Category: TV
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US Sport v European Sport
I stayed up late last night to watch the Superbowl. I like American Football, and once you get over the inordinate number of breaks in play it’s a fine sport. I suggest that you either diligently us your PVR in live pause mode, or do as I did last night and decide that it was…
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3D
This afternoon, I’ll be watching Arsenal v Man Utd in 3D. No – I’m not going to one of Sky’s un-named pubs which will be showing the game in 3D – instead I’ll be in the ground. But with Avatar number one at the box office, and large numbers of exhibitors at the recent CES…
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Sky One After Harry Hill… Again
I don’t blame a presenter trying to maximise their value, but if reports are true, then Harry Hill is shortly going to be signing a deal with Sky One and leaving ITV. Stop me if you’ve heard this one before. In March last year they were after Harry again, as well as Gavin and Stacey.…
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Ross Quits
The big news today is that Jonathan Ross has quit his job at the BBC. Although he’ll be staying on for specials and on presentational duty at things like the BAFTAs and Comic Relief, he’ll be leaving his Friday Night Show, Film 2010 and Saturday morning Radio 2 show. Leaving aside the whys and wherefores…
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Stripping
Is stripping a good idea? I mean the television scheduling practice of course. Tonight on ITV1, the first episode of a new series of Above Suspicion is starting. It’s a three-parter really, with episodes each night from Monday to Wednesday. Over on BBC2, they’re beginning a run of Nurse Jackie, the dark comedy from US…
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A Night With ITV(1)
Here’s a strange thing: I just spent this evening watching ITV. At least, I spent 9pm to 11.45pm watching the channel. And it’s not even a Champions’ League Night. Now you do need to understand that I don’t watch any of the soaps – especially not Coronation Street. I gave up on The Bill when…
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Christmas Repeats
On the way home last night I found a discarded copy the Daily Telegraph that contained this utterly pointless article about the upcoming Christmas television schedule. The early schedules are out now, and that means that some of the tabloids will be rushing out early versions of their Christmas TV guides before we head off…
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Sky Mobile
For a good year or so I’ve been using Sky’s mobile service on my phones – in particular their Remote Record function that allows me to browse the Sky EPG and set my Sky+ at home to record the programme I want. But it’s not been the easiest thing to use. Not because the service…
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The Force
There’s a lot of rubbish on televison. Most of it in fact. But once in a while there’s something good. And even more rarely, something exceptional gets aired. Last night on Channel 4 we got the latter. The Force is a new three part documentary from Patrick Forbes. He’s made some excellent observational documentaries in…
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Is Sky One Becoming the UK’s HBO?
Short answer: No. I alluded a little the other day to this, but I think it’s a discussion worthy of its own topic anyway. Every couple of years or so, Sky One gets a new controller – most recently Stuart Murphy who was appointed at the start of this year. Every new channel controller wants…
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Some Recent Radio (and TV)
Apologies in advance – just about everything I’m going to mention here is now beyond the iPlayer’s Listen Again window. The BBC World Service has just finished another Worldplay series, this time based on the subject of science. The last piece was called Moving Bodies by Arthur Giron and starred Alfred Molina. It was actually…
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Watching Football on the Internet
And so it has come to pass – this weekend’s dead rubber between the Ukraine and England, will only be available online or at your local Odeon cinema. The prices seem to range from £4.99 if you book now to £11.99 if you book on the day of the game. Odeon cinemas seem to be…
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Smart Scheduling Decisions
Or perhaps they’re not so smart. This week, Channel 4 starts showing a couple of hot(tish) new(ish) shows from HBO. On Wednesday at 10.00pm it starts showing True Blood, a great vampire show based on novels by Charlaine Harris set in the Deep South. It’s a bit soapy, not a little sexy and but great…