Anglotopia » Talking Telly

Talking Telly: Wrapping up the British Reality Shows for 2009 – X Factor, I’m a Celebrity, BBC Christmas Specials

Dana — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 13:45:43 +0000

So, the reality show season in Britain is well and truly done. Joe won ‘The X Factor’ (and who completely liked him early on?), Gino is King of the Jungle, and, um, someone won on “Strictly Come Dancing”, right? Sorry. Can’t love every show.

Joe is probably the best “X Factor” pick for a long time, and was logical. He had a whole region of England voting for him. Talent-wise, Danyl and Jamie were on par, but Danyl annoyed half the nation and the rest were watching Jedward instead of Jamie. There were a lot of people on Twitter who only watched the final to see Jedward again. And me, who watched for Robbie Williams.

Speaking of which, the Mirror would like to make me think he’s going to be a panelist next year. If it happens, I’ll be gobsmacked. That would be the first accurate “speculation” about the show’s future beyond Simon Cowell wanting more of everything. But I don’t think Danni will be back, and I personally will miss her.

(And since Radio 1 is doing their “Best of the Noughties” programmes, can we make a Worst list and put combining the names of celebrity couples and double acts on it and ban it? What would have happened if Ant and Dec had come along after that trend started.? Anc? Dent? PJuncan?)

Speaking of whom, I really enjoyed “I’m A Celebrity” a lot more than last year. There was one week of Jordan (who was actually less annoying in the jungle, and I can see why I used to like her a long time ago) and then after a week of pure awesomeness by the British public in making her do seven Bushtucker Trials in a row, she was gone and had dumped her boyfriend live on British telly. Massively cold.

And then George Hamilton started standing out, because he was an old-Hollywood Christopher Biggins, and by the time he was gone most of the boring ones were gone. Gino, Kim (who really did try to clean the jungle) and Jimmy did the hard work and came out on top. Justin was as close as we’re going to get to how John Barrowman would be like as a contestant, and Stu and Sabrina, well, spent a lot of time talking about how they weren’t a couple.

One of the things I liked best this year were ITV’s full use of new media in the show. They were reading Tweets and answering chatroom questions during the ITV2 after-show. And their Cover-It-Live chats were incredible. I actually do that stuff for a living, and that was a really fun crowd. Even Alan Carr showed up one day!

Ant and Dec’s jokes are so obvious that I saw them coming one to two minutes into the preceding SOT. But they are still funny because they manage to always come up with a new twist. There was a segment where Ant brings Dec tea and then presses his jeans that has to be in their 10-year IAC documentary next year (you really need to do one, guys.) This is my favorite show that they present…

…Until the “Britain’s Got Talent” auditions come around again in the winter. As far as I know, that and “Dancing on Ice” get started after all the Christmas specials. Catherine Tate as Nan again? David Tennant’s Doctor bidding adieu while Tennant drops in on Tate and on QI? Ant and Dec and Robbie Williams in a special?!? No one knows how to give me a Christmas gift like the BBC and ITV do.

Talking Telly: What’s in the future for ‘Torchwood’ Series 4?

Dana — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 16:13:39 +0000

It’s pretty much official now. John Barrowman has revealed at several events that he has signed on for another series as Captain Jack Harkness on “Torchwood”, and he says it’s going to be a proper 13-episode series, probably airing late in 2010. Hallelujah!

No word on Eve Myles (who probably has recently given birth herself – she actually was really pregnant in “Torchwood: CoE”) but Kai Owen was one of the first to reveal that TW was coming back, so it’s safe to assume he’ll be back too.

Now here’s where the speculation begins. And if you haven’t seen “Torchwood: Children of Earth”, get thee to a Best Buy and buy it and come back and read the rest later.

- Russell T. Davies now lives in LA, last I heard. Apparently his plan is to separate the show as much as possible from “Doctor Who” and it’s been made clear that the new Doctor won’t be dropping in (although Capt. Jack is in Tennant’s last “Doctor Who”) for appearances.

So what would be the best way to do the show minus the DW universe and whilst building a new team. America! BBC America has had record ratings for TW and Jack IS American. If he’s still wandering the universe, it might make sense him to go home again, per se.

(And if RTD or some BBC writers read this, Huntsville, AL, has a space center, builds stuff for the shuttle and other spacey stuff, and a lot of weird creatures reside here. And Alabama just passed a law offering tax credits for TV and film shooting in the state. Just think about it. Huntsville is a bit like Cardiff.)

- I guess I will have to accept the fact that, no, Jack is not wandering the universe, figuring out a way to resurrect Ianto (I bet he wishes he had kept the Resurrection Glove he used on Owen) or Stephen. So a nice dashing doctor replacement would not hurt my feelings. Of course, Jack should show some angst over losing Ianto, but Jack is also the sex object for the whole world.

- I never really thought Gwen would be the last person standing, but she is and she’ll have a kid. I can see another kickass woman coming along who can go out on cases that will make Gwen’s jealous streak come out.

- Rhys? He’s going to take over the coffee duties and attempt to keep whatever hub they have in some sort of order. He’s not Ianto.

Feel free to speculate and to mourn Ianto’s death (again) in comments.

