COLIN HOLMES BLOG.CHRISTMAS TV.WAS IT ANY GOOD

COLIN HOLMES BLOG. CHRISTMAS TV WAS IT ANY GOOD ? Too many repeats ! Too many repeats of repeats ! Too much fall-back on films ! Downton Abbey beginning to reveal it's soap origins. Strictly come Dancing Christmas special not special. Every food programme (26 in all)telling us how to cook a turkey. AD FAB and new David Jason series...the real turkeys !! The TV companies really need to look at their future festive schedules if they want viewers to stay in. Bring back the Vicar of Dibley PLEASE !!!!

COLIN HOLMES BLOG EASY LISTENING SHOW FEATURING JIM REEVES. DECEMBER 27TH. THE BEST JIM REEVES SONGS.MY CHOICE. Welcome to my world / I can't stop loving you / Moonlight and roses / The White cliffs of Dover /You'll never know. (CD.THE ULTIMATE COLLECTION ) He'll have to go / Am I losing you / Adios Amigo / I'm gonna change everything / You're the only good thing. (CD. JIM REEVES GREATEST HITS ) The unforgettable voice of Jim Reeves has always been a pleasure to listen to. The deep chocolate voice croons his way through many standards and country and western based songs that as a relaxing soothing CD there is none better. Not a great fan of Mr Reeves because light and shade on his albums was not a strong point and his career was cut short by his untimely death. Vocally however he is one of the greats.

X FACTOR THE FINAL.COLIN HOLMES BLOG.

X FACTOR..THE FINAL. I know from experience that a lot of people just pressed that fast forward button because they didn't want to hear what the judges said,the current backstories, and the ads. It doesn't matter that a lot of production had gone into the show. It was glitzy and sometimes amazing. The final two acts did extremely well especially as they were often given the stage to themselves and not surrounded my teams of excellant dancers. I do appreciate that these new acts are given the same star treatment as real stars and occasionally do benefit from this, but in this series it has been relentless. Has the X FACTOR lost it's entertainment magic ? The sad fact is the answere is yes.I wish I could tell you why but I can't. It still has an extremely large audience but purely on family reactions STRICTLY COME DANCING gains from not having ads,not having cliched judges although it does have annoying backstories sometimes verging on the embarrassing. All in all Mr Cowell must look at this problem before the X Factor becomes one series that suffers a downward rating drop that is irritreivable. I hope not, because they're are quite a few previous successful acts who have benefitted from the exposure this programme delivers.

COLIN HOLMES ..X FACTOR/STRICTLY.

After an amazing amount of time I have finally been able to get back onto my blogs. I put in Google Chrome and hey presto I'm back. Ridiculous !!! X FACTOR. 27TH NOVEMBER. Now it's really boring. I cannot get very excited about a programme that leaves us with a girl group (They're not exactly popular at the moment)Marcus....nice guy....has to have a GREAT single to do well....One blond singer whose OK, and in the bottom two, probably the two best female singers in the bunch. Girl singers are popular but there are so many of them at the moment. Not exciting television. The fast forward button is consistently used. I have had enough of the judges cliches and strange involvement in their competitors. It's a game and one I am not liking to be part of any more in this series. STRICTLY. More predictable television entertainment but it's value always decreases as dancers are voted out. They stir up excitement that doesn't exist. Much more intelligent and interesting is MASTERCHEF.THE PROFESSIONALS . If recorded you can't fast forward the button or you will miss the intriguing content of professional chefs cooking at their best under EXTREME pressure. Somehow STRICTLY should get tougher and the judges should not worry too much about their TV personalities. You don't lose viewers by telling the truth.

COLIN HOLMES EASY LISTENING SHOW NOVEMBER 15TH.....PREDICTABLE PRE CHRISTMAS TV.

With the new Susan Boyle album and the new Christmas Micheal Buble album holding the top two places in the Album charts there is little easy listening CDs on offer this Christmas, however , I can recommend a few choice albums played on my radio show last night.....

THE OVERTONES...PLATINUM EDITION.

This is really a re release of the album GAMBLIN' MAN which was a successful first release. As usual the record company have added eight new tracks and released it again. A new ploy adopted by the music industry to sell an album twice. In this case if you havn't bought the original this is a worthy purchase.A very 'pop' feel for this group which use great harmonies to back themselves with sympathetic orchestrations. 8 stars.

ANDREA BOCELLI...MY CHRISTMAS.

Released last year and it was by far the best seasonal release of 2010. That soring voice over a wonderful choice of Christmas music makes it one of my favourites. You can't go wrong. 10 stars.

JULIE LONDON...CALENDAR GIRL/YOUR NUMBER PLEASE.

Soft silky voice over smooth atmospheric arrangements make this an evocative sexy album. These two albums are on one CD and they are proberbly the best two albums she recorded. I have played tracks from this album many times on my radio show and the response has always been...Where can I get it ? Online record shops do have it. 9 stars.

COME FLY WITH ME. FRANK SINATRA.

Search out this album of Sinatra at his best. Ignore the greatest hits, of which there are many, and go for this jewel. 15 tracks of pure pleasure, smooth and uptempo backed by Nelson Riddle. This a re-release of a Capitol Hit album of the fifties with four added tracks at bargain price. 10 stars.


PREDICTABLE PRE CHRISTMAS TV.

It looks pretty grim. More X factory.....soap opera with dancers galore backing the carioke stars. Enough is enough. Give it to Misha B and lets be done with it.
Strictly....who cares if Len Goodman swears in frustration....this Saturday they are at Wembley. The participents have been talking about reaching Wembley for weeks.Next they will be talking about being in the final. It's a yearly treadmill actually BUT it is more entertaining than the X factory.
I'm a celebrity get me out of here and give me the remote control so I can change the channel !
If you want to watch something a bit more interesting watch MASTERCHEF THE PROFESSIONALS. A programme that has wannabees talking continuously about being in the final, but with Michele Roux and his flashy eyed assisstant in charge, they're going to have to show their culinary talent at it's best to win. Intrigueing and extremely watchable the programme leaves the other continuous sagas as mere wallpaper.

COLIN HOLMES EASY LISTENING SHOW.....TV BOREDOM. STRICTLY X VIEWING.

Misha B on X factor voted away by texts and mobiles when everyone knows in the music industry she is the one who will sell CDs and arena tickets. I could be wrong but I don't see any of the others creating any excitement that is palpable to the record buying public. The judges have excelled themselves in not knowing what to say and ending up with cliched descriptions of each artist's future.

Strictly is like a moving smogesborg

X FACTORY v SICKLY DUMB DANCING 4 ON COLIN HOLMES EASY LISTENING SHOW.

X FACTORY.

Still not exactly riverting viewing even after removing FRANKIE from the proceedings. Now they bring back the original 4 judge-rejected singers to compete for the remaining place. This year it's a mess. Misha B your winning place is secure unless of course, something strange happens....like Craig loses four stone in three weeks then perhaps.....No, I don't think so. Singing out of tune has become par-for-the course this year but nobody seems to notice!!

SICKLY .

Still much better than the X Factory... only this week two duos will be doing the Argentine Tango. This dance is when each of the dancers try to trip each other up as well as trying to kick them in the crutch. The faster, the more dangerous. Good viewing ! Will Brucie be able to plug his new album this week....try and stop him. Len will be back with his occasional bad temper this year. Craig is definitely softer this year. Obviously been visited by the ghost of Christmas past!....and Bruno will be eyeing up the remaining men as well as gyrating in his inimitable way.What more entertainment could you ask for ?