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2009

Saturday, January 2, 2010 by · 7 Comments 

As 2009 wraps up, and the “best of the noughties” appraisals get under way, what, if anything, from the decade’s final 12 months will be brought into focus?  Incredibly it seems, 2009 was the year of Simon Cowell, who having been involved in talent shows for most of the last 10 years, still has something left to keep him at the top of the TV hierarchy.  Will his luck run out in 2010, or is Cowell’s renewed dominance merely a sign that 2009 has been a year in which very little has truly emerged on the small screen to create the kind of impact his shows muster? Read more

“For the Love of Christ!”

Thursday, February 19, 2009 by · 2 Comments 

Callan’s off to Walford. Read more

2008

Thursday, January 1, 2009 by · 9 Comments 

When TV pundits of the future look back at 2008 (a process that is sure to start in earnest in just over 12 months time as we begin the second decade of the 21st century), what will they make of the year just gone?  2008 brought us Rock Rivals, The One and Only, The Invisibles, Harley Street and The Duchess in Hull - five utterly forgettable series destined for curiosity status almost straight away.  Yet wasn’t this too the year of Lark Rise to Candleford and a resurgent The X-Factor?  Viewed in the context of the decade as a whole how will 2008 fare? Will it be seen as a significant year or 12 months that slipped through the cracks of television’s wider historical development? Read more

Timey-wimey’s up for David

Wednesday, October 29, 2008 by · Comments Off 

David Tennant is quitting his role in Doctor Who.

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Jeff’s spelling?

Tuesday, October 14, 2008 by · 9 Comments 

Is Jeff Stelling really going to inherit the Countdown presenter’s chair from Des O’ Connor? Read more

Farm titles

Friday, January 25, 2008 by · Comments Off 

Does anybody know the reason why the production team have introduced episode titles for Emmerdale? Is there any point in doing this for a soap, given that they are by their very nature, ephemeral? It is difficult to imagine even the most dedicated soap fan referring to individual episodes by a title. You just don’t remember individual episodes of soaps, you remember the big storylines, or the famous characters. I believe that Neighbours also does something similar these days.

2007

Tuesday, January 1, 2008 by · Comments Off 

So how do you begin looking back on a year in which television went completely evil?

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Grade one tinkering at ITV

Wednesday, September 12, 2007 by · Comments Off 

It looks like Michael Grade is making his mark at ITV. BBC News reports that he plans to double spending on content to £1.2 billion by 2012, scrapping those awful late-night money-raking quiz “programmes” and merging some of ITV’s smaller regional news services. Getting rid of the quiz rip-offs has to be a good move (not because they are appalling programming by the way, but because “negative publicity… has seen call volumes drop to uneconomic levels”), but is merging the regions wise? Hasn’t regional identity been diluted enough as a result of corporate branding?

Kudos to Kudos

Thursday, May 24, 2007 by · Comments Off 

Looks like Kudos are about to come up with the goods once again. After the success of Spooks and Hustle, comes new show Outcasts, as the following BBC Press Release reveals… Read more

Tonight’s Panorama

Monday, May 14, 2007 by · Comments Off 

If anybody wants to see a BBC journalist losing it big time with a member of the Church of Scientology, then it will be well worth your while watching Panorama tonight. I’ve seen the clip and it is, well, a little startling really.

Give them some credit

Friday, May 4, 2007 by · Comments Off 

A quick one: the BBC is apparently adopting a new set of rules regarding end credits on programmes. The guidelines explain everything nice and clearly for production personnel, but I have to say that as somebody who enjoys reading the credits from time to time, this idea looks as though it is just going to result in even more screen clutter. I find the “Coming Next” taglines on BBC annoying enough as it is!

Wonder how long it will take for somebody to write to Points of View over this one?

YawnEnders

Friday, May 4, 2007 by · Comments Off 

Does anybody still watch EastEnders these days? Read more

Louis Theroux: The Most Hated Family in America

Sunday, April 1, 2007 by · Comments Off 

There’s perhaps been a feeling of late that Louis Theroux has just been treading the same old water for some time with his documentaries on the weirdness of the world. Read more

Back in the TARDIS

Tuesday, February 27, 2007 by · Comments Off 

Get ready to tune in your television sets for Saturday 31 March, for that is when the third series of the new Doctor Who is apparently going to start, despite what the new issue of Doctor Who Magazine says in four different places…

Identity theft?

Tuesday, February 13, 2007 by · Comments Off 

I quite like the new BBC2 idents, but does anybody else think that they seem to have taken their lead from the impressive Channel 4 ones?

Lloyd the invisible

Tuesday, February 13, 2007 by · Comments Off 

Coronation Street has just experienced its own equivalent of the infamous and much-reported time in Crossroads when a character went out to get a spanner and never came back. The character in question this time is Lloyd Mullaney, played by one-time Red Dwarf star Craig Charles.  Read more

“What’s a dimella?”

Thursday, January 11, 2007 by · Comments Off 

One of the most surprising aspects of what has, up until now, been a largely dull Celebrity Big Brother has been the reinvention of Jade Goody. Read more

2006

Monday, January 1, 2007 by · 1 Comment 

Advancing years take away from us what we have inherited and give us what we have earned. Our relationship with television is a forever-burning example of this; the longer we feel we’ve hung around pouring our time and energy into watching it, the more we feel not merely blessed but actually owed an increasingly rarefied quality of enjoyment in return. Read more

A question of haste

Friday, December 8, 2006 by · Comments Off 

It seems to be with undue alacrity that Channel 4 has announced it is to make a drama based on the recent death of ex-KGB spy Alexander Litvinenko. Read more

Torchsettled

Wednesday, October 11, 2006 by · Comments Off 

The new DWM has settled the troublesome Torchwood issue once and for all. Read more

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