The Top Ten Lookie-Likeys That Probably Don’t Get Much Work

“Don’t wanna be ignored at the door. We all look the same, we’re all lookalikes.” So sang criminally underrated German electropop band Tok Tok Vs Soffy O in their 2002 non-hit “The Lookalikes”. And do you know, they were right, pretty much everyone looks a bit like someone...

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Graph of the Day

In summary: On roads – “Eep”. On an empty work car park – “Wheeeeee!”...

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The BrokenTV Awards 2010: Sneak Preview

THE WORST TELEVISION PROGRAMME OF 2010 IS GOING TO BE: TRAMADOL NIGHTS Yeah, no brainer really. If you’re going to be shocking, at least remember to be funny. A bit like this show from New Zealand, about a decade ago: img alt="" galleryimg="no" onload="var downlevelDiv = document.getElementById('a76a23c0-96e8-4607-b587-35c9320803a8');...

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“The 1986 World Cup on the Moon?” It Must Be The Christmas 1973 TV Times!

We’ve chipped the icicles off the office computer to bring you the last of our glances at TVTimes gone by, and what could be better than a double Christmas issue with a cover that sums up the era perfectly? Hyuk-yuk-yuk. Or however one is supposed to spell Sid James’ guttural...

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Meanwhile, In An Alternate Universe… (rpt)

So, the Christmas listings guide begin tomorrow, meaning the festive season is officially GO. And, to be fair, the schedule is quite a good one, with repeats of Rowan Atkinson Live and The Goodies scheduled over the next fortnight. In tribute to those, here’s a repeat of our...

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Mobile Mediocrity

Just a quick update, this. BrokenTV has now been tweaked to look 47% less horrible on your mobile phone or iThing. Admittedly, it’s a quick fix, so it still looks a bit rubbish. But, as it’s only nabbing the RSS feed for now, that’s to be expected. Still, at least this...

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Ar-Gosh (The Inflationally Adjusted 1985 and 1986 Argos Catalogues)

We could think of a pun for the title this time. Not a good one, though. So, slightly surprisingly for us, yesterday’s update on the 1976 Argos catalogue seems to have been really quite popular. We know this because there are several hits on our Feedjit page linked to something...

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It’s The Argos Catalogue From 1976 And What The Things In It Cost Now After Accounting For Inflation!

We couldn’t think of a good pun for the title. Thanks to the utterly magnificent work of someone calling themselves Trippyglitters, Flickr now plays host to not one, not two, not four, but THREE complete Argos catalogues from the past. One from 1976, one from 1985 and one from...

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Exciting Free Gift For All Readers Inside

Way back in 2008, we ran a little contest over on the BeEx forum called Song Wars (no relation to the Adam & Joe thing of the same name). The rules were too complicated to run through in detail here, but it was basically a World Cup Of Liking Music – with group stages and...

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To Russia With… Elton? It Must Be The Christmas 1980 Issue Of TV Times!

Okay, who had “December 8th” in the “Which Day Will BrokenTV Miss A Daily Update Sweepstake”? That tiny plastic bag of pound coins is all yours. We’re back now, and it’s time for another flip through a TV Times of yuletides past. To make things ever more exciting, inspired by...

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If You Were Thinking Peter Kay, Twiggy and Jason Donovan Were Bad Enough…

…celebrity-fronted corporate chain store Christmas commercials didn’t used to be any better. img alt="" galleryimg="no" onload="var downlevelDiv = document.getElementById('3ec898bd-7ff7-4164-8cad-e96d0331735c'); downlevelDiv.innerHTML = "";" src="http://howtobeafraidofeverything.com/images/5cd8dbe66026_14643/video6c301a19568e.jpg"...

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“If It’s Tyne-Tees, Tell ‘Em I’m Not Working” (BBC North-East Xmas Tape 1986)

It just wouldn’t be December without us including some videos of BBC Christmas Tapes, would it? Here’s an interesting find – the BBC North-East Christmas tape from 1986. Warning: contains Bon Jovi. img alt="" galleryimg="no" onload="var downlevelDiv = document.getElementById('564b8d62-b2c4-411e-a25b-1430312cec09');...

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Max Bygraves’ Inland Revenue Bill and Bonnie Langford: It Must Be The Christmas 1977 Issue Of TV Times!

One of the generally accepted universal truths is that ITV Can’t Do Christmas Telly. This reasoning was probably more true than ever a few years ago, when the only noteworthy addition to ITV1’s Christmas Day line-up was a South Bank Show special on… Little Britain, a BBC show...

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“…and Rex Hamilton as Abraham Lincoln”

After the sad passing of Leslie Nielsen, we’ve spent quite a few enjoyable hours this week watching our DVD of Police Squad!, and it’s every bit as great as we remember it. Best of all, though, the DVD itself contains a bunch of wonderful special features, and here are a few...

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Doctor Who vs Bing Hitler

You know how we’ve often gone on about how brilliant The Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson is? This is precisely why. img alt="" galleryimg="no" onload="var downlevelDiv = document.getElementById('1908deb4-f499-4eba-a379-4b21f6efa8c3'); downlevelDiv.innerHTML = "";"...

