Onto negative 'Thursdays Are Funny' review number two. And this one I really *wanted* to be good. I was willing to give it the benefit of the doubt. I mean it's Duane Benzie! From Spaced! But while there were some laughs to be had, it has to be admitted that it was bit of a let down.

The fact is, it's clear that Peter Serafinowicz is a fine character comedian - we've seen that in everything he's done up to now, and it's clear here too - but he's let down by the writing. I don't like to compare this to The Catherine Tate Show, but in that sense, there *is* a comparison.

Apart from the fact that all the sketches were based on TV shows and adverts, the other thing that brought the sketches together was the fact that they were mainly rather strange and rather... average. There's a commercial for 'one hair shampoo', a robot chat-show host that goes haywire, and an impression of Alan Alda. I mean, I love M*A*S*H as much as the next guy, but Alan Alda? Really?

It has to be said that this is clearly made by people who watch, and love, a lot of TV. The compensation claims advert looked as cheap and dubious as they really are, and the Big Brother spoof, Clone House, got the cut-away shots during Diary Room conversations just right. I enjoyed this sketch actually - the house is filled with clones of one Liverpudlian guy called Stevie, who seems to be based on BB7's Mikey. And somehow that works; Mikey really was the most generic housemate ever. The disarmingly honest shopping channel presenters ("yes, that really is awful, isn't it?") also got a giggle out of me, though I know it's an easy target.

As for the impressions, Serafinowicz's Chris Tarrant was typical. The tone of the voice wasn't quite right, but the vocal tics, the catchphrases and the mannerisms were all spookily accurate. As I said, these guys have watched a lot of TV.

It's a cliche (and truism) that sketch shows are "Inherently Hit And Miss". Here, the misses far outweighed the hits because even the hits weren't particularly brilliant. But, at least there were glimmers of hope, and I'm afraid that's more than can be said for Ms. Vyle...