News

ABC adapting a British show that hasn’t even been made yet

Life On Mars



Here’s odd. ABC is creating a new show, Ordinary Joe, centred on a guy who has a choice of two women to go out with. Twelve years later, the show picks up the plot. But rather than just one plot, it picks up three: what if he’d gone out with his secret love, what if he’d gone out with the woman chasing after him, and what if he’d stayed single.

Sounds cool, doesn’t it? It should be: it’s British! (Cue tuneless rendition of the National Anthem which slowly falls apart as we realise it’s an ITV show… but picks up again when we hear it’s from Kudos, who make Spooks, Hustle and Life on Mars!… but then ends disastrously and with potential deaths when we learn Caleb Ransom, the creator of The Outsiders, is writing it).

The curious thing about this British show is that it hasn’t been made yet. The series is still being developed as we speak. We’ve now reached the point where we’re selling series formats before they’re even shown to be a success. Still, it’s a good idea. Let’s see which is the better version.

Talking of Kudos, incidentally, my old mag, Dreamwatch, has an exclusive, it claims: Kudos is allegedly creating a follow-up series to Life on Mars set in the 80s. Called Ashes to Ashes, it will feature some of the Life on Mars characters later on in their careers and will air in a 9pm slot in 2008.

News

News from yesterday

Sarah Jane AdventuresReading countless RSS feeds and news alerts so you don’t have to…

  • The first Sarah Jane Adventures publicity still is available. Graham at OTT has a run-down of the first episode, which is being broadcast this Christmas. [via Outpost Gallifrey]
  • The Independent has an interview with Sophia Myles, covering her life, Dracula and going out with David Tennant. Apparently, she keeps a Doctor Who action figure next to her bed to remind herself of him. [via LiveJournal]
  • The world has gone Masi Oka-mad. And why not? You have to admire an actor who can talk about 5-tuples, don’t you? The star of Scrubs and Heroes is interviewed in the New York Times (free registration required). Classic quote: ‘“My agent read the script and said, ‘My God, I’ve found the role,’ ” Mr. Oka said. “I mean, how many actors are fluent in Japanese, well-trained in comedy and have abundant American TV experience? I felt pretty good going in. I felt like, wow, my niche market. It was like, if this isn’t it, what is?”’ Meanwhile, he’s going to be ‘guest-hosting’ Studio 60.
  • Still with Heroes, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette has a chat with Zachary Quinto, who plays Sylar.
  • Again, still with Heroes, we experience the somewhat worrying news that it’s the number 10 primetime network series among kids 2-11. Woah. There’s a viewing demographic that includes two and three year olds? And Heroes, with Internet porn queens, people’s brains being scooped out and heroin addicts is something parents want their kids to watch? Fair enough, but the creators are turning down the graphic stuff as a result. Curse you, children!
  • Back with Studio 60, The West Wing‘s Kristin Chenoweth, who isn’t actually in Studio 60 but was the basis for the Harriet Hayes character, explains (free registration required) what it’s like to have an ex-boyfriend base a TV character on you.
UK TV

Review: Torchwood 1×8 – They Keep Killing Susie

Torchwood

So here’s the thing. A couple of weeks ago, I got so hacked off with the poor quality of Torchwood, I decided to stop watching. I studiously avoided tuning into the next episode and even though various people said it wasn’t bad, I still couldn’t bring myself to devote 50 minutes of my life to it. I even went as far as recording it, but I deleted it because I knew I’d never do anything more than glower at its sullen awfulness. Having a tooth extracted looked more inviting.

But there were enough people saying it was actually pretty good that I decided to tune in this week. Plus the title was They Keep Killing Susie, so I figured it might be a bit more interesting than the standard Torchwood episode.

You know what? Maybe it was because I’d had a vacation from Torchwood but I really enjoyed it.

Continue reading “Review: Torchwood 1×8 – They Keep Killing Susie”