and violence. When the best thing about the first episode is a children's entertainer doing a funny dance whilst dressed as a spider you know something has gone badly wrong. Especially when the final punchline to the scene is him being shot in the back of the head. Avoid.

And so I have slipped into the murky world of reviewing television. Lockdown fever is clearly kicking in. If you think you can do better than Mel and Sue (and in the above case you'd be hard pressed not to) then please do send me video links to your own comedy stylings. The next Anything Goes Online Open Mic is out next Thursday and so far I have 12 acts with plenty of room for more. The first show has now been watched approximately 300 times so it's a neat opportunity to get ideas out and promote your own content.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DHoIr6jOfWg&list=PLTKnY0qjJalDOsQQ6A-wbRtpEvFuc0V_u&index=1