With Charlie Brooker’s newest television show Black Mirror being released on DVD on the 27th of February, I decided to take it upon myself to look back through his roots as a game journalist. While his earlier pieces did maintain the no holds barred style with which he is most associated, they did not quite catch Brooker at his most refined. While the prank calls and infamous Cruelty Zoo column depicting children disembowelling animals are ashamedly funny, reviewing that stage of his career may turn into a backhanded compliment for the older and more highbrow of readers; discerning this depiction of Charlie as being a rebel without a cause.

This is where I decided to pick up Dawn of the Dumb, a book that comprises of all of Charlie’s Guardian columns between late 2004 and early 2007. This is in a similar style to his earlier piece called Screen Burn and his later piece The Hell of it All. The whole concept of the book is to serve as a collected archive of old columns, each serving as a weekly summary of noteworthy television programs within that week. Charlie attempts to defuse the popularity surrounding each show by deconstructing the bad elements of what is admittedly shallow viewing.

The overarching mood of the columns is of a negative hue with rare praise of any of the better aspects of programming schedules, which seems slightly biased. However considering the cornucopia of flaky programming that is readily available on television, it’s hard not to validate Charlie’s cynicism.

While the intention of each column is purely for comical effect, Charlie’s insight into the cynical production process of television heightens some of his observations into satirical wit. Amongst some of his more purposely scathing comments, lies some underlining intellect and perceptiveness. Charlie seems to show a level of investment in his analysis as well as the boldness to delve into some very uncomfortable and ugly aspects of the mechanics of television itself.

One of his most notable criticisms would be of celebrities claiming a level of authority and eruditeness on a subject area quite out of their depth such as when Paul McKenna claimed he could cure a blind patient or Jamie Oliver’s campaign to nationally reduce the weight of children aroundBritain.

Though almost all of the articles are very well written there are a few pieces that feel slightly slapdash. For example the article  where he takes a sore throat and turns it into a diatribe on the existence of God, while still reasonably well-written, was obviously done to fill his article with a last minute piece. There also seems to be a high focus on reality television, rarely picking fictional programs as a point of criticism.

Despite a few shortcomings, Charlie Brooker critical observations on the current state of television, are fairly well informed and accurately dissects the current trends in a  very celebrity-centric culture.

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