Talking Telly: Getting ready for ‘I’m A Celebrity…’

Dana — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 18:51:40 +0000

It’s either a really great week for you if you’re an American fan of British TV, if you’re into anything from drama to sci-fi to shameless celebrity famewhoredom. And really, that’s how British TV is largely broken up into these days.

First off, the last “Doctor Who” for David Tennant before his regeneration saga begins. It’s supposed to be the scariest ever. I used to have people who would watch the show before me to warn me if the show was particularly freaky that week, but my people have been laid off due to the economy. I’ve gotta toughen up before John Simm comes back anyway.

Secondly, AMC’s attempt to do an American remake of “The Prisoner” debuts. Reviews are very radically mixed on it. Personally, I think that any show starring Sir Ian McKellen should get an automatic 12-episode pickups, but what do I know? And if anyone could do a proper remake of a British show, it would probably be AMC, because, well, watch “Mad Men”. But it’s also one of those shows where you wonder if it could ever improve up0n the original and also know the original’s only a trip from Netflix away.

If neither of those options is for you, fancy a horrible recut of “The Boat That Rocked” in the cinema? Also, there’s a lot of time to be spent analyzing why John and Edward are still on “The X Factor.” But the thing I’m personally excited about because it’s the first weekend of the 9th series of “I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here!” And somehow it’s still succeeding where “Big Brother” has now failed to stay revved up for top ratings and a great time slot.

I actually love this show enough to do a semi-daily recap. But I know that love of celebrity reality shows in the US is much different. We like to see a VH1 show once or twice a week instead of almost every single night for three weeks. Plus Ant and Dec might put up a TRO on me just for talking about them too much.

So here’s the list of contestants, and what they’ve done that you might remember if you watch anything British (and really great if you stream it live and thus actually watching things like the soaps and snooker because they seem to be kinda unavoidable.

Samantha Fox: Like the Pet Shop Boys, I actually discovered her via American pop radio circa 1990. I had absolutely had no idea why naughty girls need love too, but that song’s on a mixtape somewhere.
Stuart Manning of Hollyoaks, and before that the winner of “Hero of the Year” at the British Soap Awards. He just left Hollyoaks. Not hard to look at.
Lucy Benjamin formerly of EastEnders. And if you’ve ever watched much EastEnders in the past few years, you’ve seen her. If nothing else, remember Who Shot Phil? However, this show’s a bit of a step down in reputation from Kingdom, RIP. Seeing all these soap stars makes me think they’re hoping for some soapy drama. Anything’s better than WAG’s
Sabrina Washington, formerly of Mis-Teeq, the Brit version of Destiny’s Child. Anyone who made it through a few years with Alesha Dixon has to have some good stories. But a question mark as far as show potential (i.e. why they stay in the jungle after the WAG’s started leaving.)
Gino D’Acampo, who has hosted a ton of British cooking shows. A bit controversial because he claims to cook vegan whilst using parmesan in dishes. I’m sure that they’re hoping that he’ll get into a war of wills with Kim Woodburn over household stuff. REALLY easy on the eyes. He has the potential to actually make the rice and beans the celebs live off of sound tasty.
Justin Ryan and Colin McAllister, interior designers and Scottish reality TV presenters in Canada. Oh, and married for 22 years. Basically Prop 8’s nightmare. I really haven’t seen them before, but on paper they sound a lot like John Barrowman, who would totally do this show if he didn’t want to ever be on “Doctor Who” again.
George Hamilton, and if you don’t know who he is, you really need to watch more “I Love The ’70’s” reruns. Will have the best tan no matter what else happens. Also connected with enough drama queens (Alana Stewart) to have juicy gossip.
Kim Woodburn of How Clean Is Your House? Basically, whomever is on her team is in for a world of hurt. She will try to clean the Aussie jungle.
Camilla Dallerup, professional dancer formerly on “Strictly Come Dancing.” Also formerly engaged to Brendan Cole, who has probably become the most famous of the SCD enterouge. A big question mark.
Jimmy White, HUGE snooker star and an MBE. I’m a darts girl, but he’s easily the biggest British star to more generations than any other contestant. In his Wikipedia entry. it says he’s had branded video games all the way from the Atari ST to XBox, so he’s kinda a snooker Madden, of sorts.

Although no one else will, I will continue to reserve some hope that Katie Price won’t actually be dropped into camp during the first week. And until six months ago, I liked Katie and Peter. The only way I’d be happy with this is if Kerry Katona were going too. At this point they’d approach Spencer and Heidi levels of annoyance and would get booted from camp in two nights.

I have to give the producers of “I’m A Celebrity…” some credit here. After Speidi (and thank you for not importing THEM, ITV) were so ridiculously bad that people watched just to see how low they could go, there would be a temptation to go for all-Jordan’s. Last year’s version was much more of a name-dropper year with Martina Navratilova and George Takei. This year looks a little more like the year before, with Christopher Biggens, Cerys Matthews and Janice Dickinson. Some of them have fan bases like Jimmy White and George Hamilton will, and they were fun. And no David Van Day. It was a good year and genuine fun.

