27 September 2007
... TO ZEROS
Before Heroes' second series began on NBC on Monday, the missus and I had a conversation. How long, we wondered, would we stick with the show if it suddenly turned awful? That's the kind of thing we talk about, I'm afraid. Three episodes, we decided - it had earned that much leeway by dint of the first season being pretty much the most exciting thing on TV in years.
Monday's opener - which we got round to watching last night - was terribly disappointing. Not inept, not awful, just oh-so dreary. I won't go into lots of detail and spoil things for viewers still following the first run on BBC2, suffice to say characters were planted into new(ish) situations, but already it's clear that - just as Jack Bauer would be back working for CTU by 20 minutes past the hour - the new lives adopted by certain individuals are quickly unraveling as the old order pushes its way through. And that's a bit boring.
Although that's not the case with Hiro, whose storyline chronologically, physically and figuratively finds him far removed from everyone else, pursuing his own plot bubble. I'm guessing his actions will eventually have some impact on the show's main thread, but right now it's hard to care about what's happening to him.
Oh, and some of the British accents on show are very odd indeed.
I won't go on. When a good show turns in a disappointing episode, it's too tempting to bang on about it forever. I'll be watching next week and I'll still be hopeful. Hopeful the unusual, offbeat, pretentious drama I enjoyed earlier in the year will find its feet once more. It's got two episodes to play with ...
Anyway, if you've watched the Heroes season two opener, please do leave a comment and let me know what you thought. And, let's not worry about spoilers for British viewers there either. They can choose not to click ...
Monday's opener - which we got round to watching last night - was terribly disappointing. Not inept, not awful, just oh-so dreary. I won't go into lots of detail and spoil things for viewers still following the first run on BBC2, suffice to say characters were planted into new(ish) situations, but already it's clear that - just as Jack Bauer would be back working for CTU by 20 minutes past the hour - the new lives adopted by certain individuals are quickly unraveling as the old order pushes its way through. And that's a bit boring.
Although that's not the case with Hiro, whose storyline chronologically, physically and figuratively finds him far removed from everyone else, pursuing his own plot bubble. I'm guessing his actions will eventually have some impact on the show's main thread, but right now it's hard to care about what's happening to him.
Oh, and some of the British accents on show are very odd indeed.
I won't go on. When a good show turns in a disappointing episode, it's too tempting to bang on about it forever. I'll be watching next week and I'll still be hopeful. Hopeful the unusual, offbeat, pretentious drama I enjoyed earlier in the year will find its feet once more. It's got two episodes to play with ...
Anyway, if you've watched the Heroes season two opener, please do leave a comment and let me know what you thought. And, let's not worry about spoilers for British viewers there either. They can choose not to click ...
26 September 2007
SUNDAY TRADING
So, from Sunday 7 October (the day after the first episode proper) Strictly Come Dancing gains a regular Sunday edition, in which the losing dancers are booted out of the show. Coincidentally, that same weekend, The X Factor sprouts a one-off Sunday episode ...
20 September 2007
UKTV'S DAVE NEW WORLD
"Everyone knows a bloke called Dave", is the ethos guiding UKTV's decision to rebrand its channel UKTV G2 as - honestly! - Dave. The press blurbage reads ...
Dave?!
UKTV is strengthening its channel line up by evolving UKTV G2 into Dave, a comedy and factual entertainment channel. Launching on 15 October, the channel is aimed at a young male audience and will be available on all platforms including Freeview (DTT). The core aim of the name change is to create viewer affinity among a key target audience of ABC1 men aged 16-34 years.And there's more ...
Dave Channel Head, Steven North explains, “With a schedule for which most broadcasters would give their eye teeth, UKTV G2 is an incredibly successful channel with 10 million viewers in pay homes each month, but with relatively low brand awareness. Changing the channel name to Dave enables us to create a strong and noisy personality for the channel that immediately aligns us with our core 16-34 male audience.”So there it is. I'm sat here right now looking at the first of Dave's promotional pictures: "Dave: the home of witty banter" superimposed over a panelled wood wall, with a giraffe edging in to shot.
Julia Jordan, UKTV’s Executive Director Business and Operations, added, “In a cluttered multi-channel environment channel branding is crucial, and Dave offers us a new and innovative way to create audience connections and a commercially desirable channel to maintain our viewing share.
