Frankie Boyle has claimed that television is becoming “f***ing boring“. Does he have a point? Boyle has noted that tighter rules and regulations on what entertainers can say will lead to dull comedy output. The Mirror quotes him as saying: “It’s a question of how boring people want TV to be from now on. People aren’t going to be happy until you boil it down to just cooking and f***ing property shows. F***ing hell, it’s so f***ing boring already.

It’s certainly true that TV seems to be struggling to come up with any new formats. Television tends to move in cycles, with the ’70s famed for sitcoms, the ’90s famed for makeover shows and The Noughties full to bursting with cookery/foodie shows and pointless property programmes.

It seems that, if TV execs have a gap that needs plugging, then the simplest thing to do is to throw a load of food at it. Think about it. In recent months we’ve had… *deep breath* Valentine Warner, Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall, repeats of various Gordon Ramsay shows, Saturday Kitchen, Jamie Oliver’s various jaunts, Come Dine With Me, Rick Stein, Masterchef, Economy Gastronomy, Caribbean Food Made Easy, Hairy Bikers, The Great British Menu, Heston Blumenthal, Food Poker, that Australian bloke who looks a bit like Jason Donovan, Great British Menu, Hell’s Kitchen, Nigel Slater’s Suppers, The Restaurant, Restaurant In Your Home and on and on and on…

In property, we’ve got the daytime housey housey shows, Property Ladder, Location Location Location, Kirstie’s Homemade Home, Grand Designs, Homes In The Sun or whatever it’s called… it’s getting to the point of parody.

It sometimes feels like we’re due a programme which shows you how to make your own home out of gingerbread in a marriage of the two most over-exposed TV genres in history.

As a result, I’m getting snow blind. Whilst there is obviously good things on TV, it feels like it’s all in a massive funk and that this is the reason why people are going to boxsets to get their kicks.