It’s
no surprise that TV commissioning bosses are
utterly out of touch, but really, how can anyone find Channel 4’s nasty
sitcom Catastrophe even remotely funny?
Everything
that could be wrong is wrong. It's poorly and coarsely written and badly acted
by two very unappealing principal players, Sharon Horgan and Rob Delaney.
The episode shown on Tuesday 3 November 2015
was sexually explicit – but not in a clever or funny way; rather in a cold and
de-sensitised manner. It made me despair about humanity, quite apart from
reinforcing my view that the TV ‘creative’ community in Britain exists in a
giant, delusional grove of self-adulation.
This
was the ep that had new mum Sharon (confusingly, the lead actors and the
principal characters in this cackfest of a comedy share the same forenames)
become disillusioned with the company of new mums in her local area –
sneeringly so with one new mum in particular.
Having
said that, almost everything the character of Sharon says or does involves
sneering. It's really unattractive.
Elsewhere
in the ep I watched – and I won’t be viewing any more – Sharon’s fella Rob had some new woman at his
office come on to him sexually. That was all a bit overdone and obvious.
But
the most offensive and least funny bit was the scene when Rob got verbally
nasty with a new mum who had given the cold shoulder to Sharon. That was
misogynistic. Very nasty.
Listen up, telly bosses; the
very best sitcoms say something redeeming about human beings, but for
Catastrophe that’s not even on the agenda. This s a charmless and depressing
offering, which is why I ought to be surprised – but actually I’m not – that
Channel 4 thinks it is a quality offering. Ha! Now that is quite funny.
It's
even been mentioned as one of the shows that could be at risk if this ailing
channel is sold off, as the Government is currently considering. Apparently,
another casualty could be the silly, guffawing excuse for a chat show fronted
by the hugely over-rated Alan Carr.
So
let's get on with it! Any bidders?
