KISS documentary holds no Aces

They're the ones who look to slap the band's name on just about every sort of merchandise you can think of. In terms of commercialising your band, no-one goes so far as KISS.

I guess that's what you have to do when you don't record new music anymore; their last album was released a decade ago.

Once upon a time, the band were the biggest, scariest band on the block. In the 1970s, people were genuinely afraid of the influence KISS may have been having on their kids - they were Satan worshippers, surely.

But today, they're just a greatest hits jukebox that gets switched on when Stanley and Simmons need some more money.

In this doco series, it's only Stanley and Simmons who are interviewed. The other original members - Ace Frehley and Peter Criss - only feature through old audio recordings.

That's because of the still-lingering animosity between the two factions; which is a real pity because it means we yet again get the Stanley-Simmons view of KISS.

Everyone knows Frehley was the coolest member of KISS.

One of the great mysteries of life is how The Block keeps finding contestants.

Anyone who has renovated so much as a single room in their house knows how much of a pain in the backside it can be.

And that's when you're getting tradies to do all the work and don't have a ridiculous deadline of a week to get it finished.

The idea of renovating a whole house while you're still living in it is just too frightening to contemplate.

And yet The Block has managed to find contestants (aka masochists) to take part for 18 seasons.

It's little wonder that the teams routinely get cranky with each other - what is more impressive is that they're not at each other's throats the whole time, given the stress they're under.

It's that stress that makes the show so appealing for the network. For reality TV to work it needs tension, it needs friction. Fewer things can deliver that better than home renovation.

Of course, the other reason the show is so appealing is because it probably costs almost nothing to make given the ceaseless product placements throughout the show.

One of these days, when I've got nothing better to do, I'm going to watch an episode of The Block and count the number of times a brand name appears. I'm betting it would easily pass the half-century.

I'm also betting it's unlikely I will ever be that bored.

This week, the victims (sorry, contestants) are building bedrooms.

To avoid spoilers, I can't tell you what happens.

Well, I can tell you something. The judges spend forever prattling on about the rooms - it takes up almost half the show - and they really don't like some of the finished products.

But those aren't spoilers, that's what happens with the judges every week. You ask me, they're the least interesting part of The Block.

People want to see the drama and then the finished rooms. The judges could be cut to five minutes in total and no-one would care.