Year: 2009

Sitting Tennant

Today’s Sitting Tennants (from Rullsenberg, Sister Chastity and Jaradel)

3 April 2009 Rob Buckley 19 Comments

David Tennant shocked

David Tennant's ghost

David Tennant playing in the sand

Sorry for the slight delay over Sitting Tenant today: I’ve been breaking in a new laptop after replacing my six-year-old PowerBook (heat-scarred, held together with sticky tape, broken modem, 7 key falling off, frequently crashing and very, very slow) with a new MacBook (ooh. Shiny. Fast. Powerful. Everything works. No keys falling off).

Hope the wait hasn’t made you tense.

Anyway, today’s Sitting Tennants are from Rullsenberg, Sister Chastity and Jaradel, who have once again showered me with so many pictures of David Tennant, we might need to have two Sitting Tennants next week, one on Tuesday and one on Thursday to cope with the Easter holidays. What do you think? Or shall we give them all a break from competition and just use up the pics the following Friday?

As you can see, these pics show the shock and worry experienced by David Tennant when he heard he was going to die, only to discover he was going to the Planet of the Dead, not the land of the dead as he was originally led to believe by the taxi driver. Still, one hell of an April Fool.

The picture board now stands as follows, with Jaradel and Sister Chastity neck and neck thanks to Jaradel’s topical pic:

  1. Rullsenberg: 15.5
  2. Sister Chastity, Jaradel: 11.5
  3. Rosby: 2.5

In the world of witty captioning, Toby almost lost a point for resorting to puns, but I let him off – again. Jane Henry gets the picture 1 bonus point for speaking the truth; Toby got a bonus point for caption 2 and speaking the truth; while Marie and Persephone tied for wittiest caption 3. Which means – shock, horror – that Toby is now the leader of the captioning competition. Can retribution in the form of a thumb war be far behind?

  1. Toby: 63.5
  2. Marie: 63
  3. Jane Henry: 44.5
  4. Rullsenberg: 40
  5. Persephone: 34.5
  6. Jaradel: 29.5
  7. Electric Dragon: 12
  8. Rev/Views 10
  9. Scott: 3
  10. Aaron: 2
  11. almostwitty.com: 1

As always, captions and new submissions for the gallery, please. Remember, you can submit as many (witty) captions as you like for each and every picture, with topical captions (and pictures of David Tennant in current productions) getting extra marks. The wittiest caption for each picture will get double points. And there’s a bonus point for using Gary Numan lyrics appropriately.

Got a picture of David Tennant sitting, lying down or in some indeterminate state in between? Then leave a link to it below and if it’s judged suitable, it will appear in the “Sitting Tennant” gallery. You can also enter the witting and amusing captions league table by commenting on existing photos in the gallery.

US TV

Eli Stone reunion: Kerr Smith, Daniel Benzali and Victor Garber

3 April 2009 Rob Buckley 3 Comments

It’s a weird world at ABC. They cancel shows like Eli Stone and Pushing Daisies, but despite still having episodes in the can, they’re not going to bother airing them except at some indeterminate point in the future, probably while everyone’s on their summer vacations. Which means we in the UK get to see them first.

Eli Stone – which probably deserved to die judging by its descent into silliness without the depth, pathos or George Michael of season one to justify it – has been having a couple of reunions over on the SciFi Channel in the UK.

Justice

Victor Garber and Kerr Smith, who appeared together over on Justice before it got cancelled, have been in more or less every episode that hasn’t been aired in the US – although you never see them together, the unlucky, cursed guys.

Victor Garber

Kerr Smith

Meanwhile, Murder One lovers will delighted to hear that Daniel Benzali has been temporarily reunited with the law to appear as a judge.

Daniel Benzali

Just thought I’d mention it.

Friday’s news without people

3 April 2009 Rob Buckley 11 Comments

Doctor Who

  • Trailer for the new K9 series. Oh dear

Film

British TV

  • BBC3 commissions two new sitcoms, including one with Nigel Havers
  • Trailer for Ashes to Ashes series two
  • BBC’s The Street might be cancelled because of ITV redundancies
  • Devil’s Whore sequel on the way
  • 4oD now available on the web
  • UKTV Style to relaunch as Home

US TV

BFI events

May at the BFI

2 April 2009 Rob Buckley 4 Comments

The BFI’s remembered to send me the brochure this month, so here’s our regular look at what’s on TV-wise at the South Bank in London in May.

  • 9th: The Best of Ianucci
    Armando Ianucci’s choice of his best work as performer and writer-director
  • 9th: Ianucci in person
    A career interview in which Armando Ianucci will talk about his TV work. Asking the questions: Graeme Garden of The Goodies. No, seriously.

However, other than that, everything else is dedicated to a John Mortimer retrospective.

  • 4th/22nd: The Sunday Night Play: The Wrong Side of the Park; Monitor: Mortimer’s Hampstead
    A play about a malicious lodger and a Monitor item providing context.
  • 8th: Television Playhouse: Collect Your Hand Baggage; Shades of Greene: Special Duties and The Invisible Japanese Gentleman
    Kenneth More as a man who has never grown up; John Gielgud as a CEO who hires a nun to buy him out of purgatory; Denholm Elliot musing on the curse of ‘the writer’s eye’.
  • 10th/18th: A Voyage Round My Father; The South Bank Show
    Mortimer’s best-loved play, followed by a special devoted to Mortimer’s methods and philosophy.
  • 14th: Thirty Minute Theatre: Bermondsey; Knightsbridge; King’s Cross Lunch Hour; and Mill Hill.
    A heady and controversial mix of gay sex and class; high farce; Mortimore’s most Pinteresque play; and a dentist’s sexual fantasies.
  • 17th: Play for Today: Rumpole of the Bailey
    The very first appearance of Rumpole. BBC4 showed it recently and it’s very good. Followed by:
  • 17th: John Mortimer Remembered
    A panel of guests who knew John Moritmore discuss his work and influence. Includes Daisy Goodwin, Jacqueline Davis, Colin Rodgers and Alvin Rakoff.
  • 21st: Will Shakespeare (episodes one and two)
    Tim Curry plays William Shakespeare in this demonstration of how events in his life fed into his plays.
  • 22nd/28th: Playhouse: Unity
    A dramatisation of the English aristocracy’s collusion with fascism.
  • 23rd: Titmuss Regained
    A three-part satire of the Thatcher era starring David Threlfall.
  • 29th/31st: Edwin; On Reflection: Mortimer on Oscar Wilde
    Alec Guinness wonders whether a friend’s son really is his son. And Mortimer refelcts on Oscar Wilde – obviously.

Meanwhile, back in the Mediatheque, there’s a season of ‘Funny Girls’ that includes episodes of Sykes, Fawlty Towers, Wood and Walters and The Mrs Merton Show, as well as the pilot of Meet The Wife.

Members’ priority booking opens: 11.30am April 7
Public booking opens: April 14

As always, visit the BFI web site for more details

UPDATE: Yes, Tim Curry as Shakespeare: