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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US TV

Review: Lost 4×1

2 February 2008 Rob Buckley 2 Comments

Lance Reddick in Lost

In the US: Thursdays, 9/8c, ABC

In the UK: Sundays, 9pm, Sky One. Starts tomorrow

Characters re-cast: 0

Major characters gotten rid of: -1

Major new characters: 2

Format change percentage: 10%

It’s been a while since the format-busting finale of season three of Lost. With the exciting addition of flash-forwards, no longer were we in the dark about whether our hapless Oceanic survivors ever get off the island or not: yep, they get off but they’re not happy.

Despite the wait, with help at hand – or is it? – we pick up right where we left off with the new season.

Hands up anyone who thought we were going to get any more answers this episode.

Continue reading “Review: Lost 4×1”

UK TV

Review: Derren Brown – The System

2 February 2008 Rob Buckley 2 Comments

In the UK: Friday 1st February, Channel 4, 9pm
In the US: Maybe SciFi since they seem to like him

Of late, Derren Brown has become less of a magician and more of a de-bunker. If you’ve read Tricks of the Mind, you’ll know he spends a good proportion of it debunking psychics, astrologers and others, while Derren Brown: Séance did more or less the same thing on a much larger scale, as did his stage show.

Which is nice. He’s becoming The Amazing Randi for a new generation of idiots viewers and probably a more effective one.

Now, he’s turned his attention to homeopathy et al. How did he try to point out the flaws in people’s thinking? By developing a system that he said would successfully predict the results of six horse races – then getting a poor single mum to bet all her money on the final race.

Continue reading “Review: Derren Brown – The System”

Video help for Anna on her Sapphire and Steel quest

31 January 2008 Rob Buckley 2 Comments

A while back, Anna asked for advice on whether to give Sapphire and Steel a try. Since she hasn’t got back to us with her opinions yet, I’m guessing she’s been busy not watching Sapphire and Steel. Oh dear. Don’t give up Anna!

So here are some clips from Assignments 1, 2 and the ever-silly 5 that the PR agency responsible for promoting the box set have made available. I’m not sure they’re the best ones – they seem a bit daft out of context, much scarier in context – but for what it’s worth, here you go, Anna.

Incidentally, if you have the time available, some enterprising person has put the entire series up on YouTube:

I personally think the quality’s better on DVD – and you get more interviews and audio commentaries, too.

Assignment 1: Sapphire explains the nature of Time

Assignment 2: Steel locates a time jump in a corridor

Assignment 5: Sapphire analyses a glass