30 March 2007
THE DERMOT FACTOR
I like Dermot O'Leary on telly - I think he's a gifted TV presenter. But I can't really see him doing big old L.E. bollocks of a Saturday night.
So, here's the press release from The X Factor
So, here's the press release from The X Factor
ITV announced today (Friday 30 March 2007) that Dermot O’Leary will be the new host of The X Factor. The presenter has signed a deal that will see him host the hit entertainment show for the next two series.
Dermot said: "I was very flattered to be offered the job to host such a hugely successful show. I’m really looking forward to working with Simon and the team on the kind of Saturday night entertainment show I grew up watching."
Dermot is best known for hosting Big Brother’s Little Brother, Big Brother’s Big Brain and the BBC’s lottery show 1 vs 100.
Duncan Gray, ITV’s Controller of Entertainment said, "Dermot is a star. He’s warm, clever and funny and he was our number one choice for the job. We’re thrilled to have him on ITV and we’re sure he’ll keep The X Factor the nation’s number one entertainment show for many years to come."
Dermot and the team will commence their audition tour in May and will visit city centres across the country in the biggest talent search on television. Leona Lewis, winner of last year’s series, scored a number one with her single A Moment Like This and runner up Raymond Quinn is currently at number one in the charts with his debut album.
The X Factor’s fourth series – which starts on ITV in the summer – will feature a fourth Judge and another category. Contestants will be split into 14 – 24s Boys; 14 – 24s Girls; 25s and Overs and Groups.
Richard Holloway, Executive Producer of The X Factor said: "With each series of The X Factor we have always strived to make the show bigger and better and this year with Dermot and four Judges I’m sure the viewers are in for a 'xtra' special series.”
25 March 2007
"YOUR PERM WASN'T THAT BAD..."
Tracy Barlow's trial is about to start on Coronation Street and so, in final preparation for an event on which the soap is pinning so much hope, we got a rare beast for the Street tonight - a two-hander.
Deirdrie's suspicions finally came to fruition when, amidst insults about loyalty and bad motherhood, Tracy spilled every bean from the tin. The truth will always out when the viewer already knows what it is - those who believe soap should reflect fairness more than reality dictate this rule - and so now the emphasis will be on Deirdrie to get Tracy off the hook for Charlie's murder, rather than Clare, David or even Tracy herself.
It was one for the fans too - we got references to Tracy's biological dad Ray, that memorable combination of perm and glasses ("Sexy Specs") from Deirdrie's heyday, and the unconvincing Ecstasy storyline which led to Tracy getting Samir's kidney after the Moroccan monotony ("he could barely string a sentence together" - was that a dig at the acting or just the character?) got clubbed over the head (though not by Tracy, natch). All we needed were digs about baked beans, tape-playing and buggering off to Newcastle with just a teddy bear because you weren't allowed to have a dog. I'm almost disappointed Tracy didn't scold her mum for letting a truck drive into the Rovers Return frontage sometime in 1977 while she was near the front door in her pushchair.
Anyway, the acting was terrific (if rather loud; Heaven only knows how the supposedly sleeping Ken, Blanche, Amy, Adam and Peter didn't overhear) and the idea paid off.
Two questions; was the almost idle (and truncated) reference to Deirdrie saying that Samir was the "only man she ever lov..." a little indication of where Tracy might take this with Ken if her mother fails to star in court? And when did Corrie last do a two-hander?
It was excellent. Now for the trial.
Deirdrie's suspicions finally came to fruition when, amidst insults about loyalty and bad motherhood, Tracy spilled every bean from the tin. The truth will always out when the viewer already knows what it is - those who believe soap should reflect fairness more than reality dictate this rule - and so now the emphasis will be on Deirdrie to get Tracy off the hook for Charlie's murder, rather than Clare, David or even Tracy herself.
It was one for the fans too - we got references to Tracy's biological dad Ray, that memorable combination of perm and glasses ("Sexy Specs") from Deirdrie's heyday, and the unconvincing Ecstasy storyline which led to Tracy getting Samir's kidney after the Moroccan monotony ("he could barely string a sentence together" - was that a dig at the acting or just the character?) got clubbed over the head (though not by Tracy, natch). All we needed were digs about baked beans, tape-playing and buggering off to Newcastle with just a teddy bear because you weren't allowed to have a dog. I'm almost disappointed Tracy didn't scold her mum for letting a truck drive into the Rovers Return frontage sometime in 1977 while she was near the front door in her pushchair.
Anyway, the acting was terrific (if rather loud; Heaven only knows how the supposedly sleeping Ken, Blanche, Amy, Adam and Peter didn't overhear) and the idea paid off.
Two questions; was the almost idle (and truncated) reference to Deirdrie saying that Samir was the "only man she ever lov..." a little indication of where Tracy might take this with Ken if her mother fails to star in court? And when did Corrie last do a two-hander?
