Articles by Rob Buckley

About Rob Buckley
I’m Rob Buckley, a journalist who writes for UK media magazines that most people have never heard of although you might have heard me on the podcast Lockdown Land or Radio 5 Live’s Saturday Edition or Afternoon Edition. I’ve edited Dreamwatch, Sprocket and Cambridge Film Festival Daily; been technical editor for TV producers magazine Televisual; reviewed films for the short-lived newspaper Cambridge Insider; written features for the even shorter-lived newspaper Soho Independent; and was regularly sarcastic about television on the blink-and-you-missed-it “web site for urban hedonists” The Tribe. Since going freelance, I've contributed to the likes of Broadcast, Total Content + Media, Action TV, Off The Telly, Action Network, TV Scoop and The Custard TV.
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Tuesday’s end of year news

23 December 2008 Rob Buckley 1 Comment

The Daily News will return on Monday 5th January 2009. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Doctor Who

Film

British TV

US TV

Theatre reviews

Review: Rob Brydon on tour

22 December 2008 Rob Buckley 5 Comments

Rob Brydon

Where: Wales Millennium Centre, Cardiff
When: 7.30pm. Monday December 8th 2008
How long: Two hours with a 20-minute interval following the warm-up
How much: £20 I think

Well, the public have demanded it and only two weeks after the run finished, I’m reviewing Rob Brydon’s stand-up act at the Wales Millennium Centre – Jerry Sadowicz tomorrow for those who voted for that review.

I’m a responsive blogger, me.

Continue reading “Review: Rob Brydon on tour”

The CarusometerA Carusometer rating of 2

Third-episode verdict: Leverage

22 December 2008 Rob Buckley 5 Comments

Time for a third-episode verdict on TNT’s Leverage then. After a good start, the show has continued to maintain its relatively high standards. Episode two tried to go for a slightly harder edge, with an Iraq veteran being cheated out of his rehabilitation money by government contractors and crooked politicians.

Episode three went with something a little more personal and more interesting, with Christian Kane’s character returning home to Kentucky to deal with a racehorse owner who kills horses for the insurance money. High mark of the overly complicated episode is the introduction of the show’s Professor Moriarty: fellow insurance investigator Mark Sheppard (BSG, The X-Files, Bionic Woman, etc), who’s scheduled to appear in at least five episodes. Sheppard is adept at the cons and investigations as Hutton but is on the right (?) side of the law, and makes an interesting addition to a show that was in slight danger of repetition and losing tension in the long run.

Most of my initial criticisms remain: it’s not very hard hitting, the cons are easy to spot a mile off and there’s a fair bit of duff acting. Add to that Gina Bellman’s less than outstanding attempts at accents, a decreasing amount of the character interplay from the pilot and the fact that most of the cons have relied on something being obviously switched at the last moment. It’s also not especially memorable, so you never really remember the cleverness of the cons or much of the plot in the same way as you do with Ocean’s 11, say. 

But it’s still very fun to watch. The cast are all pretty charismatic and there’s an intriguing randomness and weirdness to its sense of humour (one character has a fear of horses because "they murder clowns" and there’s a flashback to Kane being tortured because he wouldn’t reveal the location of a monkey, for example). 

Worth watching if you want some diverting, not too heavy entertainment of an evening. 

Carusometer rating: 2
Predictions: Should last at least season

Random Acts

Random Ali Larter pictures: happy

22 December 2008 Rob Buckley 6 Comments

Ali Larter in Legally Blonde

Today, Ali Larter is happy. Happy because of the launch of Random Ali Larter pictures? Possibly. Happy for being Victoria’s Secret’s Sexiest Legs of 2008? Almost certainly. Maybe even it’s the announcement that the Greek parliament has finally accepted the 2009 budget, despite a coalition of the socialists, communists and the far-right voting against it.

Personally, I think it’s because Christmas is coming soon. What do you think?

Sitting Tennant

Today’s Sitting Tennants (from Rosby and Rullsenberg): Hamlet and MFI

22 December 2008 Rob Buckley 26 Comments

DT in Hamlet

DT's video diary - with shelves

Rosby’s back! Suddenly, Ms Rullsenberg’s yomp for the finish line doesn’t look quite as clear as once it did. Ms Rosby has provided us with an actual picture from Hamlet of the moment when DT realised he might be having problems and needed a bit of a lie down. Meanwhile, Rullsenberg shows us the moment when DT realised his flat was haunted – at least, I’m assuming that’s a poltergeist he’s just spotted.

Remember, kiddies, these are the last captionable pictures of 2008 and tomorrow, the results will be announced, so there’s everything to play for today.

The Sitting Tennant picture competition table now stands as follows:

  • Kiwi Rullsenberg: 13.5
  • Rosby: 10.5
  • Persephone: 6.5
  • Toby: 5
  • Poly, Scott: 3.5
  • Jane: 2.5
  • Anna, Electric Dragon: 1.5
  • Marie: 1

That just leaves tomorrow to see if Ms Rullsenberg has left enough pictures digital chez moi to cope with Rosby’s three in waiting. Or will someone send me and exciting batch of 20 pictures to take them into the lead from nowhere? Exciting hey?

The Witty And Amusing Captions league table remains as vibrant as always, and with people now heading off on their holidays, there could be some sneaky last minute manoeuvring that changes the leader board. The bonus points go to Persephone, whose agitprop caption, born from the depths of socialist, “Everyone should win a medal”, “Can’t we all be friends?” Canada, is also subtly topical, it turns out. Well done Persephone!

  • Toby: 44
  • Marie: 36.5
  • Jane Henry: 24.5
  • Persephone: 19
  • Rullsenberg: 14
  • Electric Dragon: 11.5
  • Rev: 11
  • Stu_N: 2
  • Poly, Andrea, Scott: 1

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.

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.