Is it just me who's obsessed with Heroes? It's fabulous. I just accidentally discovered something about Claire though whilst googling. Darn this internet ... with no warning at all you can find yourself amid spoilers for TV shows by dint of what country you're in. For Americans, the fact that Claire's parents are <##edited names out###> is just everyday common knowledge because it was broadcast months ago ... but not so in the UK. So, Heroes fans, be careful when 'surfing'. I also darn well found out what happens to Hiro at the end of the season too. Or at least I think I did. It makes no sense from this distance though so I'm not really sure about it.
Remember ... save the cheerleader, save the world ... OK?
Showing posts with label tv. Show all posts
Showing posts with label tv. Show all posts
Tuesday, September 04, 2007
Thursday, June 21, 2007
nostalgic tv blast
The Oddball Couple. Fleabag
robotic stooges
Baggy Pants and the Nitwits
haleys' comets
Oh no! I'm experiencing rapid cycling of old remembered TV shows this morning. Lisa, if you're reading this, you want to thank your lucky starts you won't have to listen to me today wittering on about ...
Baggy Pants and the Nitwits -- Do you remember this? I think it was on air in the UK around 1978 or 1979. It was two cartoons shove together in one double bill. Baggy Pants was a Chaplin-esque cat who waddled around a lot and did silent movie type prat falls with his blank unfathomable little cat face. The Nitwits starred Tyrone, a retired superhero who solved mysteries with the help of his walking cane, Elmo, and his handbag-wielding wife Gladys. From the web it looks like this was a derivative too, maybe from the Laugh In. A half hour cartoon. The Nitwits was the main show for me, very funny, quite dry for a toon aimed at kids if I recall.
The Robotic Stooges -- bizarre cartoon version of The Three Stooges: Larry, Curly and Mo. They had extendable robotic limbs like Inspector Gadget. Huh? The link here will take you through to a show that aired in America called The Skatebirds - for, apparently, it is from this Banana Splits-like mid 70s show that the toon came from before it was spun out on its own. Why did this cartoon ever come into being?
The Oddball Couple -- Again, doubtless based on classic sitcom The Odd Couple, this starred a cat and a dog in business together - or did they live together, I forget. The cat, Spiffy, was suited and booted whereas the dog, Fleabag, was a bit of a scruff. Oh just think of those cat and dog / class war antics? Sing with me: "Oh the oddball couple are a couple of a couple of oddballs - eggballs"
Other stuff? Do you remember a weekly show on BBC1 for kids called Going Places? It urged people to write in for fact sheets about stuff going on around the UK that kids should go out and do. Could it have been presented by Su Ingle and Peter Pervis? Or was Su Ingle only on Wildtrack with Tony Soper? The following link is to a page on TV Cream featuring Going Places and Wildtrack - though here they call it We're Going Places which I think might be wrong. But what do I know.
Brilliantly on the above page I came across the quote: "DIFFERENCE OF OPINION HERE, GEOFF". Can you remember where you heard that? Answer at the bottom of this blog ... but you'll need to turn the screen upside down to read it. Geoffrey Wheeler, not just a quiz show voiceover, but also the man who urged us to get our Come and Praise hymn books out while listening to 'A service for schools' on Radio 4 on a Thursday morning. I learnt from that show about how the Soviets persecuted Christians and people hid their bibles and everything! Sing: "jet planes meeting in the air to be refueled are the things I know so well". Wheeler was also on Songs of Praise later - funny how he had time to fit in a show based on gambling around his christian commitments. Dig my biting topical satire 30 years on? I'm really getting up to speed at 36. STOP PRESS, this website reveals that he invented Winner Takes All too. Oh I've given away the answer. I love that there is a Wikipedia page about it. Most depressed to see that the talentless Bobby Davro did a version of the quiz for Challenge TV in 1997.
Aww, it's going round in my head now: "Autumn days when the grass is jewelled and the silk inside a chestnut shell"
Rapid cycling. Mark Curry was in Bugsy Malone. He played the producer ... and the ginger haired girl who pushed Blousie out of the way to do an outrageous audition was Bonnie Langford!
Finally this morning. I discovered in my web wanderings today that The Beatles had an animated series from 1965 to 1969 in the US. I'm sure it must have been shown in the UK? I've never seen it - though obviously have seen Yellow Submarine and it's ridiculous swirly colourful trumpet-nosedness. And, in another name blast from the past, I discover that Lance Percival did the voices for Paul and Ringo. I vaguely remember his flopppy blonde hair? Have I got the right guy? From panel shows in the 70s? I dunno, maybe from that afternoon gameshow The Cartoonists that had Bill Tidy, Willie Rushton and others being funny. Rapid rapid cycling. Lance: could be a twin of Tony Hart?
Question: who else had a little crush on Tiger from The Double Deckers? And what film do I remember The Double Deckers crossing over into?
Gotta go now. Is anyone on my wavelength?
robotic stooges
Baggy Pants and the Nitwits
haleys' comets
Oh no! I'm experiencing rapid cycling of old remembered TV shows this morning. Lisa, if you're reading this, you want to thank your lucky starts you won't have to listen to me today wittering on about ...