That was also a really good year for Ant and Dec. It would be pretty hard to watch this show if you’re and AnD hater, because they completely hog the show and that’s half of its charm.

Anyway, I’ll probably be Tweeting about the show a lot at @danadoestv a lot for the next few weeks. Sadly, probably not in real time unless I got a job on the West Coast in the next 48 hours and worked the night shift. If you have a home business or could set your own hours just to watch a live feed at 3 pm every afternoon, you are so lucky. This is a show that you can’t TiVo and read the British press at the same time.

Also, the companion show, “I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here Now!” is going to be tracking Tweets for all of the contestants and their mentions in Tweets, which is a really great idea. Keep up with it here.

British TV Podcast Show #6

BritTVPodcast — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 13:30:37 +0000

This week Chrissy & Ryan are really excited about November 15th when there will be a cornucopia of great British TV running whether you are in the US or Britain. We preview Doctor Who: The Waters of Mars (running in the UK), The Prisoner (in the US), as well as discuss Christmas telly, John Cleese on tour, what’s on TV this week, DVD releases, a feature on Irish comic Ardal O’Hanlon, and open nominations for the best British comedy of the decade. The British TV Podcast homepage.

Listen to Show 6

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British TV Podcast Show #5

BritTVPodcast — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 01:04:50 +0000

The British TV Podcast. This week Chrissy & Ryan do a quick review of “The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith,” news, what’s on TV this week, DVD releases, and a feature on actress Romola Garai (“Emma”).

Listen now to Show #5 Here

Talking Telly: Why the BBC Is Right To Keep iPlayer To Itself

Dana — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 13:30:50 +0000

A couple of weeks ago, there was rejoicing on all shores after it was announced that the BBC would make a international version of its iPlayer. Finally, “Doctor Who” and “Torchwood” on the same air date as the UK! It was like Christmas for DW fans. Even if we do have to pay, which is only fair – Brits get a license fee and we’ve happily paid $1.99 to iTunes to get it two weeks late.

But then the BBC said that they aren’t going to give ITV or Channel 4 access to the iPlayer so we can all pay for one product and get everything. Now the Brits and those same DW fans are upset. Because, presumably, the DW fans are also fans of “The Sunday Night Project”, which I’ll feature in an upcoming “Things that US TV should steal” column. Or a bunch of folks, like I, are huge fans of “The Cube” (I’d also be featuring that in the above column, but Fox has already ordered it without a pilot, which is kinda brave for an American network. Or maybe there are some folks who, like me, would pick “Saturday Night Takeaway” over DW. My sole reasoning for that is because David Tennant slated Ant and Dec in the commentary track for the DW series finale DVD set, and I hold grudges like babies.

But, in any case, ITV and Channel 4 will have to come up with their own international distribution plans. But unlike The Independent, who say that the BBC is violating their own trust by scuttling an all-channels player, I think the Beeb is within their rights to say no.

What would be a good example of a similar situation? Remember the hoopla when NBC Universal said “no” to iTunes and built Hulu? Every Mac owner and “House” fan in America, including me, had a cow. But NBCI was concerned because Apple was making, at the time, a big majority of the 99-cents per episode, and they took all the commercials out.

Fast-forward to now. Hulu is now available on both PC and Mac and has the option (most of the time) to either watch commercials during the show or watch one long-form commercial at the beginning of the show. Thus, I can watch some birth control commercial and then get my weekly dose of “Bones” commercial-free for five weeks after the original air date. After that, iTunes without commercials is my only legal option outside of buying DVD sets.

The BBC doesn’t have ads at all. Their programming is paid for by the British license fee. That’s why most BBC America shows are cut in horrible places for American airing. On the other hand, ITV and Channel 4 have to have ads, and in some cases the ads are more entertaining than the programming.

For American viewing, we’re going to have to pay some sort of fee or have to watch some extra commercial content to get the BBC. As I said before, this is only fair. But would the BBC include the same fee to see ITV and then take their commercials out? Or would we, in effect, pay ITV twice while the BBC gets one cheque?

Also, the BBC iPlayer is proprietary product. In fact, the BBC Trust got into trouble a year or so ago because they put so much money into BBC.co.uk that the network got into debt. Although there are good reasons why we didn’t get full seasons of “Doctor Who” and “Torchwood” (Tennant, Davies, Barrowman, et al) I stand by my statement that the shortened seasons partially came from funding shortfalls. After all, the BBC has to figure out how to pay to show the 2012 Olympics somehow.

What would be my solution to all this? I would happily pay for Freesat so I could get a satellite dish like some Brits do and get all my programming there. I hate DirecTV for how much they make Americans pay for NFL and Premiership games, but they could easily cut a deal with ITV and Channel 4 to add their programming to existing contracts. And you can already get movies (including British ones) from Netflix via XBox360 and PS3, so why not the same for ITV and Channel 4 content?

In the meantime, ITV has a really nice iPlayer of its own, and I could see them making their own deal for a shared player. Then I could have “Doctor Who” playing on the BBC iPlayer while “Saturday Night Takeaway” (if it comes back) is on the ITV one. Then I truly would have the best of both worlds.

