Category: TV

OK – perhaps it’s still early days in the new series, but am I alone in being very slightly worried about Horizon? Last week it was The Survivors Guide to Plane Crashes, and this week it was Danny Wallace asking if Chimps are People Too. Now I like Danny Wallace, but this programme felt like…

I’m delighted to learn that Ofcom has refused ITV permission to reduce their CITV coverage any further. As I’ve argued here before – if they don’t want to offer public service broadcasting, then they’re welcome to hand back their scarce spectrum resource and add themselves to the bottom of the list on the Sky EPG…

The South Bank Show is one of those programmes that I always mean to watch, but then it ends up being on so late on a Sunday night that I simply don’t get around to it. I did want to see it last night, featuring a profile of author JG Ballard. But it turned out…

An excellent piece on the stupidity of making something available free in some territories but not others. Surely we’ve now reached the stage where as much as possible, things should be made available internationally? In the meantime, you drive your customers to “other places” to get their fix. And to think that I’m now seeing…

The BBC brings news of the return of Strictly Come Dancing in October. I won’t dwell on the celebrities they have this time around, except to mention that all four usual judges return including Len Goodman and Bruno Toniolli. I mention those two in particular because they also make up two thirds of the US…

This piece from the BBC Editor’s blog really explains the ludicracy of the situation in US broadcasting with regard to nudity.

Have I misunderstood something in this story about mobile operator 3 allowing you to watch ITV shows on your mobile? 99p per day to watch ITV seems a little steep but I suppose someone who wanted to watch Coronation Street on the train home might find value. But 49p to watch ITV Play? A channel…

Today’s Mediaguardian has a cover story looking at the recent growth of “quiz television” programming – particularly highlighting the recent success of ITV Play with it’s Mint and Quizmania strands running overnight on ITV1 as well as on a separate channel. Clearly ITV Play in particular has been very successful, earning profits of £9m on…

If you read the trade press, or follow Mediaguardian, you can’t help to have noticed all the reports about how Footballers’ Wives, the trashy ITV series, is being remade in US by ABC. On the surface, this seems like another successful deal for a British indie. But this is Shed Productions, who’ve seen Footballers’ Wives…

A paltry 3.8m viewers for the final should ensure that ITV never again brings back [Celebrity] Love Island. I do look forward to reading Executive Producer Natalka Znak’s thoughts on the series’ end on the Mediaguardian blog. Previous choice titbits from her contributions have included: “We have a great show that is funny and full…

The All Star Cup on ITV, and more particularly ITV2, offers a somewhat better streaming service than Time Team. But then it’s real golf coverage – albeit that some of it is decidedly average. The US team seems a little short of star names, although any actor in television worth his or her salt will…

Have you caught any of Time Team Live this weekend? They’re conducting excavations at Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle and Holyrood House Palace. What’s really strange is the More 4 live coverage. More 4 is doing a sort of streaming service which just shows you shots of the dig underway during the day with no commentary…