Digital Spy have a great interview with Misfits' Robert Sheehan, ahead of his arrival at the BAFTA Television Awards tonight (22 May), where the E4 superhero series is nominated for Best Drama again.
The interview touches on everything fans would want to ask Sheehan, particularly concerning his decision to leave the popular show, his thoughts on incoming replacement Joe Gilgun, and some information about the online special he's filmed to explain his character's exit from Misfits ahead of series 3...
"[I decided to leave] well before we finished series two. There's a strange kind of a theme of... There's a few articles I've seen on the internet or whatever about how I've left Misfits to go off and do films and that's all so bulls**t, that's complete nonsense. I left Misfits to go off and do other stuff, completely unspecific. I just left because a rolling stone gathers no moss, as they say, and I just wanted to p*ss off and do other things, you know? It's nice that the show's successful but it doesn't mean complete blind and unadmonished loyalty -- 'If something is very successful you should stick to it like a barnacle!' That's definitely not my thinking." Continue reading...
Did you enjoy the Royal Wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton this morning? I certainly had a funtimetweetingsnarkilyaboutit for a few hours, but it was genuinely a lovely occasion. One of the funniest tweets that caught my attention was the above photo, proving that The Doctor himself couldn't resist making an appearance, which I can't resist posting here.
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Awhile back I showcased a brilliant greenscreen-themed video by the special-effects company Stargate Studios. Well, here comes another one, but this time focusing exclusively on their work for AMC's zombie drama The Walking Dead. It's incredible that so much of what you see (the landscapes, the weather, the quantity of zombies) is created entirely in a computer. You assume certain things are done digitally (like the limbless zombie girl crawling on the lawn), but it never occurred to me that so many backgrounds were faked using greenscreens. Incredible work.
Includes spoilers for the entirety of season 1, for those who have yet to see it.
"I'm from the year 3000. I'm here to eat your penis."
Chuck's Yvonne Strahovski gets her very own College Humor showcase, in this spoof music video where she takes on the guises of Katy Perry, Ke$ha and Lady Gaga. It's the not-entirely-funny "Three Pop Stars, One Song" music video! But it's worth watching just to see Yvonne wearing a cream-spurting bra and (to a much lesser extent) blowing chunks into a toilet bowl. It's fun seeing her doing something outside of Chuck, anyway.
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I adore great opening titles, particularly in television. Embedded above is a fantastic compilation of notable opening titles from movies, charting their evolution in that medium through the decades, and culminating with a few of modern TV's own sequences. It was created to air before SXSW's "Title Design Finalists Screening" event in Austin, Texas. Enjoy!
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Do you remember when Comic Relief's fundraising was mostly restricted to buying silly red noses, cheap T-shirts and a novelty pop song in the run-up to the live telethon? That still happens, but these days you can't escape Comic Relief for weeks, sometimes months, before the big day itself, and it's subsidized by loads of celebrity-led specials. This year we've had the return of Let's Dance For Comic Relief every Saturday (celebs reenacting famous dances for phone votes), the Red Nose Desert Trek five-day endurance (celebs walk across Kenya for cash), Chris Moyles' Longest Ever Radio Show (52 hours, raising £2.6m from listeners), 24 Hour Panel People (David Walliams enduring a day-long marathon of panel show guesting), a week-long Comic Relief Does Glee Club special for kid's TV, and probably a few more I've forgotten.
Whatever happened to the days when the emphasis was on normal people sitting in baths of beans, or kids getting sponsored to wear their clothes on back-to-front at school? Times change, I guess. Or, more accurately, the emphasis gets shifted away from this homegrown fundraising, which no longer interests people watching TV at home. Our fame-hungry culture now has famous faces everywhere in the run-up to Red Nose Day, doing exciting things while raising their profile, or appearing in TV formats the public have been programmed to respond to by habitually punching digits into their phones.
