Media secretary James Purnell MP has told broadcasters to move on from the controversies that have dogged the TV industry this year. Purnell, who was speaking at the Royal Television Society Cambridge Convention, said that TV produced in this country was something to be proud of, and that it was the content that would “win out”.
Purnell urged broadcasters to draw the “right lessons” from recent controversies, commenting that they need to “respect their audience”, who expect a certain standard from UK broadcasting. “You [broadcasters] need to put your house in order, and if you don’t there will be a clamour for Ofcom and the BBC Trust to take further action… I do think people feel let down. But you only get to feel let down if you hold something in high regard in the first place,” he said.
With the Emmys being handed out on Sunday/Monday (depending on where you live), TV Scoop takes a look at some of the British shows looking to take home an award.
BBC’s sumptuous literary adaptation of Charlotte Brontë’s classic Jane Eyre leads the pack with nine nominations. These sadly don’t include any acting nods for stars Ruth Wilson as our heroine or Toby Stephens as the broody Rochester. Instead they acknowledge the art direction, casting, cinematography, costumes, direction, sound mixing, writing and hairstyling. Yes, hairstyling. The prestigious Emmys are all about who has a nice fringe.
Flicking through the TV channels on a Saturday morning, I never fail to be surprised by the absence of children’s programming. There is an attempt to amuse the nippers on BBC2 and about half an hour’s worth of kid’s TV on ITV – but nothing compared to the lengthy magazine shows of my youth. Where once I could snuggle up in my pyjamas and watch Pip Schofield talk to a hand puppet on Going Live, now there are more and more cookery shows (Saturday Kitchen, Rachel’s Favourite Food for Living, Saturday Cooks!) Who is looking to learn recipes first thing on a weekend morning and why have children been relegated to marginal programming?
Taking a closer look at the children’s TV offered up on a Saturday morning, over 80% of the shows screened on CBBC are repeats, while the percentage is nearer 90% on Five. I know that kids might not rally against such details – but if this statistic were true of adult programming there would be a public outcry. Why should children be fed recycled shows and their entertainment treated so flippantly?
I’m not a betting lady myself (too few pennies to go risking them), but for those of you who like a flutter, the Emmys could be worth a few bob. So if you would like the chance to exercise your superior television knowledge and perhaps make some money, here are some of the odds being offered on the American awards ceremony by Bet365.
Warning: If you lose out and have to hand over your house to debtors, sell your children into slavery and get a job cleaning the poles at a strip club – please don’t blame me. This is only meant as a bit of fun and in no way endorses people to hand their lives over to an all-consuming gambling problem. On the other hand, if you make some serious money taking a punt – just remember who tipped you off, eh?
With ITV bracing itself for a £2.8m fine for the GMTV premium-rate phone-in scandal and the news that ITV are to scrap ITVPlay, it seems that the days of phone-in competitions are well and truly numbered. We reported on the Blue Peter fix, the scandal surrounding Brainteaser and Richard and Judy… and we all secretly cheered that these robbing gits were finally being punished. Hefty fines were handed out and tails were promptly popped between legs.
We know that Ofcom hit the broadcasters hard… but were does the money go? We all blindly accept that it disappears to somewhere just and true when really, this could all be going into the coffers of some bloke in a suit all set for some very swanky holiday for him and all his mates. Having a trawl around the ‘net, no answers were immediately forthcoming. So where is it going?
I was quite surprised to read on Chortle this week that the viewing figures for Channel 4 sitcom The IT Crowd rose by one million due to it being sandwiched between Big Brother shows. This after John reported that Heroes lost 900,000 viewers for its second episode, with many only having watched the show’s debut due to its being scheduled after a Top Gear special. And so I ask you Scoopers – why do people have a hard time reaching for the remote?