It was excellent. Now for the trial.
22 March 2007
ONE, WHO, THREE
So, here I am - slightly worse for wear but back from the Doctor Who series three launch in Mayfair. The only grub on offer was pistachio nuts, so don't blame me.
As is probably a matter of record by now, the first two episodes of the run were screened, "Smith and Jones" and "The Shakespeare Code". The big deal, of course, is how does Freema measure up? I thought she was great, actually. It's hard to pinpoint why Martha Jones works, but she just feels right. Despite both episode's allusions to Rose, you'll have forgotten about her within minutes.
There's just something that feels fresh and new about this third outing. I can't remember Doctor Who seeming so rich - almost to the point of overwhelming. Really, both episodes were fantastic.
Here's some points of interest: Jane Tranter talked about an upcoming "hybrid Dalek", which none of the team would comment on. More importantly, she also confirmed that series four had been commissioned - and again, none of the team would comment. Meanwhile, the Doctor alludes to his brother in the first episode. "The Brain of Morbius", Blake's 7 season four and The Tomorrow People's "The Blue and The Green" are all folded into the second one. There's a mention for Mr Saxon, and the Preacher's tag is spotted on a dustbin at one point. John Simm appeared in a trailer previewing the rest of the series. Oh, and Tennant reverts back to the brown suit for the Shakespeare story - something I didn't expect.
The nice thing about these Doctor Who launches is that, after the screening, everyone is terribly approachable. With SFX's urbane Nick Setchfield and TV Quick/TV Choice/Total TV Guide's Jon Peake on your team, no-one's off limits. Hence there was chatting to Freema, with Setchfield and she discussing Cardiff's most swinging nightspots; speculation with David Tenant about the possibility he's the Doctor whose arse has been seen on TV the most; and quizzing of Russell T Davies re his guest slot on Play School. He says they let him on the show because he could doodle as well as talk, but after one episode (of a proposed six) he decided never to come back.
And then there was Noel Clarke berating internet fans who type with a wing mirror on their computer, so they can monitor the TV at the same time ...
Other celebs in attendence: Jonathan Ross, Jo Whiley, Dawn French, Tracy-Ann Oberman and Charlie Higson.
Doctor Who's back, and I really like it.
As is probably a matter of record by now, the first two episodes of the run were screened, "Smith and Jones" and "The Shakespeare Code". The big deal, of course, is how does Freema measure up? I thought she was great, actually. It's hard to pinpoint why Martha Jones works, but she just feels right. Despite both episode's allusions to Rose, you'll have forgotten about her within minutes.
There's just something that feels fresh and new about this third outing. I can't remember Doctor Who seeming so rich - almost to the point of overwhelming. Really, both episodes were fantastic.
Here's some points of interest: Jane Tranter talked about an upcoming "hybrid Dalek", which none of the team would comment on. More importantly, she also confirmed that series four had been commissioned - and again, none of the team would comment. Meanwhile, the Doctor alludes to his brother in the first episode. "The Brain of Morbius", Blake's 7 season four and The Tomorrow People's "The Blue and The Green" are all folded into the second one. There's a mention for Mr Saxon, and the Preacher's tag is spotted on a dustbin at one point. John Simm appeared in a trailer previewing the rest of the series. Oh, and Tennant reverts back to the brown suit for the Shakespeare story - something I didn't expect.
The nice thing about these Doctor Who launches is that, after the screening, everyone is terribly approachable. With SFX's urbane Nick Setchfield and TV Quick/TV Choice/Total TV Guide's Jon Peake on your team, no-one's off limits. Hence there was chatting to Freema, with Setchfield and she discussing Cardiff's most swinging nightspots; speculation with David Tenant about the possibility he's the Doctor whose arse has been seen on TV the most; and quizzing of Russell T Davies re his guest slot on Play School. He says they let him on the show because he could doodle as well as talk, but after one episode (of a proposed six) he decided never to come back.
And then there was Noel Clarke berating internet fans who type with a wing mirror on their computer, so they can monitor the TV at the same time ...
Other celebs in attendence: Jonathan Ross, Jo Whiley, Dawn French, Tracy-Ann Oberman and Charlie Higson.
Doctor Who's back, and I really like it.
21 March 2007
RUNNING TO THE RESTAURANT
Every now and then the BBC Jobs website includes details of an upcoming programme. Not too long ago a vacancy for a researcher for The One Show revealed that it would be running 50 weeks a year when it returns. The latest is a position for a "'Location Runner" on something called ...
"BBC2's The Restaurant, which will air in 2007, features nine couples whose dream is to run their own restaurant. The task is to create their perfect restaurant and then open the doors to the paying public. Every decision, mistake and argument will be filmed as they work and live together 24-hours-a-day, under severe pressure.So that's Big Brother marinated in The Apprentice then stir fried with Masterchef Goes Large sprinkled liberally with Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares potentially adding just a dash of mixed property programmes. It sounds exciting but what happens to The Restaurants that are opened to the public then voted off? Do they stay open?