Oh, and one more thing – we’re going to get a universal player for all British radio stations by Christmas. That’s excellent news for everyone who listens to stations other than BBC Radio (who didn’t block my access to Electric Proms last week and therefore escape my ire for now) but I’ve already got the other stations on WunderRadio on my iPod Touch. Still, a step in the right direction for all.

British TV Podcast Show #4 Live

BritTVPodcast — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 23:37:18 +0000

Editor’s Note: The folks behind the brilliant British TV Podcast I wrote about earlier this week have agreed to post weekly when their new podcast goes live to let us know all about it. Welcome!

This week’s British TV Podcast with Chrissy & Ryan includes a discussion of whether actors Lee Ingleby and Paul Kaye were separated at birth, news about British TV, what’s running in Britain this week (and get super-excited about the guest star on “The Sarah Jane Adventures”–it’s Nigel Havers–oh yeah, David Tennant’s appearing as well), DVD releases in the USA, and a feature on American remakes of British TV shows.

Check it out here! British TV Podcast

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Talking Telly: Never Fear Fans, John & Edward On Way Out On ‘The X Factor’

Dana — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 22:31:24 +0000

I never thought I’d say this, especially after she got the No. 1 single in Britain a week after Robbie Williams unfairly didn’t, but I have to agree with Cheryl Cole. John & Edward, the Irish twins who cannot really sing on “The X Factor”, have become my guilty pleasure.

Instead of looking up the YouTube videos of contestants who are clearly better, like Joe McElderry (my personal pick to win) or Lucie Jones or Stacey Solomon, I looked for J&E’s cover of “She Bangs”. And it didn’t disappoint. I can’t stand their vocals or their terrible, terrible hair, but they are cute as buttons and have better stage presence than Sanjaya ever did on “American Idol”.

It’s a shame then that Danyl Johnson, Simon Cowell’s Anointed One for the year, almost got voted out this week, which has somehow sparked an investigation by Simon and ITV. And Miss Frank, the group who should have gone further just because they’d overcome not being a group until two months ago, went home.

J&E will have to pull out the big guns this week to even have a chance. Yes, we will finally get “Let’s Get Ready To Rhumble” if Louis Walsh has the sense God gave a goose. That song was their music bed throughout the audition shows and it’s clear that the twins are wanting some PJ and Duncan magic. But ITV is going to have to let the Grimes twins lose.

Don’t get me wrong – the voting is not rigged. After the debacle with Ant & Dec, Robbie Williams (let’s see how many times I can mention him in one column?) and the National Television Awards a couple of years ago, ITV can’t take the chance of having their voting system come under investigation again. At the moment they’re winning beating the BBC this year in public perception, just because of the Jonathan Ross/Russell Brand brouhaha and the Question Time riot last week. Katie Price and Peter Andre would have to get in a physical altercation on camera for the network to look as bad as the Beeb does right now.

But although it’s not really fair in my opinion, Danyl can be just as bullying and cocky as he wants and still will get to the top 3. He’s going to have the best song choice of everyone and get the final slot on Saturday. Simon gets his way on everything where the XF is concerned.

Why does Louis Walsh always get the groups? He has a right to bitch to the Mirror about that. By all rights, Cheryl should have gotten them this year. Simon has the hottest category by far, with Danyl and Jamie “Afro” Archer, who had the best performance of the week and made Louis into a hypocrite for bitching that “Angel of Harlem” wasn’t big-band enough (when did “She Bangs” become a big-band classic?)

If Cheryl wins again with Joe, she might want to start begging for the judging job on the American version of the XF that Fox is developing, because even Dannii Minogue will be on safer ground. And this is after Dannii somehow managed to offend the whole LGBT population of Great Britain in Live Week 1.

So what will be the next controversy to pop up on the “Fake Factor”? Since Rob (see, #3), Cheryl and Whitney Houston have already performed and been slated during the first two weeks of the results show, maybe ITV should call Lindsay Lohan. I hear she works for cheap these days.

Talking Telly: ‘The X Factor’ Fangs Come Out Early

Dana — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 15:00:05 +0000

I swear that Talking Telly will not turn into a weekly recap of “The X Factor”. Mostly because I expect to keep an interest in the show for about two more weeks, which is still three weeks and 1/2 hour more than I made it through “Strictly Come Dancing”.

But tonight was the first live final, the first time that my favourite singer has ever appeared on a reality show, and most importantly there was a LOT of controversy. So you get my thoughts before I go back and watch Harry Hill and Piers Morgan, whom I both like a hundred times more than Cheryl Cole.

- Somehow I completely missed Dannii Minogue’s alleged anti-bi slur against the last act, Danyl, who was so fantastic that he’s going to be very hard to beat. I think I was too busy being peeved with Louis Walsh’s comments against his performance of “And I Am Telling You“. Or maybe I took Danni’s comment at face value – since he’s been very vocally out in the tabs since his first rehearsal, he didn’t really need to change the gender references in the song.

