Category: TV

I suppose I’m lucky that I don’t have Sky and get even more shopping channels. But Best Direct is one of the tackier ones I do receive. They’re one of those channels that just shows “infommercials” on loops. So one second it’s yet another weight-loss machine, and the next it’s an inflatable bed. But last…

Ever ready to make a quick buck, Richard Desmond’s Express Newspapers group is now wanting to make charges to broadcasters for the right to have their channels included in his papers. He wants digital channels to pay for their appearance in his rags! It seems as though all the channels are holding firm, in the…

So BBC1 is showing the BAFTAs as I type, and I decided I’d have a quick look at the BAFTA site to see who all the nominees are. Well of course BAFTA have put up the full list of winners! Yet the programme is descibed as being “live”. The red carpet stuff seemed to be…

It’s always entertaining listening to the hyperbole surrounding the Superbowl. 800 million people were watching apparently, according to one commentator (we had the choice of Sky or ITV – but not Five, who of course do nothing to support the sport in the UK besides show several live games a week and regular highlights. Still…

Nathan Barley is nearly upon us – although I’ve only seen the trailers on the web rather than on air, so little C4 am I watching these days (Well there wasn’t a trailer for it during Time Team at the weekend, so that’s me screwed – and I’ve got a fortnight’s worth of Shameless to…

It’s the TV show that Soho’s glued to. It’s the show that Mediaguardian will be disecting to within an inch of its life tomorrow. It’s The Desk – new on BBC4 tonight! (Why do they get their own website away from bbc.co.uk?) It’d be unfair to comment on the first show – mainly because I’ve…

Obviously one of the big entertainment news stories of recent days has been the death of Johnny Carson – the king of the late night talk show. Here in Britain of course, we’re not quite as knowledgable about Carson as Americans since the show basically didn’t get shown here. How many Briton’s realise that Jack…

This is all getting completely out of hand now. An organisation named The Christian Insitute is claiming that it’ll be taking the BBC to the High Court as it has “violated” its Royal Charter. I’m actually scared by the sway that some of these organistations are having on our liberty and freedom of expression. I…

This superb 3-part documentary that was first shown towards the end of last year is getting a swift(ish) BBC2 repeat starting tomorrow night after Newsnight. It’s definitely worth setting the video for, and if you missed it before, grab this opportunity to see it again. (You’ll gather that I really liked it).

I saw the first double-length episode of the new series of Alias at the weekend, and as usual it was a globe-trotting affair with the theft of Japanese sword from a museum which some might mistake as being The British Museum. Afterwards, Sydney gets picked up by her father who’s driving a British police car.…

So what did I make of Jerry Springer the Opera when it was finally shown? Umm. Well I fell asleep after about 45 minutes, and by the time I woke up, the darts were on! What I did see was reasonably entertaining and clever, but I can’t really say a great deal more than that.…

It now seems that the BBC has received 30,000 complaints about a programme that has yet to air – Jerry Springer the Opera. If we’re not careful we’ll start suffering the same ridiculousness that’s currently afflicting American television. The people complaining are organised – most notably by Mediawatch, but undoubtedly backed by various church groups.…

Private Eye’s “Remote Controller” writes a summary about the health of the various main TV channels as we leave 2004 and enter 2005. I thought I’d contribute my own summary of where they stand. BBC1 Not doing badly – not doing wonderfully. Yes, we all know that the charter’s up for renewal and we’re seeing…