Each week, one restaurant is eliminated from the competition by Raymond Blanc, who acts as judge. At the end of the run, the winners get to run their own restaurant, backed by Blanc to the tune of a six-figure sum."
20 March 2007
"I'M THE MOST BELLIGERENT PERSON YOU'LL EVER COME ACROSS"
"Sleep when you're dead - live the dream."
"I know that life isn't always sandwiches and picnics."
"We work until we bleed."
"I can be very, very offensive when I need to be."
Quotes, there, from this year's intake of 16 would-be apprentices. Yep, I'm back from the London Stock Exchange, and the launch of The Apprentice series three . Despite the fact there's a new production team working on the show, it looks fantastic once again. I'll go light on the details, suffice to say there's some ace wrangling over who should be team leader, a lot of running around Islington and shouting into mobile phones, and a fantastic moment from Sir Alan: "I think Certus is gonna hurt us". You'll understand it when you see it.
But the important point - and what's going to be the continuing soundbite that'll open every series? It's up for grabs, however I'm putting my money on: "You're a total shambles - you're fired" or, "No-one's going to make a fool out of me!".
As ever, Sir Al doesn't like schmoozers: "The worst kind of schmooze that I can't stand is 'Sir Alan I'm just like you I came from a humble background and worked my way up.' Well don't lay all that rubbish on me."
"This is no gameshow," he cautions. "There won't be some busty blonde waiting outside to hug you so that you can sob into her bosoms. What there will be is a black cab waiting to take you to the station."
It's a point that seems to be very dear to his heart. After the screening (which prompted a spontaneous round of applause), he addressed the press, and spoke in disparaging terms about last series, which he clearly felt had been stocked up with the wrong sort of candidate. "Er ... there's a lot of regrets about last year," he said. "Maybe turning up is perhaps the biggest regret. Look, I'm in an awkward situation in having to bite my tongue about what I think. That's all I can say at this moment in time. Next question."
He did, however, go on to reveal that he'd engaged in serious discussions with Talkback Thames before agreeing to go again this time around. And reckons the current crop - bar the first person out the door in episode one - are all the right sort.
He also revealed that the show is going to continue much the same as before, citing the US series' penchant for twists, turns and tweaks on the format as something that "backfired". That said, with 16 people and 12 weeks, the UK show's first multiple sacking has to be on the cards.
The Apprentice hits BBC1 on Wednesday 28 March.
"I know that life isn't always sandwiches and picnics."
"We work until we bleed."
"I can be very, very offensive when I need to be."
Quotes, there, from this year's intake of 16 would-be apprentices. Yep, I'm back from the London Stock Exchange, and the launch of The Apprentice series three . Despite the fact there's a new production team working on the show, it looks fantastic once again. I'll go light on the details, suffice to say there's some ace wrangling over who should be team leader, a lot of running around Islington and shouting into mobile phones, and a fantastic moment from Sir Alan: "I think Certus is gonna hurt us". You'll understand it when you see it.
But the important point - and what's going to be the continuing soundbite that'll open every series? It's up for grabs, however I'm putting my money on: "You're a total shambles - you're fired" or, "No-one's going to make a fool out of me!".
As ever, Sir Al doesn't like schmoozers: "The worst kind of schmooze that I can't stand is 'Sir Alan I'm just like you I came from a humble background and worked my way up.' Well don't lay all that rubbish on me."
"This is no gameshow," he cautions. "There won't be some busty blonde waiting outside to hug you so that you can sob into her bosoms. What there will be is a black cab waiting to take you to the station."
It's a point that seems to be very dear to his heart. After the screening (which prompted a spontaneous round of applause), he addressed the press, and spoke in disparaging terms about last series, which he clearly felt had been stocked up with the wrong sort of candidate. "Er ... there's a lot of regrets about last year," he said. "Maybe turning up is perhaps the biggest regret. Look, I'm in an awkward situation in having to bite my tongue about what I think. That's all I can say at this moment in time. Next question."
He did, however, go on to reveal that he'd engaged in serious discussions with Talkback Thames before agreeing to go again this time around. And reckons the current crop - bar the first person out the door in episode one - are all the right sort.
He also revealed that the show is going to continue much the same as before, citing the US series' penchant for twists, turns and tweaks on the format as something that "backfired". That said, with 16 people and 12 weeks, the UK show's first multiple sacking has to be on the cards.
The Apprentice hits BBC1 on Wednesday 28 March.
16 March 2007
THY KINGDOM COME
I met Stephen Fry yesterday.
It was the press launch for his upcoming ITV1 drama, Kingdom. It's a co-production between Parallel Film and Television Productions and Fry's own company Sprout. In the show, he plays a Norfolk-based lawyer, Peter Kingdom, working in a small country town. A nice enough but slightly gooey programme, with choral theme music, Tony Slattery as a comedy yokel and Fry being profoundly lovely and loveable in the middle, it'll probably be a huge series for Sunday nights. And, in fact, it's already been recommissioned.