I thought Simon Cowell was about to strangle someone at the end, but it seemed to be more because Danyl gave an incredible performance but was slated for it. If Dannii was truly implying something anti-queer (which would be attacking a big part of her and her sister’s own fanbases) she’ll apologize Sunday night. For some reason Danni’s the only judge that comes across really well for me, and I’m pretty sure that she’s genuinely kicking herself over that comment. Otherwise, it’s just the usual tabloid rubbish.

- The other really dramatic judge-fight of the night was over the second act, Kandy Rain, whose members have a pretty entertaining past history. Cheryl made a big deal about how little they were wearing. I don’t know how much folks in the US have ever seen of Cheryl’s group, Girls Aloud, but I haven’t seen them perform in anything more than embellished underwear since about 2004. Simon rightly pointed that out, and for Cheryl to get pissed about it is just hypocritical. I didn’t think I could like Cheryl less than I liked her last series, but tonight she seemed to think that having a winner last year gives her the room to become Simon. Not yet, dear.

- Robbie Williams was smart and kept most of his advice towards the stagecraft end of the mentoring. Which is something he would know about better than anyone (still has the largest 3-day total attendance in history for his Knebworth shows) and he actually managed to teach a few of the acts about. Jamie “Afro” Archer was the one I expected to learn the most and then blow us out with an energetic rendition of something like “Let Love Be Your Energy”. Jamie was actually my big disappointment of the night.

And I know that there’s a lot of crap said about Rob’s work since he ditched former writing partner Guy Chambers, most of which I disagree with. But I seriously don’t know why certain songs weren’t sung. “Angels” is one of the most popular pop ballads in history but requires a very wide range to sing (ex: David Archuleta’s butchering of it on “American Idol”) so not seeing anyone tackling it the first week was not a shock. But what about “Feel”? Or “Ghosts”? Or “A Place To Crash”? And I would’ve given good money to have heard Danyl sing “She’s Madonna”.

That said, Joseph did the best Rob cover with “No Regrets”. Second best was Olly with “She’s The One”, which is actually a cover itself, and Rachel the third best with a complete reworking of “Let Me Entertain You”. The worst by far was John and Edward’s bad karaoke rendition of “Rock DJ”. I’m halfway convinced that Louis hopes that the entire UK somehow mixes them with Ant and Dec and then votes for them. They made Sanjaya from AI sound like a maestro.

- Stacey is up there with Danyl amongst the ones to beat, just as long as she doesn’t talk. Someone Twittered that she sounds like Donna Noble on “Doctor Who”, which is the biggest insult I’ve ever heard against Donna. But she actually sang Coldplay better than Coldplay. After Diana Vickers’ butchering of “Yellow” last year, I was ready to ban them from further use in singing shows.

- Lucie was also a lovely singer, but I think she would be a wee bit better with a couple more years experience. Much the same could be said for the entire boys category, excluding Joseph.

Sunday night comes with Rob’s performance of his new single “Bodies”. And if John and Edward make it to next week, I’m giving this show up and will really suffer through “Strictly Come Dancing” for the rest of the year.

Edit: Since Jonathan was great enough to not post this before the Sunday final, I retract that final sentence. I have no idea how anyone could have voted for them, but I don’t think I should be punished for a few million people’s questionable taste. But seriously, someone please explain why the twins got through? Ireland can’t even vote, so it’s not that. There are lots of cute twins in the world, so it can’t be that. I don’t get it at all.

I rather enjoyed Kandy Rain, and I’m sad that I won’t get to see them on Diva Week dressed in birkas, because that’s the only way that Cheryl and Dannii would ever like them. Rachel should’ve never been in the bottom two in the first place. My bottom two would’ve been Rikki and Miss Frank.

And since all the talk on Twitter is folks convinced that Robbie Williams was high on something tonight, I will stand up for him. This was his first live show in three years. He’s known for messing up lyrics even at his best. And I think his reaction at the end was sheer “I made it through the song!” If you look back at the video where he really was undoubtedly high or drunk, it’s not the same. Give him some slack, guys.

Talking Telly: Things US TV Should Steal From the Telly, Pt. 1

Dana — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 18:39:15 +0000

I have been enjoying my nice, legally purchased access to UK telly, via UKTV2C.com, and I am making a lot of random finds and observations that I have as someone who has addictively watched American cable since first getting it in my 20’s. And I thing the Americans have stolen all the wrong ideas, like remaking UK sitcoms word for word (note: “The Office” never did that.) So here are some ideas I kinda gleaned from the old country. We’re in a recession, so steal what works.

1. 4Music Big Ones: Real, honest-to-God music videos. Like in those really fondly remembered days when MTV actually played videos? I was on Twitter on the day Michael Jackson died, and you should search for the Tweets about MTV playing old MJ tunes from back in the day when they ALWAYS had MJ on. But this channel actually mixes up Beyonce (I’d never heard her new single before, and the video made me like it much more than I ever liked “Single Ladies”, which I somehow managed to miss until the MTV Awards flap) with the new Whitney (obsv: She’s not what she was in the 1980’s, but I think I like what she’s now even more) with old school P1NK “Just Like A Pill” with my 2nd fave Brit song of the moment, Daniel Merriweather’s “Red” (haven’t seen “Bodies” by Robbie Williams yet) to James Morrison. It’s 1/3 cheese, 1/3 emo and 100 percent shameless. And I now have to get a Pixie Lott album.

