As Seen On TV
- TV panel show
- BBC One
- 2009
- 8 episodes (1 series)
BBC1 panel show based around TV trivia. Hosted by Steve Jones, with team captains Fern Britton and Jason Manford. Also features Beardyman.
Press clippings
As Seen On TV axed
As Seen on TV has got the chop after just one series. A BBC insider said: "Executives were not wholly satisfied with how it played out and thought some things could have been better. They have decided not to give it another go and are looking for new ideas instead."
The Sun, 20th November 2009Although not quite as miscast as fellow BBC family ent host Graham Norton, Steve Jones is nevertheless an odd choice for this, another TV quiz show. A Question of Sport-lite (circa 1970) with a bit of Screen Test thrown in, Jones struggles to make his scripted one-liners and banter seem anything other than forced. One senses that, like Norton, he's desperate to add some irreverence with a less-santised commentary. The feeling of to be or whoquite knowing what it wants to be or who it wants to appal to isn't helped by the show's erratic quest list, which by the show's erratic guest list, which runs from Pauline Quirke to Lauren Laverne.
Lisa Campbell, Broadcast, 24th July 2009As Seen On TV review
The brilliance of Harry Hill appears to have intimidated the BBC that the philosophy of relentless mockery should be avoided, so As Seen On TV instead worships at the altar of pseudo-celebrity.
The Custard TV, 18th July 2009Steve Jones chairs this quiz themed on the TV archives, with Fern Britton and Jason Manford captaining two teams of celebrity guests, whose calibre this week runs to Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen and Pauline Quirke. Unable to decide whether it's edgily hip or comfortably staid, it includes items such as a human beatboxer rendering theme tunes, alongside a straightforward steal of the "What happened next?" bit from A Question of Sport.
The Guardian, 17th July 2009Just one week after Channel 4 launched a new panel quiz about the telly, You Have Been Watching, BBC One follows suit with its own As Seen on TV. This one is chaired by the painfully unfunny Steve Jones. The outgoing This Morning presenter Fern Britton and smiley stand-up Jason Manford captain the teams. The puns and one-liners come thick and fast but sadly the (genuine) laughs are thin on the ground.
Catherine Gee, The Telegraph, 17th July 2009Charlie Brooker has a rival (um, sort of) to his You Have Been Watching - Steve Jones with his own celeb game show chewing over recent telly. The fact that his team captains are Fern Britton and Jason Manford, the cut-price Peter Kay, will give you an idea of the level this is pitched at.
Sharon Lougher, Metro, 17th July 2009Just hours after her 10-year run on This Morning comes to a tearful end today (we predict), Fern Britton is back on our screens as a team captain (together with Jason Manford) on a new TV trivia quiz hosted by Steve Jones.
Not quite as leftfield as Charlie Brooker's You Have Been Watching, on C4 - this is actually good fun with some cleverly inventive rounds in which the panellists show off their telly knowledge.
Bonus points tonight go to Laurence Llewellyn Bowen, for pointing out that their studio desk looks like a giant red toilet bowl. "We're like germs under the rim," he grumbles, accurately. And a prize to the wag responsible for providing us with a (possibly unintentional) shot of Steve Jones posed neatly between the nipples of a bare-chested James Corden.
Jane Simon, The Mirror, 17th July 2009Responding to the nationwide clamour for a return of Telly Addicts, the BBC have a new panel show about TV. It is positioned as a sort of Mock The Week for people who find current affairs a bit taxing. Handsome idiot Steve Jones from T4 is your host, while the deeply personable Fern Britton and Jason Manford are the team captains for a trivia quiz, while tonight's guests give you a fairly accurate read on the sort of 'hilarity' that will ensue: Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen, Lauren Laverne, Pauline Quirke and Tina Hobley.
TV Bite, 17th July 2009As Seen on TV
With As Seen on TV you have to wonder if any one of the panellists would recognise a Python if he slapped them on a face with a fish.
Jack Kibble-White, Off The Telly, 17th July 2009BBC1's new summer entertainment quiz, As Seen on TV is not for me, I'm afraid. Its smiles and jollity left me cold. It told me nothing I wanted to know about popular telly. There is nothing new in its format, in which two teams of celebs answer TV trivia questions over five rounds. The set looks like a preschool playroom. I was just amazed to count 12 producers, executives and directors on the credits.
Taylor Downing, Broadcast, 16th July 2009