Studio 60

BFI events

New Year news

2 January 2007 Rob Buckley 1 Comment

DT looking somber



The last week’s news in review.

Doctor Who

Film

British TV

  • There’s a Green Wing special event at the NFT on the 17th January. There will be an on-stage interview with creator Victoria Pile and “(we hope) cast members Tamsin Greig, Stephen Mangan and Julian Rhind-Tutt”.

US TV

News

It’s Christmas!

22 December 2006 Rob Buckley Post a comment

The cast of The Christmas Invasion

Last Christmas, I gave you my heart. This Christmas, I give you a précis of news from other sites.

Doctor Who


Books

Film

  • Keith RichardsThere’s another trailer up for the forthcoming 300 (QuickTime required).
  • Keith Richards is to be Johnny Depp’s dad in Pirates of the Caribbean 3. Not news. The pictures are.

British TV

US TV

News

News that happened while I was away and over the weekend

11 December 2006 Rob Buckley 2 Comments

Some of it you might know, some of it could well be news:

Runway Bride Torchwood

Doctor Who

  • Jessica Stevenson, who is 5’6″ and has grey/green eyes, is filming a two-part Doctor Who episode.
  • There’s going to be a hint of Torchwood in this Christmas’s episode (see pic. Click on it to make it bigger and look for the logo at the back).
  • Newsround has a load of publicity shots from that episode, too.
  • The Daily Mail (and other ‘newspapers’) are claiming that new companion Martha Jones and the Doctor are going to wind up in bed together – fully clothed, mind. Adds The Sun, ”TV Biz can reveal feisty Martha (Freema Agyeman) has a huge crush on the doc (David Tennant). The pair are forced to bunk up together in one scene and Martha moves in for the kill. But her love intentions are ruined — by a monster.“
  • There’s an interview with Dan Zeff, director of Love and Monsters, over on Ain’t It Cool News.
  • There’s a clip from The Sarah Jane Adventures available from the Beeb’s Doctor Who web site.

Film

  • There’s a preview of Mitchell and Webb’s Magicians over on Ain’t It Cool News, based on a test screening.

British TV

  • Harry Enfield and Paul Whitehouse are re-uniting for a new sketch show.
  • The Beeb is planning a show about Merlin. It’s going to be a ”3g“ show, which now means ”three generations“ apparently. Because that’s what family television needs more of – shows about slightly dodgy wizards that live their lives backwards and have a demon for a dad.
  • Instead of doing something sensible like getting State of Play 2 together, Paul Abbott has created another bollocktile drama for ITV1 (cf the UK version of Touching Evil). Called Butler Did It, this ”three x 120-minute returnable franchise“ (urgh) tells the story of a top MI5 officer who is ”imprisoned for murder but, after the government realises his potential as a powerful weapon, he is reprogrammed as a ruthless, state-controlled assassin“.
  • Lucy Davis, star of The Office and rising star of Studio 60, got married on Saturday at St Paul’s Cathedral – handily, her dad Jasper Carrott is an OBE.
  • Matt Lucas is reportedly being lined up to play Friar Tuck in the next series of Robin Hood. He’s already set to appear as Toad in The Wind in the Willows this Christmas.

US TV

News

News from yesterday

5 December 2006 Rob Buckley 3 Comments

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.

Justice – another one bites the dust

13 November 2006 Rob Buckley 2 Comments

Justice, which I kind of liked but which I admit has been going downhill a bit since the first episode, has now been pulled from the Fox schedules indefinitely. Another one bites the dust, huh?

As well as US networks, this is all kind of disappointing for British networks since a number of their big acquisitions have already been cancelled. It might also be very disappointing for anyone who’s had to wade through my reviews over the last few months and had their hopes pinned on some of these shows appearing.

Here are the winners, though. UK viewers will see these trumpeted onto their screens from January next year for complete (and so far open-ended) seasons. Don’t forget, mid-season shows Raines and The Black Donnellys are still to air, so no one knows what’s going to happen to them yet.

ITV1/ITV2/ITV3/ITV4

Jericho (good to very good)

Friday Night Lights (okay to good)

Channel 4/E4/More4

Studio 60 (good)

Ugly Betty (very good)

Brothers and Sisters (absolute arse)

The Class (good to very good)

Five/Five US

Shark (below average to average)

SciFi Channel

Heroes (very good)

Living

Men in Trees (average to good)



FX

Brotherhood (good to very good. Already airing)

Dexter (outstanding)

There are a few stragglers whose fate is ostensibly still to be decided: Standoff (Fox/Sky One), Six Degrees (ABC/ITV), The Nine (ABC/Five) and Vanished (Fox/Five). But they’re all pretty likely to be hitting a dustbin/trashcan some time soon. Also Friday Night Lights’ fate is a little bit up the in air, but the smart money is on it getting a full season.