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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UK TV

Review: Primeval 1×1

12 February 2007 Rob Buckley 14 Comments

Primeval

In the UK: Saturday, 7.20pm, ITV1. Repeated on Sunday, 4.25pm.

In the US: Probably BBC America at some point, but not acquired yet.

Normally, tuning into ITV1 on a Saturday night is about as appealing as swigging back a family fun-sized bottle of sulphuric acid (aka anything you’ve bought from Threshers). But then, before Doctor Who turned up, the same was true of BBC1. Now, Saturday is where it’s at.

ITV has noticed this. Never ones to come up with an idea of their own if someone else’s will do, the powers that be have decided that if coming up with family-friendly sci-fi worked for the Beeb, that same idea can be ‘borrowed’ and made to work on ITV1 as well — after everything’s received approval from 17 focus groups, five sub-comittees, two consultants and a man specially hired just so he can be fired if it all goes wrong, of course.

But just as The Tomorrow People, ITV’s ‘answer’ to Doctor Who in the 70s, turned out to be something completely different and acceptable in its own right (until the puppets turned up), so Primeval isn’t simply Doctor Who with the TARDIS serial number filed off.

Continue reading “Review: Primeval 1×1”

Things I learnt from television last week

12 February 2007 Rob Buckley 5 Comments

24: There is a law of the television universe called the “Conservation of Family Goodness”. The total net goodness of any TV family must be 0. The more good one family member is, the more evil the other ones must be. If a family member disappears for some reason, their goodness or evil must be redistributed among the remaining family members.

The Class: There really is nothing funnier to American sitcom writers than English people. Or English people faking American accents. Or Americans faking English accents.

CSI: All the best ones die young.

CSI: Miami: No matter how stupid you think the show is right now, it just keeps getting stupider. David Caruso can heal people now, just by touching them.

Heroes: If you need a load of superheroes, in-breeding seems to be the way forward.

House: Sometimes, it’s the simple explanations that are the most interesting.

Lost: When Lost dawdles, it’s rubbish. When it starts explaining stuff, it’s great

My Name is Earl: No matter how good you think the show is right now, it will just keep getting better.

Prison Break: All cabals and conspiracies require a cigar-smoking room for their headquarters.

Smallville: Lana Lang is the western world’s biggest stalker magnet. She should be stuck at one end of Hollywood Boulevard to draw out the crazies.

Supernatural: After a while, the phrase “yellow-eyed demon” stops being scary and starts to become a bit funny.

Scrubs: Developing characters in a long-running show is a good idea.

Studio 60: Aaron Sorkin really can’t write women well. Also, after a given point in any Sorkin show, it will actually become impossible to work out what characters are talking about.

The Unit: A show, no matter how good, automatically jumps the shark as soon as the psychics episode arrives.

Share the thrill on Monday

12 February 2007 Rob Buckley 14 Comments

God, it’s good to be up and working, isn’t it?

Doctor Who

  • The Sun reckoned John Simm was in negotiations to appear in Doctor Who. The Sunday Times said yesterday that he’s filming a kids’ show (allegedly. Can’t find it on the website though). Scottish Big Issue had him saying “’I’ve got one more thing in 2007, which was kind of unturndownable, and then I’ll stay away from telly for a bit’.” And The Independent says he’s definitely been cast. Yes, John Simm is… Maybe? [via TV Today]
  • Sheridan Smith talks about life as a companion. Discussions are underway for another load of BBC7 stories, apparently.
  • Looking forward to Recovery, Tennant fans? Apparently, highlights are seeing “Tennant in the nude, having sex and pooing into a bucket”.
  • John Barrowman expects series two of Torchwood will run in early 2008

Art

Film

British TV

US TV

UK TV

Insane special features

9 February 2007 Rob Buckley 2 Comments

Crown Court



Just got through my review copy of The Sandbaggers, series three. What do you reckon the best special feature would be, bearing in mind it’s a classic early 80s British spy show, starring Roy Marsden?

Some sort of interview with Roy Marsden?

A director’s commentary, perhaps?

The scripts as a DVD ROM?

Wrong. Wrong. Wrong.

The actual special feature is a three-part story from Crown Court that features Roy Marsden.

Much as I loved – and it turns out love – Crown Court, the painstakingly, laboriously authentic dramatisation of typical English Crown Court trials of the 70s and 80s (this week, for three episodes, a woman accused of shoplifting), I’m not sure it’s quite right for the DVDs. Do you?

Friday news joy

9 February 2007 Rob Buckley 4 Comments

Did you hear? It’s the weekend tomorrow.

Doctor Who

  • A special Comic Relief comic BeanoMax will feature the Daleks and David Tennant, as well as Jonathan Ross and Jamie Oliver.

Film

British TV

  • There’s a German version of Life on Mars on the way. If you look carefully, there’s a spoiler in one of the article’s quotes that gives away the entire reason why Sam is in 1973. I don’t think he meant to say what he did…
  • Sky is planning a new, free digital terrestrial TV service. Only problem: it doesn’t work with Freeview boxes. Sounds attractive, no?
  • A preview of new ITV drama Instinct
  • Steve Coogan is going to host a Classic Coogan weekend on UKTV G2
  • There’s more Secret Millionaire on the way [subscription required]

US TV