Tuesday, February 05, 2008
Unchained Melody
Labels: America Unchained, Dave Gorman, More 4
ANTI-CORPORATE! Dave Gorman: America Unchained, More4, 10pm
We admit it, we love Dave Gorman. In a very non-sexual way. (Sorry Dave). We missed watching The Dave Gorman Collection when it was on, but we heard about it, and lapped up the book he wrote about it with Danny Wallace, Are You Dave Gorman? We LOLled our way through the whole of his Incredibly Important Astrological Experiment, which we'd still like to see in book or DVD form, by the way. We enjoyed the book and DVD of his Googlewhack Adventure and we kind of hope his Radio 4show Genius gets made into a TV show cos it sounds good but we don't have the attention span to listen to spoken radio. We also like the fact that he hasn't turned to presenting rubbish reality shows and quiz shows like the otherwise-funny Wallace (although he maybe just hasn't been asked) and instead ups his profile by doing things such as appearing on Never Mind the Buzzcocks and er, taking part in late night celebrity poker shows.
And what we like most of all is that he does things we'd never dream of doing but sound like a real laugh and we kind of wish we could be brave enough to try. Tonight's America Unchained sounds like one of those adventures, as our intrepid hero sets out to get across the USA without giving a penny to 'The Man'. This means that he tries to avoid all big business and spend only at small, local, independent outlets, buying only non-corporate products. Needless to say, it's not very easy.
We should just point out here that it's not actually a comedy, but a documentary, although we don't doubt there will be humour along the way. It promises to be interesting, illuminating, challenging and possibly also a little bit depressing. What we don't think it will be, though, is patronising. Although it may cause you to dust off that copy of No Logo you've had sitting on the bookshelf since 2001.
By Rad :: Post link
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Thursday, July 26, 2007
Winging it
SORKIN! Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, More 4, 10.00pm Labels: More 4, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, TV
So, you're Aaron Sorkin. (Okay, you're probably not Aaron Sorkin, but we're playing a drama game here. Humour us.) You created The West Wing, one of the most critically acclaimed series of recent years, which viewers across the world took to their hearts as proof that television can be intelligent as well as being entertaining (although we're pretty much taking that as read, since we never actually got around to watching it). Eventually that show comes to an end: what do you do next? The world's your oyster, so your next show's a guaranteed success, right?
Hmmm, not quite. Expectations were indeed high for this show, set behind the scenes on a popular but anaemic late night sketch show in America (pretty much based on Saturday Night Live) where a new writer/producer team, played by Matthew "Chandler Bing" Perry and Bradley "Josh Lyman" Whitford, are brought in to shake things up. It was generally considered to be one of the main hopes of the 2006/2007 TV season in the US, but for some reason viewers didn't really take to it, and the ratings started to tank fairly quickly, leaving it with the eventual humiliation of non-renewal (executives tend to steer clear of saying "cancellation" outright these days) while the final handful of episodes trickled out during the low-ratings graveyard of the early summer.
Nevertheless, it's been purchased to air on More 4, assuming they can find some room amid the constant repeats of property shows, and the Sorkinites among you will probably find lots to enjoy here. Opinions on the accuracy of the behind-the-scenes scenes (how meta!) vary, but you'd best be prepared to have any romantic notions you may be nurturing about the television industry shattered. Actually, that's pretty sound advice even if you're not planning to watch this show, given the sort of stuff that's been in the news lately...
By Steve :: Post link
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