The name change and move on to Freeview allows UKTV to further realise the potential of the channel proposition, making it available to view in 20 million homes nationwide for the first time.
“There’s a definite opportunity for a channel like Dave on Freeview. The younger male audience is of very high value commercially and this demographic is currently under-served in Freeview homes,” added Julia.
Marketing activity to launch Dave will commence on 1 October with an on-air campaign created by Red Bee Media, which will play across the UKTV and Virgin Media networks.
With a brief to establish Dave as the home of witty banter and as a refuge from the everyday, the award-winning Red Bee’s innovative and original creative juxtaposes traditional weekend retreat imagery with contemporary talent from the channel’s key content in a humorous and irreverent way to represent the channel’s key brand values.
Dave?!
12 September 2007
"THE WIFE GAVE ME CABBAGE AND BEAN TARTLETS LAST NIGHT ..."
"... Yet another reason to despise Jamie Oliver."
Just finished watching the first two episodes of The Sarah Jane Adventures (now confirmed for Monday 24 September at 5pm on BBC1), and I feel a little bit exhilarated. With 25 minute episodes this does indeed feel rather like old school Who. Not a huge deal of plot, but lots of exciting moments and archetypical flourishes (unseen baddies monitoring our heroes via CCTV and cackling evilly). And it moves like the clappers.
It's no surprise to say the Slitheen are back (the thing's called "Revenge of the Slitheen") and they fit in very well - fart gags and fatties playing nicely before Neighbours.
Performances all round are generally great, with Ms Sladen zestfully bouncing between shouty and vulnerable moments to ace effect. New character Clyde is lots of fun, but the real kudos has to go to the corpulent cast members - all operatic rolling eyes and flab.
Bits for the Who hardcore roll along in episode two, including a glimpse of a Jagaroth spaceship design on SJ's wall (for some reason), "Love to the Brig" and - if I'm not mistaken - a Crackerjack reference (Maria's mum referring to our heroine as "Sally Ann").
Plus, the trailer for episode three looks absolutely fantastic - some business with "the Gorgon" ...
Just finished watching the first two episodes of The Sarah Jane Adventures (now confirmed for Monday 24 September at 5pm on BBC1), and I feel a little bit exhilarated. With 25 minute episodes this does indeed feel rather like old school Who. Not a huge deal of plot, but lots of exciting moments and archetypical flourishes (unseen baddies monitoring our heroes via CCTV and cackling evilly). And it moves like the clappers.
It's no surprise to say the Slitheen are back (the thing's called "Revenge of the Slitheen") and they fit in very well - fart gags and fatties playing nicely before Neighbours.
Performances all round are generally great, with Ms Sladen zestfully bouncing between shouty and vulnerable moments to ace effect. New character Clyde is lots of fun, but the real kudos has to go to the corpulent cast members - all operatic rolling eyes and flab.
Bits for the Who hardcore roll along in episode two, including a glimpse of a Jagaroth spaceship design on SJ's wall (for some reason), "Love to the Brig" and - if I'm not mistaken - a Crackerjack reference (Maria's mum referring to our heroine as "Sally Ann").
Plus, the trailer for episode three looks absolutely fantastic - some business with "the Gorgon" ...
GRADE ONE TINKERING AT ITV
It looks like Michael Grade is making his mark at ITV. BBC News reports that he plans to double spending on content to £1.2 billion by 2012, scrapping those awful late-night money-raking quiz "programmes" and merging some of ITV's smaller regional news services. Getting rid of the quiz rip-offs has to be a good move (not because they are appalling programming by the way, but because "negative publicity ... has seen call volumes drop to uneconomic levels"), but is merging the regions wise? Hasn't regional identity been diluted enough as a result of corporate branding?
10 September 2007
2 BECOME 1
Due to a, er, clerical error, I've ended up watching two of the three episodes so far of Holly and Fearne Go Dating on ITV1. And surely it's only a clerical error that has put this on the main channel in the first place, as with its flimsy concept and production budget of, seemingly, 50p, this show has got ITV2 written all over it.
In fact I'd heard that ITV2 were about to revive Streetmate, but I don't know if this actually is it. There's no mention of it in the credits, but this new series certainly shares some similarities with the old Davina-when-she-was-tolerable-fronted Channel 4 series.
