Brass Eye

[sporty]

Am I the only one who got the joke?

[adryley]

You might as well be. How depressing is when a programme satirising the very worst of media over-hype creates media over-hype? Let's go back to Benny Hill-type humour and then we'll all know where we are.

[sjb1973]

Apparently, Channel 4 has received about 2,500 complaints about the show so far. However, they have received approximately 3,500 messages of support.

In contrast the ITC and BSC websites only have a complaints form rather than a comments form, so only people who didn't like the show get to voice their opinion.

[andy hughes]

I'm not sure a 'joke' is what Chris Morris was aiming at, or indeed what he used as the premise for his programme - as I understand it, he was looking for 'satire' which is not quite the same thing. Humour is supposed to make you laugh, satire is supposed to make you think, so if that was Morris' aim, he succeeded, unfortunately it is possible for the subtlety of that distinction to be lost under the sheer weight of discomfort caused by the subject matter, and the way in which is was aimed at its audience. If Morris planned to expose the hysteria of the media, his success was assured - one Sunday paper demanding that 'Channel Filth' be taken off the air, whilst simultaneously giving eight pages of the goings-on in the 'Big Brother' house! I didn't see the programme, but only because I happened to be out when it was shown, so unlike the Government Minister for Child Protection who also didn't see it, I feel constrained from making any further comment.