But it works. RND has become more sophisticated and clever in how it goes about raising money. The various celebrity specials boost the totals to unprecedented levels, even in years where the nation's under financial pressure. Amazingly, RND11 became the charity's most successful evening ever, raising a whopping £74.3m (smashing 2009's total of £60m), despite the UK's rise in unemployment, increased VAT, and high fuel prices. We're such a generous nation, it's actually rather moving. And, of course, Friday's total will probably rise by another £20m throughout the year, as people forget Comic Relief's activities aren't restricted to one Friday evening in March.
A huge pat on the back if you donated some money! If you didn't why not do so? It's never too late. It really does make a huge difference to people's lives in the UK and Africa.
Below are some embedded videos of the evening's funniest sketches and spoofs, if you missed them, or don't happen to live in the UK. I've ranked them in descending order of amusement, which you may or may not agree with:
1. Smithy Saves Red Nose Day
The undoubted highlight of the evening for me. I don't even watch Gavin & Stacy to care about James Corden's character "Smithy", but he's become something of a fixture with Comic/Sport Relief, roping in A-list celebrities to participate in an extended sketch. This latest effort for RND11 was very funny, with Smithy called in by Lenny Henry and Richard Curtis to chair a meeting that will decide which celeb should be sent to Africa for Comic Relief. The conceit of having numerous celebs appear around a small oval table was simple but hugely effective. I'm not going to spoil the many surprises by letting you know exactly who appeared, you'll just have to watch it yourself. Excellent work, all round.
2. Alan Partridge: Comic Relief
Steve Coogan's Alan Partridge has been appearing on Comic Relief for donkey's years, so it just wouldn't be the same without an appearance from the Norfolk DJ who can't stop putting his foot in his mouth. This RND11 special continued in the same vein as his recent Mid Morning Matters webseries, featuring an explosive reaction to a nun. Funny stuff, worth watching just so you can contextualize Alan's phrase "you've got flecks on your wimple."
3. 'Doctor Who': "Space & Time"
I've already blogged about this year's charity special, so won't repeat myself here. Suffice to say, it was a very good "timey wimey" sketch with a double helping of Amy Pond. Great stuff!
4. Ant n' Dec's Big Red Nose Challenge
Popular presenters Ant n' Dec made a rare appearance outside of ITV, spending a day hijacking various TV and radio shows. A surprisingly funny effort from the Geordie duo, with a brilliant ending.
5. Peter Kay & Susan Boyle: "I Knew Him So Well"
Ever since his "(Is This The Way) To Amarillo" song became a surprise smash-hit, comedian Peter Kay has been the crowned king of the charity record. He reprised his transexual Geraldine McQueen character to duet with Britain's Got Talent phenomenon Susan Boyle on '80s classic "I Knew Him So Well." An amusing, accurate pastiche, and a decent cover of the song, but still the least hilarious offering Kay's given us.
6. Uptown, Downstairs Abbey
A timely spoof of Downton Abbey and Upstairs, Downstairs from Jennifer Saunders, Harry Enfield, Joanna Lumley, Sex & The City's Kim Catrall, Simon Callow, and an assortment of other famous faces. Fairly predictable with some weak jokes, but there were some well-observed moments (like how the music on Downton Abbey often intrudes on scenes.)
7. Fake That
Another very well-produced sketch, with Take That auditioning their own tribute act. Fake That were comprised of Alan Carr (Gary), James Corden (Mark), Catherine Tate (Jason), David Walliams (Howard) and John Bishop (Robbie.) In some ways it felt like a way to promote Take That's latest single, sure, but it was entertaining enough that I didn't care too much.
8. The Inbetweeners: Rude Place Name Challenge
The cast of E4's hit comedy The Inbetweeners were challenged to visit 50 places with the rudest names in Britian, in 50 hours. A smutty bit of harmless fun, on paper, but something of a bore in practice. It wouldn't surprise me if this was supposed to be a fullblown TV special, but then the makers realized the footage they were getting back over 50 hours was so unfunny it became filler for the live show. The hope was probably to see some of that Inbetweeners chemistry, for real, but it amounted to four young men driving around in a car stinking of farts.
