Harry Hill's TV Burp

Sometimes comedy needs to be intelligent, occasionally insightful and all too often 'cutting edge', but Hill's Saturday night reflection on the week in Tellyland succeeds through utter silliness. From celebrity fights to the highlight of the week, TV Burp manages to savagely pick apart the idiocies of terrestrial television, and all before the watershed.

After a much needed break over Christmas and New Year, Harry is back to firing on all comedy cylinders, with the last couple of weeks finding him on fine form (and pulling high ratings). Fun for all the family, and it's not very often you can say that about a TV show.

I think I can feel a backlash coming on for Mr. Hill. After winning two BAFTAs this year, I'm kind of expecting more from this show now. And, truth be told, it all looks a bit too half-baked, formulaic and childish to me now. Maybe it always was? The clever, eagle-eyed observations are being swamped by desk-set slapstick. There are still some laughs, but this special wasn't much fun. I hope Harry manages to recharge for 2009, but ITV are flogging their only comedy hit to death with this extended run. A breezy seven episodes every three months is enough for me.

TV Burp enjoyed two series in 2008, one starting in January and a mammoth 25-part run that commenced in October. TV Burp has long been the most entertaining thing on the box, but you have to wonder how they are going to maintain the quality and laughs in the show over a six-month span. Too much burping could well result in viewers feeling sick.

It's been Harry Hill's year, with the splendid TV Burp at last receiving the recognition it deserves with two Baftas, a decent, regular time slot (on Saturday nights) and a good long run. The show is so successful that it's been given its own review - which is the usual stew of wry observations and silly clips as Hill looks back at some of 2008's television highlights. It's the perfect Boxing Day pick-me-up if you're feeling just a little bit jaded. And I'm not complaining, but can we have an hour-long review next year, please, ITV? Go on, you know you want to.

Hill's affectionate rubbishing of soaps and daytime celebrities is a show that defies gravity: endearingly subversive, deceptively genial. Hill is crazily watchable even if you don't know anything about the people he's pulling apart.

You might expect a television programme about television programmes to be self-indulgent and smug. Not this one. Eight series in, TV Burp only gets funnier. Harry Hill's look at the week's television is essential even if you don't watch the rubbish he covers.

There are still moments of brilliance from TV Burp, but this extended run does seem to have watered the show down a touch. Very often, less is more. There's only one way to find out...

If it wasn't for TV Burp I would never have known that Madge from Neighbours has moved to Emmerdale; that gorillas rolled down hills; and that tea cosies with legs stalk the set of Coronation Street. Yes, take the weeks TV, mix a little of crackpot comedian Harry Hill, and you have one of those fun filled for all the family half hours that UK Saturday night telly can be proud of.

Both TV Burp and Harry Hill himself have taken time to find the right approach to worm their way into the public consciousness. Originally airing late at night, he and ITV have finally worked out that the clean show, which is riotously funny, is the perfect opener for their Saturday line up.

It's well scripted, and it suits the nature of Hill's comedy of calling back to previous jokes and weaving a rich tapestry of material from very small observations.

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