Year: 2006

Billie Piper leaving?

15 June 2006 Rob Buckley 14 Comments

If you can believe The Sun, Billie Piper’s leaving Doctor Who at the end of the season, as foreshadowed in The Satan Pit. Her replacement has already been picked.

The article’s got quotes from Billie and RTD, so it’s probably true, but you never know with The Sun. There’s nothing on the Beeb’s Doctor Who site or its news site yet.

UPDATE: There’s a press release now. Thanks Scott!

UPDATE 2: Now the Beeb’s news site has a story about it. The door, apparently, is open for Piper’s return. Who reckons this is all so she’ll be a surprise regular next season?

News

Green Wing to finish?

15 June 2006 Rob Buckley 1 Comment

Green WingMuch like Marmite, you either love or hate Green Wing. Personally, I think it’s as a good as a mixture of beef flavouring and yeast extract. But it’s bad news for those of you in the minority who love Green Wing: it looks like it’s not going to get a third series.

Broadcast reports that Channel 4 has commissioned a one-off special to tie up the various plot strands, but a third series looks unlikely after that. The reason? Creator Victoria Pile is off to do other projects and they don’t want to go on without her. Loyalty or handy excuse? Let the conspiracy theories begin.

There is some possibility of a third series, depending on Pile’s inclinations, though. If you want, you can always sign an online petition. They always work.

Brooker’s back with more Screen Wipes

15 June 2006 Rob Buckley Post a comment

It may not have been as good as I’d hoped, but Charlie Brooker’s Screen Wipe is back for two more series: one this summer, including an entire episode dedicated to US television, and another in 2007.

Still, at least he’s honest:

For some mad reason BBC4 weren’t entirely put off by the three pilots we made earlier this year, so I’m returning with yet more puerile meandering and dispiriting misanthropy, which I intend to somehow pass off as ‘analysis’

I’ll be tuning in anyway…

I just don’t see the link

14 June 2006 Rob Buckley Post a comment

I got an odd email this morning.

Hey,

I just found your blog entry: http://www.the-medium-is-not-enough.com/2006/06/the_end_of_the_finale_guides.php and I think you may be of some help to me. I’m contacting you on behalf of M80 & Fox Home Entertainment regarding tthe DVD release of The Pretender Season 4.

Since you mentioned Medium in your blog entry, I thought that you may be interested in helping to promote this release.

The Pretender Season 4 is being released to DVD on July 18th.

If you are interested, please email me back and I’ll get you the details.

Best,

Jacqueline

a US releaseSo what, exactly, is the link between The Pretender (fine series though it was, til the silly fourth season) and Medium. They’re both NBC shows I guess, but is there much of a demographic overlap between a 1996 show about a genius who could pretend to be anyone he wanted, running away from an evil organisation called The Centre, and a 2005 show about a woman who helps a US district attorney by talking to dead people?

More worryingly, what exactly does Jacqueline want me to do to promote it, I wonder? It’s a US release, after all. Was my printing this letter the plan? I’m not sure I want to know, lest my editorial independence be compromised.