Month: March 2011

US TV

Preview: Camelot 1×1

31 March 2011 Rob Buckley 13 Comments

In the US: Fridays, 10pm, Starz. Starts April 1
In the UK: Acquired by Channel 4 for second half of 2011

Ladies and gentlemen, Torchwood has a new home! It’s Starz in the US!

What do you mean you knew that already? Ah, I see the confusion. Yes Torchwood: Children of Earth is coming to Starz in July. But I’m talking about the heart of Torchwood: Chris Chibnall, the man who made seasons 1 and 2 of Torchwood what they were. That is, largely unbearable.

You see Chibbers is the showrunner and co-creator – with Michael Hirst of The Tudors – of Camelot, a Starz TV series about the legend of Arthur and Merlin that stars Joseph Fiennes as Merlin, some young bloke as Arthur and Eva Green (Casino Royale) as the evil Morgan La Fay.

And it’s every bit as good as that first season of Torchwood. In fact, in true Chibbers style, it’s so bad it’s painful. Here’s a trailer and there’s a longer one here – brace yourselves: these are the best bits they could find.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=voy-QvhA6Aw

Continue reading “Preview: Camelot 1×1”

US TV

The (new) new Wonder Woman costume

31 March 2011 Rob Buckley 7 Comments

Wonder Woman

So what are we all thinking about the new version of the new version of Wonder Woman’s costume? As you may recall, after NBC released some official photos of the costume, as worn by Adrianne Palicki of Friday Night Lights fame in the pilot – which also stars Elizabeth Hurley, Cary Elwes and Jason Bruening of Knight Rider – there was a certain amount of feedback along the lines that it was terrible: plasticky, a bit porny and very impractical. More than that, some said it was unpatriotic, since it didn’t have the stars from the US flag on it, as per Wonder Woman’s original costume.

So NBC have retooled the costume slightly – here’s an after and before photo:

Wonder Woman: after and before the costume redesign

And here’s Adrianne Palicki wearing it in action:

Adrianne Palicki on set

Better? Worse? And given that the script by David E Kelley has Wonder Woman, the famous CEO of Themiscyra Industries, loving ice cream, Beyoncé’s ‘Single Ladies’, sleepovers and pining over lawyer Steve Trevor, could this get any worse anyway?

Thursday’s “In Treatment re-treatment” news

31 March 2011 Rob Buckley Post a comment

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Question of the week: what do you think of Jennifer Garner as Miss Marple?

30 March 2011 Rob Buckley 12 Comments

In case you missed yesterday’s news, Jennifer Garner – 38 and the former star of Alias and Elektra – is to play Agatha Christie’s Miss Jane Marple in a new series of movies. 

Now my initial thoughts on this were

  1. WTF?
  2. Seriously, WTF?
  3. Sacrilege! 
  4. Do all women in movie franchises have to be hot or couldn’t there be just one who got by on her brains? 

But now I’ve had a think about it (and reconciled myself to 4 never ever happening), I’m actually quite warming to the idea.

  1. It’s a series of prequels. We’ve had Young Sherlock Holmes. We’ve had Casino Royale.  Why not Youngish – no, let’s go with Young, cos she’s the same age as me – Miss Marple?
  2. I quite like Jennifer Garner, even if Alias was largely pants
  3. We’ve already had the best old Miss Marple possible (Joan Hickson) so why try to gild gold? Why not do something different?
  4. Miss Marple was something of a cipher, so anything to fill out the character with some proper backstory would be good.
  5. I hate Agatha Christie stories and don’t care if something’s not faithful to them. They’re pre-ruined.
  6. Anything to get a decent franchise with a lead female character, please.

But what do you think?

Do you approve of Jennifer Garner as Miss Marple? Do you think only older actresses should be able to play the character? Or do you think this a good idea?

Answers below or a link to your response on your own blog, please