News

Every week day, I let you know what’s happening in the world of television from around the world

In Televisual this month…

1 September 2006 Rob Buckley Post a comment

The latest issue of Televisual has just fallen into my mailbox. It’s a monthly, but there are a few nuggets of info that are relatively interesting:

  • Simon Amstell, ex-presenter of Popworld and soon to be the permanent host of Never Mind the Buzzcocks, is going to one of the writers of a new E4 show called Skins. Starring Kidulthood and About a Boy star Nicholas Hoult, it centres on a group of 17-year-old friends as they “drop pills, pass exams, have sex, manage their parents, interface with their teachers and push boundaries”. Very E4.
  • 57% of independent production companies reckon the Beeb is the worst broadcaster to work for because of bureaucracy, being “too large and confused”, “rigid and slow” and for having “too much middle management”. However, it was also voted the most improving network by 43%. Channel 4 was voted the best with 29% of votes, with Five close behind on 25%.
  • My old boss, Televisual‘s publisher James Bennett, has bought the mag from Centaur! It’s been with Centaur for 24 years, so that’s big news. It’s probably going to be of interest to about 0.01% of this blog’s readers, though. All the same, best of luck to James, Jake, Tim, Poz, Jon and Charlotte in the exciting and scary world of self-employment.

Stargate SG-1 might move network – again

1 September 2006 Rob Buckley 1 Comment

Stargate‘s producers have decided that they’d really rather like the show to continue, following the show’s cancellation by the SciFi Channel. Producer Robert Cooper has already revealed that they’re considering other avenues for SG-1 to continue their never-ending adventures, but it seems they’re not content to look just for DVD and video game opportunities. They’re going to try other channels, too.
Stargate has already been cancelled by its host network once already, way back at the end of season five when Showtime decided to call it a day. SciFi then picked up the slack and has carried it for another five seasons. Will there be another channel out there willing to carry it for a further five, I wonder?
With Stargate: Atlantis picked up for another season by SciFi, it would be interesting to see a repeat of the Buffy/Angel situation of a few years ago. This saw Buffy lured away by UPN from its original home of The WB, where sister-show (brother-show sounds wrong, somehow) Angel remained. At the very least, it would probably rule out crossovers.
But could a full-on “Battle of the Stargates” take place, I wonder? It never happened with Angel and Buffy, but it would be fun to watch if it happened with the two Stargates.
“Your effects are cheap and our Stargate is more interesting to watch than yours!”
“Ha! Your characters are even more tissue-thin and inconsistently written than ours!”
“Well, we have more super-textual references than you!”
Let the trash talk begin…

Vanished: I knew it was going to be silly

31 August 2006 Rob Buckley 2 Comments

Vanished, currently airing in the US Mondays on Fox and popping up on Five US come October, is going to be very, very silly, I’ve found out.
Ostensibly an investigation into the kidnapping of a US senator’s wife, there were hints in the first episode that a certain amount of silliness was going to manifest itself. But never in my wildest dreams did I imagine they’d have the balls to try this particular piece of “mallet to the back of the head” creativity.
Full details are over on CSI Files if you want to spoil yourself. Go on: it might help you make up your mind on whether you’d like to watch the show or not.
Second episode potted review: not as interesting as the first episode, just as predictable (bar a couple of minor surprises), but not quite as mind-numbingly stupid as the first episode either. Third-episode verdict next week.

Ask Auriello on Scrubs, 24, House and Ricky Gervais

31 August 2006 Rob Buckley 4 Comments

TV Guide‘s Ask Auriello column has a few interesting bits of news for fans of the big US TV shows. There be spoilers in them there hills, so I’ve distilled the most interesting, non-spoiling news out for you:

  • If Zach Braff does leave Scrubs at the end of the next season, the show will carry on without him, potentially with Turk as the lead
  • A former president of the United States is going to return to the show in the next season of 24. I don’t mean Bill Clinton, incidentally. But I might mean Martin Sheen. Or I might not. Gee, non-spoiling news is hard.
  • Kim Raver might make an appearance as Audrey on 24 next season, despite starring in The Nine.
  • Never trust a tabloid, US or otherwise: Ricky Gervais says none of the stars of The Office are going to appear in the US version, despite claims to the contrary. Plus there are definitely going to be no more episodes of the original series.
  • Jennifer Morrison and Jesse Spencer from House have started dating. Ooh.

There’s other spoiling news about House, 24 and a few other shows you might watch, but I will say no more.