Well, yes. But actually, maybe. Or not?
Metro reported thus:
The scariest thing about this was that it was apparently four years ago. I thought that it was 2023 or something. And with a whole Google search, it turns out that neither of us were right.
The last episode was on the 4th November 2022.
That’s not even three years ago yet, let alone four.
But surely the rest of their reporting will be accurate and truthful, right?
And look, if it is correct, then this is clearly great news, but the issues here are twofold. Firstly, that so much of the original MTW was good because of the regulars and especially Hugh Dennis and Dara O’Briain. Without them, you might as well just make a different show. And although no cast announcements have been made yet, it’s not sounding good:
A statement from Warner Bros. Discovery confirmed that the show’s return, produced by Angst Productions, would give the ‘much-loved’ series a ‘new look’.
As we’ve said so many time regarding music on this blog, sometimes change isn’t good. Especially when it was the familiarity that drew you in in the first place.
And there’s more iffiness because it’s apparently allegedly making a comeback on TLC:
As soon as I heard the news that Mock the Week was returning, I felt a tingle of nostalgic excitement.
Then I continued reading an article about it and saw something that immediately made me think the reboot is doomed to fail – it’s being aired on a relaunched version of TLC, which is a digital and Freeview channel known for reality TV screaming matches with shows like 90 Day Fiancé and 1000-lb Sisters.
These shows are hardly top-tier political satire like Mock the Week is, so it feels completely out of place.
There’s no doubt that the show calmed down a lot in its later years. There were definitely improvements in panel diversity, which was great to see, but at the same time, a lot of the edginess dropped off. And actually, we really need that edginess now. We need to be able to look at clowning politicians and take them down with satire and humour. See Colin Jost and Michael Che on SNL – no holds barred.
Honestly though, I think that there will be a further dumbing down of the hard-hitting content that MTW became known for in its early years (Frankie Boyle was a huge proponent of this).
The viewing figures dropped away as well with that lack of edginess, and it did feel like the show was held together by the regulars and the long-time fans [waves], rather than people looking to laugh at something a bit dangerous or risky – because that wasn’t going to happen.
Of course – of course – I will give this a go when it comes back out. But sadly, I’m ready to be disappointed.
