John Walker (VII)

Off the Telly Review

8 Out of 10 Cats could hardly be more derisive. No effort has been made to disguise its wanton copying of the HIGNFY format, complete with variations on the 'newspaper headlines', 'odd one out', and 'missing word' rounds, concealed by the tissue-thin excuses of survey results. Asked to guess the five most talked about subjects by their pollees, it's embarrassingly obvious that the charade is entirely unnecessary, and they may as well be asked questions on the week's news and be done with it.

John Walker, Off The Telly, 24th June 2005

Off The Telly Article

Mock the Week achieves something quite impressive - it manages to get every toe-curling feature of panel-based programming into one half hour show. Including over-reliance on the concept; thinly disguised scripted material; and a complete lack of anything topical to say.

John Walker, Off The Telly, 24th June 2005

The failings are all the more painful because the programme presents at least some hope. Of all the formats to copy, they chose the right one, but they've yet to come to terms with how exceptional Jon Stewart is as a comedian and host, and success is not as simple as plopping in the most available comic they can find.

John Walker, Off The Telly, 10th March 2005