Overseeing proceedings is Bradley Walsh ... without the overcoat
Odd One In
ITV1, Saturday, 7pm
Rating: 
Considering the word television, derived from a Greek/Latin mash-up, means ‘far sight’, it is astounding just how short sighted so many programme makers can be.
Let’s just get one thing straight, Saturday night on ITV is not a place I expect to learn anything or be inspired – it is the domain of Blind Date, Family Fortunes and Take Your Pick … television that has just enough ‘jazz’ to prevent your MSG bloated stomach from groaning and your world weary brain from ending it all for another day … it should be nothing more, and I truly believed it couldn’t deliver any less, until last night.
The aptly named Odd One In is exactly as described, a blot on the listings landscape, a mistake, a chore and a complete bore all rolled into one. What it lacks in entertainment value is duly matched by excruciatingly lazy formatting, poorly selected guests … and Bradley Walsh.
So here’s the deal. The home team, consisting of Peter Andre and comedian Jason Manford compete against two celebrities (the away team) in a weak and watered down version of Call My Bluff. The teams are presented with four people (or sometimes an animal – haha) who all claim to be something … all the teams have to do is work out who’s telling the truth.
Which one of these four men married a pineapple? … Who cares?
Can you spot the real nun? … Is this offensive?
Who’s the genuine glider pilot? … I’m sorry is this show still on?
Bradley Walsh, who I’m sure must be in seventh heaven to be back on the telly in any form (however poorly produced), adds to the viewer’s hardships by adopting a sub Michael Barrymore persona, crudely weaving double entendre with telegraphed one liners into a thick tele-treacle that first coats your 32 inch screen, tainting your TV forever, before beginning to turn rancid and emitting such a potent stench of cheap television that the viewer becomes disorientated, nauseous and in some instances violent.
No one looks happy with the show. Poor Peter Andre is obviously in way too deep, and as much as he tries to use his ‘little boy’ charms to chisel out a laugh or an ‘arghh’ from the audience where he can, you know beneath that fixed Antipodean smile, there is a grown man crying.
Similarly, Jason Manford (who can be funny) has obviously given up before the end of the first episode, resorting to just saying words, without even bothering to think about whether they’re funny. Stuff like “Well, the guy who said he married a pineapple in Vegas, well I’d tend to believe him, coz lots of crazy stuff happens in Vegas.” Did we need a comedian to deliver that dead-pan pearl of wisdom? Has the show claimed yet another mojo?
The away team look just as lost, the woman who plays Becky MacDonald in Corrie (despite her appearance fee and complimentary hotel) appears tired of London … Laurence Llewelyn Bowen (by her side) looks tired of life.
Just as you thought things couldn’t get any worse, the celebrity game is declared over … one of the teams (I can’t remember which one) has won. Where did that come from? As it happens it doesn’t matter who the victor is as there is no prize, no endgame, no … nothing, it’s all just glossed over.
But before you have time to worry overly about the situation, a member of the audience is plucked out of the crowd to win a measly five grand. By this stage you can almost hear the flapping of plastic chairs in the wind as the floor manager can hold the fire exit to the audience exit closed no longer. The ship has sunk and the adverts come as a great relief to all concerned.
Claire Zolkwer, ITV’s Commissioning Editor of Entertainment said of the show: “Odd One In is a simple but clever concept which I’m sure will prove a laugh out loud hit with our viewers.”
Sadly Claire, I fear the only Odd One In at the end of this show is anyone still watching ITV1 at 8pm.
Jane. You’re dead wrong.
I saw 4 minutes of a repeat yesterday. The high point was when poor Mansford was reduced to saying ‘thank you very much’ to a man who looked marginally like Elvis for a cheap laugh.
Is that funny? Is it funny, Jane? Is it? Is it funny?
I enjoyed it and will be watching next week. Good show I think.