"Do you think these presenters actually know loads or do they just get told what to say?"
— Josh Tapper
Mystery Science Theater 3000, without the robots for British television... and with the camera facing the other way. This is a rather crude summary of what can be a crude show... but it's certainly a very funny one.
Produced by Studio Lambert and airing on Channel 4 since March 2013, Gogglebox involves a batch of 'ordinary' (some have appeared on TV previously) people reacting to some of the television 'highlights' of the week... which frequently means ripping them to shreds. The show does have a slight Channel 4 bias (though those shows get criticised too), but most major channels get covered. In addition, there is always a bit on current affairs.
The cast includes:
- Leon and June Bernicoff: A pair of retired teachers from Liverpool.
- Steph and Dom Parker: Owners of a high-end B&B.
- Sandy and Sandra: Two black South Londoners.
- The Siddiqui family: A father and two sons from Derby.
- The Woerdenwebers: A German man, his wife, their daughter and her silent boyfriend Jay.
- The Tappers: A North London family with two whiny teenagers.
- The Malones: A Northern man and his wife, two grownup sons and their four dogs (including three Rottweilers).
- Jenny Newby and Lee Riley: A couple who reside in a static caravan in Hull.
The series also spawned an American remake, titled The People's Couch, which ran on Bravo for four seasons (2013-2016). While it featured a different cast of characters, the premise and appeal were the same.
Contains examples of:
- As You Know: Because we only see the viewers when they're watching TV, they often talk about what's happening in their personal lives during the week like this.
- Camp Gay: Chris and Stephen.
- Conversational Troping: Often occurs when the viewers talk about how ridiculous they find certain tropes in television.
- Big Beautiful Woman: Sandra.
- Dirty Old Man: Leon, who makes comments about being only interested in the young attractive women on TV, says to his wife to "show us yer knicks!", and gets really smug about sex scenes in movies and tells his wife that he wants to act it out with her when the program's over. His kids must be cringing!
- The Ditz: Scarlett on Alex Salmond, leader of the Scottish Nationalist Party:"He's not going to get that many votes, is he, 'cos he's limiting himself, calling himself the Scotland Party - 'cos only Scottish people are going to vote for him."
- Linda on...well, pretty much everything.
(While watching a news piece about Ukraine) "I've got a friend from Uranium."(After hearing about Angela Merkel) "Who's Angela Myrtle?" - Informed Judaism: The Tapper family are seen in episodes lighting the menorah and talking about the Torah. The narrator mentions at one point that they spent 25 hours fasting for Yom Kippur.
- Leon claims that Jewish men are more attractive to his wife, which is why she married him.
- Put on a Bus: Many people from the show have eventually left and receive no real official explanation for it.
- Precision F-Strike: Although most cast members on the show swear a lot, there are instances of this happening to anyone. It is unscripted, after all.
- An example of such from a 2023 episode, when Giles compares a show to “Waiting in line at Waitrose”, this sets Mary off:
Mary: "Don't be such a bastard." - Remake: The rights have been sold to Australia, China, Ireland. New Zealand, Ukraine, Spain (where it became a
One-Episode Wonder), and the US, the last one making the show as The People's Couch. - Reaction Video: A variety. The show strays from the typical video-in-video format, but the content is still focused on audience reaction and participation.
- Sassy Black Woman: Sandy and Sandra.
- Sophisticated as Hell: The Parkers, who drink wine every time they're on screen and swear constantly.
- Too Much Information: Sometimes we get this on sex discussions.
- The Michael family once discussed their Greek heritage via their father, reminding their mother that she had "no Greek in her". Mrs Michael promptly comments that she has had plenty of Greek in her, leaving them both with open mouths.
- The mother of the Tappers watching a romantic movie with her family, and begs her husband to be as romantic as the characters, making her husband say "Let's go upstairs and be romantic," making the children cringe and beat him with cushions and the mother stating that it's not romantic.
- The Vicar: Kate.
- The Voiceless: Jay, who never says anything... and is studying for an NVQ in Customer Services.
- World of Snark: All the viewers have moments of this. The Parkers do it more-so.
