The TV week on demand (22 February)
iPlayer undergoes its 36th makeover in its short life, while geek parodies find a new spiritual home. Welcome to the best TV on demand this week...
iPlayerOh, my, iPlayer, have you done something with your hair? Lost a little weight, perhaps? Or, just overhauled your interface to stop being such a colossal pain in the testicles?
Actually, it’s the last. Even if you don’t want to watch anything then go and have a look, it’s really quite fun – and we can also now see what the most watched programmes are (Ashes to Ashes. Alright if you liked Life on Mars, but otherwise serves as proof that having a high concept doesn’t instantaneously make a good drama.)
After Ashes to Ashes on the most watched list comes two eps of Torchwood, including this week’s episode from BBC Three if you aren’t blessed with digital.
More importantly, That Mitchell and Webb Look has come back having apparently undergone a change on the scale of iPlayer itself – it’s now actually funny. Mazin.Still, on an iPlayer reformatting note, you do have to wonder why the ‘more like this…’ column for Lily Allen and Friends (think a low-cal, disinterested So Graham Norton) shows Masterchef and University Challenge. The site may still need a little work done under the bonnet…
4ODSkins. Oh, lovely Skins. As if Bill Bailey wasn’t enough, Kevin Eldon is in next week’s episode, as a point of interest. He’s getting around at the moment, having also done the rounds as a jury foreman in Hotel Babylon on Tuesday. Sticking to this week, then if for nothing else watch Skins for the school production of Osama: The Musical and the dramatic return of Shane Richie, if nothing else.
Otherwise, you could behold RudeTube, Channel Four’s countdown of the funniest Internet virals. It’s not any good, obviously – but it’s good to see that terrestrial telly is now just four years behind the general zeitgeist.
Alternatively, I am slowing warming to Modern Toss, which as a show with only a couple of good sketch show ideas, is perfect to watch on demand while doing something else (see also: Marc Wootton Exposed).
And Elsewhere…Geeks. Taking the mick out of geek stuff. It can’t really fail. Galacticast on blip.tv has a rather Adam & Joe feel to it, with such take-offs as ‘Found’, ‘28 Seconds Later’ and ‘Robojew’. But nothing quite competes with the Battlestar Galacticast, and the unfathomable mumbling of Edward James Olmos.
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