Best Thing This Week - FAIL!

The Only Way is Essex gang

I was so excited for The Only Way is Essex Christmas Special. I started watching the show on the advice of Vicky (who runs the fabulous Frenchy's Beauty Boutique which you should really check out) and was quickly, deeply addicted. I realize that it is similar in a lot of ways to The Hills or maybe a Real Housewives of Somewhere franchise but there was something deeply satisfying about the trashiness of well off people not really working and arguing about relationships. Maybe it was the thick Essex accents which I found difficult to understand which added to the exoticness of the locale. Or, the obsession with spray tans, vajazzling and various beauty treatments that kept me sitting in front of my computer for all 10 episodes. And when I heard there would be a Christmas special (or, the Essexmas special), I was way too excited.

Harry

Now it wasn't a complete fail, it just wasn't as great as the first series. Maybe Christmas is so glitzy that the over-the-top silliness didn't play as funny? It also seemed a little bit like making fun of "slow" people. Most of the characters just don't seem smart enough to carry off the huge amount of dialogue-as-exposition in the casual manner they were trying. Whatever the problem it just seemed stilted and off somehow. I am hoping that the new series will be back to the high (low?) standards set by the first.

Here, in no particular order, is my list of observed good and bad from the special:

• sponsored by a cold sore cream?  of course! Why not just say herpes?
• Sam still doesn't look a day under 25, I don't care how "glamourous" she is. She still looks like she's had major amounts of work done to her face (and no, Peter, that's not "how English people look" - that's skin pulled so tight she can't blink)
• Is it me or are all the women trying out for Lola completely out of (auto) tune? Yikes!
• And speaking of Lola - where was Julien?
• The micro pig as romantic gesture conversation between Arg and Mark was hilarious and for once I agree with Mark. However, I thought the scene where Arg gives the pig to Lydia, made me see that maybe they actually do like each other.
• What was Lydia wearing at the Lola audition party? a cropped pirate shirt? yowza! 

• Amy, Sam and Harry preparing the food! Who had that idea? Did you see Amy's nails when she was stuffing the bird?
• Where was Kirk? I need to know...
• I always thought that Sam and Mark were f*ck buddies and wasn't at all surprised when they went off together.

Here's hoping the next series is better!