After the screening came the press conferences. We worked our way through stars Celia Imrie, Karl Davies and Hermione Norris. And then Fry came out. I've never been to a Q&A like it. It was a feeding frenzy. Every time the loquacious and hugely entertaining star drew breath, the room erupted with journos trying to chip in a question.
Anyway, here's a bit from the man himself.
"One of the things I was very excited about when Simon Wheeler [creator and executive producer] first brought the project to me was the fact that the country town is a much over-looked part of Britain. There are a lot of dramas that are set in the country, things that are rural, whether it's Midsomer or Bollocks of the ... Monarch of the Glen - I'm sorry. Or, whatever it might be. Something involving the adorable Martin Clunes looming in Cornwall. And there's lots of urban things in Manchester or Liverpool or the Midlands or London.
"But the market town, I've always believed - partly because I live near one, but I just think it's true - they reflect Britain better than any other kind of, if you like, way of living. Better than a suburb, better than the countryside, Better than the city. For instance - not that Kingdom is issue-led, we hope it's character-led - but all the things we talk about in abstract terms ... you can say people talk about immigration with a capital I, or they talk about the environment with a capital E, or they talk about youth gangs and chavvy pikey hoodies. But, actually, you see more of all that in the market town then you ever would in Hammersmith or Hampstead."
We got nearly 40 minutes of Fry, at which point his PR had to hustle him off to his next engagement.
As I was leaving, I found myself sharing a lift with a couple of other journos, and the man himself. At these events there's always the shared-delusion that everyone is a peer - cast, crew and reporters mingling together. It's not true, of course, but it's a nice idea. Thus, under these rules of engagement, I collared Stephen and explained how much I adored A Bit of Fry and Laurie. Not to get into too much detail, but I grew up in Scotland. As a profoundly English person, with a double-barrel surname and an equally lanky twin brother to boot, that series really helped, turning all those perceived negatives into positives. I'm in danger of overstating the case here, because I never felt ostracised by any means, but among my year group ABOFAL just - well - helped.
So I told him this. "Ah!" he exclaimed. "It helped to give you an identity!". I thanked him. "Not at all!" he said, and we shook hands.
I'm not bowled over by Kingdom by any means. But Stephen Fry is still great.
It was the press launch for his upcoming ITV1 drama, Kingdom. It's a co-production between Parallel Film and Television Productions and Fry's own company Sprout. In the show, he plays a Norfolk-based lawyer, Peter Kingdom, working in a small country town. A nice enough but slightly gooey programme, with choral theme music, Tony Slattery as a comedy yokel and Fry being profoundly lovely and loveable in the middle, it'll probably be a huge series for Sunday nights. And, in fact, it's already been recommissioned.
After the screening came the press conferences. We worked our way through stars Celia Imrie, Karl Davies and Hermione Norris. And then Fry came out. I've never been to a Q&A like it. It was a feeding frenzy. Every time the loquacious and hugely entertaining star drew breath, the room erupted with journos trying to chip in a question.
Anyway, here's a bit from the man himself.
"One of the things I was very excited about when Simon Wheeler [creator and executive producer] first brought the project to me was the fact that the country town is a much over-looked part of Britain. There are a lot of dramas that are set in the country, things that are rural, whether it's Midsomer or Bollocks of the ... Monarch of the Glen - I'm sorry. Or, whatever it might be. Something involving the adorable Martin Clunes looming in Cornwall. And there's lots of urban things in Manchester or Liverpool or the Midlands or London.
"But the market town, I've always believed - partly because I live near one, but I just think it's true - they reflect Britain better than any other kind of, if you like, way of living. Better than a suburb, better than the countryside, Better than the city. For instance - not that Kingdom is issue-led, we hope it's character-led - but all the things we talk about in abstract terms ... you can say people talk about immigration with a capital I, or they talk about the environment with a capital E, or they talk about youth gangs and chavvy pikey hoodies. But, actually, you see more of all that in the market town then you ever would in Hammersmith or Hampstead."
We got nearly 40 minutes of Fry, at which point his PR had to hustle him off to his next engagement.
As I was leaving, I found myself sharing a lift with a couple of other journos, and the man himself. At these events there's always the shared-delusion that everyone is a peer - cast, crew and reporters mingling together. It's not true, of course, but it's a nice idea. Thus, under these rules of engagement, I collared Stephen and explained how much I adored A Bit of Fry and Laurie. Not to get into too much detail, but I grew up in Scotland. As a profoundly English person, with a double-barrel surname and an equally lanky twin brother to boot, that series really helped, turning all those perceived negatives into positives. I'm in danger of overstating the case here, because I never felt ostracised by any means, but among my year group ABOFAL just - well - helped.
