TV

The British Comedy Awards 2008
Last year there were no Comedy Awards due to the 2006 ones being caught up in the phone voting scandals; this year, the Brand/Ross/Sachs affair surely put them in jeopardy. But on the air they were, and a few good jabs were had at the 30,000 people who complained without evening having heard the show -- with sizable cheers from the audience. Russell Brand's pre-recorded acceptance speech was intriguingly cut short, however... Also amusing, the lack of applause and amount of heckling that Ricky Gervais' win received, especially when his pre-recorded speech was full of his usual "I've won so many awards, this one means nothing" schtick. It got old a few years ago, and now it seems people really hate it. It's just a shame the audience audio was turned down so much. It'll be interesting to see what (if anything) gets more press coverage post-event: the reactions to Ross & Brand, or the jeering of Gervais.

Live at the Apollo
4x02 (5/12/08 edition)

Merlin
1x12 To Kill the King
Oh, the twisty-turny morals! Very nearly scuppered it too, but of course they twisted the right way for an unsurprisingly moral finale. But did the rest of the episode go too far the other to fully justify the ending? I think they may've. Also, the Next Time trailer was unintentionally amusing -- aiming for the same portentous effect as a Doctor Who season finale trailer, but without the weight of imagery and import to carry it off. Oh dear.