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Category: Link Page 28 of 54
I try not to be overly quick to react to announcements about forthcoming films and TV shows and the like, mainly because I’ve been wrong before (and which of us hasn’t?).
Mind you, I was less slow to suggest that re-making the classic comedy series The Fall And Rise Of Reginald Perrin was probably a bad idea; the central performance by Leonard Rossiter would be hard to beat – which was pretty much shown by the follow-up series The Legacy Of Reginal Perrin, which lacked both Rossiter and a certain… indescribable something.
Anyway, I’m re-considering in a way, not because there’s been an announcement that Martin Clunes is to star (though he seems a perfectly nice chap), but rather because the new version is to be written by Simon Nye. Nye’s best known for Men Behaving Badly, but he’s shown that he can do darker comedy with the far-less-seen How Do You Want Me?… and more importantly the new series is being written in conjunction with David Nobbs, the creator of Perrin.
This, of course, in no way guarantees that it won’t be as much of a misfire as, say, Brighton Belles, but it may be all right. Am I hedging my bets? Probably – I love Perrin, and if it proves possible to do a renewed version that doesn’t urinate all over the memory of the original, and says something about workplace or midlife boredom, then I’ll un-narrow my sceptical eyes. If you’re feeling more keen to see it before it actually hits the screen, mind, you can see it being filmed at Teddington Studios by clicking here.
All that said, though, I have no idea quite how one distinguishes between a ‘remake’ and an ‘inspired update’, as per the quote on the BBC site. Still, at least it’s marginally more coherent than that ghastly non-phrase “re-imagining”…
Am trapped at work so won’t be able to get to the BBC writersroom bash which starts in half an hour. Pah!
Still, if you go, hope you enjoy it – and report back, eh ?
The nominations were announced just before 8am, and for those of us who couldn’t make it down to Piccadilly for that time in the morning, the list is here.
A good showing for Slumdog Millionaire and Kate Winslet, and because he always sounds so darned affable on Adam and Joe’s 6music show, I’m pleased for Garth Jennings to be nominated for the Carl Foreman award.
To my mind, a generally interesting list, even if it does suffer the perennial problem of containing films which aren’t yet out in the UK (Frost/Nixon, The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button), thus rendering it a bit difficult to have an entirely certain opinion.. Not that lack of knowledge is usually an obstacle to me having an opinion.
And nor should it be for you; anyone have any strong feelings about any of the nominations? Do share.
I just spotted the first issue of this series in the newsagent today.
It’s one of those partworks which only tend to manifest at the start of the year, accompanied by TV ads telling you how it will “…week by week, build into a collection you – and your family – will treasure”. Though I guess that on this occasion, it might actually be the sort of thing that you’ll return to over time, no pun intended.
Mind you, it’s not necessarily very good value – 2 episodes per DVD for a standard cost of £6.99 doesn’t compare that well with buying the DVD boxes and a book, though as the first issue is at the introductory lure-you-in price £1.99, that’s not so bad for the first two Eccleston episodes. Cheaper than iTunes, that’s for sure.
If you want to look for it, it’s hard to miss; the magazine-bit and DVD come mounted on a sizey piece of cardboard, and the magazine features David Tennant pointing a sonic screwdriver out at the viewer… actually, putting him on it which strikes me as a bit off (or at least a bit previous), rather as if the cover of the similar Little House On The Prairie collection didn’t feature Michael Landon.
Another BBC Writersroom roadshow has been announced, this time in Belfast. It’s between 5:30 and 7:00pm on Thursday 29 January, at Studio One, Broadcasting House, Ormeau Avenue, Belfast.
As with previous roadshows, they don’t want any old loonies just coming in off the street, so if you want to be one of the select loonies who’s on the guest list, email your full name in the body of an email with the subject heading “Belfast Roadshow” to writersroom.events@bbc.co.uk.
Full details are available here, though the above pretty much covers it.
If you live nearby, why not go along and hand in your script in person? Given yesterday’s rant about postal inefficiency, it sounds like a good way to avoid the vagaries of the postal service, and save money at the same time…
One of the recently-announced atheist / humanist adverts – and which, I see, has already been criticised.
Mind you, given that the complaints come from Christian Voice, I think we can probably assume it’s not necessarily a view shared by most reasonable religious folks.
You know the ones – they tend to have their beliefs and try to live by them, rather than verbally or literally attacking others for having differing ideas in their heads. Much like the founders of their religions asked them to, in fact.
Does anyone know if the episode of new BBC sitcom Life of Riley which was on last night was, in fact, the first episode?
