Monday, January 02, 2006
Telly
Joss Whedon tells you what's going to happen on American telly in 2006.
Lost has that one-of-a-kind alchemy that really can't be copied. Therefore, look for the original series Misplaced, as well as Unfound, Not So Much with the Whereabouts and Just Pull Over and Ask!
As I may have mentioned last year, Christmas telly was crap. When you're listing the latest episodes of stuff you'd been watching during the year as highlights, you know you're in trouble.
There was Doctor Who: The Christmas Invasion but even that didn't work. I don't know what it is, but the weakest elements of the relaunch have been the present day stuff but apparently the farting aliens are beloved by small children everywhere, so I suppose we're stuck with them. Which is not to say tCI didn't have it's good moments, namely 39:27 minutes in (when the TARDIS doors open to reveal the Doctor) to 43:42 (when the Doctor challenges the 'Big Fella' to a duel). The rest of it had some funny lines but was a drawn out whole world gets into trouble then waits for the Doctor to save them. It was dull. It looked cheap. And the Doctor spent most of it unconscious. It might have been more interesting if he was off his head and just making things worse by his interfering before pulling himself together for the finale. But really we're now waiting a few months for the next series.
ITV4 did show Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism late one evening, though I couldn't find it using my Sky box's 'A-Z listings' of programs. I wonder why? Anyway, I still got hold of it and it's cracking viewing. You can find it pretty easily via BitTorrents too.
(Meanwhile, why not read about how a Murdoch newspaper does a 'Ken Livingstone' and compares the Jewish director of Outfoxed to a Nazi, or read the producer Jim Gilliam's blog)
The only other program of note was The Return of the Goodies about the Seventies TV show, though only the BBC would think them worthy of a ninety-minute documentary but then not show any of their shows afterwards, whereas Porridge and Dad's fucking Army have been shown pretty much continually sinced they were made. I would guess that the BBC are punishing them for taking their show to ITV but Morecambe and Wise did the same and still get shown, and each of them still get regular employment by the Beeb just doing other things.
As it used to get shown on BBC2 they could even show it on BBC1 and call it a new series. That seems to be what Auntie is doing with The Thick of It which is starting on BBC2 tonight. It's a 'new series', except, what's that down at the bottom of the entry in the Radio Times? 'First shown on BBC4'. So it's actually a repeat from elsewhere? Other channels don't count now? Even other BBC channels? What do we get next? The Eastenders episodes on BBC3 being publicised as entirely new material? All right, it's not up there with Fox News for deceit, but still, get it right!
Lost has that one-of-a-kind alchemy that really can't be copied. Therefore, look for the original series Misplaced, as well as Unfound, Not So Much with the Whereabouts and Just Pull Over and Ask!
As I may have mentioned last year, Christmas telly was crap. When you're listing the latest episodes of stuff you'd been watching during the year as highlights, you know you're in trouble.
There was Doctor Who: The Christmas Invasion but even that didn't work. I don't know what it is, but the weakest elements of the relaunch have been the present day stuff but apparently the farting aliens are beloved by small children everywhere, so I suppose we're stuck with them. Which is not to say tCI didn't have it's good moments, namely 39:27 minutes in (when the TARDIS doors open to reveal the Doctor) to 43:42 (when the Doctor challenges the 'Big Fella' to a duel). The rest of it had some funny lines but was a drawn out whole world gets into trouble then waits for the Doctor to save them. It was dull. It looked cheap. And the Doctor spent most of it unconscious. It might have been more interesting if he was off his head and just making things worse by his interfering before pulling himself together for the finale. But really we're now waiting a few months for the next series.
ITV4 did show Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism late one evening, though I couldn't find it using my Sky box's 'A-Z listings' of programs. I wonder why? Anyway, I still got hold of it and it's cracking viewing. You can find it pretty easily via BitTorrents too.
(Meanwhile, why not read about how a Murdoch newspaper does a 'Ken Livingstone' and compares the Jewish director of Outfoxed to a Nazi, or read the producer Jim Gilliam's blog)
The only other program of note was The Return of the Goodies about the Seventies TV show, though only the BBC would think them worthy of a ninety-minute documentary but then not show any of their shows afterwards, whereas Porridge and Dad's fucking Army have been shown pretty much continually sinced they were made. I would guess that the BBC are punishing them for taking their show to ITV but Morecambe and Wise did the same and still get shown, and each of them still get regular employment by the Beeb just doing other things.
As it used to get shown on BBC2 they could even show it on BBC1 and call it a new series. That seems to be what Auntie is doing with The Thick of It which is starting on BBC2 tonight. It's a 'new series', except, what's that down at the bottom of the entry in the Radio Times? 'First shown on BBC4'. So it's actually a repeat from elsewhere? Other channels don't count now? Even other BBC channels? What do we get next? The Eastenders episodes on BBC3 being publicised as entirely new material? All right, it's not up there with Fox News for deceit, but still, get it right!
