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.
Who’d have thought that in a town called ‘Pretty Lake’, everyone over the age of 21 would end up dying of a mysterious disease, leaving only pretty people behind?
To be fair, this is actually a co-production between Netflix and Canadian TV channel CityTV, so it’s not all Netflix’s fault, although perhaps they should have seen it coming, given that CityTV is responsible for Seed and Young Drunk Punk*.
* To be fair, it’s entirely possible that Netflix watched The Booth At The End and thought that was representative of City’s output. It’s not.
As we all know, it’s been a long, long time since any great acts of magic have been performed on these British Isles. Hundreds of years, in fact – perhaps not even since the time of the Raven King.
There are, of course, theoretical magicians still, those with the wit to discuss spells and the history of magic. But practical magicianship is something that no true gentleman would even contemplate. One might even conjecture that true magic is no longer even possible, leaving us with just street magicians and their mere tricks of confidence.
At least, that’s what we’ve been led to believe. Yet one Mr Norrell, a resident of the city of York and collector of rare books, maintains that in fact not only is magic possible, but that he is in fact a fair practical magician. And he would like to put himself at the services of the country in our current war against France and the tyrant Napoleon.
Continuing this week’s upfronts coverage, here’s ABC’s latest contributions to global culture and this year’s, it’s giving that diversity thing it had going last season a semi-confident thumbs-up, while simultaneously giving quality the finger. After the jump, we have:
Ken Jeong’s first starring and unfunny role on TV in Dr Ken
A bunch of shagging FBI trainees (and Dougray Scott) in Quantico
Andrew McCarthy getting released from prison when the child he supposedly murdered turns up ten years later in The Family
A documentary about the personal lives of The Muppets. Yes, you read that right
Wicked City, a true crime procedural set in 1980s LA, with Gossip Girl’s Ed Westwick as the murderer
A modern day Gold Rush striking in North Dakota, creating a modern day Wild West in Oil. Fortunately, Don Johnson’s there to police the place
Uncle Buck going black in a remake of the John Hughes movie that stars Mike Epps
Shonda Rhimes giving ABC her all again, with The Killing (US)’s Mireille Enos a fraud investigator who gets defrauded by her fiancé in The Catch
Ray Winstone returning to Noah territory to become Saul, the first cockney king of Israel in Of Kings & Prophets
An Irish-Catholic family coming to terms with the fact their son is gay in hilarious fashion in The Real O’Neals
If you’re older than about 21, you probably won’t recognise anyone in this, but you still might be gratified to see them all murdered in this trailer for MTV’s new Scream TV series.
