TV Week: Dragons' Den and The Kevin Bishop Show
By Dan OwenDRAGONS' DEN (BBC2, MON 9PM) The show struggled last year, as most of the pitchers weren't very funny and didn't have good ideas or inventions to sell. All shows lose their freshness after awhile, too -- but this is series you can't write-off because the format is solid and success/failure depends entirely on who walks up those famous stairs...
All the Dragons are back: smooth James Caan, grouchy Duncan Bannatyne, smug Theo Paphitis, stern Deborah Meaden and blunt Peter Jones, although most are now obsessed with becoming celebs; appearing on Radio 1, The Wright Stuff and Top Gear recently. Jones has even tweaked the show's format to create US knock-off American Inventor!
It was a tepid start to the sixth series, though: a band called Hamfatter secured £75,000 from Jones, despite only playing an extract of a song that reached #3 in Austria, while a novelty party business (featuring actors dressed as inanimate objects) also earned undeserved investment. The rest were the usual gaggle of deluded chancers: a bullish salesman with a machine that turns air into (un)drinkable water, a couple who thought bedcovers with a line down the middle would prevent bedtime arguments over space, garden fences with exotic scenes stuck to them, a non-slip travel cushion, etc.
Despite cosmetic changes (different camera angles, Meaden's gentler hairstyle, and heat-haze added to shots), it was generally business as usual. But there are signs the Dragons have become too bigheaded for the den, to the detriment of its true stars: the would-be entrepreneurs.
THE KEVIN BISHOP SHOW (CHANNEL 4, FRI 10PM) After a successful pilot under the "Comedy Showcase" umbrella, Star Stories' lead performer Kevin Bishop gets to sink his teeth into a full-blown sketch show. It's breathlessly-paced and hyperactive stuff, revolving around the simple idea of channel-surfing, with spoofs of celebs and television shows. Some sketches last seconds, so any clunkers have no time to stick in your memory. The impressions are intentionally loose and surreal, but I was disappointed to find so many gags relying on schoolboy humour and silly puns. Cold Sore Mountain? Please. Still, its cheeky sense of mischief ensures a pleasant half-hour of entertainment, and it makes The Fast Show look sluggish.
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Dan Owen is a self confessed TV "obsessive" and passionate film buff. Check out his blog at danowen.blogspot.com
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I have always wanted to go on dragons den but with a really stupid idea that quite clearly would never work.
I would like to argue with them and tell Theo he didn;t grasp the potential of my shit idea because he made a living selling ring binders and bras.
But it would be just my luck that Mr Duncan 'faking the accent' Bannatyne would probably insist on investing in my catastrophically bad business.
Did they air a catch-up show before this new series? I always like to see the entrepreneurs they turned down, a few of whom are now successful. I saw that American guy's "cucumber holder" being sold recently --a product that was laughed out of the room in series 3 or 4. The Dragons clearly don't cut their own cucumbers anymore, so consequently don't remember the irritation of the sliced end going "off" in the fridge.
@SThompson
I would love to see you go on and have a pop at the Dragons.
@Dan
I didn't know Jones had ripped off the idea for a US show, is he trying to be like Simon Cowell and being a judge on it himself? Is it on any of the sat channels?
Anon; yes, Peter Jones is one of the 4 judges on American Inventor (and has made loads of money by selling this obvious Dragons' Den knock-off around the world). It was shown on Virgin1 a few months ago.