Black Mirror tonight - thank god it's ending

[LineRunnerCrouchingReindeer]

I have watched the last two with teenage DCs and cringed throughout. I am now doomed to watch the thankfully final one in 15 minutes, with them, at their request. (Aah.)

Are there any redeeming features of these derivative, cliched, hackneyed bathetic pieces of drivel?

Utter rubbish.

Have come into kitchen to watch Brian Cox on tiny telly next to the washing machine.

That one was bollocks.

say what you like about Charlie's lack of narrative on the other two (if they where half as long or less they would have been fine) but at least they had points, bit of thought provoking.

This one was just bollocks, no hidden meaning no nothing just....what? nothing really that I could see.

dont think charlie wrote this one did he....?

ive taped it, ill reserve judgment til ive watched it.
i watched brian cox.

Wasn't great...

No he was PD on this one, thats what I'm saying last week people where saying this one might be better cos it's written by someone else, but they showed us er?.

Does anybody know if there is a link to 'How TV ruined your life'?
Wouldn't mind watching that genius series again...

Though on the subject of tonights episode - Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind springs to... er.. mind.

I think there was much more they could have done with tonight's episode though.

Tryed youtube?

stupidly no..

'ang on..

Oh, I was talking to a friend about this the other night. A mutual friend had watched them and found the first one quite amusing?!

Amusing??? Did I miss some massive joke? Clearly they were all supposed to be representative of current policiticans/royalty etc but just NOT funny at all. Just a bit grim.

I thought the second (x factor) one was reheeeeeealllly slow and crap, I only watched to the end because I was making dinner at the same time so not watching properly.

It was crap but a different kind of crap to the previous two.

I liked the first one and the second one (but I like Sci-fi).

I fell asleep watching last night's... It was an interesting idea but it couldn't sustain a whole hour show and the unveiling at the end was very contrived.

I thought last night's was really good. It was more of a study of obsessive jealousy than sci-fi, but it showed how perfect recall enabled a man to destroy his own life. It is not always best to 'know' everything, and sometimes it's better to be happy than right. That's how I read it, anyway.

I think you're right BOF. But I fell asleep at 20 past 9 and woke up about 8 minutes before the end and I'm not sure I missed much.

It had a very 60s feel to it. I was reminded of classics like Fahrenheit 451 and something else but I can't quite place it.

About the jealousy. Right about the jealousy.

I wasn't fair. Blame it on my hatred of Charlie Brooker.

It was better than the last two but the message that eavesdroppers never hear good of themselves wasn't original.

Did he kill his wife in the end? And the baby?

Do you really hate CB? I quite like him. What I don't like is that his big hair looks like it's wearing him and that they put a canned laughter track on his spots on that Channel 4 programme with David Mitchell.

He apparently based the format on Tales Of The Unexpected- self-contained short-story type dramas, which does give it a bit of a retro feel, I think. I like it: I'd rather see interesting one-offs than feel there's no point trying to get into a series if you've missed a couple.

No, he didn't kill them- he just destroyed his relationship and was left miserably reviewing the happy times all alone in his house at the end.

OOh yes. Tales of the Unexpected feels about right I think that's what I was thinking of.

I keep going on about this .

I used to like him a lot when he did TVGoHome and when he started writing for G2.

But now I find him smug, samey and overly negative about everything, especially soft targets. The novelty of his writing style has worn off too.

I think it's difficult to be a TV critic when you're on it. The David Mitchell programme, 10 O'Clock Live Show, is a case in point. I've said it before but if Brooker wasn't in it, he'd have slated it.

Also I don't know how he justifies rubbishing reality TV when his production company is an off-shoot of Endemol. And I doubt if he and Konnie Huq would have written last week's bitter little effort if she hadn't been found wanting on the Xtra Factor and was still on it. No doubt Brooker would say he's being ironic. I think he's being a hypocrite.

Clive James pulled it off mostly - the being on the telly and writing about it. I'm not a particular fan of everything Clive James has done but he's very knowledgeable about a wide range of TV and he obviously genuinely likes the good stuff and wants to tell people about it.

I also really like Ally Ross and he's talked about not doing TV because it would affect his ability to comment - probably a dig at Brooker.

AA Gill's generally good, too. He doesn't like Brooker much either.

I agree up to a point sinister but Black Mirror wasn't original and would never have succeeded at a pitch if it wasn't done by Brooker. As it is I can see a second season of this shite being commissioned to the detriment of really talented and original programme makers.

I think you're being a bit harsh. He's dropped his Guardian column hasn't he?

I liked ScreenWipe and Newswipe and I liked Black Mirror. I think it's good to see original drama on TV.

I really liked Charlie Catchpole in The Sun too .

I think it's interesting that two Sun journalists write interesting and informed copy on TV. Well, I don't find it interesting in the sense that I'm surprised Sun journalists are capable of it, more that people who aren't familiar with those critics may be surprised.

Me being harsh on Charlie Brooker? Interesting...

He's in G2 every Monday but not today.