Category: TV

Salon has an excellent piece (watch an ad for free access) by Phillip Robertson about his attempt to track down the American soldier who shot dead an Iraqi journalist (and doctor) last month. It’s a very honest piece showing the impossibility of it all on the ground for the soldiers who are there. I’m very…

At work I’m lucky enough to have a telly near my desk. So if the distractions of the internet weren’t enough, and with the constant sound of the radio, I’ve got something else to distract me. Yesterday was the first day of the first Test, so it was going to be Channel 4 all the…

The new Commons Culture, Media and Sport Committee have announced an inquiry into the plans to switch off analogue telly between 2008 and 2012. Long time readers will know that I believe that it’s still far too soon to be switching off the analogue signal – particularly as there’s no real demand for the spectrum…

BBC Four is repeating the whole Death on the Staircase series this weekend. This is a fabulous series, so I urge everyone to set up the Sky+/PVR accordingly, or invest in a few 180 minute VHS tapes and record it. Either that, or you could cancel all your social engagements this weekend and watch it…

I’m not the only person, surely, who thinks that the sponsorship credits for ITV Drama by Sainsburys are the most annoying and condescending anyone’s ever seen? Faceless voices say things that oh-so-cleverly could refer both to the drama we’re watching, and Sainsbury’s food. “Is it finished yet?” “No there’s a another bit.” “I’m really enjoying…

Something I only just noticed. If you’re watching BBC TV on an analogue set that has teletext, and change channels to BBC1 or BBC2 during the break between programmes, instead of seeing the Ceefax generated “BBC1” or “BBC2” it instead shows the name of the next programme. This reverts to the station’s name once the…

I’ve just been watching part one of a perfectly average two part whodunnit on ITV (Hey! With the Tour de France, that makes two seperate ITV programmes this weekend!). But it was really let down by one aspect – the sound. The effects were really lazy. This isn’t the sort of thing I’d normally look…

I don’t want to sound mean and dispirited, but the usual claims are being made about Live 8 being the most watched broadcast in history. Well no. In the US, it’s network airing is on ABC – a two hour highlights package on Saturday evening. No wall to wall coverage there on a major TV…

On Saturday night BBC2 broadcast a documentary double bill of two 1.5 hour programmes about Live Aid. The first programme looked at the run up to the day, and the second covered the day itself. A few observations from the programmes. Like the C4 documentary of the new Airbus 380 earlier that evening, these programmes…

So if you were UIP, what “sanctions” would you be placing on Channel 4 right now after soaking Tom Cruise at a premiere last night? How about pulling advertising for a start, and then withdrawing access to stars for their programming? That might hurt a bit. I’m sure that whatever this new programme is, it’s…

To the London Studios to watch a recording of QI which I believe is for transmission later this autumn. I haven’t been to a TV recording for years, and when I realised that I was going to have to leave work at six, I did consider that they might be recording two shows over the…

While my back was turned Letterman has managed to disappear from ITV2. It seems that this is a temporary blip while some legal wrangles are resolved. Shame, I wanted to see Russell Crowe being contrite. Let’s hope that when it returns it gets a slightly better slot. 1am and 5am seems just a tad poor…

This week’s Radio Times (the print version) has a double page feature about the making of Channel 4 trails for Lost. It seems they’ve got David LaChapelle to them as they did for Desperate Housewives. Safe to say that Channel 4 are going to make a big thing about Lost.