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.
Website YouTube LinkedIn

New Danny Wallace game show on the way

5 March 2006 Rob Buckley 1 Comment

Oh goody. Another hateful BBC1 quiz show. This time, Danny Wallace is to host School’s Out, “the celebrity quiz show for BBC1 that we should all be able to win because it’s inspired by what we all learned at school.”

The marketing evil goes on:

Some things we can still remember, some still confuse us and for some we simply weren’t paying attention. Everyone went to school and every answer in this quiz we will have known, even if it was just for one day and forgotten the next. In School’s Out, three celebrities will go back to school and compete against each other, answering questions based on the school curriculum for a chance to win prizes for either their old school, their children’s school or another school of their choice. With host Danny Wallace, laden with the teacher attitude, irony and sarcasm (that we love, in hindsight) we’ll see just how far we’ve dumbed down since our school days.

Where do you start with an idea that rubbish?

“Okay, Neil Stuke from EastEnders, can you tell me the first differential with respect to theta of tan theta? You have 20 seconds, starting now! No? Okay, Tamzin Outhwaite, you can steal a bonus by telling me what the atomic mass of Molybdenum is… No? Three of the land concessions the Germans made through the Treaty of Versailles…? No…?”

It’s going to be a long, long evening.

IT Crowd theme tune

5 March 2006 Rob Buckley Post a comment

Since a lot of you are coming here now to find out what the theme tune to The IT Crowd was (why??), I thought I’d put you all out of your misery: it was a specially composed track by Neil Hannon of The Divine Comedy (who came up with the theme to Father Ted, you may recall). It’s not been released commercially yet, but I’m sure it will be at some point.

News

K9 and Sarah Jane Smith back for another series. Again.

4 March 2006 Rob Buckley 1 Comment

K9 and Company

It’s not often failed pilots get a reprieve 25 years on, but K9 and Company might have a second chance as a series according to The Sun. This isn’t new news – I’d heard whispers about it a couple of months ago – and it’s still not exactly confirmed, but given that one paper’s picked this up means it’s more likely than I’d previously thought. However, The Sun does say the target audience is children. But will kids be interested in Sarah Jane? Dads, yes, but kids…?

K9 and Company failed to make it as a series back in 1981 for a number of reasons, incidentally: as well as a transmitter going down just before it aired, killing a good portion of the potential ratings, it was spoilt by a rubbish theme tune and a title sequence that tried to make a convertible Mini Metro look exotic. The script was pretty good though. Roll on a new series, I say.

News

Maybe BBC1 is taking Doctor Who a little too seriously…

3 March 2006 Rob Buckley 11 Comments

Nothing kills a popular show faster than over-hyping. In their mad rush to claw huge quantities of cash and ratings out of DT and co, it’s possible they’re starting to fall into this particular trap (assuming they haven’t already). Take a look at this concept for a new CBBC show: Totally Doctor Who.

Totally Doctor Who are recruiting cadets for a Companion Academy. Eight Cadets will be picked, but only the best will make it through the gruelling physical and mental challenges of the Academy. The prize? A day on the Doctor Who set.

Or if you think you’re the biggest Who brainbox around, take the Who-ru challenge. Stump the Totally Doctor Who studio guests with your Who knowledge and you’ll walk away with some serious prizes.

And Totally Doctor Who also want to hear how much you love Doctor Who. Have you built your own time machine or held a Doctor Who fancy dress party? Send in your photos, videos, stories, pictures, or anything else.

Plus, if you’ve got a burning question you want to put to Doctor Who cast or crew, send it in and the Totally team will do their best to get an answer.

It’s like a junior nerd recruitment drive. And what’s more likely to kill off Doctor Who in the public imagination again? If it becomes really nerdy and anal. Oh dear.Kelly Reilly, David Tennant 4

What does The Apprentice do for business exactly?

3 March 2006 Rob Buckley Post a comment

I don’t really watch The Apprentice. I’m not sure why, other than because I was scarred from watching Donald Trump’s version for more than 30 seconds. Or maybe it’s the vestigial Spectrum owner inside me, engaging in 80s tribal war against Alan Sugar and his Amstrad computer (Alan M Sugar Trading: see?). I did, however, see the closing moments of the last series, as well as the follow-on show in which everyone gassed on about how great it was to see a show about business on the Beeb.

So I watched this week’s episode (my wife loves it) to see exactly what it was that British business could expect to get from the general public as a result of The Apprentice.

I’ll tell you what. Visceral hatred, that’s what. Now obviously a reality show is going to pick people who are more interesting than you might normally find in an effort to get some sparks on screen. But did they really have to pick such a group of jargon-talking, self-fellating arrogant business types who don’t apparently have any real clue between them? It’s really amazing. It’s like a bunch of kids play-acting: they’ve seen TV shows about what business people should be like and they can put on a little tea party based on the shows, but they don’t actually understand what they’re doing. Or if you’re feeling biblical, like the parable of the house built on stone and the house built on sand: it doesn’t matter how good you go through the motions of business if your foundations are rubbish.

Classic moments from this week’s show:

  • that bloke who did the presentation and asked “to be forgiven if he gets emotional” because Great Ormond Street kids are close to his heart (Wow. BS detector on full. “Can I now believe a single word this guy says to me?” wonders potential buyer);
  • the constantly crying Jo (looks professional, doesn’t it? A few tears occasionally: fair enough. Every single hour? Don’t think so);
  • the mad conspiracy theories from apprentice two over why she got fired, despite being told why and having lost the task (“I just don’t understand. It’s that back-stabber Karen.” No. It’s because you were rubbish and thought that a calendar for Great Ormond Street should feature kittens instead of kids)

Still, it’s definitely better than the over-blown US version, although I do feel the US apprentices at least had a vague clue about how to do business. I just don’t see why any kid, watching the show, would end up thinking, “Yes! That’s what I want to do with my life!”