Peckham Finishing School for Girls

Peckham Finishing School for Girls is a three-episode show for BBC3, in which four home counties "posh girls" are dropped into Peckham. They are mentored by four Peckham girls, and given the odd job or task to do, while, hopefully, seeing the other side of things. All three episodes are currently up on the BBC's iPlayer. There's also a rather good overview of the general idea of the series in the Metro.

There are clashes from the start. One girl compares her routine of getting up at 5am, ice-skating and modelling to that of being a cleaner. They all, when given £30 to spend on Peckham clothing, decide to waste the money and arse about, something that greatly angers the Peckham girls who rarely get new things. One of them, on hearing about a Peckham girl's experiences in care, starts crying. I paraphrase; "Oh-em-gee, your experiences have upset ME so much, everyone crowd around and comfort ME, because it's just so hard for ME hearing about how tough your life is!".

And so on.

I love train wreck TV. I also rather like Serena, although she's not really getting as much screen time as that irritating Cat.

BBC3

BBC3 seems to be trying a lot of new comedy-drama shows recently. Stanley Park's currently on. Quick review; painfully self-referential, and incredibly clumsy in execution. It plays like a dreadful parody of Sex and the City crossed with Two Pints crossed with Hollyoaks.

I did rather like Peckham Finishing School for Girls, but more on that once I've been responsible and finished studying.

Will Schuester is a Giant Man-Child

I've seen up the Madonna episode (15/22), so there may be spoilers for anything up to that point. We're taking about Glee, by the way.

So, Will Schue. Here are the facts as I know them, to illustrate exactly why I believe Will Schue has never grown up.

• Will Schue stills work at the High School he attended during his own school days. He (presumably) left to obtain a degree and Qualified Teacher Status, and then came back - as if he'd never left.
• He took control of the Glee Club in a self-confessed attempt to bring them back to the glory they enjoyed when he was a student. He often joins in with the students while rehearsing, rather than taking more of a back seat as a director.
• For much of the series, he was still with his high school girlfriend.
• When she wished to distract him from her non-existent pregnancy, she knew that the best way to do that was with a replica of the car he owned as a teenager.
• In his new relationship, he used the exact song as he had at the beginning of his old one.
• He is currently having essentially the same relationship as Rachel Berry, a student more than a decade younger than he is (with regards to new partners and virginity issues).

There was more, but that will do for now.

TV Shows!

I don't usually watch programs on TV. I prefer to rent the DVDs, and watch every single episode in one long marathon. It's been a while since I've felt the anticipation of waiting for a new episode every week.

The last time was with the repeats of the first series of Being Human on BBC1. I'd missed the first showing on BBC3 (in my bedroom I can only get the five main channels - I'm thinking of getting Sky Plus in here soon, if I can afford it), so it was pure luck that I spotted the description. I don't recall exactly what it said, but the show's about a werewolf, a vampire and a ghost sharing a house. How can that possibly fail to be interesting?

Being Human is slightly more dramatic than you might expect just from that description, but it also has a hilarious kind of gallows humour, and really likeable characters. The three leads are played by Lenora Critchlow, who played Sugar in Sugar Rush, Aiden Turner, who appears in The Tudors and Desperate Romantics, and Russell Tovey, who starred in The History Boys. I'm very much looking forward to the second series, which starts on BBC3 this Sunday, the 10th, at 9:30pm. I'm hoping they put it up on the iPlayer right away, since I'll be at work then.



Another show I'm going to miss is Glee, which starts this Monday at 9pm on E4. The pilot's already up on 4oD, so I'm praying the other episodes go up too. It reminded me of nothing so much as a cross between High School Musical and Teachers, only much better than either. I am enthralled.

You can see a trailer here.

Wife Swap and Beauty

So, today I'm watching Wife Swap USA on channel 4.

This time, one family consists of a self-proclaimed "short, fat" motorcycling rocker, with a tall blonde wife. His wife, Gloria, does all the work in the house. She says at the beginning that she entered the program because she wants her husband and son to appreciate her more. Later, she criticises her current husband, by saying that real men let women take care of him. She insists on taking on her previous role as house-slave.

Her husband constantly proclaims himself to be 'the King'. To him, his wife is a status symbol - he likes having the tallest, sexiest blonde on his arm. She's had a breast enlargement, and a tummy tuck, and does all the housework - and she does all the housework - wearing weights on her feet.

Their child, who is nine, spends up to five hours a day playing videogames. Generally, he seems to be a good kid. He's polite, and quite intelligent. He knows that too, and comes across as quite arrogant. The way he expresses his anger is very disturbing. He wants people to "burn", for annoying him. He's extremely offended by anyone who makes him do anything he doesn't want, and despises them for it. He says he has no objection to hard work, but wonders why he would want to do anything nice for someone who "tortures" him.

Later in the show, the swapped-wife, Jill, has him take part in a debate, over whether videogames or chores are more useful. He handled himself very well there, considering he was debating with people who are older. However, what struck me the most was the way his dad was looking at him as he talked.

This family does love each other. Gloria isn't classically beautiful. She's tall, with large breasts, and she's quite slim. However, the blonde dye has made her hair look very dry, and the make-up ages her. When she's forced to remove it, she comments on how she feels unprotected and unattractive.

I found that quite sad. There's more than one way to be attractive. You can be sexy, pretty, cute, beautiful...perhaps not all at the same time, but you don't have to pick one and make that your "thing". You can be sexy one day, cute the next -

There's more than one way to be attractive. Just because you can't do one doesn't mean you aren't.

Big Chef Takes On Little Chef

I've been watching the first episode of this program on 4OD and one thought has struck me so far;

Fuck off, you up-yourself git.

The Little Chef boss guy is perfectly within his rights not to discuss the profits of his business on camera, particularly after you were a rude bastard to him about the menu. Just tell him it needs to go, don't string him along. And he didn't refuse to tell you, don't lie when we've all just watched that scene. He refused to tell you on camera.

Christ, I hate that fake drama thing channel 4 does sometimes. Back to the show now.

Edit 1:

Little Chef used to work because of its classic British food, which we don't get nearly enough of. That's started to fail, mostly because of the quality. The boss guy's tried to add exotic flavours and strange recipes, such as Hawaiian hamburgers and pasta to the menu, to make it more exciting. That isn't working.

Chef guy's trying to create traditional yet delicious and unusual British recipes, to take the brand back to what it used to be. Boss guy is muttering about Blue Sky thinking and how it's not original enough.

Fucks sake. The 'blue sky thinking' approach hasn't worked so far. Why don't we try thinking outside the box, letting the lemurs run free, and returning to traditional values in food?

(I've been watching that Will & Grace Episode where Grace is taught how to do that corporate speak).

Also, boss wanker dude, send the figures already. Losing sympathy fast. Chef guy is a successful businessman and is doing you the favour.