corden and horden

In the last couple of weeks I've read an absolute mountain of sniping articles about Horne and Corden (the stars of BBC3's Gavin and Stacey, who have recently launched a very poorly-received sketch show), and I find myself getting quite annoyed by the relentless critism. I don't doubt for a moment that their new show is poor (most TV sketch shows and sitcoms are) but there's something off-putting in the way that TV reviewers have gone for them so aggressively. I'd much rather read a review of a programme that the critic rates, so that I might find something new to watch - especially in the days of iPlayer when catching up on last night's TV is a realistic possibility for an evening's entertainment.

Everyone seems to have back-dated their criticism, too, deciding that Gavin and Stacey was over-rated, too; that it was sentimental, cloying, unfunny. It certainly was a gentle comedy, a million miles from, say, Stewart Lee, but I thought it was beautifully judged - charming and good-natured, witty, silly and believable by turn. I know I am a renowned wimp, but it regularly used to make me cry, too. It may well be fashionable to decry such family fodder - but I don't like the trend.

Over at the Guardian, Mark Lawson is wondering how the pair will revive their nosediving careers. It's a ridiculous article. Cordon is perhaps a bit full of himself, but he's funny and a talented writer, and Matthew Horne is a promising actor. They'll never be conventional comics, perhaps - but writing off their careers at this very early stage is plain daft.