In the UK: Sundays, 5.30pm, ITV1
Everyone likes a good meme, right? It’s one of the joys of the “blogosphere”. Of course, blogs are Web 2.0 and tele is Web 0.0, so there’s no way really to interact with a meme that’s on television. Yet that’s what Melvyn Bragg has decided to do: create a meme.
What are the 12 most important books that changed the world as we know it?
24 (Fox)
There are ways to make family reunions bearable.
Celebrity Big Brother (Channel 4/E4)
People will watch anything. Judging by the ratings, racism is entertainment.
CSI (CBS)
Sometimes, the plots of even the best shows make absolutely no sense.
Heroes (NBC)
A week is a long, long time when a show is really, really enjoyable. I want the next episode now! Also, Christopher Eccleston will never be cast as anything except an angry northerner, no matter where in the world he’s employed.
Psych (The USA Network)
Give a show six months’ rest and when it comes back, sometimes, just sometimes, it will be better than when it went away.
Smallville (The CW)
Even when a plot has been done well by countless other TV shows, it’s still possible to do it again and still make it good, creepy and interesting. Also, actors who have been in shows for six years will remember how to act when they’re given something new to do for a change. Things we already knew: Clark is an idiot – go with Chloe, you nutter.
Studio 60 (NBC)
If you’re the hero of a TV show, you can act like a stalker and the girl will still want you by the end of the episode. It’s also really easy to learn Mandarin Chinese from a phrase book.
Supernatural (The CW)
If you’re doing a “monster of the week” show, don’t bring the same monster back – twice – unless you can actually make it interesting.
The Class (CBS)
If you piss off sitcom producers, they can excise you from the titles and publicity material faster than Stalin.
The NFT has a season of Troy Kennedy Martin’s work running next month, with an interview with the man himself on the 6th February. In case you don’t know who he is, here’s the bumpf:
“Scriptwriter Troy Kennedy Martin has been responsible for some of the most memorable and innovative British TV. Beginning at the BBC in the late fifties, he worked on the revolutionary series Z Cars and then moved to ITV to write on the seminal seventies series, The Sweeney. Arguably his greatest work is the brilliant conspiracy thriller Edge of Darkness, and he has also written for film, including the classic caper movie The Italian Job.”
Among the season’s highlights are Diary of a Young Man, Edge of Darkness, and an episode of Fall of Eagles. Go watch Edge of Darkness if you’ve never seen it (shame on you! It’s the drama of the 80s); I’ll only be along for the interview on the 6th since everything else clashes with something else I’m already booked in for. Drat.
Doctor Who
Commercials
Film
British TV
US TV
The final episode of Lost. Okay, not really.
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