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Torchwood’s back – on BBC2 first

That second series of Torchwood has finally been commissioned. This time, it’ll air on BBC2 first.

The press release is full of ‘interesting’ quotes that sound slightly distant from reality:

Julian Bellamy, Controller of BBC Three, said: “Breaking all records on BBC Three is no mean feat and we’ve been proud to help build Torchwood into one of the most talked-about and eagerly-anticipated series of recent years.”

Jane Tranter said: “Torchwood is a modern and innovative drama that has truly captured the imagination of its audience, and we are very excited that there will be more of the adrenaline-fuelled, action-packed adventures of our team of Torchwood heroes.”

And then there’s

Russell T Davies said: “The whole team is bristling with ideas and we are delighted that Cardiff is going to be home to more monsters and mayhem.”

Gosh, RTD. You make it sound so… adult.

Top 10 films and TV shows of the year? Let’s meme!

The American Film Institute publishes two top ten lists each year: the top 10 movies and the top 10 TV shows. This year’s has just come out. What do you think? And if they’re right, what does it say about 2006: a good year or a bad year?

AFI Movies of the Year

  • Babel
  • Borat: Cultural Learnings Of America For Make Benefit Glorious Nation Of Kazakhstan
  • The Devil Wears Prada
  • Dreamgirls
  • Half Nelson
  • Happy Feet
  • Inside Man
  • Letters From Iwo Jima
  • Little Miss Sunshine
  • United 93

AFI TV Programmes of the Year

  • Battlestar Galactica
  • Dexter
  • Elizabeth I
  • Friday Night Lights
  • Heroes
  • The Office
  • South Park
  • 24
  • The West Wing
  • The Wire

I think there are some good ones in the TV list, but it’s not been a great year for movies, by the looks of it.

Still, let’s meme. I can’t help out with the films list for once, since I doubt I’ve seen 10 films in the cinema this year (Casino Royale and The Prestige would both be on such a list, and Inside Man was all right, I s’pose). But here’s my pick of the top 10 shows of the year, in no particular order, with links to my various comments on them.

Ooh. By the looks of it, I must be the only person in the world who hasn’t written about how great Planet Earth is. Well, it is. That’s all that’s needed.

So there’s the meme: top 10 TV shows, top 10 films or both. Any channel, from any country of origin, any language, so long as they aired or were distributed in 2006 and weren’t a repeat/re-run.

The morning’s news

  • The Hollywood Reporter reckons the Sci Fi Channel is working on a remake of Flash Gordon. Part of an article looking at how US networks are warming to science-fiction.
  • A few spoilers over on E!’s Watch with Kristin: interesting snippets about Heroes, including confirmation that Claire’s gay best friend isn’t gay any more; more on Jack Bauer’s family in 24 (with one very important spoiler); useful stuff about Liev Schreiber’s forthcoming character in CSI; and some nuggets on BSG and Scrubs.
  • Mel Gibson’s new Mayan film, Apocalypto, might look historically authentic but it isn’t.
US TV

Revelations of the podcasts

BSG podcastThere are a couple of podcasts that I keep recommending that really are worth listening to: Battlestar Galactica‘s and Lost‘s. The latest episodes of both have been revelatory.

BSG‘s is always good because you get an insight into the thought processes and techniques that go into the writing; they’re also entertaining, as exec producer Ronald D Moore has a go at viewers, forum posters, himself and anyone else he thinks deserves it that week (he’s usually right though).

Recently, we got treated to a three-hour roundtable that featured various BSG actors, including Jamie Bamber and James Callis, as well as RDM. What’s interesting about the roundtable is that Jamie Bamber goes off on one about how disappointed he is by the Cylons and how they could be better. The great thing is you have RDM there, going “That’s a great idea. I never thought of that.” You can practically hear him writing stuff down for future scripts. There are also various significant hints about what’s happening later in the season, so watch out if you don’t like spoilers.

Lost podcastMeanwhile, back in the latest Lost podcast, it’s a very different Damon Lindelhof and Carlton Cuse answering viewers’ questions. The cockiness has gone. The frequent “If you don’t like the way we tell stories, go off and watch Criminal Minds” comments aren’t so funny, now portions of the audience have done just that.

Instead, we have the two contrite execs answering questions, and begging listeners to hang on in there for a few more episodes since there’ll be plenty of answers coming up soon (“Will you find out what happened to Desmond? Yes! Will you find out about the Dharma Initiative and The Others? Yes! Will you…”). How the mighty have fallen. One for the Schadenfreudic among you. I found it thoroughly amusing.