Sitcoms

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Would you like the opportunity to see the fun of a tv sitcom being filmed? Catherine Bailey Productions is pleased to announce the return of Life of Riley to BBC. We're looking for an enthusiastic audience to join us as we film at Pacific Quay, Glasgow. If you're interested take a look at the details below and get in touch.

In a climate where television shows hang under the threat of cancellation and some promising shows like Heroes turn to mush before our eyes, it's nice to have a show that you can rely on to entertain on just about every level.

And just in case the title and prominent cast photo didn't give it away, that show is NBC's Chuck.

To get you up to speed - Chuck is a regular underachiever working in a tech support job at a large retailer. An old college friend emails him a computer programme called the Intersect, a massive database of national security secrets, which gets embedded in Chuck's brain. The CIA and NSA have to work together to protect Chuck, who is the only link to this valuable information. They assign the sexy Agent Walker and gruff Major John Casey to protect him. In the meantime, Chuck has to live his life without letting his family and friends know about his double life as a spy.

It has to be said that on first glance, ITV's No Heroics looked like an unabashed piece of crap - crappy titles and crappy start sequence that's funny once, then instantly loses its appeal.

But funnily enough, once you watch a few episodes, you'll see what the buzz is about. The cleverly conceived superheroes all congregate in a rough London bar called The Fortress to spend their downtime. The three rules of The Fortress? No masks, no powers, no heroics.

There's The Hotness (Alex to his friends), the most camply-named hero with lame heat-based powers. His deliciously skanky ex-girlfriend Sarah (aka Electroclash) can control machines with just her voice. Their friends, Don (otherwise known as Timebomb - can see 60 seconds into the future) is a manic depressive gay hero, and Jenny is She-Force, the third strongest woman in the world.

Alex's arch-rival is Delvin, an utterly up-himself hero whose cape-name is Excelsor. Delvin gets all the recognition and glory and when he's at The Fortress with his gang of friends, he likes nothing better than to mercilessly taunt Alex.

Hey, you know those bad things I said about The IT Crowd in my last episode review? Well, forget 'em, because every last one has been forgiven with this - best episode ever.

You know when an episode of The IT Crowd is good when you're choking on a cup of tea and it's streaming out both nostrils. A couple of brilliant comic moments in Tramps Like Us literally almost caused me to spray my laptop with tea.

There’s a moment, early on in the first series of Samantha Who?, where someone says to Samantha that “Amnesia doesn’t exist – it’s just a lazy plot device.” And after watching quite a few episodes, boy, was that a self-fulfilling prophecy!

For those of you not in the loop, Christina Applegate plays the lead character, Samantha, a super-bitch who loses her memory and her identity in a hit and run. So each episode seems to revolve around Samantha finding out a little bit more about her former self. It’s all rather like that Harrison Ford movie where he loses his memory, realises he was a complete arse and that’s why he got shot at in the first place and…er…that’s it.

Now, before you all shout at me for slating Samantha Who, please bear the following two pieces of information in mind.

1. I’m a big fan of Christina Applegate from Married With Children to Friends to the chick-flick The Sweetest Thing.
2. I’ve taken the time to watch a number of episodes just to give this a fair crack of the whip.