In a recent discussion with friends we tackled the tricky question of why I haven't seen ITV's new comedy sketch show Monkey Trousers. The less than tricky answer is that it's on ITV. Rather than launch into a rant about why this is so, I'll allow Charlie Brooker to provide a clue:

"It's easy to see why ITV's audience has collapsed. Having spent years relentlessly pursuing the lowest common denominator, it's inadvertently become a specialist channel for the very, very thick, while its traditional audience (the slightly thick) is now openly courted by Channel 4."


And that's without getting started on the Big Brother 'phenomenon'. I'll add my pint of bile to that topic on another day when I can give it the treatment it deserves. Don't tell me that if I don't like it I can turn it off. I already do that and I still don't like it.

Back to ITV. You've only got to check out the cast list for the aforementioned Monkey Trousers to guess that it ought to be good comedy. Good comedy I like. So is it a form of snobbery that prevents me from watching? No. Well, not just that. By tuning in to ITV, you guarantee its future, as they deliver the audience (us) to their advertisers (scum). And you thought it was about providing programming? Still at least we've got ITV2 and 3 now. What bounty!