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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Some nuggets about Life on Mars, series two

17 July 2006 Rob Buckley Post a comment

The first series of everyone’s favourite time-travelling cop show Life on Mars is just about to hit the US. John Simm and Philip Glenister are on the promo circuit, thus prompting this little interview with SciFi Wire: I never realised Glenister was modelling Gene Hunt on Brian Clough, but there you go – you learn something new every day.

The Stage‘s TV Today blog is also generous enough to gives us a few facts about season two, including the useful hint that it’s going to be even more surreal than the first one. I guess LSD was part of the 70s…

News

How to fight off Who deprivation

14 July 2006 Rob Buckley 5 Comments

ShadaWith no new David Tennant Doctor Who stories to watch until the Christmas Special, you could do worse than tune in to listen to Paul McGann’s Doctor on BBC 7 this Sunday at 6pm.

This repeat run begins with the six-part Shada, which also features both Romana and K9 in a script originally written by Douglas Adams for Tom Baker. Following that, it will continue with McGann’s first audio season for Big Finish.

The Beeb are going to be doing an episode a week (so it’ll last until the middle of next century, I reckon), but half an hour or so of Who every seven days should be enough to keep you going until Christmas.

US TV

Preview: Shark

14 July 2006 Rob Buckley 10 Comments

James Woods and Jeri Ryan in Shark

In the US: Thursday, 10 pm, CBS. Begins in the fall.

In the UK: Acquired by Five, with UKTV picking up basic pay rights

Opening summary

There’s nothing quite like a successful show on another network to make US television execs wonder how exactly they can have some of that ratings goodness, too.

Look at House. It was a surprise success for Fox that took everyone by surprise. CBS seems to have taken one look at it and said to themselves, “Hey, we should do a show like that, except not about doctors or else we’ll get our asses sued.”

As ever, though, the carbon copy is always a pale imitation of the original.

Continue reading “Preview: Shark”

News

Hugh Laurie gets a pay rise

14 July 2006 Rob Buckley 2 Comments

Hugh Laurie in HouseYou have to love it when a Brit does well in Hollywood. House MD‘s Hugh Laurie – everyone’s favourite grumpy, Sherlock Holmes-inspired doctor – has just had his pay per episode tripled to between $275,000 and $300,000. Hoorah!

Turns out that Fox has realised that the only reason anyone watches the show is because of Laurie. So understandably, given it’s a ratings smash in the US, they’d like to make sure he doesn’t quit so he can come back to the UK and appear in a drama about life under Thatcher in the 80s or something.

Can’t see him getting that kind of cash from the Beeb, can you, and it should make up for not getting an Emmy nomination this time around, as well.