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TV REVIEW: Charlie Bird’s American YearRTÉ 1, Monday, The Good WifeChannel 4, Monday, Amanda Holden’s Fantasy LivesUTV, Tuesday, Natural World: Chimpcam ProjectBBC2, Wednesday, ShamelessChannel 4, Tuesday
In the first five minutes of Charlie Bird’s American Year, his series documenting his new life as RTÉ’s pointman in DC, he managed to take president Obama’s big day and turn it into Charlie’s even bigger day. Never mind the action on the steps of the Capitol building. The real action was going on inside Charlie’s head, as he looked forward with trepidation to the next 12 months of exile, and wondered if he’d have the stamina to see out his term. The anticipation as the crowds waited for president-elect Obama to come out from inside the Capitol. The tension as he fluffed his oath. The collective intake of breath as his full name – Barack Hussein Obama – was read out. It was almost too much to bear. What if Charlie didn’t make the news deadline for six o’clock Irish time? What if the laptop or the printer went down at a crucial moment? What if some crazed gunman leapt up suddenly and got in the way of Charlie’s camera shot?
