Year: 2009

Canadian TV

Review: The Listener 1×1

13 March 2009 Rob Buckley 10 Comments

The Listener

In Canada: CTV. No airdate yet
In the UK: Sundays, 8pm, FX
In the US: Thursdays, 10pm, NBC. Starts June 4

This is all very bizarre.

Firstly, The Listener is a Canadian TV show about a guy who can read minds. What is it about Canada and mind-reading, particularly mind-readers with really odd blue eyes? There’s Scanners back in the 80s, with Stephen “Appropriately Named” Lack cast really only on the grounds of his odd eyes rather than acting ability; now we have this, starring Craig Olejnik, which looks like it’s Serbian or something for “has really odd blue eyes”.

So that’s bizarreness one.

Bizarreness two is that despite being a Canadian TV show, The Listener‘s been picked up by NBC for primetime airing over the summer in the US. NBC showing foreign shows in primetime? Blimey. It’s like the world has stopped turning on its axis and taken us back to the 1960s – it’s even bought in the BBC’s Merlin of all things, too. Still, that’s cost savings for you. TV drama: very, very expensive to make these days.

Bizarreness three is that despite being a Canadian TV show, it’s not being shown in Canada until later in the year. Instead, Fox International is showing it in 180 other countries, including the UK, first – a move that seems to have worked a treat in terms of ratings.

That last one was actually bizarreness five. Shall we have a look at the show itself to see why?

Continue reading “Review: The Listener 1×1”

US TV

ANTM: Year one winner snubbed again

13 March 2009 Rob Buckley 1 Comment

ANTM - not Adrianne

“If I had a blog, I’d blog about it!” said lovely wife on watching the opening few moments of cycle 12 of America’s Next Top Model. Lovely wife is offended, because yet again cycle one winner, Adrianne Curry, was snubbed by the show because of her falling out with Tyra Banks.

Says Wikipedia,

America’s Next Top Model has dissociated itself from Curry (and vice versa), having not mentioned her in any episodes since Season 2 (where she guest-starred in an episode). This was reportedly due to Curry criticizing Top Model and Tyra Banks for not delivering the promised prizes she won. Banks then retaliated by removing Curry from the show. Curry revealed on the America’s Next Top Model E! True Hollywood Story that she has “never regretted anything more in her life, it was very immature”.

In this opening episode, in the montage of shots from the previous 11 cycles, all the winners were represented, except for Curry – instead, Elyse Sewell got to appear instead. That Tyra takes things to heart.

As does lovely wife.

Sitting Tennant

Today’s Sitting Tennants (from Rullsenberg)

13 March 2009 Rob Buckley 14 Comments

David Tennant and Catherine Tate

David Tennant in the Blue Peter garden

Today’s Sitting Tennants are all from Ms Rullsenberg. She’s assailed with me with a vast collection of them, in fact, so today’s are the edited highlights: everyone else needs to get their finger out, I think.  

The first sees David Tennant and Catherine Tate listing the possible causes of small ‘Play’ and ‘BBC’ balloons appearing in mid-air, while the second sees the bucolic David in the Blue Peter garden, working out if he can use his well-practised tactic of sliding away down the grassy bank to escape from some enthusiastic gay men who have him cornered.

Captions please.

Thanks to Ms Rullsenberg’s powerful photo-collecting skills, the pictures leaderboard now stands as follows:

  1. Rullsenberg: 11
  2. Jaradel: 7
  3. Sister Chastity: 3
  4. Rosby: 2.5

Meanwhile, picture captioning has sunk to an all-time low, with captions from just a loyal few. It’s almost like the rest of you are content just to look at pictures of David Tennant sitting down, rather than pass comment on them or compete with others. How bizarre.

Nevertheless, we can award points to the truly dedicated – lovely people that they are. Electric Dragon does, of course, get a bonus point for appropriate use of Gary Numan lyrics*, Persephone and Jaradel both get a point for wittiest picture 1 captions, Toby gets bonuses for both his picture 2 and his picture 3 captions, as does Electric Dragon for his picture 2 caption, and Persephone gets another bonus for her picture 4 caption.

That leaves the witty caption board as follows, with Persephone just edging ahead of Rullsenberg and Electric Dragon finally putting a huge distance between himself and Scott:

  1. Marie: 35.5
  2. Toby: 33.5
  3. Jane Henry: 30.5
  4. Persephone: 23.5
  5. Rullsenberg: 23
  6. Jaradel: 17
  7. Rev/Views 10
  8. Electric Dragon: 8
  9. Scott: 3
  10. Aaron: 2

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.

* A full, laminated set of Sitting Tennant rules is available from the Mornington Crescent advisory committee, which holds them in trust.

US TV

Review: Castle 1×1

13 March 2009 Rob Buckley 9 Comments

Stana Kanic and Nathan Fillion in Castle

In the US: Mondays, 10/9c, ABC

There’s a long and honourable tradition on television of mystery authors going out and fighting crime. Obviously, back in the 80s, there was Murder She Wrote, more appropriately entitled Large Scale Holocaust She Wrote or Little Old Lady of Death – Don’t Let Her Come Near You.

But in the 70s, there was Department S and spin-off Jason King, which saw the original Austin Powers, novelist Jason King, solve crimes the police couldn’t; Edward Woodward’s crime writer Maxwell Beckett cowered his way around murder scenes in the 90s with the help of his more able assistant, Nikki, in Over My Dead Body; and in the noughties, we have forensic anthropologist-come-author, Temperance Brennan, helping David Boreanaz in Bones.

There’s probably more, but I can’t be arsed to list them: fancy a go anyone as part of a weekend meme?

Now comes Rick Castle (Firefly/Serenity/Drive/PG Porn‘s Nathan Fillion), a bad-boy novelist with extreme writer’s block who’s unfortunately just killed off his lucrative main character. Fortunately (?), a killer starts copying scenes from his books and he finds himself having to help the police with their enquiries. Except the police happens to be attractive fan Kate Beckett (Heroes’ Stana Katic).

Suddenly, he feels his creative juices flowing again. Cue Moonlighting for the 21st century?

Continue reading “Review: Castle 1×1”

More Comic Relief sketches – commercials, Outnumbered, Smithy and the England team, and David Tennant as one of The Proclaimers

13 March 2009 Rob Buckley 2 Comments

US blogging pal Toby has been paying far more attention to Comic Relief than I have, it seems. I feel quite shamed. So this is me, being shamed into action.

First up, as pointed out by Tobes, here’s a selection of much-loved characters from British commercials – as well as Michael Winner – clubbing together to come up with an idea for Comic Relief. Can you recognise them all?

Outnumbered is also doing a sketch and here’s some footage that didn’t make it (thanks again Tobes!)

I can’t embed this one, so you’re going to have to go over to The Mirror‘s web site to see it, but James Corden does a turn as Smithy from Gavin & Stacey with the England football team, too.

And lastly, have you ever wondered what David Tennant would look like blond? Or as one of The Proclaimers?