So I told him this. "Ah!" he exclaimed. "It helped to give you an identity!". I thanked him. "Not at all!" he said, and we shook hands.
I'm not bowled over by Kingdom by any means. But Stephen Fry is still great.
12 March 2007
CASTAWAY 2007
It seems I'm not the only one who doesn't like the Beeb's new series of Castaway.
Julia Corrigan, a participant of Castaway 2000, has been on the OTT Blog phone, saying: "I almost feel as if I'd written that review on Castaway myself. Well done. But I am trying hard to give them a chance (as I feel quite jealous, though stupidly). It isn't anything like the original and why should it be. You couldn't really repeat it, could you?"
Julia Corrigan, a participant of Castaway 2000, has been on the OTT Blog phone, saying: "I almost feel as if I'd written that review on Castaway myself. Well done. But I am trying hard to give them a chance (as I feel quite jealous, though stupidly). It isn't anything like the original and why should it be. You couldn't really repeat it, could you?"
09 March 2007
FIVE, FOUR, THREE, TWO, NUMB
Well, five have released details of their 10th anniversary week schedules, and underwhelming reading it is. The channel is embracing the whole 10-year thing in the most uninteresting way possible, by sallying forth with a suite of shows all themed around that double-digit.
So, we've got Britain's Extraordinary Ten-Year-Olds ("Three amazing children who've triumphed over adversity"); a special edition of The Wright Stuff celebrating the channel (that's a bit more like it!); Gordon Brown Meets the Ten-Year-Olds (the Chancellor of the Exchequer quizzed by kids); The Ten Demandments (10-year-old Abby swaps places with her parents in a one-off reality-type thing) and I Blame the Spice Girls (Liza Tarbuck chairing a one-off comedy panel show, looking back over the last decade).
I'm not sure what's happened to five, from the modern and mainstream, to the football and fucking, to awards at the Edinburgh Television Festival, to ... irrelevance. In the last few years, it feels like the channel's just given up, particularly now none of its programmes are aggressively promoted (even something like the Eddie Izzard drama Kitchen was allowed to slip quietly into the schedules).
So, what would be the essential five programmes from its first decade? Family Affairs, The Mole, Bring Me The Head of Light Entertainment, How Not to Decorate, The House Doctor, Jail Break and, er, Touch the Truck. Am I missing anything?
So, we've got Britain's Extraordinary Ten-Year-Olds ("Three amazing children who've triumphed over adversity"); a special edition of The Wright Stuff celebrating the channel (that's a bit more like it!); Gordon Brown Meets the Ten-Year-Olds (the Chancellor of the Exchequer quizzed by kids); The Ten Demandments (10-year-old Abby swaps places with her parents in a one-off reality-type thing) and I Blame the Spice Girls (Liza Tarbuck chairing a one-off comedy panel show, looking back over the last decade).
I'm not sure what's happened to five, from the modern and mainstream, to the football and fucking, to awards at the Edinburgh Television Festival, to ... irrelevance. In the last few years, it feels like the channel's just given up, particularly now none of its programmes are aggressively promoted (even something like the Eddie Izzard drama Kitchen was allowed to slip quietly into the schedules).
So, what would be the essential five programmes from its first decade? Family Affairs, The Mole, Bring Me The Head of Light Entertainment, How Not to Decorate, The House Doctor, Jail Break and, er, Touch the Truck. Am I missing anything?
07 March 2007
SKY BLUES
My desk at work is opposite a TV which shows Sky News non-stop. I've always found it to be a grisly, unpleasant and hysterical channel, and if the sound weren't turned down on the television set I'm not sure if I'd be able to make it through each day. Lately, though, it seems to have become not just bombastic but bizarre.
It obsesses over things that nobody else is giving anywhere near the same kind of coverage. Today it has run the ITV premium phone line story at the top of the hour every hour. Conspiracists would argue this reflects the fact BSkyB owns just under a fifth of ITV plc. Most others would say it's a perverse and self-defeating concern in a story which peaked in importance a few days ago and which is nowhere near the most important news of the day.
When something happens in the United States, such as a dull police chase down a California motorway or an aeroplane circling in the sky "failing to land" for some "unknown reason", all coverage will be interrupted to bring breathless, endless live footage. Nobody cares, but Sky News does it all the same.
The horrible BREAKING NEWS graphic has been joined by a rebranded scrollbar now coloured in a nauseous banana yellow. Items are reported as BREAKING NEWS when they're not. Other events are branded as a NEWS ALERT when there's nothing alerting about them and they are not yet news (i.e. the start of Prime Minister's Questions).
Rumour and hearsay are repeatedly reported as fact. The other month, when Adam Boulton was doing a live report from Downing Street, he heard a loud bang in the street nearby. This was immediately flashed up on screen as a potential bomb scare, despite it only being a car backfiring.
Whether out of a real desperation to attract viewers, or a couldn't-care-less attitude borne of being kicked off the Virgin Media platform and its forthcoming disappearance from Freeview, Sky News is currently operating an anything-goes attitude towards its titular concern. Anything, that is, except for considered, understated and informed reporting.
It obsesses over things that nobody else is giving anywhere near the same kind of coverage. Today it has run the ITV premium phone line story at the top of the hour every hour. Conspiracists would argue this reflects the fact BSkyB owns just under a fifth of ITV plc. Most others would say it's a perverse and self-defeating concern in a story which peaked in importance a few days ago and which is nowhere near the most important news of the day.
When something happens in the United States, such as a dull police chase down a California motorway or an aeroplane circling in the sky "failing to land" for some "unknown reason", all coverage will be interrupted to bring breathless, endless live footage. Nobody cares, but Sky News does it all the same.
The horrible BREAKING NEWS graphic has been joined by a rebranded scrollbar now coloured in a nauseous banana yellow. Items are reported as BREAKING NEWS when they're not. Other events are branded as a NEWS ALERT when there's nothing alerting about them and they are not yet news (i.e. the start of Prime Minister's Questions).
Rumour and hearsay are repeatedly reported as fact. The other month, when Adam Boulton was doing a live report from Downing Street, he heard a loud bang in the street nearby. This was immediately flashed up on screen as a potential bomb scare, despite it only being a car backfiring.
Whether out of a real desperation to attract viewers, or a couldn't-care-less attitude borne of being kicked off the Virgin Media platform and its forthcoming disappearance from Freeview, Sky News is currently operating an anything-goes attitude towards its titular concern. Anything, that is, except for considered, understated and informed reporting.
06 March 2007
"HEROES WILL BE TAKING A SHORT BREAK" ...
... Those are seven words I really don't want to be reading right now. Here I am, breathless after episode 18 of NBC's fantastic sci fi show, and - like some sad, sappy fanboy - I log on to the official website to read that now the plot is stoked and white-hot ... it's going on holiday.
Okay. It's sheer petulance on my part, but I remain baffled by US scheduling, where shows come along for a solid run, then stutter through subsequent weeks - sometimes they're on air, sometimes they're not. Who, though, am I to moan? Here's me, following Heroes by stealth, greedily downloading episodes when I can get them. I should learn to be patient.
So, let's talk instead about how brilliant the series currently is. Last week's episode, "Company Man", was as good as anything I've watched. A superbly crafted hour, which brought together about a million plot strands in a million different satisfying ways, while also blowing the bottom out the show in an exhilarating way. This week's effort, "Parasite", could never quite match that, and instead oozed a kind of creeping menace, ending on - yes, another - killer cliff-hanger.
I'm gushing and it's embarrassing. Heroes is, when it comes to it, X-Men in civvies. How can it be any good?
April 23. That's when the show returns. If I was Hiro, I'd squeeze my eyes and get there now.
Okay. It's sheer petulance on my part, but I remain baffled by US scheduling, where shows come along for a solid run, then stutter through subsequent weeks - sometimes they're on air, sometimes they're not. Who, though, am I to moan? Here's me, following Heroes by stealth, greedily downloading episodes when I can get them. I should learn to be patient.
So, let's talk instead about how brilliant the series currently is. Last week's episode, "Company Man", was as good as anything I've watched. A superbly crafted hour, which brought together about a million plot strands in a million different satisfying ways, while also blowing the bottom out the show in an exhilarating way. This week's effort, "Parasite", could never quite match that, and instead oozed a kind of creeping menace, ending on - yes, another - killer cliff-hanger.
I'm gushing and it's embarrassing. Heroes is, when it comes to it, X-Men in civvies. How can it be any good?
April 23. That's when the show returns. If I was Hiro, I'd squeeze my eyes and get there now.
05 March 2007
THIS IS WHAT THEY WANT!
Sorry to just fling up press releases on here, but this one is terribly exciting ... Although, I don't know what that lowercase "i" is all about.
COMPOST CORNER, PHANTOM FLAN FLINGER, FLAN YOUR FOLKS, THE CAGE ... ITV1 BRINGS YOU TiSWAS REUNITED
For one night only, ITV1 brings you TiSWAS REUNITED, a one-off special reuniting the stars of the iconic groundbreaking children’s show TiSWAS. With a wealth of clips and reminiscences from the many stars who appeared on the series, the team will recreate the chaos and mayhem of those heady days of the show that broke the mould. TiSWAS REUNITED is new and exclusive to ITV1, spring 2007.
TiSWAS REUNITED will be the biggest, noisiest, messiest most colourful show Saturday night television has seen for quite some time and the original team of regulars will all be there: Chris Tarrant, Sally James, Lenny Henry, Bob Carolgees, John Gorman, Sylvester McCoy and Frank Carson.
