Only in 24, mind, but it’s going to be Wayne Palmer (D B Woodside), former president David Palmer’s brother, according to Variety. I wonder if that naughty affair from season three is going to catch up with him…
Some nuggets about Life on Mars, series two
The first series of everyone’s favourite time-travelling cop show Life on Mars is just about to hit the US. John Simm and Philip Glenister are on the promo circuit, thus prompting this little interview with SciFi Wire: I never realised Glenister was modelling Gene Hunt on Brian Clough, but there you go – you learn something new every day.
The Stage‘s TV Today blog is also generous enough to gives us a few facts about season two, including the useful hint that it’s going to be even more surreal than the first one. I guess LSD was part of the 70s…
News
How to fight off Who deprivation
With no new David Tennant Doctor Who stories to watch until the Christmas Special, you could do worse than tune in to listen to Paul McGann’s Doctor on BBC 7 this Sunday at 6pm.
This repeat run begins with the six-part Shada, which also features both Romana and K9 in a script originally written by Douglas Adams for Tom Baker. Following that, it will continue with McGann’s first audio season for Big Finish.
The Beeb are going to be doing an episode a week (so it’ll last until the middle of next century, I reckon), but half an hour or so of Who every seven days should be enough to keep you going until Christmas.
US TV
Preview: Shark
In the US: Thursday, 10 pm, CBS. Begins in the fall.
In the UK: Acquired by Five, with UKTV picking up basic pay rights
Opening summary
There’s nothing quite like a successful show on another network to make US television execs wonder how exactly they can have some of that ratings goodness, too.
Look at House. It was a surprise success for Fox that took everyone by surprise. CBS seems to have taken one look at it and said to themselves, “Hey, we should do a show like that, except not about doctors or else we’ll get our asses sued.”
As ever, though, the carbon copy is always a pale imitation of the original.
News
Hugh Laurie gets a pay rise
You have to love it when a Brit does well in Hollywood. House MD‘s Hugh Laurie – everyone’s favourite grumpy, Sherlock Holmes-inspired doctor – has just had his pay per episode tripled to between $275,000 and $300,000. Hoorah!
Turns out that Fox has realised that the only reason anyone watches the show is because of Laurie. So understandably, given it’s a ratings smash in the US, they’d like to make sure he doesn’t quit so he can come back to the UK and appear in a drama about life under Thatcher in the 80s or something.
Can’t see him getting that kind of cash from the Beeb, can you, and it should make up for not getting an Emmy nomination this time around, as well.