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Ready, Steady, Go!

Saturday, October 11, 2008
Channel 4 Building in London

Channel 4 Building in London

From time to time, Emily and I will be looking at television from Britain. Before we kick it off, some general notes:

American readers will undoubtedly know some of the approximately 4500 British television shows that have been translated for these shores. This season we have 4 programs on major networks on Thursday nights alone: Life on Mars (ABC Thursdays 10:00 EST), The Office (NBC Thursdays 9:00pm EST), Eleventh Hour (CBS Thursdays 10:00 EST), and Kitchen Nightmares (Fox Thursdays 9:00pm EST).

Not to be lost in all this Limey-lovin’, England digs shows from America as well. Friends was an enormous hit when it first premiered in England, spawning Coupling, which of course, was then remade unsuccessfully in America. A more recent example is Skins (BBC), which is said to have been inspired by Gossip Girl (Ed. note: This is totally wrong.  Thanks ChrisJ for showing me the light). Of course, beyond the direct transfers, there are rafts of American television on all the frickin’ time in the UK. Ironside and Diagnosis: Murder, long dead in the US, for example, live on in the BBC daytime schedule. Viva Scott Baio!

The cultural affinities aside, what interests me is some good television, so to start this sucker off, I’ll be watching the first season (or “the first series” in UK lingo) of Gavin and Stacey.  Next I’ll make my way through the first season of the UK Life on Mars and compare it to the US version.

Photo by Flickr user .Martin. used under a Creative Commons license

Original post incorrectly stated Gossip GIrl preceded Skins.  My bad.

Filed in British Television | Comments (2)

Tell us what you’re really thinking, Dave

Thursday, September 25, 2008
Dave & Bill a long time ago

Dave & Bill Murray a long time ago

Not quite ready for bed last night, and uninspired by other syndicated options, I flipped over to The Late Show with David Letterman (11:30pm CBS). It was a commercial. I saw via the guide that John McCain was the guest. I wasn’t particularly in the mood for more politics, especially before bed (it’ll give you nightmares! Worse than from cheese!), but decided I’d stick around for a bit. (Continued)

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“The Ex-Files” – Gossip Girl

Tuesday, September 23, 2008
His Purple Mountain's Majesty

His Purple Mountain's Majesty

“WTF?”, I hear you saying.  Who is this, and why has he hijacked “I ♥ Television?”

A brief introduction:

I ain’t no blog terrorist: just a man with an abiding passion for red, green and blue pixels transmitted via cathode ray (or high-tech equivalent) directly into my visual cortex .  You can call me “Gene.”

And, without further ado, the inaugural post regarding last night’s episode of Gossip Girl (CW Mondays 8:00 EST), “The Ex-Files”: (Continued)

Filed in 2008 Programming, Dramatic Writing | Comments (1)

Girls Who Wear Glasses

Sunday, September 21, 2008

There is no doubt that Tina Fey inspired a “lady-writer” look.  Survey the population of television fans and writers with two X chromosomes and chances are high that you will find many pairs of sassy glasses among them.*  While popular opinion of girls who wear glasses has changed over time, Tina Fey gave a bespectacled face to female writers.

But now that Tina Fey’s resemblance to Republican Vice-Presidential candidate Sarah Palin has been well established, acknowledged, and parodied, even Fey seems to have grown weary of the model she helped create. (Continued)

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Uncouth and Unsavory

Saturday, September 20, 2008

In her discussion of the new season’s sitcom fare, Alessandra Stanley of the NY Times makes some interesting points about the role taboo plays in sitcom humor.  One question she raises is, how can writers best subvert social norms for the sake of a joke when social norms have shifted so dramatically over time and vary so widely across demographic? (Continued)

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The Wednesday Adventures of a Monday Sitcom

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

The fourth season of The New Adventures of Old Christine premieres on its new night and time next Wednesday (September 24, CBS 8:00 PM EST). Previously part of the well-branded CBS Monday night comedy block (a nicely established piece of television real estate that features the inexplicable ratings machine Two and a Half Men), this schedule change makes the Julia Louis-Dreyfus sitcom one half of a new, hour long comedy night on the network. The show will share the night with a beefy Jay Mohr in the thinly premised Gary Unmarried.

The move is either a sign of strong network confidence that the show can anchor a new night of comedy or a sign of no confidence and the last stop before cancellation. (Continued)

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We ♥ Fall

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Because the new season is just getting its legs, the Emmy’s are around the corner and we’re making some progress on our own spec scripts. Yes, we are television nerds. We ♥ television, writing about television, writing television, writing about writing television and every other permutation therein. We’ll be documenting our relationship with the medium here and hope you enjoy our observations.

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