Charlie Brooker is becoming something of a proper TV star now. He's definitely on the ascendency, not that he'd ever let on. Just look at how Newswipe became Newswipe with Charlie Brooker (BBC Four, Wednesday, 25 March, 10.35pm). You don't get your name tacked on the end unless you're making a stir. So with that, Charlie's star on the rise, there's been a lot of excitement about the new show. Turning away from the TV at large and focusing on the news programmes seems like a perfect diversion for Brooker and his ability to ferret out the nonsense and the surreal... but did it work?

Related: Our interview with Charlie Brooker

We Brits are particularly blessed with satirical news and current affairs shows. We've had The Thick Of It, Have I Got News For You?, The Frost Report, What The Papers Say, Yes Minister, BrassEye and more besides. It's one of the things we do well it seems. Of course, this implies that it's an easy target... but is that really the case?

The fact is, the world we live in is not the same one as reflected in the news. Most political and current affairs shows go straight into the meaty stuff, which leaves many confused and not knowing what to laugh at. As acknowledged by Brooker, the news is not an easy thing to access. It's hard to keep up with it. So when Ian Hislop makes a joke about something, there's a good chance that a large percentage of the public have no idea what he's talking about. He's paid to study the news... we're not... and as such, often switch over for something far more easy to swallow.

So with that, this is where Brooker's new show serves a perfect purpose. Since Chris Morris doesn't seem to fancy the prospect of more BrassEye, we need someone to pull the format to pieces. To show it for what it really is. And what's that? Well, by-and-large, the news is nothing more than an entertainment show desperate to drag in the viewers.

We all know that the news is full of hypocrisy and surreality. Stupid sketches are played out in the news via wendy houses and once, a bloke trying to do a three point turn in the road. These odd analogies clutter up the news and hardly a soul notices. Brooker is here to put them all together, to show them for what they really are - pointless.

Naturally, he's the perfect man for the job. It's Brooker's ability to weave the different stations into one coherent babbling mess that really makes his shows worth watching. You may choose sides, but in essence, they're all daft and stupid and need treating with contempt.

That said though, last night's debut bow was a show of two halves. The first half was familiarly silly whilst the second half was absolutely gobsmacking.

The segment involving a clip from Newsnight, when they spoke to forensic psychiatrist Dr. Park Dietz was mindblowingly brilliant. Dietz was seen telling that the news actually makes situations worse and in fact, could well make more bad things happen. The way each point was edited together with a clip of a bulletin doing exactly the things he pointed out, was a powerful and wonderful bit of television. (And you can see it here)

It goes without saying that the newsrooms of the world love nothing more than our suffering and that they fap out this gloom to recycle and regenerate more misery and paranoia... but there's not enough shows and people saying "we're onto you!" We should applaud it when some does.