2. Dave. At night on that network, they play marathons of panel shows. From “Mock the Week” to “Here Come the Buzzcocks” to “The Friday Night Project” tthe Holy Grail: “QI”. American cable networks, please meet Stephen Fry. He’s been in a ton of movies, has a life history that writes a bit like “The Great Gatsby” and is best mates with his former comedic double act, Hugh Laurie, whom American women tend to think is one of the sexiest men alive. Please, pick up his most enduring project.

I digress. Americans may not have enough panel shows to fully stock a whole channel even one night a week. The only shows I know who are even in the ballpark are “The Daily Show” and “The Colbert Report”, because they make fun of political things. Just buy the rights to “Mock the Week” and try to find six people who can make fun of the news apolitically and stick them on a set 30 minutes a week. There are people who would find that refreshing in the current environment. Then do a strictly entertainment-based one, and make sure it’s twice as funny as any “Best Week Ever” rerun could ever be.

3. SoapNet, meet “EastEnders” and “Coronation Street”. You should meet. You might really like each other.

Add your own ideas that you think Viacom and NBC Universal should pick up (Fox is already doing it — check out the Sky nets.) Or just tell me your idea of what you as an American have loved about British telly. If you think my ideas are rubbish, tell me.

Talking Telly: A Welcome Change In Direction For BBC America

Dana — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 21:49:12 +0000

Jack Davenport (who will forever be Steve from “Coupling” for me, but is probably Norrington from “Pirates of the Caribbean” for others) recently did an interview with The Daily Telegraph where he talked about his new ABC show “FlashForward”, which is performing really well for a new show and might actually be his “breaking America” role beyond the supporting movie role. But even more interesting is his thoughts about TV dramas in Britain and the US.

“Somewhere in the last 10 years, somewhere around The Sopranos or Six Feet Under on HBO, American [TV] drama became – easily – the best in the world,” Davenport says. “And now pretty much all big-budget movies are family films. If you want to tell any stories that are about adult relationships, television seems to be the only place to do it.” By contrast, Davenport sees a lack of creative ambition in modern British television drama. “We really are at the sharp end of multiculturalism: it’s a tiny country and people from all over the world now live in the UK. From a dramatist’s point of view, what a brilliant stew of stuff to explore,” he says. “And yet, you know, it’s all about The X Factor. We can mine Charles Dickens’s back catalogue for a little while longer, but there’s a reluctance to commission things that hold a mirror up to nature. I think we’re missing a trick.”

He has a point. Having recently gotten real time access to British telly in real-time from UKTV2C.com (which works GREAT with a SlingPlayer on an iPod Touch, FYI) the drama pickings seem to be slim without “Torchwood” around. “Waking the Dead”, “Kingdom” and British soaps seem to dominate the serial shows unless you’re really into Agatha Christie. Everything else weighty seems to be a documentary.

But the simple math is that both the BBC and ITV are having major budget troubles. Even keeping the talent for their main staple du jour – reality shows and game shows – has gotten painful. Graham Norton had to take a 500,000 pound paycut to stay at the BBC, and it’s rumored in the tabs that Ant and Dec will either do the same at ITV or go it alone with their production company. Carol Voldeman, who I would compare in stature with Paula Abdul in the UK but who has not done anything remotely controversial, left “Countdown” (a gameshow that’s been on for a loooooong time in England) left the show earlier this year after Channel 4 bosses demanded that she take a 90 percent paycut to stay on the show.

And these are happening with formats that are relatively cheap to produce. Dramas demand location shoots, much more crew and paying for talent that is good enough to handle the material. There is a reason that “Doctor Who” and “Torchwood” have been made by BBC Wales – Cardiff is a cheaper place to shoot. Moreover, those two shows have basically gotten half-series orders for the year – partly to accommodate the schedules of David Tennant (halfway out the door and having done a West End play and a movie) and John Barrowman (he’s hosted at least two game shows and one documentary) and more likely because they just need to save the money.

But there’s one way to completely reboot the way that dramas and other shows are made for UK networks – split the cost with an American co-production company.

The following announcement was made on Facebook by BBC America this morning:

Primeval will be returning for another season on BBC America. For those who want more details: Original co-production partners ITV, ProSieben and BBC Worldwide return to co-fund the new series, with BBC Worldwide becoming the majority funding partner. BBC AMERICA, takes on a full co-production credit for the first time and UKTV becomes a first-time investor.

If you keep up with such things, “Primeval” was canceled by ITV just a couple of months ago, with budget cuts being blamed. “Primeval”, much like “Torchwood”, was a bigger American hit than it was in the UK, and judging from the reaction of fans at Dragon*Con, there was a lot of disappointment.

BBC America recently changed their strategy with how they deal with British programming by only having a couple of week’s lag time between the UK and US on established shows, so this seems like the first investment they’re making in actually taking over and funding a drama to keep it on the air on both continents, hopefully on the same airing schedule.

While I’m not a “Primeval” fan, I am thrilled with the news. For one thing, the BBC is willing to invest in a show that originated and will be aired by a rival. Second, it indicates that the network behind BBC America – the Discovery Channel – is willing to drop a chunk of change into a show to keep it on the air.

