Year: 2012

US TV

Question of the week: is Community doomed now that Dan Harmon has left?

21 May 2012 Rob Buckley 6 Comments

Community

Today’s news carried the somewhat shocking announcement that Community‘s creator and showrunner Dan Harmon is being replaced (involuntarily). This, of course, has got a lot of people worried. Is Community going to become more conventional and less interesting as a result? It’s also got some people excited: is Community going to become more conventional and more funny as a result?

Which turns us neatly to this week’s question:

Does replacing the creator of a show with a new showrunner ever lead to a better show?

There have, of course, been numerous cases where shows have got rid of their creator/showrunners. Rubicon‘s creator stood down as showrunner during the first episode, because he couldn’t work out how to turn the show into a series. Whether that made the show better or not, it’s hard to say, but it certainly became different. The new series of Doctor Who also became different once showrunner (and in some senses creator) Russell T Davies was replaced by Steven Moffat – some say it became better while others worse.

So can anyone think of any shows that undeniably became better once their creator departed for different climes, or can we simply assume Community is doomed now?

Answers below or on your own blog, please

UK TV

The fantastic world of the Amazon.co.uk Paul Ross canvas print offer

21 May 2012 Rob Buckley 1 Comment

Are you aware of The Aristocrats? In case you’re not, it’s basically a joke told by comedians to one another to demonstrate their skill at their craft, each one putting their own stamp on it when telling it. There was even a documentary about it – here’s the trailer.

A similar thing appears to be occurring over on Amazon.co.uk with the Paul Ross canvas print. For those who don’t know, Paul Ross is a UK TV presenter who’s worked on shows including The Big Breakfast and Most Haunted Live!. He’s also the brother of Jonathan Ross.

So what more natural thing could there be than to buy a canvas print of him that you could stick on your wall, hey?

A Paul Ross canvas print

Okay, quite a lot, but soon it becomes clear that this might not be an entirely legitimate product and that someone is taking the piss. For starters, the starting price is £2,500 for a new one, £6,495.99 for a used one.

But all the same, possible, you might think, particularly since the “Technical Details” section seems fine:

This 20 Canvas Print features an image chosen by Mirror Photos. Estimated image size 508x333mm.
White Sides Ready to hang, 51cm along the longest edge (other side scaled to fit). High quality 300gsm canvas with Fujifilm water based pigment ink. Hand stretched and stapled to 30mm wood frame, bevelled to increase tightness. Back finished with artists tape
Image Description: Paul Ross – TV Presenter August 2001 Paul Ross on the set of his new Daytime TV Quiz – No Win No Fee – for the BBC cMirrorpix
For any queries regarding this item please contact Mirror Photos ℅ Media Storehouse quoting Media Reference 1068796
© MirrorPrintStore 2008 – All Rights Reserved

Where it starts to get interesting is “Customers Who Viewed This Item Also Viewed”

Customers Who Viewed This Item Also Viewed

Hmm.

Still, could be possible. Who knows what Paul Ross fans are like, huh?

But then we get to the Customer Reviews. It would seem more or less everyone who fancies themselves as comedians as come to this item and attempted to come up with the funniest reviews possible. So far, there are 491 of them. Some of them are works of genius:

Continue reading “The fantastic world of the Amazon.co.uk Paul Ross canvas print offer”

UK TV

The fantastic world of the Amazon.co.uk Paul Ross canvas print offer

21 May 2012 Rob Buckley Post a comment

Are you aware of The Aristocrats? In case you’re not, it’s basically a joke told by comedians to one another to demonstrate their skill at their craft, each one putting their own stamp on it when telling it. There was even a documentary about it – here’s the trailer.

A similar thing appears to be occurring over on Amazon.co.uk with the Paul Ross canvas print. For those who don’t know, Paul Ross is a UK TV presenter who’s worked on shows including The Big Breakfast and Most Haunted Live!. He’s also the brother of Jonathan Ross.

So what more natural thing could there be than to buy a canvas print of him that you could stick on your wall, hey?

A Paul Ross canvas print

Okay, quite a lot, but soon it becomes clear that this might not be an entirely legitimate product and that someone is taking the piss. For starters, the starting price is £2,500 for a new one, £6,495.99 for a used one.

But all the same, possible, you might think, particularly since the “Technical Details” section seems fine:

This 20 Canvas Print features an image chosen by Mirror Photos. Estimated image size 508x333mm.
White Sides Ready to hang, 51cm along the longest edge (other side scaled to fit). High quality 300gsm canvas with Fujifilm water based pigment ink. Hand stretched and stapled to 30mm wood frame, bevelled to increase tightness. Back finished with artists tape
Image Description: Paul Ross – TV Presenter August 2001 Paul Ross on the set of his new Daytime TV Quiz – No Win No Fee – for the BBC cMirrorpix
For any queries regarding this item please contact Mirror Photos ℅ Media Storehouse quoting Media Reference 1068796
© MirrorPrintStore 2008 – All Rights Reserved

Where it starts to get interesting is “Customers Who Viewed This Item Also Viewed”

Customers Who Viewed This Item Also Viewed

Hmm.

Still, could be possible. Who knows what Paul Ross fans are like, huh?

But then we get to the Customer Reviews. It would seem more or less everyone who fancies themselves as comedians as come to this item and attempted to come up with the funniest reviews possible. So far, there are 491 of them. Some of them are works of genius:

Continue reading “The fantastic world of the Amazon.co.uk Paul Ross canvas print offer”