Industry bods pay a lot of attention to scheduling (especially in the States) as the specific slotting of a show can help make or break it. This is evidenced again by the promoting of programmes from BBC2 (arty, populist) to BBC1 (mainstream, popular). Comedies like Little Britain and The Office are often upgraded from the marginal audiences of the Beeb’s secondary channel to the warm, welcome embrace of ratings success over on One, a change that always results in increased audiences.
Not the 2002 remake which, although it obviously had much better effects, didn’t have an awful lot to do with H.G.Wells’ sci-fi classic, but the 1960 original starring Rod Taylor which, for all its dated effects and clunky props still can’t be beaten both for keeping to the master’s narrative and delivering on the emotion of the story.
This was Rod Taylor’s first lead role after playing many supports and he went on to long-term success with a career that continues right up to this year with his role in Kaw, and includes such well-known roles as Mitch Brenner in Hitchcock’s The Birds, the voice of Pongo in Disney’s 101 Dalmatians and more recently Frank Agretti in Falcon Crest. Time Machine also provided a breakout role for Yvette Mimieux as the Eloi girl Weena
The Emmys are coming later this month, but E! the entertainment channel has already handed out their honours to celebrate the best in today’s TV. The Tater Top Awards are voted for by the public and so are happily absent any nauseating industry back-slapping. The awards being American means that none of our top shows are present, but they do provide an interesting insight into what US audiences enjoy, and when we get most of their best stuff imported anyway – who’s complaining?
Plot spoiler warning: You might want to look away if you have not yet seen the most recent seasons of any of these shows: Lost, Heroes, Grey’s Anatomy, The Sopranos, The Office, Veronica Mars, The Gilmour Girls, Battlestar Galactica. There are explicit details revealed and we would hate to ruin any future story-lines for you.
The third season of House came to a close on Five last night (*blub*) with a double-bill. I don’t know why they aired two episodes back to back though as it wasn’t a two-parter, just the normal self-enclosed instalments we’ve come to know and love. That’s not to sound ungrateful – House is brilliant and any time I spend with those characters is precious, I just wish Five hadn’t felt the need to rush through the final moments. Even though I’m already writing news on the cast for next series (see the story here), I so wanted the third season to end correctly.
The first episode entitled ‘The Jerk’ saw a chess whizz kid admitted to the hospital having violently attacked his gaming opponent. While the victim suffered wounds that would easily heal, Nate, the jerk of the title had severe head pains that House and his team struggled to diagnose. With an inability to censor his dialogue, 16-year-old Nate was obnoxious and rude to all his attending physicians and ignored his mother when she would attempt to intervene. Was his mean and inappropriate behaviour a symptom of his condition or was he simply a bit of a brat? If only we had a genius doctor that could help…
Channel Five is to examine women’s body obsessions in a five-part series that it claims will crack open beauty taboos. My Body Hell is part of the channel’s new autumn slate, which will be unveiled in Edinburgh tomorrow. The series will feature a different body issue in each episode, such as body hair, spots, breasts and cellulite and will also look at the weight-loss issue by seeing if it is possible to drop a dress size in a week, as well as live on a strict celebrity diet regime.
Real-life stories will include the woman with Britain’s biggest breasts and another whose bust is covered in hair, as well as celebrities undertaking a series of beauty experiments, such as Liberty X singer Michelle Heaton going to a premiere without her makeup and fake tan, and Alex Best having a “bum facial”.
Doesn’t the internet through up some weird ‘n’ wonderful gems? Rhetorical questions aside, my newfound enthusiasm for blindly searching online has led me to a site with the most novel way of looking at the success of a TV show. I might be a latecomer to this website, but on the off chance that you haven’t met it yet either, TV Scoopers please may I introduce you to Jump the Shark.
Jump the Shark describes its mantra thus: ‘It’s a moment. A defining moment when you know that your favourite television programme has reached its peak. The instant that you know from now on… it’s all downhill. Some call it the climax. We call it jumping the shark.’ The site examines various TV shows, inviting readers to debate whether their programme is guilty and must be punished or has cheerily brandished a get-out-of-jail-free card and made its escape. But how can a show recapture its former glories and stave off cancellation or the departure of its fan base? Simple: the special guest star.
