Month: August 2006

TMINE

Oh God. I’ve been spotted

21 August 2006 Rob Buckley 5 Comments

Charlie Brooker in Screen WipeI knew it. I knew this was going to happen. I knew it wasn’t just paranoia.

I’ve been spotted. By Adam Buxton, no less.

Not an Adam Buxton. The Adam Buxton.

Adam’s taken exception to my review of the first pilot episode of Charlie Brooker’s Screen Wipe, which aired on BBC4 earlier this year, saying “most of Rob’s points are I believe, utter bollocks”, although most of his problems seem to be with my take on Robert Popper’s segment on Star Quality.

I hate Internet fights. Even the slightest hint of conflict gives me sleepless nights. Don’t believe me? I was over on the Struggling Author’s blog at 1am this morning, leaving comments about in-flight security, and I had to be up at six to go jogging with my brother-in-law. Today, coffee is my friend.

I haven’t been so mortified since Danny Wallace found out I didn’t like the sound of his new game show. Maybe I’ll hide behind Scott, since he seems to be able to take on irate television people with the courage of 40 men.

Anyway, to ensure pan-web peace, I’ve sent Adam an email to let him know that actually, I like the new series of Screen Wipe very much, to congratulate him on his new series and to point out the general ‘Brooker love‘ round here.

But just to answer (for which read ‘clarify my initial review and add in a bit more background’. Don’t read it as ‘let’s have a real fight’. Please.) some of Adam’s points, which is going to take a little time…

Continue reading “Oh God. I’ve been spotted”

News

The Wire’s coming back soon: please watch it

18 August 2006 Rob Buckley 4 Comments

The Wire

I know I drone on about The Wire being probably the best TV show ever made rather a lot, but it’s coming back for a fourth season on HBO soon – the 10th September at 10pm to be exact – so I thought I’d commit some more droning into electronic type.

It’s brilliant. Watch it.

Not entirely persuasive, huh?

Okay, here’s someone else explaining why it’s brilliant. A choice quote:

Having devoured all 13 hours even before sitting down with Simon, I can say I have no need of a refund. If anything, I feel like I should be paying more than my HBO subscription rate for this show. It is the best drama in HBO history — all due respect to “The Sopranos” and “Deadwood.” “The Wire” is deeper, tighter and more ambitious — and one of the finest works ever produced for American television.

And here’s Charlie Brooker on last night’s Screen Wipe US special explaining why it’s the best TV show of the last 20 years. Y’all respect his opinion, don’t you?

Over here in the lovely UK, you’ll have to wait for FX to air the fourth season, but it should be arriving by year end. There’s one reason for a Sky subscription, anyway, since FX isn’t on FreeView.

Unfortunately, it’s not repeating any episodes at the moment, which is completely atypical of it. If you want to catch up, Amazon (average customer review: 5 stars) or a similar service is the way to go: you should be able to get a box set of each season for about £25 a whack, or I’m sure a DVD rental service will be able to oblige. It’s really, really worth watching. Promise.

There’s a trailer for the fourth season on HBO’s The Wire site, just in case you don’t believe me.

US TV

Preview: Vanished

18 August 2006 Rob Buckley 3 Comments

Vanished

In the US: Fox, Monday 9/8c. Starts on Monday.

In the UK: Acquired by Five. Will air in 2007.

I moaned at them and wow, here’s the screener. Of course, the show’s airing on Monday in a double-bill with the premiere of Prison Break, but here it is nonetheless.

Vanished is interesting because it embodies that other network trend: the coincidentally identical premise. Remember when Robin Hood and Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves both came out at the same time? And last year, when Threshold, Surface and Invasion all slammed into our screens (and out the other side eventually)?

We’ve got a similar thing going on here with NBC’s Kidnapped, since we’ve got two kidnapping shows at the same time. Vanished has a bit of a march on Kidnapped, but will the better show win? And which is the better show?

Continue reading “Preview: Vanished”

News

BBC Four’s Spy Season coming soon

18 August 2006 Rob Buckley 3 Comments

BBC Four's Spy Season

God bless you BBC4. Every so often you’ll come up with a cracking idea for a season of programming, like last year’s Ghost Story season. Now we’ve got ‘British Spies Season’.

I can’t seem to find an in-depth listing of what’s in it, but there’s definitely a bit of Spooks, a bit of Smiley (don’t know whether it was Tinker, Tailor or Smiley’s People) and some decent documentaries.

It probably won’t include The Sandbaggers, that being a Yorkshire programme, but I live in hope. I’ll keep you updated as I find out more.

UPDATE: The trailer’s up on the BBC Four site.