Annually Retentive
Host
Co-hosts
Team captains: Dave Gorman and Jane Moore
Broadcast
Jones the Film for BBC Three, 11 July 2006 to 4 June 2007 (12 episodes in 2 series)
Synopsis
Is it a comedy or is it a panel game? It's a bit of both but mostly the former, if you ask us, but it isn't listed in the BBC Online Comedy Guide as a comedy so who knows?
We're listing this for historical value only, if we're honest. Rob Brydon - playing a nastier, more callous version of himself - hosts a comedy panel game for real in front of a real audience who think it's real. However, the programme actually appears in clip format as a show-with-a-show (it's as if The Mousetrap hadn't happened) with heavily-scripted behind the scenes preparations packaged around it. Therefore, essentially this is a sitcom based around a game show, not vice versa.
Somehow Rob Brydon's far too likeable and endearing to be believable as a shallow celebrity host, unlike Gary Shandling's Larry Sanders, and the concept falls down rather on that point. However, there are some good gags if you stick with it.