5 posts tagged “tv”
But recently that seems to be changing. ITV have been showing a couple of American import that seem to be aimed at people exactly like me. Firstly they started showing Dexter (to be honest I'm not sure how much I like Dexter, but it's certainly non-standard fare for ITV) and then last weekend they started showing Pushing Daisies which, judging by the first episode, I'm going to enjoy very much.
ITV certainly seem to be very proud of Pushing Daisies. It has had one of the biggest advertising campaigns that I can ever remember from ITV. There have been trailers and posters everywhere for weeks. And it seems to be going very well for them. Most of the reviews I've read have been very positive.
But they seem to be on the verge of blowing it completely. The first series of Pushing Daisies contains nine episodes. And ITV only have eight weeks in which to show them. After that, some football competition starts. Much as I'd love to live in a world where quality drama trumps sport, I know that's some considerable way off and that there's no way that ITV will make way in their football schedules for something like Pushing Daisies. But even then their solution seems bizarre in the extreme.
They are planning to drop one of the episodes. The second one apparently. The one that is due to be shown next weekend. They think that it's the only one they can drop without leaving significant holes in the plot. Is that really the best they could do? Couldn't they squeeze an extra episode in one week? Show two episodes the first week? Or the last week ("Big Pushing Daisies Series Finale Night")? I mean it's not as though any of this came as a surprise to them. They must have known how many episodes the series had. And the start date for Euro 2008 has, no doubt, been set for some time. All in all I think it shows a strangely inflexible attitude to scheduling.
So just as ITV started to go up in my estimation as a TV company. I was just starting to warm to them and now I'm back to viewing everything they do with suspicion. Perhaps they really don't care. Maybe they were only making a token effort at attracting viewers like me.
p.s. I hope it's obvious, but I'll be scouring bittorrent for the missing episode.
If you're one of those desperately untrendy people who still watches television on the terrestrial channels, then you won't yet have seen Heroes. All that can change tonight as BBC Two are showing the first two episodes starting tonight at 9pm.
Heroes is great. I mean, yes, it's comic-book superhero stuff. And, yes, it's largely derivative of the X Men. But it's like the X Men in the real world. They aren't immediately squeezing into spandex and building secret underground lairs. They act how real real people would act. Well, real people who are invunerable, or who can fly. In a way I suppose it copies that idea from Watchmen (is it really twenty years since Watchmen was first published!)
Anyway, in my opinion it's the best science fiction series that has been made in recent years (and, yes, I'm including Doctor Who in that). And even if you're not a science fiction fan I think you'll enjoy it.
I recommend you give it a go.
Plans for a Doctor Who spin-off starring Billie Piper as Rose Tyler have been cancelled according to a story on the BBC.
Plans for a Doctor Who spin-off show starring Billie Piper were scrapped at the last minute, series producer Russell T Davies has revealed.
"It was actually commissioned by the controller of BBC One and budgeted," the writer told Doctor Who Magazine.
Davies later decided the programme, Rose Tyler: Earth Defence, was "a spin-off too far" and called it off.
Piper, 23, left Doctor Who earlier this year. She will be replaced by Freema Agyeman, 27, in the next series.
"We hadn't formally approached Billie," said Davies, "although we'd mentioned it to her."
This sounds like a bad idea on so many levels. Not least of which is the fact that they hadn't approached Billie Piper. And if she wanted to go on playing Rose Tyler, surely she would have stayed on Doctor Who.
Plus "Rose Tyler: Earth Defence" - that's a crap title.
This is why I love multi-channel TV. If you wait long enough everything gets repeated. I didn't watch thirtysomething when it was first broadcast in the late 1980s (I was in a "I'm too cool to watch television" phase and didn't even own a TV for a few years about then) but people whose opinion I value on such matters have been telling me that I would have loved it ever since.
And today More 4 are starting to show it right from the very first episode. It starts at 3pm. They're showing it five times a week, so I estimate it will take them about four or five months to get through it all (assuming they've bought the rights to all four seasons).
I realise this might not be enough notice for those of you at work who can't get to your video recording device of choice, but no doubt it'll turn up on Bittorrent before too long.
BBC have issued a press release about their forthcoming Autumn season. The first programme mentioned is Torchwood.
This autumn on BBC THREE sees a season of bold, contemporary programmes with Torchwood, the new drama from writer Russell T Davies, as its centrepiece.
Starring John Barrowman and Eve Myles, Torchwood is a sci-fi crime thriller which tells the story of a crack squad of secret agents, setting their own rules and operating above the law to protect the public from both human and alien threats.
Julian Bellamy, Controller, BBC THREE says: "Torchwood is just the kind of cutting edge, ambitious drama of real scale that we're seeking on BBC THREE and I'm delighted to be unveiling it at my first BBC THREE launch as Controller."
Interesting that it doesn't mention the connection to Doctor Who at all.