For British dramas, this might be just the thing that’s needed to pump up the number on the air. Such a deal could easily fund a full order of “Torchwood”, although with the way the “Children of Earth” miniseries ended, that could prompt some major changes in cast and venue (another puzzle piece – John Barrowman’s golden handcuffs deal with the BBC is almost over.) Other popular BBC America staples like “Ashes To Ashes” could get a jumpstart with their own deals.

The possibilities are endless for the comedy side of things. Could the new show that Ant and Dec’s own production company are readying for this winter get a chance at both BBC America and ITV? Considering how popular they’ve proven themselves to be in the UK, they deserve more of a chance than they got at ABC. And have I mentioned Stephen Fry yet? He’s got a huge following in the US, has two BBC travelogue shows that have never aired in the States (one of which is ABOUT America) and has an ITV show that’s also not aired here. Give him a deal, bring “Kingdom” over and then start mining that gold mine of material that he and Hugh Laurie have in their back catalogues.

A lot of this is wishful thinking and conjuration on my part. However, for those of us who have stuck by BBCA through the years of endless “Ground Force” and “Changing Rooms” marathons, any flash of light is good. And maybe in time the bigger American networks will notice the audiences that UK talent bring in and will actually invest in the original instead of trying to remake it and failing. *bows head for “Life On Mars” and “Coupling”*

Talking Telly: A Surprising Beginning to ‘The X Factor’

Dana — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 13:15:08 +0000

This is only the second series of “The X Factor” I’ve even attempted to watch. To be honest, last year’s competition was a lot like “American Idol” has become – lots of manufactured drama with the singers and the judges and not so much real talent. And Simon Cowell looked as bored as I was. Seriously, any show where the focus is on what the two female judges wear to any given show gets more press than the acts themselves should be worried.

But at least for the audition stage, new life was breathed into the show this year because Cowell learned a big lesson from “Britain’s Got Talent” – a live audience for the tryouts is much more entertaining than just four judges and the talent. And also surprisingly, the audience actually gave a lot of support to the bad acts. While Cowell rolled his eyes, Louis Walsh winced and Danni Minogue and Cheryl Cole tried their hardest to show some sort of facial expression, the audience would sing along, wave their arms and cheer the act off the stage after they got their two minutes.

“The X Factor” has not touched BGT in some ways. For one thing, Ant and Dec have a far more positive impact on that show than Dermot O’Leary does. It’s not surprising that O’Leary is aiming for an American show, because he’s an awful lot like Ryan Seacrest. Some people think that Ant and Dec try to take the show over on BGT, but I would compare them to the HG sauce that you might put on your beans and toast. You don’t know why, but the sauce adds some extra zip to a bland meal. Dermot, on the other hand, is a bit like mayonnaise – you know it’s there but it doesn’t add much to the dish.

I’m a little concerned that all the fun of the auditions is going to end next week as the finalists face Boot Camp. After that, the main structural difference of “The X Factor” compared to “American Idol” is that each judge is given a different “category” full of contestants to mentor – the boys, the girls, the groups and the over-25’s. That judge takes their contestants “home” with them, which left one group with Cowell in Barbados while another got sent to Ireland with Walsh. Each judge brings a “friend” to help them pick out which acts will go to the final 12 as they go back to live studio audiences and viewer voting.

At that point the show becomes much more like AI, except that the judge/mentors pick out the songs for their acts and subsequently fight with each other over that. Each week has a different music act as its theme, just like AI. Last season had Take That with their new album, and this season Robbie Williams will be on the show with his. And if this year’s show winds up with finalists as boring as last year’s, Rob’s week will be the last one I’m interested .

The ultimate winner of the show usually gets the Christmas No. 1 single afterwards, which is kinda unfair to other acts, and culminates in the winner slagging off their mentor as they ultimately don’t have a big singing career. The only XF contestant to ever “break America” was Leona Lewis.

Talking Telly: Random TV Nuggets From Dragon*Con

Dana — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 15:29:35 +0000

Boy, there’s nothing like writing a first column to give me writer’s block. There is so much about British TV to talk about that it’s hard to nail down stuff like the ultimate show or what show you should never, ever watch (that’s Big Brother). So for now I’m going to talk about what me and everyone else talked about on the Brit Track last week.

- Of course, with Gareth David-Lloyd on the Torchwood panels, the mood was a bit more somber than it normally would’ve been for such a panel. I was one of several who said that Ianto could somehow be brought back. My personal theory is that Jack took him with him to the space capsule and is now looking for the TARDIS to work its magic. That would be appropriate, since Ianto joined Torchwood to save his girlfriend Lisa.

But I have been told by several that such a scenario would cheapen the end of Torchwood: Children of Earth, who said that Jack needed a heartbreaking finish to make him want to give up Torchwood and Earth forever (okay, doesn’t the
fact that he killed his grandson fit the bill?) And I’ve also been told that it’s just a story and to move on. Fair enough.

Gareth looked much different than he did last year. It probably felt pretty good to give up the razor and the suit and tie for a bit. He sounds like he’s optimistic, and the whole reaction to CoE may do some amazing things for his career, especially in the US.