Additionally, there will be lots of other familiar TiSWAS faces in the audience. Many celebrities who took part in the show and were a part of the show’s success will be there with their personal memories of TiSWAS, and many more will be interviewed on location.
The list of guests who appeared on TiSWAS reads like a "Who’s Who" of showbusiness, as it was always considered to be the coolest series and the show to be seen on.
TiSWAS REUNITED is a celebration of the first, the most anarchic and the most groundbreaking Saturday morning kids’ series in British television history.
Spend an evening with the stars, wallowing in nostalgia ... and custard!
TiSWAS REUNITED is exclusive to ITV1, spring 2007.
COMPOST CORNER, PHANTOM FLAN FLINGER, FLAN YOUR FOLKS, THE CAGE ... ITV1 BRINGS YOU TiSWAS REUNITED
For one night only, ITV1 brings you TiSWAS REUNITED, a one-off special reuniting the stars of the iconic groundbreaking children’s show TiSWAS. With a wealth of clips and reminiscences from the many stars who appeared on the series, the team will recreate the chaos and mayhem of those heady days of the show that broke the mould. TiSWAS REUNITED is new and exclusive to ITV1, spring 2007.
TiSWAS REUNITED will be the biggest, noisiest, messiest most colourful show Saturday night television has seen for quite some time and the original team of regulars will all be there: Chris Tarrant, Sally James, Lenny Henry, Bob Carolgees, John Gorman, Sylvester McCoy and Frank Carson.
Additionally, there will be lots of other familiar TiSWAS faces in the audience. Many celebrities who took part in the show and were a part of the show’s success will be there with their personal memories of TiSWAS, and many more will be interviewed on location.
The list of guests who appeared on TiSWAS reads like a "Who’s Who" of showbusiness, as it was always considered to be the coolest series and the show to be seen on.
TiSWAS REUNITED is a celebration of the first, the most anarchic and the most groundbreaking Saturday morning kids’ series in British television history.
Spend an evening with the stars, wallowing in nostalgia ... and custard!
TiSWAS REUNITED is exclusive to ITV1, spring 2007.
02 March 2007
GOODY GOODY YUCK YUCK
OTT contributor Paul Stump has been on the blog phone. Here's what he's been saying ...
A long Brian Logan article in yesterday's Guardian presented a curtain-raiser to a nationwide tour of a Goodies stage show, presumably cadging for crumbs from the Guilty Pleasures/We Will Rock You bandwagon. Logan's sympathetic, and he intelligently gives the trio enough rope to hang themselves with, which motormouth Oddie manages to succeed in doing several times over (not easy, I concede, but the pint-sized funster pulls it off).
Throughout, you get the feeling the author, and the readers, are being buttonholed by three men who have allowed themselves to be defined not so much by their own mythology but that of others. It was around 1992 I first heard them referred to as a "kids' Monty Python", and yet here they were coming over as having borne the grudge since the '70s.
In the wilderness years that followed their short-lived jump to ITV, people simply assumed - correctly - that the Pythons were funnier and more original. There was never any doubt whose material would stand up the better. There still isn't, even allowing for relativism.
In 1978 I went from Goodies to Python within nine months. It wasn't opportunism or teen revisionism - it didn't meant the Goodies were no longer funny. It was just a no-brainer. Even the brief, gloriously silly inaugural run of The Kenny Everett Video Show that summer had made The Goodies look suddenly, well, a little old. Yet Garden, Brooke-Taylor and Oddie seem besotted with past Python-related slights, real or imagined, and seem to be becoming more bitter with the years.
Maybe it's front - but a lot of Logan's piece is pretty grumpy and very anti-Python in tone. And having recently enjoyed Michael Palin's 1969-79 diaries , I suspect that either the mild-mannered globetrotter is a dastardly serial fibber or the Goodies have fallen off their trandem a few times too often for the good of their own recall.
Not so very long ago, the BBC repeated The Goodies and the Beanstalk from 1973, a deafeningly-acclaimed 60-minute special I was allowed to stay up and see, and treasured for years in my memory. I was pleased to find myself chuckling out loud at a couple of early-doors visual gags, but that was the lot. I'd forgotten how much like a below-average Benny Hill show so much of it was.
Then it hit me; some further snacking on other "classic moments" (Kitten Kong on PO Tower, Big Dougal, Oddie's inflatable flares) made me realise how our view of the show has been shaped by its remorseless exposure on Ask Aspel, as a random handful of spectacularly striking and very funny visual clips which, as the years passed, we selectively isolated from the school-panto filler that linked them. Cf. Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em.
An aspect of The Goodies' decline for which blame cannot be attributed is something for which it is now forgotten - its precocious engagement with blue-chip SFX technology. Documentary features were made admiring the astounding visual trickery that went into the shows, the coordination of sound and vision, the stuntwork. Like watching Nationwide or Tomorrow's World with Keith Emerson explaining the rudiments of the Big Moog with its banks of phone-exchange plugs, valves and diodes as the embodiment of the future, it seems as dated these days as watching a mumming troupe.