We’ve often lamented the state of British drama on our TV screens here at the Scoop and it seems that we’re not alone. Screenwriter Tony Marchant, he of The Mark of Cain (pictured left) and Holding On, has been mouthing off about the dramas clogging our airwaves and has sent out a personal plea to commissioners to broaden their horizons.
Speaking to The Stage, Marchant fumed: ‘TV drama is pretty lame at the moment. Is that because commissioners have created such a risk-averse atmosphere writers don’t feel confident or liberated with their own material? Are they holding back, are they giving commissioners what they think they want? Or is it simply that most writers are crap? That is what you would think if you watched television. You would have to say the vast majority of work that is put out there is badly written and unoriginal.’
The E! Channel airs celebrity gossip-based programming around the clock, but shows on featuring Britney Spears is sleeping with or how many shots Lindsay Lohan downed before getting behind the wheel has never been the fare of the mainstream. Five will be hoping to change all that now they have picked up Hollywood Uncensored for its Five Life digital channel.
The show is hosted by EL Woody (pictured right), the ‘king of paparazzi’ and has a news-magazine format for all of its gossipy goodness. For those familiar with the aforementioned E! Channel, this show could be of interest as it promises similarly saucy scoops and Hollywood buzz. The 26 episode series will broadcast in the autumn, which looking at the weather outside my window is pretty much now – ggrr.
Reviewing Cosmos made me think of all those TV science programmes of yesteryear, some of which are still with us albeit in reduced form (either in frequency or quality of content). I’m not thinking of the one-off series such as Attenborough’s mighty Planet Earth, which won our “Best TV moments of 2006” series, but more of the science “strands” – programmes like Tomorrow’s World and Horizon that week after week could be counted on to deliver something of scientific interest presented in an accessible form for those with a thirst for understanding. So my question is…
Last week’s episode ended with my eyes bugging out and my jaw gaping in a manner somewhat less than attractive. Why? Because Foreman had tendered his resignation to House and was looking to flee the hospital before he became any more like his grouchy mentor – that’s why. This week’s instalment picked up where the previous one ended and Foreman was under scrutiny for his decision.
Chase persistently endeavoured to identify the reason why Foreman was off and was intrigued that neither the departing doc nor House would tell him why. Cameron was less pushy and was rewarded for her patience, with Foreman opening up to her with his private motivations. Whether he will actually leave is still anyone’s guess, with House seeming confident that he won’t. He accused Foreman of secretly wishing to stay, but during the course of the episode Foreman seemed even more appalled by House’s behaviour than normal. And, as we know, normal for him is pretty bad.
It’s not often that I feel at all invested in the romantic shenanigans of celebrities. After all – what do they care what us mere mortals get up to? It’s odd then that I feel quite saddened at the news that House co-stars Jennifer Morrison (Dr. Allison Cameron) and Jesse Spencer (Dr. Robert Chase) have called off their engagement. I guess that through my overwhelming love of the show I had developed unprecedented soft-spots for the two doctors and had gotten all slushy and soppy. That’ll teach me.
The actors released a joint statement to People magazine saying that “after much consideration, we have decided not to get married. We are still very close, and we look forward to continuing to work together on House.” The nosey neighbour in me wants to know if they’ve broken up for good or are, to adopt the classic phrase “taking things slowly.” If they have entered Splitsville, working alongside each other could prove a bit weird especially considering the romantic ups and downs of the couple onscreen. Maybe the writers should just kill one of them off…
Watching the James Woods legal drama, I never fail to be surprised by the choice of theme tune. The theme tune can be an essential part of a programme’s success or failure. You hate the music, chances are you might reach for that remote. Enjoy the theme song, maybe even hum along, and you’re pulled in for the duration. The Shark theme song fails because it is completely at odds with the content of the show itself.
