Ant and Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway…”Let’s Get Ready To Rhumble”

They say Nostalgia is always better the first time around. Sometimes it isn’t. I remember 1994 and I certainly remember PJ and Duncan and their hit single Lets’ Get Ready To Rhumble. It is safe to say my CD Rack feeble as it was back then was never remotely threatened by its addition.

Roll forward nineteen years. PJ and Duncan have become Ant and Dec. The Geordie lads from Byker Grove have become a pair of, not yet middle aged but certainly get closer, Saturday night Entertainers far removed from their suburban “Hip-Pop” roots.

As they evolved they carefully managed the change of their brand leaving behind all the vestiges of what they once were, that is until tonight.

In a nod to a recent reality TV series on ITV2 that saw 5ive, Blue and Atomic Kitten reforming, these bands were invited to perform on the Saturday Night Takeway tonight and the surprise was for one night only Ant and Dec were going to perform their hit single alongside the other bands.

The song might have been cheesy, pop-pish and very Vanilla but the performance Ant and Dec gave tells you everything you need to know about why they are Mr & Mr Saturday night TV. It was stupendously fantastic, especially when you consider that they were busting these same extremely energetic moves close to twenty years ago.

I shouldn’t have liked it but I loved it.

p.s. I you don’t remember the original, thanks to the wonders of YouTube, now you do

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Celebrity Juice…Is it just Benny Hill for the Facebook generation? [ITV2]

Ah Celebrity Juice, Leigh Francis aka Keith Lemon at his inimitable best.

I sometimes wonder how this programme was pitched  to ITV execs? Was it pitched as a post modern humorous, but ironic take on celebrity culture and ingrained misogynistic behaviour in the entertainment industry. Or was it sold as a Quiz show with loads of banter, piss taking, celebs and loads of nicely stacked ladies for the lads.

I suspect it was sold as something close to the former but what we have got is definitely close to the latter.  Leigh Francis in his role as Keith Lemon revels in his role as probably the most politically incorrect TV celebrity since the late Benny Hill. Alongside Keith are regulars Holly Willoughby or as she is known on the show  Holly Willough-booby (no explanation needed here) and Fearne Cotton seemingly less favoured by Lemon for being less favoured in the ways that appeal to him.

Celebrity Juice has been phenomenally successful for ITV2, bringing in close to 2 million viewers per show. It has however divided wider opinion, while clearly a lot of people love its humour and banter, there are also people who worry about what they see as its over indulgence in lewd school yard humour the sort we last saw with the late Benny Hill.

If the lewd humour offends you, then last night’s episode would have left you apoplectic. Fearne Cotton is off having a baby, and drafted in as her replacement was Kelly Brook.  Now Kelly Brook is ample in a similar way to Holly Willoughby possibly even more so and the appearance of both of them on the show seemed to send Keith into an overdrive of bawdy behaviour.

Does it matter that Holly and Kelly both seemed “up for it”? Holly in particular I would assume doesn’t have to do this show. She co-hosts two of ITV’s flagship programme’s This Morning and Dancing on Ice, and even managed to get a gig on rival BBC as well as the host of The Voice.  So why you might ask does she feel  she needs to take part in a programme where she is blindfolded and a prosthetic male organ waved in her face?

She is either operating on a level of irony that we mere mortals can only aspire to  or she is pretty much ready to do anything for a laugh.

Personally I enjoy Celebrity Juice but I am not sure I should. It is like having a double cream filled chocolate doughnut from Krispy Kreme, lovely but you somehow know it is not to be encouraged.

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X-Factor USA…unearths a diamond!

Before you watch either of these two videos just bear in mind she is 13 years. ‘She’  is  Diamond White and she has blown me away. I am sure in the deepest recesses of my wardrobe I have clothes older than her.

Incredible eh! and then after that she then goes and delivers another faultless performance at Boot Camp.

As great as she is I still think 13 is way too young for these shows, cos when it gets tough a 13 year old will simply not have the mental strength to deal with difficult situations that are bound to come along. I think 16 should be the minimum age. If she is this great at 13, imagine what she will be like at 16!!

X-Factor USA goes old school…The Amazing Panda Ross

I can’t deny I do love a really good audition on X-Factor  UK or USA. While it is becoming increasingly rare on the UK version, the USA continues to deliver some serious talent. This lady is one of my favourites.

I love Sam Cooke and this cover of his song Bring It Home To Me is epic.. Plus her flirtation with Simon is very amusing.

I bring you the amazing Panda Ross bringing it home.