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Yule (B)log: Stand-Up Round-Up (2)

From FIFA’s website: The 2018 World Cup is to be held in a country where spectators regularly boo black footballers, and the 2022 World Cup is to be held in a country where homosexuality is outlawed. Hmm. Maybe FIFA are going by George W Bush’s definition of ‘mission accomplished’?...

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Yule (B)log 2010: Comedy DVD Round-Up (1)

Yes, yes, we’re aware that updates have been sporadic recently. We even missed the 5th anniversary of the site going live. Rest assured, when BrokenTV’s tenth birthday rolls around, we’ll probably Photoshop a party hat onto the logo or something. But anyway, it’s December,...

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“No, These Are My Wife’s Slacks.”

img alt="" galleryimg="no" onload="var downlevelDiv = document.getElementById('e4f90029-4be9-437d-be3c-91c49d70c250'); downlevelDiv.innerHTML = "";" src="http://howtobeafraidofeverything.com/images/9f0ca9f4ff0c_137A5/video2c16a7a577b5.jpg" style="border-style: none">...

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“I Won’t #HIGNFY That With A Response.”

Noticed how certain BBC programmes now seem to flash up the Twitter hashtags they’d like viewers to use at the start of each show? Bit presumptuous, isn’t it? It’s like they’re saying “if you’re going to way how wonderful we are, please use this as a signifier, so we’re able...

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Clonkingly Stupid Screen Furniture Of The Decade (2)

In a thrilling change to their usual diet of complete and utter drek (Your Face Or Mine, Distraction, Balls Of Steel – y’know, all the stuff too rubbish to be repeated on E4), 4Music have started broadcasting the wonderful Tim & Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!. Generally at...

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Clonkingly Stupid Screen Furniture Of The Decade

You know how new-fangled digital channels feel you need to be slammed over the head with the details of subsequent programmes the very femtosecond the end credits begin to roll, lest you pick up the remote and switch to one of the many other programmes starting at, er, 10.50pm?...

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Hidden (YouTube) Pleasures: Part One

In a discovery that fills us with three parts excitement and two parts simmering resentment*, there seem to be a growing number of fondly remembered, though never commercially released, TV shows on YouTube. This is a marvellous thing, so here’s a quick rundown of our latest...

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You Have Not Been Watching

"I'm head of the class / I'm popular / I'm a quarter back / I'm popular / My mom says I'm a catch / I'm popular / I'm never last picked / I got a cheerleading chick." So sang 90s alt. rock also-rans Nada Surf in their 1996 offering “popular”, but what about those at the bottom...

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TV Listings Fail

Oh, ITV....

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The Top Ten French Names For Mr Men And Little Misses

This is going to be one of those things that you either find endlessly amusing, or will leave you completely cold. You know, like how Richard Herring insists on performing the “Men of Phise” stories he did as a tiny child, which he seems to think is the funniest thing ever,...

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PCZ RIP: Part The Rest Of It (Mr Cursor and Culky)

“Hey, Brokey! When are you going to do the rest of that tribute to PC Zone?”, people in the street would shout at us, if we ever went outside. And complete it we shall, with a look at our two favourite contributors to PCZ’s golden age. Being avid readers of Your Sinclair since...

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“What about the time I chipped my tooth on the bathroom urinal…”

 “…what the fuck is so comical about THAT?” [Beat.] “It was a back tooth, Hank.”   In quite possibly the most thrilling DVD news of 2010, The Larry Sanders Show is finally being released in full. In case you’re not aware of the series, it was a very close second...

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PCZ RIP: Part Two - Before They Was Famous

Time for another helping of scans from the now sadly departed PC Zone. While we COULD focus on some of their games cover over the seventeen years of the magazine’s life, considering we spent the last update ripping the piss out of advertisements from the magazine, we’re not...

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PCZ RIP: Part One (Scanfest2010: Part 6)

It’s only a few days until the final issue of PC Zone magazine hits the shops. This, it’s fair to say, is a shame. Over the years, PC Zone has included content from lots of brilliant writers – most famously Charlie Brooker, but also legendary videogame journos Duncan McDonald,...

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Futurama Feature: The Face, October 1999 (SCANFEST2010, Pt 5)

Futurama’s back on Comedy Central in the USA, and it’s as good as it ever was. Hurrah! That means that this collection of scans from October 1999’s issue of The Face is topical, as well as interesting. The article in full, plus other Scans Of Interest from that issue, after...

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The Multi-Coloured Swap Shop Book, 1978 (SCANFEST 2010: Pt 4)

Scanfest 2010 continues with by far the most interesting find from our archive yet. Yes, even more interesting than the FA Cup Final programmes from 1986 and 1989. First published in 1978, and costing a princely sum of £1.25, this was possibly our favourite book when we were...

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SCANFEST2010: “French & Saunders used to resort to TV parodies to hide a lack of their own ideas.”

David Baddiel, Vox magazine, June 1997. Around the time the magazine had started to call itself “The NME Monthly”....

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