US TV

An archive of articles about US television programmes and production.

Friday’s Dragons’ Den/Hustle crossover news

22 January 2010 Rob Buckley 2 Comments

Film

Theatre

  • Danny Boyle to direct Frankenstein at the National Theatre

British TV

  • All-star cast for second series of Moving On, including John Simm and Roy Marsden, with Dominic West directing an episode
  • BSkyB forced to sell most of its stake in ITV [subscription required]
  • BBC Wales tries to attract indies to its new drama hub [subscription required]
  • Fiver picks up Melrose Place, Archer and Burn Notice
  • What everyone’s been waiting for: the Dragons’ Den/Hustle crossover [spoilers]
  • The InBetweeners to end after series three?
  • More4 picks up The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret
  • BBC to work on iPhone, Wii et al games for Top Gear and Doctor Who?

US TV

Competitions

Lost’s first five seasons to be reduced to 10 minutes by the Reduced Shakespeare Company

21 January 2010 Rob Buckley 1 Comment

Lost - season 6

Although you can catch up with Lost‘s first five seasons in just eight minutes if you want, if you have 10 minutes to spare, the Reduced Shakespeare Company are planning on reducing Lost’s first five seasons themselves

The final series of Lost starts on Sky1 and Sky1 HD on February 5th and to celebrate The Reduced Shakespeare Company are putting on one of their unique performances condensing the last 5 seasons into less than 10 minutes. The result will be performed in front of a live audience of Lost fans. The event takes place in Covent Garden, London on Thursday 28th January at 7.30pm.

To be in with a chance of getting a pair of tickets to the event all the fans have to do is email their name, contact number and the email address of their plus one to [email protected]. The winners will then be selected and notified if they have received tickets on Tuesday 26th January.

The Reduced Shakespeare Company is a three-man comedy troupe that have succeeded in abridging the complete works of William Shakespeare and even the complete word of God. So surely, the last 5 seasons of Lost will be a walk in the park.

I’m told there’ll also be a video preview by Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse and the footage will be available after the event, so I hope to post that for those of you who can’t make it or aren’t lucky enough to get tickets. Good luck though everyone!

The 200 Greatest The Wire quotes

21 January 2010 Rob Buckley 2 Comments

Everyone who watches The Wire loves The Wire. I think. Proof occurred this weekend when lovely wife went away with some of her friends, leaving me to look after my mother-in-law, who in a tasteful move decided she should watch The Wire. So much did she like it, she stayed up to midnight on Saturday watching the first 10 episodes, then watched the remaining two episodes before lunch the next morning. Then she chose to watch the first seven episodes of the second season after lunch.

Guess what’s happening when she comes over for dinner tonight while lovely wife’s out with some of her friends. I’ve had to order season three on DVD in case we get to the end of season two soon…

Anyway, one of the great things about The Wire is its dialogue. Above is a choice selection of the 100 greatest quotes from The Wire (there be obvious spoilers ahoy if you haven’t seen The Wire). After the jump; the 100 other greatest The Wire quotes.

Incidentally, re-watching the second season of The Wire was interesting, since I was now mostly able to follow the Greeks when they were talking thanks to some evening classes I’ve been going to. Some interesting and amusing stuff going on there.

Ironically, despite the fact we had the subtitles on the whole time so mother-in-law could follow the dialogue, there are no subtitles on the DVDs for the Greeks, and none of the Greek words they pepper their English conversations with get translated. I wonder why…

Continue reading “The 200 Greatest The Wire quotes”

US TV

Question of the week: will/should Heroes be cancelled?

21 January 2010 Rob Buckley 10 Comments

Heroes

There was a time when Heroes was a glittering star in the firmament of US television. By the end of the first season, almost everyone seemed to love it. Then the finale everyone was waiting for happened and we all felt just a hint of disappointment. “Oh, was that it? I was expecting something epic,” was the general reaction.

It’s almost all been downhill since then.

Then Volume Two/Season Two came along. It wasn’t bad, but it plodded and seemed to go nowhere. People started to turn off.

Then Volume Three came along, together with promises from the producers that it would be back to season one form. True, the show didn’t plod, but the characters all went through bizarre personality flops and no one stayed dead. Some of the plots were very stupid and way too sci-fi. People started to dislike Heroes for straying too far from the ‘real-life’ world depicted in the first season.

Volume Four arrived, together with promises from the producers that it would be back to season one form. Those still watching thought it was actually pretty good. Maybe the producers were telling the truth this time.

We’re on Volume Five now and Heroes appears to be on its last legs. It got fewer than four million viewers for its latest episode, an all-time low. Budget cuts and a “return to character-based stories” have meant nothing exciting has been happening, bar a few isolated outbreaks.

So this week’s question is in two parts:

Will Heroes be cancelled soon? Should it be cancelled?

Discussion after the jump, because these aren’t necessarily easy questions.

Continue reading “Question of the week: will/should Heroes be cancelled?”

Thursday’s pick up news

21 January 2010 Rob Buckley Post a comment

Awards

  • The results of the National Television Awards

Film

Theatre

British TV

US TV