9. Harry Hill's Autumnwatch
The big-collared comedian brings his madcap comedy to RND11, with a spoof of nature series Autumnwatch where the wildlife is comprised of kitsch/cheesy celebrities like Ronnie Corbett, Bernie Clifton and Lembit Opek. Pretty bland, uninspired japery from Harry Hill, aired early so the kids can have a giggle.
Together with the Christmas specials, it's become a tradition for Doctor Who to deliver a mini-episode during the BBC's three major telethons (Comic Relief, Sport Relief and Children In Need.) Keeping that custom alive, the excellent Steven Moffat-penned charity special "Space & Time" just aired on Red Nose Day, showing us what would happen if the TARDIS accidentally materialized within itself.
I like how Moffat uses these specials to tackle ideas that perhaps wouldn't fuel a normal-length episode, but instead scratch geeky itches. Oh, and who doesn't want to see two Amy Ponds flirting with each other? You can watch the very "timey-wimey" seven-minute video above and below.
Jesse Heiman is an American extra who has appeared in almost 50 productions, usually uncredited, ranging from movies (Spider-Man, The Social Network, American Pie, Old School) to television (Chuck, Glee, Monk, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Arrested Development.) Embedded above is a two-minute video of his many, many cameos.
I actually recognize this guy from Chuck, where he's featured as a Buy More employee most weeks. The guy gets around! I bet casting him is becoming the visual equivalent of a Wilhelm Scream these days. Enjoy!
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Here's a brilliant two-minute video that transforms the comedy Community into a poignant drama with Social Network overtones. Superb work, brilliantly edited. I actually want to see a television drama like this.
Entertaining montage of kisses in the cinema, with fascinating facts and trivia about kissing thrown in.
Hilarious video that suggests Spock was obsessed with Facebook and regularly found himself distracted by it while aboard the USS Enterprise. I love the quiet tone with this one. [via The Thumbcast]
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As part of the events planned for this year's Comic Relief, comedian David Walliams is participating in a 24-hour marathon of classic British comedy panel shows. 24 Hour Panel People is currently live-streaming (well, with a 10-minute delay) to the whole world, so there are hours of entertainment available right now, until noon tomorrow (6 March).
This may be of interest to many of you reading in the UK, but also around the world. I know the whole "comedy panel show" format is pretty much non-existent in America, so it may be particular fun for Americans to tune in. If a little puzzling because you won't recognize many of the panel shows and celebrities involved!
A full list of the panel shows being played can be viewed here.
Of course, Walliams' day-long marathon is about raising money, so why not also donate to Comic Relief while you're at it? It'll make you feel all warm and squidgy inside.
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Have you ever wondered what Doctor Who's opening titles would look like if they were done in the style of Buffy The Vampire Slayer? Wonder no more! Someone's very kindly created a brilliant mashup, embedded above.
As much as I love Who's iconic theme tune, I must admit that the Buffy theme's poppy energy feels better suited to the show's content. Do you agree?
I don't watch Law & Order UK, but that doesn't make this any less amusing. BBC America have created a very funny three-minute video giving American viewers a tongue-in-cheek guide to the cultural differences between the original L&O and this British spin-off. There's a smattering of genuinely helpful information about slang, but it's mostly a funny sequence of observational quirks about the show and British culture. Who knew us Brits love to wear scarves and the police can't resist thwapping files onto desks?
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My recent greenscreen post went down well, so here's another incredible special-effects showreel, brought to my attention by @TVSatelliteWeek. This four-minute video shows you how the 1920's world of Boardwalk Empire was created, using greenscreen to extend the sets they built. A word of warning: about halfway through there's footage of a significant character who joins the show mid-season, whose CGI-assisted facial disfigurement is a key part of his character's unnerving presence. You may consider those shots a spoiler if you haven't seen all of Boardwalk Empire's first season yet. It's unfortunately the preview frame Vimeo has grabbed (see above), but there's nothing I can do about that.
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I tweeted about this video yesterday, but far more people visit my blog than follow me on Twitter, so I thought it was worth sharing here. Embedded above is a four-minute showreel from special-effects company Stargate Studios, who do a huge amount of work for US television. This particular video highlights instances when greenscreen was used to fool viewers into believing actors are in different environments. I found it rather illuminating.