It's a simple format - each episode features someone looking for love, and Holly and Fearne gallivant across the country trying to find the perfect match. They each choose one person to meet the singleton at - cross-promotion ahoy! - Hell's Kitchen, and the subject decides which one to have a fully-fledged dinner date with, and which out of Holly and Fearne has "won" that particular encounter.
It's all harmless fun, of course, with nothing at all distinctive or unique about it - apart from the uniquely awful theme tune, a cover of Sowing the Seeds of Love by, of all people, one Richard Parfitt Jr. Nothing much happens at all, and bizarrely the actual date - surely the whole point of the programme - is virtually chucked away. The singleton decides which of the pair they like the best, we see about 10 seconds of their chit-chat and then we cut to the subject saying, "Yeah, I might see them again" or, "No, they're not really my type". And that's it.
The general point to take from this, though, is that there's room for three episodes of this on ITV1 this week, yet there's no room for any new drama whatsoever. Aside from Corrie, Emmerdale and The Bill, there's no new drama at all, which I find remarkable. 10 or 15 years ago, when the channel was dumping all over the Beeb, it would hardly go one night without a drama at 9pm. Now it's going a week without any.
Instead we have Hell's Kitchen seven nights a week. Now this may be one of the top reality shows (though I question why we're getting a new series two and a half years after the last, and three and a half years since the last good one), but it's a reality show, and that's a genre which can be seen on hundreds of other channels from five to Sky One to Living to MTV. Whereas, ITV1 is one of the few channels that can afford and has a reputation in quality drama, and you'd think it would want to emphasise one of the genres it genuinely excels in.
Not surprisingly, every time Hell's Kitchen has been screened opposite a drama on BBC1, it's come off second best. Whereas the last time it showed a post-watershed drama, it was a huge success. The facts speak for themselves - if ITV1 are so desperate to pull in the ratings, it should screen drama at 9pm nine times out of 10. Why is this channel continually failing to play to its strengths?
EDITOR'S VOICE: Streetmate with Holly Willoughby starts on ITV2,Thursday 27 September
In fact I'd heard that ITV2 were about to revive Streetmate, but I don't know if this actually is it. There's no mention of it in the credits, but this new series certainly shares some similarities with the old Davina-when-she-was-tolerable-fronted Channel 4 series.
It's a simple format - each episode features someone looking for love, and Holly and Fearne gallivant across the country trying to find the perfect match. They each choose one person to meet the singleton at - cross-promotion ahoy! - Hell's Kitchen, and the subject decides which one to have a fully-fledged dinner date with, and which out of Holly and Fearne has "won" that particular encounter.
It's all harmless fun, of course, with nothing at all distinctive or unique about it - apart from the uniquely awful theme tune, a cover of Sowing the Seeds of Love by, of all people, one Richard Parfitt Jr. Nothing much happens at all, and bizarrely the actual date - surely the whole point of the programme - is virtually chucked away. The singleton decides which of the pair they like the best, we see about 10 seconds of their chit-chat and then we cut to the subject saying, "Yeah, I might see them again" or, "No, they're not really my type". And that's it.
The general point to take from this, though, is that there's room for three episodes of this on ITV1 this week, yet there's no room for any new drama whatsoever. Aside from Corrie, Emmerdale and The Bill, there's no new drama at all, which I find remarkable. 10 or 15 years ago, when the channel was dumping all over the Beeb, it would hardly go one night without a drama at 9pm. Now it's going a week without any.
Instead we have Hell's Kitchen seven nights a week. Now this may be one of the top reality shows (though I question why we're getting a new series two and a half years after the last, and three and a half years since the last good one), but it's a reality show, and that's a genre which can be seen on hundreds of other channels from five to Sky One to Living to MTV. Whereas, ITV1 is one of the few channels that can afford and has a reputation in quality drama, and you'd think it would want to emphasise one of the genres it genuinely excels in.
Not surprisingly, every time Hell's Kitchen has been screened opposite a drama on BBC1, it's come off second best. Whereas the last time it showed a post-watershed drama, it was a huge success. The facts speak for themselves - if ITV1 are so desperate to pull in the ratings, it should screen drama at 9pm nine times out of 10. Why is this channel continually failing to play to its strengths?
