Month: June 2011

Question of the week: which current TV show would you change and how?

22 June 2011 Rob Buckley 2 Comments

Right now, a whole bunch of executive producers and writers are working on the next seasons of their shows. For the first time in months, they have time to think, reconsider, re-tool and generally improve their show. And with actors always trying to negotiate their contracts around now, it’s all a time for producers to consider recasting.

So this week’s question is a chance to delve into fantasy writing league: 

Imagine you’re the showrunner of your favourite TV show – what changes would you make to the show to make it better for next season and why?

As always, leave your answers below or link to your response on your own blog.

Wednesday’s Lost reunion news

22 June 2011 Rob Buckley Post a comment

Doctor Who

Film

  • Megan Fox to cameo on The Dictator
  • Eddie Izzard, Bob Hoskins and Toby Jones to play dwarves in Snow White
  • Trailer for Footloose remake
  • Trailer for Puss in Boots
  • Trailer for A Dangerous Method
  • Douglas Booth and Hailee Steinfeld to star with Holly Hunter and Ed Westwick in Romeo and Juliet

British TV

Canadian TV

US TV

Happy sixth birthday to The Medium Is Not Enough

21 June 2011 Rob Buckley 17 Comments

A birthday cakeHappy Birthday, The Medium is Not Enough. Yes, six years ago (amazing, huh?), this blog emerged into the light of the Internet with its first two posts: previews of Prison Break, the not-unpopular Supernatural and the still-unseen Global Frequency; and tedious cruft about The Omega Factor (which I ended up writing a review of after all when I got stuck for a Lost Gem).

Haven’t we come a long way since then, as we’ve branched out into picture caption competitions, borderline stalking, nostalgia for old kids’ shows and The Guardian‘s favourite feature, a look at old Big Train sketches. Which I don’t do any more.

The thank you list to all the commenters has now grown so long it’s actually impossible for me to thank you all individually, but an especially big thank you to the regulars Toby, Marie, Jane, Rullsenberg, SK, Bob the Skutter, Stu_n, Aaron, Hannibal, Electric Dragon, Mark Carroll and the other David, without whom I’d be as mad as that bloke on Oxford Street with the megaphone who just shouts at people, as well as a big “Welcome aboard” to all the new commenters who joined in this year.

As always, if you have any suggestions for what else you might like to see on the blog, please let me know below. If you don’t, I’ll just have to dream up something insanely stupid like Dick Heads* again.

Have a nice week (and, indeed, year),

MediumRob

* Actually, now I think about it, that was one of yours, wasn’t it? Might be a dual edged sword this asking for readers’ ideas thing.

Review: Falling Skies 1×1-1×2

21 June 2011 Rob Buckley 6 Comments

falling skies, steven spielberg, tnt, noah wyle, tnt, skitters, moon bloodgood, scifi shows, sci-fi shows, sci fi shows, aliens

In the US: Sundays, 10/9c, TNT
In Canada: Wednesdays, 10pm, Superchannel. Starts July 6
In the UK: Tuesdays, 9pm, FX. Starts July 5

There’s something about knowing that Steven Spielberg is the exec producer of a TV show that means you know pretty much exactly what you’re going to get. It started with Earth 2, in which a lot of very dull people, all by themselves, have to survive against the odds and face slightly scary aliens while looking after their wee little moppets, who are just ever so endearing. That was pretty much the template.

Now we have Falling Skies, in which 90% of the world’s population is killed by aliens, leaving a group of very dull people, including Noah Wylie in The Librarian mode, stuck in Boston, having to survive against the odds and face slightly scary aliens while looking after their wee little moppets, who are just so endearing.

Are there any differences, you might ask? Well, with the likes of Greg Beeman and Mark Verheiden on board, you’d suspect a hint of Heroes to the whole thing and you’d be right – out of a cast of about one hundred men, there are roughly three women, two of them blonde.

Here’s a trailer for Falling Skies, aka War of the Worlds meets Earth 2.

Continue reading “Review: Falling Skies 1×1-1×2”