Archive for the ‘ITV 4’ Category
Tuesday, November 28th, 2006
When you hear that the BBC is "incandescent with rage" about something, you know it’s big news! Well, that news is the defection of Michael Grade who has gone from being the top dog at the Beeb to *gulp* the big cheese at rivals ITV.
"I wouldn’t have bet any money on this happening at all," media analyst Ray Snoddy told Sky News. "I can only think that someone has offered him a great deal of money indeed." As well as addressing the issue of declining advertising revenues at ITV, Grade – a long-term critic of BSkyB – will have to manage relations between failed ITV bidder Richard Branson and the satellite company, which recently took a 17.9% stake in the company. It’s all go!
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Posted in BBC 1, BBC 2, BBC 3, BBC 4, ITV 1, ITV 2, ITV 3, ITV 4, TV News | Comments Off
Friday, November 24th, 2006
Rupert Murdoch. It would seem that the world isn’t able to decide whether Murdoch is a megalomaniac media mogul hellbent on destroying the Earth, or just a rich guy who wants to get richer. Either way, news of his acquisition of shares in ITV has ruffled a few feathers.
Sir Richard Branson, another disgustingly wealthy man, told BBC One’s This Week programme that he has called on MPs to work together to "take a step back and decide if they need to break up the News Corporation ‘empire’".
He said: "What I fear is that some of the worst aspects of America could be imported into Britain, particularly if we have one press baron that controls the bulk of British media."
Branson added that James Murdoch and the ITV board are in talks over sharing film and sports rights: "They’ve been talking about film rights. They’ve been talking about football rights. As the biggest shareholder, (Murdoch) will have enormous influence over ITV. The reason that NTL wanted to buy ITV was to try to have a balance. Murdoch can go out and bid for football rights. It will be very difficult for us to compete."
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Posted in ITV 1, ITV 2, ITV 3, ITV 4, Telly Tech, TV News | Comments Off
Thursday, October 12th, 2006
Next week is a good week on the box for movie lovers, so choosing one film to recommend was quite tough. In the end it was Al Pacino’s riveting performance as Cuban emigré Tony Montana that swung it for me. Supported by equally strong appearances from Robert Loggia and two of my favourite women in film – Michelle Pfeiffer and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio – this is not an easy film to watch (at at 200 minutes, it’s not a short film to watch either!) but by the end of it you’re left in no doubt about the price of clawing your way to power in the seedy world of Colombian drug dealing.
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Posted in ITV 4 | 1 Comment »
Thursday, August 17th, 2006
They don’t make them like The Champions any more. A classic ITC show from the 60s, it featured three agents of the international ‘Nemesis’ organisation travelling around the world fighting dastardly evil-doers. And good old ITV4 is repeating it again, starting at 6pm tonight.
What lifted The Champions out of the ordinary and made it just so fun to watch was its premise. You’ll need to being sitting down for this one.
Our three heroes’ plane crash-lands in Tibet during the first episode. On the point of death, they get rescued by a lost civilisation, which saves their lives. But their rescuers do more. They ‘enhance’ them to the limit of human abilities. They make them as smart as Einstein, as strong as Olympic champions, able to hear the slightest sound, see in the dark and more; they even get a form of shared ESP.
I told you you’d need to be sitting down for it.
Technorati Tags: The Champions, ITC
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Tags: ITC, The Champions
Posted in ITV 4, Nostalgia Corner, Sci Fi, TV Reviews, Webwatch | No Comments »
Tuesday, March 7th, 2006
Ricky Gervais never struck me as a California dreamer. But then, nor did Morrissey. Now Moz has morphed into a T-bird-driving LA boy, and it looks like we’re also losing Gervais to the homeland of MC Hammer.
First there was the US Office scripting favour, the Golden Globe and the spot in Ben Stiller’s new flick. Then the hob-nobbing with Larry David and the Simpsons cameo. And tonight, Ricky makes his seventh appearance on The Late Show with David Letterman. Seventh? That’s just greedy.
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Posted in Comedy, Digital and satellite, Imports, ITV 4, Set the Vid | No Comments »
Friday, February 10th, 2006
Following its excellent work with Larry Sanders, ITV4 has rescued everyone’s favourite Pigsy-starring primal buddhist dubfest and given it a new weekly pre-pub slot.
To mark its magical second coming, here be Monkeyfacts:
1. If you type ‘Monkey’ into IMDb.com, the first result is Elijah Wood.
2. Jason Priestley is making a show for CBS called Love Monkey. We don’t think it’s about Monkey.
3. Pigsy was actually three people, like God. Toshiyuki Nishida played him in S1, Tonpei Hidari in S2, and he was dubbed by Peter Woodthorpe.
After the break: More Monkeyfacts, and where to buy a Pigsy outfit
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Posted in Drama, Imports, ITV 4, Sci Fi, Set the Vid | 1 Comment »
Wednesday, January 4th, 2006
Would Fawlty Towers have gone rubbish if Cleese & co hadn’t stopped after 12 episodes?
Of course it would. (Exhibit A: Only Fools and Horses.) You can only stretch a gag so far, which is why Ricky Gervais culled The Office after two and a bit series. And, gawd rest yer soul Dermot Morgan, but it’s unlikely that Father Ted would have maintained its momentum much longer.
But that doesn’t stop fans wishing for their favourite shows to schlep on forever. Star Trek, Buffy and Friends top a new poll of dead progs that people want to see resurrected, with Fawlty Towers and Seinfeld close behind.
After the break: Why these voters are insane
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Posted in Comedy, Digital and satellite, Drama, Imports, ITV 4, Sci Fi | Comments Off
Wednesday, December 28th, 2005
As Katie Holmes has recently discovered, fame brings with it the risk that you’ll attract obsessional freaks.
A woman who claimed that David Letterman sent her "coded messages" via The Late Show won a restraining order against him earlier this month.
Happily the judge, who issued the bizarre order, yesterday lifted it and Dave is now allowed to go within three yards of his accuser, whom he’s never met. Bet he’s delighted.
After the break: Code words, gestures and "eye expressions"
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Posted in Comedy, Imports, ITV 4, TV News | Comments Off
Friday, December 23rd, 2005
When Richard Franklin Lennox Thomas Pryor III died two weeks ago, the 289,455 freshly-minted TV mags littering a whole wall of your local Asda suddenly looked a bit dated.
ITV4 had already changed the name of the 2003 Comedy Central doc I Ain’t Dead Yet, #*%$#@!! (exact spelling) to the more granny-friendly Richard Pryor: I Ain’t Dead Yet. It has now changed it again, to the more accuracy-friendly Richard Pryor: A Tribute.
* Richard Pryor: A Tribute (aka I Ain’t Dead Yet, #*%$#@!!), ITV4, tonight at 11.50pm
After the break: About I Ain’t Dead Yet, and choice Richquotes
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Posted in Comedy, Imports, ITV 4, Set the Vid | Comments Off
Thursday, December 1st, 2005
ABC’s Geena-goes-to-Washington drama Commander in Chief has caused so much excitement in the UK press that you must be wondering when it’ll be shown over here. Ha.
According to US telly blog TV Squad, Commander in Chief has done well enough to win a recommission and the attentions of Steven Bochco. But UK channels aren’t interested. "It’s too American," said buyers at the recent Cannes TV Festival, understandably wishing to preserve the quality of UK television. Meanwhile in another room, C4 announced the return of Noel Edmonds.
After the break: TV Scoop’s Import Wish List
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Posted in Channel 4, Imports, ITV 4, More4, TV News | Comments Off
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