Year: 2006

US ratings: what’s going on?

7 September 2006 Rob Buckley 3 Comments

Here’s the top-rated TV shows in the US for the last week:

  1. CSI: Miami (CBS)
  2. Law and Order: SVU (NBC)
  3. Two and a Half Men (CBS)
  4. Prison Break (FOX)
  5. 60 Minutes (CBS)
  6. Two and a Half Men – 8pm (CBS)
  7. CSI (CBS)
  8. Without A Trace (CBS)
  9. Criminal Minds (CBS)
  10. CSI: NY (CBS)
  11. Justice (FOX)
  12. Celebrity Duets (FOX)
  13. NCAA Football: Notre Dame vs. Georgia Tech (ABC)
  14. Bones (FOX)
  15. Big Brother (CBS)
  16. Vanished (FOX)
  17. California 500 (NBC)
  18. 20/20 – special (ABC)
  19. Celebrity Duets – 8pm (FOX)
  20. The New Adventures of Old Christine (CBS)

I’ve highlighted the shows that are running new episodes in bold (including sporting events, etc). Good to see Justice making a relatively good start with its first episode, and interesting to see Vanished hanging in there.

All the same, the top three shows are repeats. Of the top ten, eight are repeats.

And then there’s the craziness that CSI: Miami is number one and that The New Adventures of Old Christine is in there at all.

What is to be made of it all? I guess you could always argue that Fox still has fewer affiliates than the other networks so has a lower potential audience for its shows. Couple that with the fact it’s the only network running any big new dramas at the moment and it’s more surprising than anything except re-runs is in the top ten.

All the same, it’s odd. Let’s see what happens next week when House figures in.

Michael Caine is back in Sleuth

7 September 2006 Rob Buckley Post a comment

There’s a remake being planned of Sleuth, Anthony Shaffer’s play about an author who hatches a cunning scheme to off his wife’s lover. The first film version starred Laurence Olivier and Michael Caine as the author and lover respectively. In the proposed Kenneth Branagh version, Michael Caine is going to be the writer and Jude Law is going to be the lover. Interesting, huh, particularly given that Law took Caine’s role in the remake of Alfie as well.

He’s got himself a nice little earner there.

Audio and radio play reviews

Review: Doctor Who – Red

7 September 2006 Rob Buckley 3 Comments

RedAs promised yesterday, here’s my review of Red, the latest of the Big Finish Doctor Who audio plays.

Sit down. Be calm. Brace yourself. This one stars Sylvester McCoy and Bonnie Langford.

I do appreciate that to most people of taste and distinction, those words will strike the same kind of terror in your heart as phrases such as “biological warfare”, “plague of rats” and “a very special episode of Blossom”. But, I’ve said it before and I think it’s worth re-iterating again, Bonnie Langford is actually pretty good in these Big Finish stories. It comes to something when you look forward to her stories more than Ace (Sophie Aldred) stories, I know, but the producers really have done wonders with her character: I don’t think she screams once in any of her appearances, and in just about every story, the fact that Mel was supposed to be a computer programmer has come in extremely handy. She’s actually probably the best and most consistently written of all the audio companions at the moment (possible competitor: Charley Pollard, but she’s not been the same since C’rizz arrived).

So don’t be too afeared. Red is quite a good story and Bonnie Langford is rather a good companion.

What’s that? “What about Sylvester McCoy?” Oh. I was hoping you weren’t going to ask that…

Continue reading “Review: Doctor Who – Red”

US TV

Review: House 3.1

7 September 2006 Rob Buckley 1 Comment

House

In the US: Third season, Tuesdays, Fox, 8/7c

In the UK: Repeats on Hallmark/Five at the moment. Third season January (probably)

Characters re-cast: 0

Major characters gotten rid of: 0

Major new characters: 0

Format change percentage: 10%

He’s back. God bless Fox and their decision to bring all their shows back in August and September. Gregory House is back with us again. The regulars are all back, too. But there is one big change from last year. Can you tell what it is yet?

Continue reading “Review: House 3.1”

News

Eddie Izzard show gets a green light

7 September 2006 Rob Buckley 1 Comment

RichesThat Eddie Izzard show I mentioned a while ago has been given the all-go signal from FX in the US. Now called Riches and co-starring Minnie Driver, it will run for 13 episodes, starting some time in the second quarter of 2007.

It’s supposed to be FX’s family show. However, they’ve already had to reshoot the pilot to lighten its tone. I wonder why? Here’s the plot…:

Series, formerly titled “Lowlife,” revolves around a family of traveling grifters who take the identity of an upper-middle-class suburban family.

“Riches” stars Izzard as Wayne Malloy, a father questioning the marginal life his family leads. Show follows he and his wife Dahlia (Driver), newly sprung from a two-year prison stint and now battling a drug habit, as they and their three children get accustomed to their new identities as the well-to-do Riches.

FX chief John Landgraf said “Riches” is the cabler’s first family show — “albeit a show and a family unlike any television viewers have seen before.”