Slightly old news this, but interesting all the same: Madeleine Stowe is joining the cast of Raines, Jeff Goldblum’s vaguely promising “I see dead people, but that’s cos I’m bats” vehicle. She’s going to be his psychiatrist. Talk about uphill work.
Year: 2006
The BBC to experiment with telenovelas
Ugly Betty is all the rage in the US right now, so it seems appropriate that the BBC is now looking at developing its own telenovelas. The Media Guardian‘s article is actually a pretty good guide to telenovelas, so is worth reading if you simply want to know what they’re all about (although the Wikipedia article is equally good).
An American writer’s view of British TV
Ooh. Someone from Madison, Wisconsin’s The Capital Times just got back from her vacation in Europe and found British television “interesting”. Always intrigued to see how others view our tele, but just to clarify once and for all, US readers: Pop Idol was not our idea – it was Australia’s (as was Deal or No Deal). That really shouldn’t be on our shoulders.
Incidentally, could somebody please explain why Americans and Brits alike think Spooks (aka MI-5) is worth watching? 24 has a firmer grip on reality and is a tad more exciting…
UPDATE: Just to prove I shouldn’t write before my third cup of coffee of the morning, my synapses have just kicked in to remind me that I was thinking of Popstars, not Pop Idol, which was indeed a UK original. Popstars was, of course, based on a show from New Zealand, not Australia. Other than that, I was right on the money. But Deal or No Deal is definitely Australian, albeit owned by the Dutch company Endemol.
News
BBC to launch online sci-fi drama series for kids
£2 million ain’t bad. Oops. Bad Rob. Bad use of English. For Axon, a new £2 million sci-fi mystery for kids, is being commissioned for the BBC’s online education service, BBC Jam. It’s going to combine “linear drama, interactive documentary, games and activities as well as streamed video from archives” and, in the grand tradition of all British sci-fi, is going to be filmed in Wales (probably in a gravel pit).
Since it is a BBC education production, the groovy bit is that it’s going to be produced in four different languages: English and Welsh, with Irish and Scottish Gaelic to follow in 2007. First episodes are due to appear in January.
Axon, huh? As in brain fibre or campy Jon Pertwee Doctor Who monster (above right)?
News
Studio 60’s ratings falling ever further
It might be from Aaron Sorkin. It might have a star-studded cast. It might have characters constantly going on about how, if you write a quality show, the US public will watch it. But Studio 60 really isn’t doing at all well in the ratings. Currently, it’s about third or fourth in its time slot, with ratings dropping 15% from last week’s episode to 7.8 million (or in ratings talk, 3.1/8 in 18-49, 7.8 million viewers overall).
It’s up against the jaw-droppingly stupid CSI: Miami (is it possible for David Caruso to have had Botox for his acting muscles?) so it’s undergoing a real-world empirical test of its own philosophy. Unfortunately, its theories are wrong: when the US public are presented with glossy, sexy, exciting but stupid versus well-written, wordy, intelligent but preachy drama, they’ll plump for the Caruso-bot every time, it seems.
No word from NBC about what’s going to happen to Studio 60, although there are various words being muttered about the quality of the viewers being just as important as the quantity: Studio 60 is delivering the same kind of people as The West Wing, who are generally smarter, richer, etc than the CSI: Miami crowd (ie everyone else). All the same, keep your fingers crossed and don’t be surprised if Studio 60 becomes Studio 13 episodes only.