While there are plenty of shots you know would require greenscreen (such as the abandoned city sequences from The Walking Dead), it's incredible how many others go totally undetected. Would you ever have thought humble shows like Ugly Betty and Monk require gigantic greenscreens to falsify city streets? Did you consider that actors appearing in 24 (season 8 filmed in Los Angeles but was set in New York) had to run around followed by enormous mobile greenscreens? Well, maybe. But it's still eye-opening seeing how much digital trickery goes into US TV production. Enjoy the video!
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Since he disappeared from our screens in 2003, fans of The Office have been desperate to see more of Slough's nightmare boss David Brent, and they were finally rewarded this week. Ricky Gervais rescurrected his notorious character for an episode of the US remake, as a favour to the outgoing Steve Carell, who has played his American counterpart Michael Scott for six years. The one-minute scene can be seen above.
It's certainly a nice moment that fans should enjoy, although I found it a little underwhelming. There must have been tremendous pressure to make this worthwhile, so it was never going to live up to expectations. It felt slightly awkward to me, but I'm just glad they didn't dedicate a whole episode to David Brent, as it's best to leave him as an untarnished memory of the early-'00s. Still, it was a fun cameo to be taken lightly.
What do think? Did this tickle your funnybone, or leave you cold?
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TorrentFreak have released a list of the 10 most downloaded TV shows of 2010. You can read their list below:
1. Lost – 5.9m (downloads) 2. Heroes – 5.4m 3. Dexter – 3.8m 4. The Big Bang Theory – 3.2m 5. House – 2.6m 6. How I Met Your Mother – 2.4m 7. 24 – 2.2m 8. True Blood – 1.9m 9. Glee – 1.7m 10. Family Guy – 1.6m
I just can't imagine people being so desperate to watch House, The Big Bang Theory, Family Guy or How I Met Your Mother that they'd turn to bittorrent. But clearly millions of people do! From a UK perspective, Dexter and True Blood both take 6-12 months to reach these shores (annoyingly), so I'm not surprised they're popular online if other countries have similar waits.
As always, there's one surefire way non-US broadcasters can stop their native audiences downloading shows: shorten the gap after US transmissions. In the UK, Sky continue to be quite good and are even making a point of advertising US drama as arriving "days after the States" now, but let's see if they keep it up.
It'll be interesting to see how quickly Sky Atlantic shows Mad Men and Boardwalk Empire in 2011, as they're a brand new channel designed to entice fans of high-quality US drama. Their audience are likely to be sophisticated young adults who are fully capable of using bittorrent if they're expected to wait a month or more, so they'll need to ensure quick UK premieres.Read more...
You don't need me to remind you Misfits returns this Thursday, do you? E4, 10pm. To get you in the spirit, embedded above is a sneak peak from the premiere, where the jumpsuited gang meet their new probation worker.
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Did you know that a US pilot of The IT Crowd was produced back in 2007, starring a pre-Community Joel McHale as Roy, Jessica St. Clair as Jen, Rocky Carroll as Denholm, and Richard Ayoade reprising his role as super-nerd Mos? No? Well, now you do. The production was canned by NBC, but you can watch the unaired pilot above/below, which is almost a direct copy of the British version's script. It's like stepping into a bizarro universe. Still, wise choice to ensure Ayoade was involved (I can't imagine anyone else playing Mos), and I do rather like McHale, although he's just too handsome to be playing Roy...
Here's an entertaining short film called The Commuter (filmed using Nokia's N8 smartphone), starring Dev Patel (Slumdog Millionaire) as a commuter whose car gets clamped by Charles Dance's (Gosford Park) traffic warden, forcing him to exact his vengeance with inspiration from an action movie poster. Co-stars Ed Westwick (Gossip Girl) and Pamela Anderson (Baywatch), directed by Edward and Rory McHenry. I think it passes 7-minutes rather pleasantly...
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It's the theme from Mad Men (RJD2's "A Beautiful Mine"), performed live, with singer Allison Williams adding vocals taken from Nat King Cole's "Nature Boy", in a one-take shot. Enjoy! [via Variety]
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