Good old Mr T has just landed his own reality TV show. Apparently, he’s going to be a ‘Dr Phil’-like self-help guru who’s going to aid everyday people in their daily lives. Car salesman not meeting his quota? Mr T will help sort it out. Fabulous.
Also coming soon is Back to the Grind, in which actors get to do the jobs of the characters that made them famous. Top of the list is Erik Estrada from CHiPS, who’s going to be a California Highway patrolman. Go Poncherello, go!
Cracking news (or should that be ‘Kraken news’?): Warner Bros wants to remake Clash of the Titans. In case you don’t remember lump-of-wood Harry Hamlin’s first big break, this was a retelling of the classic Greek myth of Perseus and Andromeda, with all the magic of Ray Harryhausen added in for good effect(s).
I’ve fond memories of it, particularly since it was one of the last real stabs at doing Ancient Greece properly before the likes of Xena and Hercules morphed it into some cod-medieval Dungeons and Dragons setting. Plus who can forget the mechanical owl, Pegasus the winged horse and the ever-so-scary Kraken? Or Tim Piggott-Smith wandering around in a skirt?
My big fear is they’re going to do a Tristan & Isolde/A Knight’s Tale and try to make it more ‘contemporary’. Ugh. But who knows? They might do the right thing. I’m not expecting the unexpected (such as doing the whole thing in Ancient Greek, which apparently is something only ITV would be willing to do), and with Troy still lingering in the memory, my hopes aren’t that great. But funnier things have happened…
Cos I know you’re all dying to read it, my review of Saturday’s Doctor Who episode School Reunion is online at Off The Telly. For those that don’t want to make it that far, it’s below the fold as well.
Continue reading “Review: Doctor Who – 2×3 – School Reunion”
“Sex and the City. Write it like Sex and the City. Imagine it’s Samantha and Carrie arguing over a man.” Those, according to last night’s Doctor Who Confidential, were the instructions given to Toby Whithouse, the writer of last night’s episode of Doctor Who, by executive producer Russell T Davies on how to write Rose and Sarah Jane’s scenes together.
And thus is exposed the lie of another stereotype about gay men: that they all love Sex and the City. Here we have evidence of at least one that’s not really watched it at all.
RTD: you may love Doctor Who, but I have to tell you now, you clearly don’t understand Sex and the City.
I have through a process of osmosis, watched every single episode of the show and I’ve even been made to go on the Sex and the City tour in New York (which is really bad, so don’t go on it. The coach turned up three hours late for starters…), so I can tell you authoritatively that Samantha and Carrie would never fight over a man. Even in the pilot episode when they’re both after Big, there’s no fight. Sorry.
That could all have gone pear-shaped if Toby had followed your instructions.
Spend a weekend in a hotel in Cardiff? Not a totally attractive offer, but not awful: I spent Christmas last year in a hotel in Cardiff and it was actually very nice. All the same, how could a couple of days in a plush hotel in Wales’ capital be made even more attractive?
I know. How about if there was a leaflet available that told you where Doctor Who had been filmed in the city? Grabs you now, doesn’t it?
No?
Okay. How about if there was a blow-up Dalek as well?
Whoops. Disturbing now, isn’t it? It makes the claim, “We’re now seen as a sexy city to visit,” take on a whole new upsetting dimension.
Oh dear. I suspect the Park Plaza hotel is going to have to try harder for this particular cashing-in scheme to work. Perhaps they should talk to Travelodge about innovative ways to drum up trade?
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