Little Sheldon is bang-on
NITWIT football pundits referring to Brazil as “The Selecao”, like they speak Portuguese! Jonathan Ross over-rabbiting on Takeshi’s Castle. The lack of a decent resident dance troupe on Sounds Like Friday Night. Google Pan’s People or Legs & Co to see what you’re missing. Don’t get me started on Ruby Flipper. AT the Rowing World Cup, James Cracknell was commenting when he said: M.Ashbee of Etchingham wins £35 for that howler. Keep ‘em coming to the address at the top of the page.
TV MYSTERY: Why no mention of South West Trains on Chris Tarrant’s Extreme Railway Journeys?
YOUNG Sheldon is the best new comedy in the States right now.
It’s a prequel to The Big Bang Theory, set when brainy geek Sheldon Cooper, right, was nine.
“Lord, look after my son,” prays his mum. “Don’t let him get stuffed in a gym bag.”
Sharp, witty and well-cast, the show has echoes of The Wonder Years and will hit our screens next year.
The Mayor is pretty funny too. Brilliant Brandon Micheal Hall stars in this comedy about a hip-hop musician who runs for mayor of his local town to promote his music and ends up elected.
Seth MacFarlane’s Star Trek spoof The Orville is more hit-and-miss. The special effects look the business and it has affectionate nods to sci-fi greats, but the hour-long episodes drag a bit.
Hot dramas include The Brave which stars Anne Heche as an intelligence agency boss running a special ops team.
We’ve already seen the best US shows of the year – Big Little Lies, American Gods, Star Trek: Discovery and The Deuce.
The sleazy but authentic New York porn and prostitution saga ended this week with the tragic murder of Ruby. Email me at: garry.bushell@ dailystar.co.uk or write c/o Daily Star Sunday,
10 Lower Thames Street, London
EC3R 6EN I’M in the USA checking out the latest TV shows so you don’t have to… The plus-sized hooker known as Thunder Thighs was hurled from a window like a bag of rubbish by a John who tried to rob her.
Even Vincent seemed more concerned about the damage her fall did to his Hi Hat club sign.
Pimp C.C. callously quipped she “could’ve taken the stairs” but at least cop Alston, the good apple in the NYPD’s rotten barrel, was on hand to punch him in the guts.
The show showed us the dark side of the sex trade at a time when porn started polluting the mainstream.
Cue a screening of Deep Throat, the film that made Linda Lovelace a household name.
This was early 70s New York warts and all – Eileen visited her gay brother Patrick in a mental hospital where he had been given electro-shock therapy to “cure” his sexuality by his dad (like Lou Reed was).
None of the regulars were in a happy place as the first season ended. Vinnie was fretting about how deep he was getting in with the Mob, Bobby started an affair with a brass, Barbara got banged up for a heroin deal and the pimps were steadily losing ground.
No wonder HBO ordered a second season so quickly. GONE to Pot proves that cannabis consumption is raging out of control, not least in the ideas departments of British TV stations.
ITV sent Chris Biggins, Pam St Clement, Bobby George, John Fashanu and Linda Robson to the US to sample the sweet leaf. Hey man, let’s get some celebs stoned! It’s The Real Marigold Hotel with weed. The Real Marijuana Hotel if you like. Smoking dope makes users giggly, dazed and hungry for munchies, which begs the question: if Biggins were off his face, how could you tell?
Still, if your idea of TV gold is “Pat Butcher smoking a bong” or “Bobby George nearly throwing up”, then this lame show is for you.
I’m holding out for Charlie Up the Bugle where a studio panel has to guess which famous Charlie is on cocaine. “Hmm, Charlie Heaton has form but that Hunnam is not to be sniffed at…”
ITV missed a trick not commissioning an after-show with recipes, say Half-Baked with Nigella or Jamie’s Sunday Joint. Bong appetit!
Shows that could surely only have been commissioned on puff: Sing If You Can, Naked Jungle, Don’t Scare the Hare, Touch the Truck and Hit the Road, a series so bad the final episode was never screened. PEAKY Blinders, right…Liv Lisa Fries, Babylon Berlin…Lucy Punch, Motherland …Jaimie Alexander, Blindspot. TRACEY Breaks the News – nothing that couldn’t be improved by completely new writers and a different host…Barry Scott, left, in any Cillit Bang ad… Gone to Pot – dopey.
“Their cox will be informing them ‘Don’t sit back on it, you can enjoy it all night’.”