There were various jokes from the kids in the first five minutes or so about the dad’s previous girlfriends, but it didn’t seem to establish beforehand that Caroline Quentin’s character was their new Mum or whatever. And they appeared to be moving into a new home, but I didn’t know why… granted, I got a bit confused and wondered if I’d missed something vital, and didn’t stick around much beyond the 8min stage, but was this information there and I missed it, or not?
I’m genuinely not having a go at the writer – she’s a known name in comedy, with a pedigree going back to Spitting Image – so I’m more inclined to think that, for some reason, the BBC might have decided to play ep2 instead of a scene-setting opening episode. Maybe it was just me not paying attention, but if anyone can put me stright, I’m sincerely open to correction on this.
There are many differences between TV in the UK and USA. The number of episodes in a series (often 6 in the UK, and more like 24 in the USA), the number of writers working on a show (the idea of the Writers’ Room, common in the USA, is a positive rarity in the UK, though it’s not unknown), and the tendency of American shows to have episodes comprised of clips from previous weeks (if not years), known as ‘clip shows’, are just a few examples.
A show going ‘on hiatus’ in the USA is another. Basically, this means that for whatever reason, the network or channel decides to stop showing a programme before the end of its projected run. It does happen, after a fashion, here in Blighty, but rather than the show just vanishing from the schedules, it tends to suddenly be re-located to some far-flung post-midnight slot; my first personal recollection of this happening was with the comedy Kinvig, though whether it’s because my 10-year-old self recognised the scripting ability of Nigel ‘Quatermass’ Kneale, or that I found something confusingly interesting about the sight of Prunella Gee in a number of materially-challenged costumes, is open to debate.
Anyway, US shows which go on hiatus tend to vanish from the schedules and not come back, or if there’s a concerted viewer campaign, they may return. I don’t know of any notable examples of a show going on hiatus and then coming back and running for a prolonged period (anyone? Seinfeld started off with low ratings but then went on to enormous success, but I think that was more slow and steady than a case of being reprieved, though I could be wrong) – what usually seems to happen is that a show comes back, runs for a few more episodes in order to complete the series (or ‘season’), and then that’s yer lot. I think that’s pretty much what happened to Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip recently.
Further off in the mists of history – and you’ll be relieved to know that I’m finally getting to my point here – the same thing happened with the TV show Twin Peaks. I’ve mentioned before that I adore this show, and have done since it first aired in the UK during my college years, when m’colleague and I used to follow it. I think it’s a terrific show (though not without its flaws, by any means) to this day, and I genuinely feel one could make a pretty strong argument that it paved the way for a lot of solid US Drama that’s followed it, particularly on the non-cable channels; I think it’s hard to imagine The X-Files or The West Wing having been made without TP having proven that there was an audience for a drama with strong serial elements, particularly in an era when video allowed for repeated viewing or catch-up.
Anyway, when Twin Peaks started, it proved an enormously successful show, but during the second series, ratings in the USA fell off quite dramatically, and the network put it on hiatus, six episodes short of completing the series. A letter-writing campaign ensued, which was successful, and Twin Peaks returned for six more episodes, completing its second (and, even I would freely admit, very patchy) series. And then, having lived a surprisingly long time following the last rites of having been put on hiatus, it was announced that Twin Peaks, as a TV series, was finished (though a prequel film was released a year or so later).
In the UK, we were unaware of the hiatus, as the show was broadcast on BBC2 (on Tuesday nights at 9pm, I seem to recall, with late-night repeats on Saturday on the same channel), several months after the episodes had been shown in the USA. In the USA, though, the episode which aired post-hiatus (which is to say, the first of the final six episodes made) was being shown after a lengthy-ish gap in the series, and understandably, the network was concerned that, in order to try and keep or build their audience, they would need some kind of recap.
So, a brief rundown of the events so far was put at the front of episode 24. In the UK, there was only the usual week between episodes, so no lengthy ‘Previously On Twin Peaks’ intro, with a new voiceover from the lead character, was shown. Which means that there was 2’34” of Twin Peaks footage which wasn’t ever shown on UK TV (and no, I’m not going to get into the whole issue of the European Ending versus the Pilot Episode ending, or the editing of Truman’s fight with Jones, here; one day I’ll probably get round to writing a whole slew of posts about TP and what I love about it, and what makes me shake my head indulgently, but not today).
That lengthy parenthesis rather spoiled my intention with that sentence, so let’s pretend I didn’t splice a bunch of bracketed words into that paragraph, and go again: Which means that there was 2’34” of Twin Peaks footage which wasn’t ever shown on UK TV … but it’s now available to view here.
A long and rambling semi-essay to introduce a link there, I know… and now, as I click ‘POST’, I cross the fingers of my non-mouse hand and hope that, to make the above worth it, the link to the clip actually works…