Every week day, I let you know what’s happening in the world of television from around the world
Thank God! ABC has put Alias out of its misery. It’s been going downhill since the first year and I stopped watching past the first episode this year. Worryingly, all the things that went wrong with Alias have been happening with Lost this year, so the much-hyped island tale might soon lose its sparkle if history repeats itself, as it seems to be doing.
The Media Guardian is reporting that Granada (aka ITV aka land of rubbish TV) is to remake The Prisoner. Given the current array of talent working for British TV, and in particular Granada, why do I know already that it’s going to be appalling, shallow, insipid and have nothing to say for itself other than “we really need some ratings”. I’m curious to know where they’re going to shoot it, now Portmeirion has been crossed off the location list. Somewhere around Manchester perhaps, Granada?
It’s not a big surprise but Night Stalker has been cancelled. It wasn’t a great show and it’s initial episode was so bad, it is a surprise that anyone watched at all. But it had been picking up and was almost bearable at times. I’d have watched it in preference to Invasion any day, yet Invasion has been picked up for a whole season.
This week’s episode will be replaced by Primetime Live. They could have waited, couldn’t they? It was a two-parter! Now how are we going to find out what happened? Buy the DVD?
Prison Break turned out to be better than expected, much to Fox’s surprise. Yet, with the juggernaut that is 24 returning in January, it looks like Prison Break is going to be pre-empted from November to May. Quite a wait, one that could get the show cancelled.
Fox isn’t exactly packed with quality programming. While Prison Break isn’t Shakespeare, it does have some nice touches. Joining the honourable ranks of Monk and Touching Evil in pointing out the flipside of mental illness, Prison Break‘s hero turns out to have both low self-esteem and “low latent inhibition” – a disorder that makes him see objects as the sums of their parts, rather than just objects. It’s a handy, escape-plan compatible condition that works well in conjunction with another that lets you get sent to prison so you can rescue your brother. Yes, the mentally ill can be heros and their disorders can be advantages.
So Fox is clearly a little loopy to think that 24 is just so great that everything else should be cleared to make room for it. At the very least, moving Prison Break to one of the prime-time slots used by the deadwood that fills most days except Monday wouldn’t be a bad idea, particularly since it is doing well in the ratings despite baseball, etc.
Armando Ianucci is to be Professor of Broadcast Media at Oxford University, the Media Guardian reports. I’m slightly surprised he’d he sign up for a post sponsored by Rupert Murdoch and News International, but at least he’s smart enough for the job. His radio work is still some of the funniest around, although his Channel 4 show a few years back was significantly lacking. We need more Armandos.
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