EDITOR'S VOICE: Streetmate with Holly Willoughby starts on ITV2,Thursday 27 September
07 September 2007
"I CAN'T DO ROSE ANYMORE!"
Billie Piper was on roundtable duty yesterday, to promote ITV2's not-half-bad Secret Diary of a Call Girl (set your videos for Thursday 27 September). Of course, Doctor Who was mentioned, and if she'd ever pop back.
I've been asked this a lot today, there's something in the papers, isn't there? Oh, it's cos David's doing Hamlet. Yeah, okay. I don't know, really. I don't know. I'm not entirely sure. I love Doctor Who, I love it, but I think it's quite hard to go back to things. It would be hard to play Rose again. I was trying to do it the other night. I was trying to be Rose in my bathroom and it was shit! It was really bad acting. And I suddenly thought, "I can never go back, cos I can't do it anymore"! It must be hard, you know. I am like Rose in many ways, but she's a bit of a Cockney tomboy (I'm a bit of a tomboy), but I couldn't do it. I can't do Rose anymore! I've forgotten how to play Rose! I'm dealing with it, guys. But now you're bringing it up, and I'm getting upset!
05 September 2007
FIRST IT WAS NODDEE NOW ITS REALITY
Further to my review of the first episode of Hell's Kitchen, I am still trying to get to grips with why the show should feature the celebrities doing so well this early on in the series. As I have previously written, if they run a competent dinner service from the off, the series has no arc to follow.
So what's going on? I think I might have come up with the answer.
The TV industry's over the top reaction to the whole furore over scenes in programmes being edited to distort reality has already heralded the demise of the art of the "Noddee" on news programmes (those reaction shots filmed after the event in which interviewers thoughtfully ponder or nod in response to some great point the interviewee has just made). Perhaps this ill advised clean up campaign has spread to reality TV.
The X Factor dropped a scene in the first episode in which Simon Cowell had a staged conversation with a producer over the merits of bringing back Louis Walsh. Strangely enough though, they still keep in those obviously out-of-sequence reaction shots that are used ever more clumsily to elongate the tense bit at the end of an audition.
Perhaps the producers of Hell's Kitchen are fearful that any attempt to oversell the inadequacies of their ten celebrity chefs will be greeted with press scoops revealing "Clancy CAN cook Fancy" (that's Peter Crouch's girlfriend in case you're wondering). If that's the case, then can't we simply have a disclaimer at the end of each episode admitting some of the scenes are faked, and get back to producing a proper Reality TV show with contrivances and all? You know, the type we enjoy watching.
Also, on an only vaguely related note, it's just occurred to me that on celeb reality shows, the eviction process only ever starts in the second week - is this because celebs won't sign up for such projects if they run the risk of expulsion after barely getting themselves on screen?
So what's going on? I think I might have come up with the answer.
The TV industry's over the top reaction to the whole furore over scenes in programmes being edited to distort reality has already heralded the demise of the art of the "Noddee" on news programmes (those reaction shots filmed after the event in which interviewers thoughtfully ponder or nod in response to some great point the interviewee has just made). Perhaps this ill advised clean up campaign has spread to reality TV.
The X Factor dropped a scene in the first episode in which Simon Cowell had a staged conversation with a producer over the merits of bringing back Louis Walsh. Strangely enough though, they still keep in those obviously out-of-sequence reaction shots that are used ever more clumsily to elongate the tense bit at the end of an audition.
Perhaps the producers of Hell's Kitchen are fearful that any attempt to oversell the inadequacies of their ten celebrity chefs will be greeted with press scoops revealing "Clancy CAN cook Fancy" (that's Peter Crouch's girlfriend in case you're wondering). If that's the case, then can't we simply have a disclaimer at the end of each episode admitting some of the scenes are faked, and get back to producing a proper Reality TV show with contrivances and all? You know, the type we enjoy watching.
Also, on an only vaguely related note, it's just occurred to me that on celeb reality shows, the eviction process only ever starts in the second week - is this because celebs won't sign up for such projects if they run the risk of expulsion after barely getting themselves on screen?
02 September 2007
IDENT HEAVEN
idents.tv is a blog dedicated to bringing television idents and promos from across the world. Oh how I miss the old BBC4 ones and look at those titles - “The Man Who Deciphered Linear B” is a favourite. [via]