The Gadget Show

Going down hill rapidly Used to be a good watch but now it's the same old gadgets virtually every week in one form or another. Reviewing gadgets that have been around for years... Clearly sponsored and despite bad tests still rate the poor equipment in some cases.

The content is entertaining, useful and informative and the three regular presenters are excellent, as indeed they were before Craig Charles was parachuted into the show a couple of years ago. He seems to be the Boss, sitting at a desk while the others line up to pay homage to him for some unexplained reason. He's a well-known face on British TV but he seems to positively revel in knowing less than most about, well, gadgets. If the idea is that he is the Everyman figure among the experts, well the idea doesn't work. The show was, and would be, better without him.

The Gadget Show used to be very informative showing you the latest gadgets from A-Z of the Gadget world, giving you the specs, they'd also tell you the good points and bad. I hadn't watched the show for a few years and I've watched two episodes recently and am so disappointed at how much it has been dumbed done. All the show does now is get the average Joe; mum, dad and child and an 'expert 'to test the cheap, medium, and expensive version of a product and ask them which one is best. Items like toasters, steam cleaners and electric bbqs with no in depth spec or description like the show used to do.

With the departure of Craig Charles this has gone from structured, controllled and enjoyably informative to dismal. No lead presenter/compère leaves it meandering aimlessly. The best presenter is Jon Bentley...but there's no intro to him or what he will be reviewing at the start of the show. The early part led by Ortis and Georgie is so dumbed down that for me it's not watchable. They both presented well before but clearly need a different framework to present as well as they can. I can't watch any more, such a shame for the programme, the presenters and the viewing customers. I realise that Craig won't be back but surely there is someone else that could bring it back to life?

There's a lot of these types of shows that follow the same topic area released around the time of when The Gadget Show was first released and they've all seemed to have since died out. In that respect, I find it incredibly impressive that this show is still ongoing to this present day (especially since it's rare to find another show like this still on TV). Obviously they're doing something right... and they are, which is apparent once you start watching it!