The Review Show, BBC Two

It may seem perverse, then, that the opening hour-long special was about an American and had three Americans on the panel (although two are resident in the UK) as they discussed the cultural impact of Barack Obama’s presidency. But timing is everything, and the programme was marking Obama’s first year in office - and we all know how the media loves an anniversary.

With an hour at her disposal, Wark was able to segment the show into several areas under discussion, including whether African-Americans have benefited from a black president, Obama’s iconic status, his media impact and the effect of having a black family in the White House. The panel - academic Sarah Churchwell, New York Times columnist Ross Douthat and writers Bonnie Greer and Hari Kunzru - was perhaps a little too skewed towards liberals and meant they agreed too much or, rather, being mainly Americans, were too polite to disagree.

The filmed segments I found irritatingly short. The best of them was by New York Times columnist Charles M. Blow, contending that black Americans are worse off now than at the election, and a brief interview with Lee Daniels, who has been accused of racism over his film, Precious, in which a black man twice impregnates his daughter. Yet strangely it didn’t ignite the debate. All that Greer could muster was “I was bored by it [Precious]”. I would have liked more comment on Sandra Bullock’s The Blind Side, about a black boy adopted by a white family, which was referenced but not discussed (as I suspect that few of them had seen it). And there wasn’t time to develop Churchwell’s interesting point that America’s problems are really to do with the intersection of race and class, which has parallels with current political debate this side of the Atlantic.

Newsnight Review, along with the inestimable This Week, on BBC One on Thursdays, used to be the viewing highlight of my week, but I must confess I thought the former’s themed nights worked less successfully than those shows where the panel typically discussed a book, a film, a play and a television premiere. Having everyone digest the same things tends to focus the discussion and make for differing views, heated debates and occasions where panellists showed withering contempt for another’s opinion.

I wonder if themed discussions will be more frequent on The Review Show, as a programme broadcast away from the nation’s cultural centre - which London still is, like it or not - throws up more logistical problems than a London-based one did. Most of Newsnight Review’s guests lived or worked in London and the south-east of England and, notwithstanding Scotland’s hugely disproportionate contribution to British politics, academia and the media, TRS has a smaller local pool of contributors to work from. Or maybe there’s a generous travel budget.

But I’m all in favour of the BBC becoming less London-centric - it is a national organisation after all - and if the revamp prompts the show's producers to look further afield for panellists, it will be a good thing. Because if that means I never again have to watch Ekow Eshun interrupting everybody else to say absolutely nothing of consequence, or Johann Hari rubbishing everyone else’s opinion while his own was often not worth hearing, it will mean my licence fee has been well spent.

Despite the longer slot last night, it was the usual rush to cram everything in and Wark was breathless as she brought the discussion to an end - earning a gentle chide from Douthat for a momentary (and rare) lapse in impartiality when she recommended we see Precious, but neglected to do so for The Blind Side.

It was a slightly shaky start, but under producer Liz Gibbons I have no doubt the The Review Show will settle down very soon. I wish it well.

Watch The Review Show on BBC iPlayer.