one4review | On 25, Aug 2013

5 stars *****

The title of this show isn’t inspiring (or helpful) and I wasn’t too sure at the start as it seemed to be heading towards cheese but this quickly became a well-observed, promising and interesting show.

A Ted Danson look-alike hosts the 25th anniversary of his chat show and has one of the original guests on for the anniversary… the plot then thickens and twists and develops into a keen observation of TV production, chat shows and the deadly competition for ratings.

The cast of professionals are excellent, very believable and engage well with the characters and the audience. There are sexy dancers and singers – but only for a tiny spot, more please! The band were excellent too, nice and funky. The production values are huge for a small Fringe show – two working TV screens, flashing and moving set, a TV camera etc. There has certainly been a lot invested in the show.

On the down side though it was ridiculously loud, too loud to make out some of the excellent singing and it was 20 mins shorter than advertised. Overall though it’s very promising and I can certainly see this show having life after the Fringe if it’s developed into a longer piece with more scope for character development and more acts.

Review by Alan
C too
Until 26th August, 20:35-21:55 (21:35)