- Speaking of US careers, the big rumour of the weekend was that David Tennant has tested for roles in The Hobbit and is first choice to be the Riddler in the next Batman movie. Nice work if he can get it. I’m personally waiting for his role as a villain in the second St. Trinians movie. If you haven’t seen the first, watch it NOW.

- I heard the evil rumour that they’re in pre-development of an American version of Black Books. By the love of all that is good and holy, this must not happen. At least without Dylan Moran, who would be judged as someone who Americans couldn’t understand. Which is a weird double standard in my book. Tennant and Russell Brand and a TON of Brits have managed to cross the pond without people starting the whole “Americans would get sick of their accent” excuse. I understand Moran (and Ant and Dec, who got mentioned in that same group) and I have an accent myself. Almost everyone I know all over the world has one, and somehow we manage to understand each other. That’s an old, tired excuse.

- There is an American version of No Heroics coming, and that has the possibility of actually being really good. Basically, it’s about a world where people with superhero powers exist and a bar where they must not use them.

- We had a great discussion about all the songs we discovered or got hooked on via Secret Diary of a Call Girls. Kate Nash should send Billie Piper a fruit basket.

- There was much dissension over the look of the 11th Doctor (who had a surprising number of cosplayers — between him and 10, they may have had the most people in the same costumes overall at the con.) I have and will continue calling him TwilightDoctor until I am convinced he’s not. No, Moffat’s statements haven’t convinced me yet. He also said his Doctor was going to be older.

- There are a LOT of Top Gear fans here. Seriously. That show took up at least 10 minutes of the “Is Your Comedy Being Served” panel.

- Not a lot of love for BBC America at times, and the hint that the BBC may be setting up for a global network that lets folks watch Brit shows in America got a great reaction. And just in case the BBC doesn’t realize what it’s missing, there were dozens of people who said they’d pay the license fee to get shows over here.

- During the “Inside the BBC” panel, there was discussion about how little money is available for new shows right now, and how a lot of the “golden handcuffed” stars will have to take a drastic paycut to stay with their network. Graham Norton’s pondering a move to ITV or Channel 4, Ant and Dec are up for renewal and will either take a big cut or leave ITV, and Jonathan Ross is lucky if they leave a few crisps on his desk every morning.

That’s it for now. For this week’s homework, try to get your hands on As Seen On TV and contemplate how much better of an American show it would be than Black Books. It’s a wonderful panel show where they discuss both current TV happenings and a bit of vintage stuff, too.

Introducing Talking Telly by Dana Franks

Dana — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 17:51:02 +0000

Anglotopia has landed another fantastic columnist! I met Dana at DragonCon when we did a panel together for BritTrack. Her passion for British TV and British Culture floored me and I knew she’d be a perfect fit for Anglotopia. Dana is going to write a regular column about British TV called “Talking Telly.” I’ll step aside and let Dana introduce herself with her Anglophile Story. Welcome Dana!

I always kind of grew up feeling like I was born in the wrong place. I grew up in the South, where sweet iced tea is the drink of choice. Me, I was making my own cuppa hot tea long before Starbucks and Tazo introduced it to the masses. When I was in high school, I was lucky enough that the local pop station started playing the Pet Shop Boys on heavy rotation. Every single mix tape I ever made back then had every PSB hit from “West End Girls” to “What Have I Done To Deserve This” to (my favorite, because how many English electronic acts cover Willie Nelson?) “Always On My Mind”. And in high school, I was always attempting to send myself off to boarding school, just simply because the British way of doing that made sense to me.

Many, many years down the road, I found myself with hard drives and iPods full of Britpop. On my desk next to me is a promo CD of Robbie Williams’ “Rock DJ” that I picked up at a used CD sale in LA in 2002, and over time my love of Robbie sucked me into British culture in a HUGE way. And I found myself watching classic British telly shows like “Fawlty Towers” and “Keeping Up Appearances” on PBS (if that show ever had ever been turned into an American version, my mama would be perfect. And after becoming a huge fan of the Fox show “House”, I was reminded that Hugh Laurie was another British comedian who I had enjoyed through Jeeves and Woosters. Once when I had surgery, a friend mailed me a tape of the best of “A Bit of Fry and Laurie” that was both great and painful to watch, because the laughter wasn’t appreciated by my recently removed gallbladder.

There’s so much more that I could write about the shows and music that pulled me into true Anglophile addiction, like getting sucked into real Robbie Williams fandom with his live performance DVD’s during another illness, and then becoming addicted to British online radio. And Ant and Dec, who I adore (shuddup). And the whole matter of Torchwood, which will go down in history as one of the best sci-fi dramas in history, and of course, the Doctor himself. But if I keep writing, this will turn into a book and not a post.

So expect to hear more from me about what I’m watching (in case anyone thinks I would ever illegally download shows, I have built my own TARDIS, thankyouverymuch) and what I’d like to see more of, like quiz panels like QI getting picked up in America. I appreciate that there are others out there who hopefully want to pop in and agree or disagree.

Anglotopia » Talking Telly

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