Tellingly, one of the features of Python that has dated the least and still remains perhaps its most consistently funny highlight is Terry Gilliam's toytown stop-frame animation, technically outdated then and downright Neolithic now - but imaginatively dazzling irrespective of period and kit.
Logan quotes contemporary acts who cite The Goodies as formative influences, notably The League of Gentlemen and the ubiquitous Walliams and Lucas. I reckon this says as little for them as it does for The Goodies. Both 21st century phenomena, I'm willing to wager, have for all their profile and prestige the same built-in obsolescence as that show - grabby, in-your-face playground stuff which, within a few years, will appear to its contemporary fans as the thin, Fast Show-lite gruel it really is.
Like The Goodies' cause célébres, we'll be pleased to preserve in aspic the odd bit of Dafydd ... Vicky Pollard ... er ... '"Local shop for local people" ... er ... "I'm a laydee" and that'll be it.
Although I somehow fancy that a quarter-century hence, the Big Dougal will have survived better even than these.
A long Brian Logan article in yesterday's Guardian presented a curtain-raiser to a nationwide tour of a Goodies stage show, presumably cadging for crumbs from the Guilty Pleasures/We Will Rock You bandwagon. Logan's sympathetic, and he intelligently gives the trio enough rope to hang themselves with, which motormouth Oddie manages to succeed in doing several times over (not easy, I concede, but the pint-sized funster pulls it off).
Throughout, you get the feeling the author, and the readers, are being buttonholed by three men who have allowed themselves to be defined not so much by their own mythology but that of others. It was around 1992 I first heard them referred to as a "kids' Monty Python", and yet here they were coming over as having borne the grudge since the '70s.
In the wilderness years that followed their short-lived jump to ITV, people simply assumed - correctly - that the Pythons were funnier and more original. There was never any doubt whose material would stand up the better. There still isn't, even allowing for relativism.
In 1978 I went from Goodies to Python within nine months. It wasn't opportunism or teen revisionism - it didn't meant the Goodies were no longer funny. It was just a no-brainer. Even the brief, gloriously silly inaugural run of The Kenny Everett Video Show that summer had made The Goodies look suddenly, well, a little old. Yet Garden, Brooke-Taylor and Oddie seem besotted with past Python-related slights, real or imagined, and seem to be becoming more bitter with the years.
Maybe it's front - but a lot of Logan's piece is pretty grumpy and very anti-Python in tone. And having recently enjoyed Michael Palin's 1969-79 diaries , I suspect that either the mild-mannered globetrotter is a dastardly serial fibber or the Goodies have fallen off their trandem a few times too often for the good of their own recall.
Not so very long ago, the BBC repeated The Goodies and the Beanstalk from 1973, a deafeningly-acclaimed 60-minute special I was allowed to stay up and see, and treasured for years in my memory. I was pleased to find myself chuckling out loud at a couple of early-doors visual gags, but that was the lot. I'd forgotten how much like a below-average Benny Hill show so much of it was.
Then it hit me; some further snacking on other "classic moments" (Kitten Kong on PO Tower, Big Dougal, Oddie's inflatable flares) made me realise how our view of the show has been shaped by its remorseless exposure on Ask Aspel, as a random handful of spectacularly striking and very funny visual clips which, as the years passed, we selectively isolated from the school-panto filler that linked them. Cf. Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em.
An aspect of The Goodies' decline for which blame cannot be attributed is something for which it is now forgotten - its precocious engagement with blue-chip SFX technology. Documentary features were made admiring the astounding visual trickery that went into the shows, the coordination of sound and vision, the stuntwork. Like watching Nationwide or Tomorrow's World with Keith Emerson explaining the rudiments of the Big Moog with its banks of phone-exchange plugs, valves and diodes as the embodiment of the future, it seems as dated these days as watching a mumming troupe.
Tellingly, one of the features of Python that has dated the least and still remains perhaps its most consistently funny highlight is Terry Gilliam's toytown stop-frame animation, technically outdated then and downright Neolithic now - but imaginatively dazzling irrespective of period and kit.
Logan quotes contemporary acts who cite The Goodies as formative influences, notably The League of Gentlemen and the ubiquitous Walliams and Lucas. I reckon this says as little for them as it does for The Goodies. Both 21st century phenomena, I'm willing to wager, have for all their profile and prestige the same built-in obsolescence as that show - grabby, in-your-face playground stuff which, within a few years, will appear to its contemporary fans as the thin, Fast Show-lite gruel it really is.
Like The Goodies' cause célébres, we'll be pleased to preserve in aspic the odd bit of Dafydd ... Vicky Pollard ... er ... '"Local shop for local people" ... er ... "I'm a laydee" and that'll be it.
Although I somehow fancy that a quarter-century hence, the Big Dougal will have survived better even than these.