Rob Beckett's Smart TV is from Talkback Productions, the Fremantle subsidiary that produces the classic music panel show Never Mind the Buzzcocks, which was rebooted for Sky Max two years ago, and this show is also on Sky Max. Smart TV is essentially NMTBC but focuses on television shows instead of music. In some way, it could feel like Telly Addicts as well.
It's hosted by Rob Beckett, a stand-up comedian who has appeared on other panel shows such as 8 Out of 10 Cats and a few projects with Romesh Ranganathan. The team captains are Alison Hammond, the This Morning megastar who you see everywhere on television nowadays, and Josh Widdicombe, who co-presents on The Last Leg and is one of the most frequent panel show guests or presenters. Now, what does this bring together?
That's right, nothing new to the panel show realm. There is absolutely nothing to distinguish this from the other panel shows I have seen. I am not a fan of any of the hosts (well, maybe except Hammond, but only when she has a barrier to keep her dirty side away) and the guests are always the same people you've seen on other panel shows. The game portion is taken aside by the fact that 60% of the show is nothing but pop-culture references, crude sex jokes, innuendos, and excessive cussing. When the humour isn't cheap, the jokes the hosts and the guests make are just childish and shameful that anybody under the age of 17 would find funny. It's exactly what the Sky reboot of Never Mind the Buzzcocks offers up. Once more, shock value for the sake of shock value is a cheap excuse for comedy and both shows fail at that.
Regardless, Smart TV isn't the worst panel show out there, but it's still repetitive and crude. The game portion is fine, and yet it's pushed aside for lazy shock-value jokes. The hosts are not anything to write home about, and all in all, it just feels like Sky wants to cash in on their other successful panel shows that it seems desperate.