Month: September 2010

15 mostly rare TV intros

16 September 2010 Rob Buckley Post a comment

Following on from last week’s ‘immensely’ successful look at some rare 1960s TV title sequences, I thought I’d have a look at another batch, this time of 15 rarer intros from both the 50s and 60s.

For your delight, here are:

  • Richard Diamond, Private Detective with David Janssen (The Fugitive)
  • The Thin Man with Peter Lawford (of the Rat Pack) and Phyllis Kirk
  • The D.A.’s Man with John Compton
  • Danger Man with Patrick McGoohan (The Prisoner)
  • Philip Marlowe with Philip Carey (One Life to Live)
  • The Roaring 20’s with Rex Reason (This Island Earth)
  • Jack Gower with Jack Warden (Crazy Like A Fox)
  • The New Breed (a QM Production) with Leslie Nielsen (Police Squad)
  • Court Martial with Bradford Billman and Peter Graves (Mission: Impossible)
  • The Rogues with Gig Young, Charles Boyer and David Niven (yes, David Niven!)
  • The Loner with Lloyd Bridges (Airplane). Created by Rod Serling
  • Cowboy in Africa with Chuck Connors (The Rifleman)
  • Run For Your Life with Ben Gazzara
  • Blue Light with Robert Goulet (Toy Story 2)
  • Garrisons’ Gorillas with Ron Harper (Planet of the Apes)

Canadian TV

Review: Lost Girl 1×1

16 September 2010 Rob Buckley 6 Comments

Lost Girl

In Canada: Sundays, 9pm ET/PT, Showcase

Fantasy books – don’t you just love them? They’re so deep.

Oh, follow me down to the land of Nerry-Nu,

Where the Bibbug Tree is to be found.

WIth a hey nonny nonny, the twiddle beast sings

And the fairies do dance in the round.

Actually, not that I’m biased, but “meaningless guff with sub-adult characterisation and obvious symbolism designed to tap into the ids of the repressed and introverted” would pretty much sum up 90% of it. I’m looking at you here Vampire Diaries and Twilight in particular. Yes, yes, I know Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Being Human, etc. But 90% of it.

Maybe that’s why I can’t take Lost Girl at all seriously. Obviously “young adult” fare that pretends to be for an older audience, this sees a young woman (she’s really not a girl, despite the title) with strange powers discover that the reason her parents always told her sex was bad was because she’s a succubus and her kiss can kill. So she goes wandering from place to place until she comes across a young street waif and a Chris Martin-alike vampire cop and discovers who she really is, that sex isn’t all bad, she isn’t really alone and that she’s really, really important.

Are you spotting the sub-text yet?

Continue reading “Review: Lost Girl 1×1”

US TV

Community fun and games – outtakes, interviews and more

16 September 2010 Rob Buckley 2 Comments

Community

NBC’s excellent Community is due back on US screens next week (get a move on, UK), and the marketing bandwagon is shifting into gear. Because let’s face it, it’s up against The Big Bang Theory this year so it might not be long for this world (although this is NBC, the home of low-rated but excellent comedy shows, so you never know).

Fortunately, the bandwagon is giving us some clips to enjoy. So fasten your seatbelt and enjoy these marvellous highlights of the first season, Chevy Chase being interviewed by series creator Dan Harmon and some outtakes.

Season 1 Remix

Continue reading “Community fun and games – outtakes, interviews and more”

Thursday’s “Deadliest Warrior movie” news

16 September 2010 Rob Buckley Post a comment

Film

Commercials

British TV

US TV

Question of the week: is Sky evil?

15 September 2010 Rob Buckley 12 Comments

Another question mainly for UK viewers but if you’re overseas still feel free to join in.

It’s quite simple:

Is Sky – aka BSkyB – evil? Does the fact its marketing budget exceeds ITV’s programming budget make you hate it? Do you hate having to have a satellite dish to watch it? Do you hate their buggy set top boxes and the fact you can’t export stuff from it onto your iPod to watch elsewhere? Do you hate that they’re a DVB broadcaster that doesn’t stick to standards so you can’t record it on your PC, even with a decoder box and card? Do you wish they’d actually make programmes occasionally, other than just Terry Pratchett adaptations and three-part specials designed to get more HD subscribers? Do you hate that they’ve bought HBO’s entire future and back catalogue so you’ll have to watch Sky to see the best US shows? Do you hate that they won’t put anything of their on iTunes or that their Sky Player only has about five programmes on it and won’t work on an iPhone anyway? Do you hate that essentially everything is on their terms, everything costs too much and essentially you feel like they’re abusing their dominant market status to give you an inferior service in exchange for being colossally ripped off?

Or is it just me?

As always, leave a comment with your answer or a link to your answer on your own blog