UK TV

An archive of blog entries about UK TV programmes and production.

Airing dates for US shows, both in the US and over here

5 September 2006 Rob Buckley 1 Comment

Digital Spy has some useful nuggets of info about when various US shows are going to air, both in the UK and the US:

  • Sky One has the full rights to the first three seasons of Bones, so you won’t be seeing it on terrestrial channels any time soon.
  • Prison Break will be returning to Five in January.
  • The fate of Eureka, aka A Town Called Eureka in the UK, hangs in the balance. Cancellation is a possibility.
  • Traveler will appear on ABC in either January or February.
  • Kyle XY, which has already been picked up for a second season in the US (excellent finale by the way), is close to being acquired for UK audiences by… The Disney Channel. Arse.

Me and Ricky Gervais: our shared mind

4 September 2006 Rob Buckley Post a comment

Sometimes I wonder if Ricky Gervais and I have the same brain. Okay, he’s a comedy genius, I’m not. But sometimes he says stuff and I wonder how the words in my brain have managed to come out of his mouth.
Take today’s outpouring at the Extras press launch:

As he considers his first move into drama with his co-writer Stephen Merchant, Gervais said UK broadcasters “just can’t do or don’t do” shows of the calibre of US hits like the Sopranos, 24, The Wire and The Shield.

“I just can’t remember the last time I watched a British drama, probably something like GBH,” said Gervais at today’s press launch of the second series of Extras.

“I don’t give them a go and turn off. They just don’t come into my vision. I only watch about five British shows and they are probably all reality shows.”

Which would be spooky enough as it is. Then this:

Gervais also excluded Paul Abbott’s six-part BBC series State of Play from his assessment – “oh yes, of course, sorry”

Aargh! It’s like having a trapdoor at the back of your head and knowing someone’s been sneaking a peak when you’ve been looking the other way.
Even worse, I can’t make my old observation about how the Discovery channels only show stuff about sharks and the history channels only show stuff about Nazis any more, because Gervais has already used it in his Animals tour. Everyone thinks I’m trying to pass off his jokes as my own. Git.

Trey Parker and Matt Stone direct an employees’ video

4 September 2006 Rob Buckley Post a comment

You might have already heard about Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant’s employee training videos for Microsoft. What you might not know is that Trey Parker and Matt Stone have also done some corporate videos. You can see their effort for Universal Studios over on Google Video. It guest-stars Steven Spielberg, James Cameron, Demi Moore and Sylvester Stallone among others (it’s an old video), so is worth watching for the nostalgia value alone.