Like many US shows, we have a few expository scenes prior to the opening credits and in Shark these are the start of the legal case. They often involve a gruesome crime scene, a bloodied body and the ruin of many lives. We’ve seen a cop murder, a teenage rape and a serial killer – note, the brutally realistic and not very cheery tone of these subject matters. Only no-one seems to have told whoever is responsible for the intro, as when the music kicks in it is one of bouncy optimism. The images depict a sunny L.A. with glamourous high-rise buildings, lawyers looking very dynamic mid courtroom speeches and central character Sebastian Stark playing poker with his chums.
A bombshell was dropped at the close of last night’s House and I’m still reeling from the effects. I told you how distressed Foreman was last week after losing a patient due to his mistake. Well, despite House’s confidence that he would bounce back from the incident, Foreman’s commitment to his profession had been rocked to its very core. And I mean an 8.5 on the Richter scale.
This was to be his episode, with Chase’s pursuit of Cameron reduced to background noise and the Cuddy/House/Wilson saga long-forgotten. That is not to say that Foreman swamped the screen or smothered the action rather we knew that this new medical case was critical for him in a way that the others couldn’t imagine.
In America, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation is one of the biggest shows currently airing, with William Petersen the 6th highest paid star in TV land. In the UK, it is hidden away late at night on Five – go figure. The forensics team returns tonight in their sixth outing after the fifth season finale which left fans exhausted by the race to save heartthrob Nick. Tonight’s instalment kicks off with the explosion of a trailer which arouses the team’s suspicions, while Grissom receives unexpected evidence about the identity of Nick’s kidnapper.
Now, like Law and Order: SVU which began again on Five, we are pretty behind matters in the US and so I am going to keep schtum in fear of divulging any plot spoilers. I will however admit to chuckling over the shampoo commercials by George Eads (Nick). I’ll bet those don’t see the light of day in America.
How’s this for a medical show crossover? Last night’s episode of House was directed by Paul McCrane, better known to ER fans as the grumpy, ginger-but-balding Dr. Romano. Such details – it’s all in the details people. Recently House has taken a shift into the romantic lives of the docs, with the on/off shenanigans between Chase and Cameron and the possible whiff of attraction between Wilson and Cuddy. And though this more personal approach remained, it turned less amorous, more interfering.
I have wondered why House is obsessed between what, if anything, is transpiring between chum Wilson and boss Cuddy and last night left us no closer to solving the riddle. By asking Cuddy to the theatre in last week’s episode, I had interpreted this as sexual interest in her from House and I had believed this suspicion to be confirmed in the opening few minutes of last night’s instalment. But those clever writers – they take you in one direction, just to ditch you on the side of the road and race off without you.
Media secretary James Purnell MP has told broadcasters to move on from the controversies that have dogged the TV industry this year. Purnell, who was speaking at the Royal Television Society Cambridge Convention, said that TV produced in this country was something to be proud of, and that it was the content that would “win out”.
With ITV bracing itself for a £2.8m fine for the GMTV premium-rate phone-in scandal and the news that ITV are to scrap ITVPlay, it seems that the days of phone-in competitions are well and truly numbered. We reported on 
Not the 2002 remake which, although it obviously had much better effects, didn’t have an awful lot to do with H.G.Wells’ sci-fi classic, but the 1960 original starring Rod Taylor which, for all its dated effects and clunky props still can’t be beaten both for keeping to the master’s narrative and delivering on the emotion of the story.
Channel Five is to examine women’s body obsessions in a five-part series that it claims will crack open beauty taboos. My Body Hell is part of the channel’s new autumn slate, which will be unveiled in Edinburgh tomorrow. The series will feature a different body issue in each episode, such as body hair, spots, breasts and cellulite and will also look at the weight-loss issue by seeing if it is possible to drop a dress size in a week, as well as live on a strict celebrity diet regime.
From:Coronation Street fans apply here