Day: 10 May 2006

UK TV

The rubbishness of ITV proved for all the world to see

10 May 2006 Rob Buckley 5 Comments

A while ago, we obliquely touched on the poor quality of ITV programming of late. Now come a few hard empirical facts. In all the excitement about Doctor Who‘s success at the BAFTAs, ITV’s equally appalling night was pretty much overlooked – by all but my colleague Ian Jones at Off The Telly. Choice quote of the piece:

if you look at the BAFTA nominations (four for each award, hence a total of 76), how many do you think ITV notched up? A third? A quarter? Wrong on both counts. Surely they made it into double figures? Wrong again. They got a miserable, shameful total of seven. Seven nominations out of 76.

Astonishing.

Since I’ve mentioned Doctor Who, I guess I have to do this now:

David Tennant again

I’m off for a couple of days’ holiday in Glasgow tomorrow, so blogging is going to be reduced to somewhere between a little and not at all, depending on how good the promised Wi-Fi is and how much it rains in Scotland while we’re there (track record: 100% rain on all previous visits). So adios for now and I’ll be back on Monday or earlier.

Lost: a novel new theory

10 May 2006 Rob Buckley 1 Comment

This one hadn’t occurred to me but it makes a whole load of sense:

“It is my opinion that the cast of Lost, having experienced far worse locations than Hawaii and slightly worse scripts than Lost, are stringing this thing out a bit.”

Nancy Banks-Smith, The Guardian

Film

Heat: Great film, but how could it be better?

10 May 2006 Rob Buckley 2 Comments

Al Pacino and Robert de Niro in HeatI was bored by Heat the first time I saw it. Ridiculously long runtime coupled with too many talky bits put a dampener on all those Andy McNab-choreographed shoot-outs, which is what I really wanted.

In retrospect and without the callowness of youth on my side (replaced with the callowness of 30something-dom), I now realise it was excellent – certainly the best movie Michael Mann’s directed, although Manhunter makes it a close-run contest.

But what could make it better, ten years on?

A director’s cut? No.

A sequel? Hell no.

No, what the world needs now is a Heat video game that features neither Robert de Niro nor Al Pacino.

“The success of the special edition DVD last year reminded us how Michael Mann’s ‘Heat’ is truly a modern day classic and deserved to be retold using modern technology that will transport a viewer into that world,” said Regency production prexy Sanford Panitch.

Happily (but only if you’re only anti-depressants), it turns out there are also video games of Jaws (do you have to escape the shark or be the shark, I wonder?) and Scarface in the works.

Incidentally, in case you’re wondering what Michael Mann’s been up to of late, he’s retooling his finest televisual hour for the big screen. Yes, Miami Vice is coming out this summer and you can view the trailer below:

UPDATE: Val Kilmer is in talks to voice the game as well, according to Variety.

News

Christopher Eccleston his own worst enemy

10 May 2006 Rob Buckley Post a comment

Christopher Eccleston in Doctor WhoWe all heard the news that Christopher Eccleston may be starring in the forthcoming remake of The Prisoner. Now The Independents Pandora reports that CE may have had a bust-up with the producers and Sky are getting cold feet.

“Christopher did contact Granada earlier this year, when talks about the project began,” they say. “But since the casting process has only just begun, we are also looking elsewhere.”

Quelle surprise. Odd that he should have initiated contact with the producers, as he did with Doctor Who, and then mess everything up himself (assuming Pandora’s right). But it seems that if there’s a way to sabotage his own career, Eccleston will find it every time. Let’s hope he can pull himself together again and get back into the game.