How TV Ruined Your Life (2011) User Reviews

Somewhat of a retread but funny enough for fans and newcomers alike

[MarcusJ13 · 8/10 · 11 March 2011]

Charlie Brooker has treated us with his cynical wit brilliantly through Screenwipe, Newswipe and later on You Have been Watching but here Brooker delves solo once again. This time delving into how TV ruined your life. This is where Brooker makes various analysis about more specific aspects of how TV lets the population down with various aspects. Brooker approaches fear, the life cycle, aspiration, love, progress and knowledge. If you are already familiar with Screenwipe and Newswipe, this may feel like somewhat of a retread. Such as the aspiration element was covered in an episode of Screenwipe it seems like an extension in the episode in this series.

However it has many highlights, the episode on Love while I think covered in Screenwipe as well (don't quote me on that) presented the outlook that only Mr Brooker can deliver in such a true fashion while keeping it tongue in cheek but we understand where his viewpoint comes from. Earlier in the series. the fear episode encapsulated the current trend of media in general and even though it is a comedy it presented a very realistic outlook that's difficult to disagree with. In my view Brooker saved the best till last with the Knowledge episode where he presents TV's warped view of knowledge and how it uses things like sensationalism to get its point across. While also mocking TV presenters doing pretentious shots staring out windows and walking down steps in order to look more profound. Andrew Marr being the prime example pointed out. To conclude this a series that showed Brooker at his best and while regular viewers of his other programmes may feel like you've seen it before it has its own wit. I just hope we see more of his solo work in the future.

How TV Ruined Your Life

[jboothmillard · 7/10 · 9 March 2011]

Following on from the great Screenwipe, and also You Have Been Watching, this new programme from the comically brash television presenter sounded like it could be good, so I watched. This programme is a satirical near comedy documentary from Charlie Brooker that focuses on how television programmes, fact and fiction, that create certain emotions for the audience, show us how things are in life, give us ideas and memories (good or bad), and much more besides. The episodes in the series have covered fear, the life-cycle, aspiration, love, progress and information. The show is basically Brooker giving his his amusingly blunt opinions on how television (and small bits of films) have created these with the well known clichés and stuff, with some stock footage (funny and serious), and even some spoof re-imagining of the genres being looked at. I don't think it has quite the same edge as Screenwipe or You Have Been Watching, but it is a relatively funny and interesting series. Very good!

Familiar material at times, but nicely packaged and typically acerbically funny – even if it is a little judgmental at times

[bob the moo · 19 April 2015]

Those familiar with his old Guardian column Screenburn, or the show Screenwipe and variations that came from it, will already know where they are with this show from the very start. In this show, in picking apart the impact of television, Charlie Brooker shows us how it has ruined our lives in regard to relationships, technological advances, our fear of the outside world, our contentment, our aging process, and how we learn things. And don't say it hasn't, because it has.

When I watched this show recently, I wasn't really sure where it fitted into the timeline of Brooker being on television – was it something that led to Screenwipe, or was it after it. As it transpired, this show seems like a companion piece to Screenwipe, where essentially the format is the same, but rather than looking back at the week or so in television and news, there is more of a structured documentary approach. The success of this is mixed, although mostly it works pretty well and fans of Brooker's style will enjoy this because all the usual aspects are here; the acerbic worldview, the imaginative and colorfully grim use of language, the sense of the crushing depressing futility of the majority of television. It doesn't sound funny, but mostly it is, thanks to the writing and the delivery.

The documentary structure is also interesting, although it doesn't totally sit well with Brooker doing his stuff – the two feel a little at odds even when they are working together. The impact of television and the development of that impact is interestingly portrayed; it is not Adam Smith perhaps, but it is a case reasonably well made. The main problem I had with mixing the two things was that, while normally Brooker is mocking populist television, here the show is about the impact on those who watch it – and the shows and examples given are predominately not shows that people like Brooker would watch – and I think this because I also do not watch them. So there is a general feeling throughout that, while the point is valid, it is one that isn't applied to the makers, or the viewers of the show – instead we watch more high-brow things like HBO's output and get our news from "proper" print journalism and more informed comment pieces rather than rolling news networks. It is not a massive issue perhaps, but as a whole show, it did smack a little of elitism – and I say that as one on the inside of that feeling. A smaller problem is that some of the material feels recycled from Screenwipe, so if you have watched that show throughout, then you will feel that aspects of this one are recycled.

Still though, the documentary structure works by being interesting enough to engage, but also allowing for all the usual comedy from Brooker, which is as funny as usual (which will be to personal taste is that is criticism or praise!). Worth a look for Brooker fans even though personally I think the Screenwipe format works better in Screenwipe than it did here.

How TV Ruined Your Life, don't say it didn't.

[georgestephenwalker · 10/10 · 27 May 2020]

It's a spin off of the wipe series what can I say? It's extremely funny and definitely thought provoking. The documentary style gives the show a more mature feel over ScreenWipe or NewsWipe making it feel more based around facts instead of Mr Brookers opinion.