Baggy Pants and the Nitwits -- Do you remember this? I think it was on air in the UK around 1978 or 1979. It was two cartoons shove together in one double bill. Baggy Pants was a Chaplin-esque cat who waddled around a lot and did silent movie type prat falls with his blank unfathomable little cat face. The Nitwits starred Tyrone, a retired superhero who solved mysteries with the help of his walking cane, Elmo, and his handbag-wielding wife Gladys. From the web it looks like this was a derivative too, maybe from the Laugh In. A half hour cartoon. The Nitwits was the main show for me, very funny, quite dry for a toon aimed at kids if I recall.
The Robotic Stooges -- bizarre cartoon version of The Three Stooges: Larry, Curly and Mo. They had extendable robotic limbs like Inspector Gadget. Huh? The link here will take you through to a show that aired in America called The Skatebirds - for, apparently, it is from this Banana Splits-like mid 70s show that the toon came from before it was spun out on its own. Why did this cartoon ever come into being?
The Oddball Couple -- Again, doubtless based on classic sitcom The Odd Couple, this starred a cat and a dog in business together - or did they live together, I forget. The cat, Spiffy, was suited and booted whereas the dog, Fleabag, was a bit of a scruff. Oh just think of those cat and dog / class war antics? Sing with me: "Oh the oddball couple are a couple of a couple of oddballs - eggballs"
Other stuff? Do you remember a weekly show on BBC1 for kids called Going Places? It urged people to write in for fact sheets about stuff going on around the UK that kids should go out and do. Could it have been presented by Su Ingle and Peter Pervis? Or was Su Ingle only on Wildtrack with Tony Soper? The following link is to a page on TV Cream featuring Going Places and Wildtrack - though here they call it We're Going Places which I think might be wrong. But what do I know.
Brilliantly on the above page I came across the quote: "DIFFERENCE OF OPINION HERE, GEOFF". Can you remember where you heard that? Answer at the bottom of this blog ... but you'll need to turn the screen upside down to read it. Geoffrey Wheeler, not just a quiz show voiceover, but also the man who urged us to get our Come and Praise hymn books out while listening to 'A service for schools' on Radio 4 on a Thursday morning. I learnt from that show about how the Soviets persecuted Christians and people hid their bibles and everything! Sing: "jet planes meeting in the air to be refueled are the things I know so well". Wheeler was also on Songs of Praise later - funny how he had time to fit in a show based on gambling around his christian commitments. Dig my biting topical satire 30 years on? I'm really getting up to speed at 36. STOP PRESS, this website reveals that he invented Winner Takes All too. Oh I've given away the answer. I love that there is a Wikipedia page about it. Most depressed to see that the talentless Bobby Davro did a version of the quiz for Challenge TV in 1997.
Aww, it's going round in my head now: "Autumn days when the grass is jewelled and the silk inside a chestnut shell"
Rapid cycling. Mark Curry was in Bugsy Malone. He played the producer ... and the ginger haired girl who pushed Blousie out of the way to do an outrageous audition was Bonnie Langford!
Finally this morning. I discovered in my web wanderings today that The Beatles had an animated series from 1965 to 1969 in the US. I'm sure it must have been shown in the UK? I've never seen it - though obviously have seen Yellow Submarine and it's ridiculous swirly colourful trumpet-nosedness. And, in another name blast from the past, I discover that Lance Percival did the voices for Paul and Ringo. I vaguely remember his flopppy blonde hair? Have I got the right guy? From panel shows in the 70s? I dunno, maybe from that afternoon gameshow The Cartoonists that had Bill Tidy, Willie Rushton and others being funny. Rapid rapid cycling. Lance: could be a twin of Tony Hart?
Question: who else had a little crush on Tiger from The Double Deckers? And what film do I remember The Double Deckers crossing over into?
Gotta go now. Is anyone on my wavelength?
Monday, April 02, 2007
Lost: Expose
Just a quick nod towards last night's episode of Lost on Sky One. Exposé. It was an episode featuring Nikki and Paolo. Spoiler alert: they were buried alive.
Bit of an annoying episode because it appeared to live almost totally outside of the wider Lost story arc: a self contained episode.
We caught a few new things though, or maybe just one. We saw Juliet and Ben in The Pearl station/hatch. It was a flashback from soon after the plane crash - J and B were plotting to get Jack to operate on Ben. Obviously Ben's spinal growth did exist but I still had a bit of a funny feeling about how or why he had the thing until I saw this episode. At least we see Juliet apparently on Ben's side ... I'm still not sure about those two, what their "history" is (we know they "have history" thanks to Mr Friendly in the episode where Jack operates). But Juliet does appear to be at odds with The Others: she wants out, she gave Jack a video message asking him to kill Ben during the operation, she killed Danny, she was about to be given a death sentence according to The Others "eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth" legal process but thanks to Jack ended up with just a branding instead.
Nikki and Paolo. I think they're gone for good now. Even the writers Carlton and Damon appear to want to write them off as a bit of a mistake according to their podcast last week.
Yes Damon, we understand you're obsessed with Lost. You're up at 6:35 on a Monday morning blogging about it ... when you should be in bed because you're working til 10pm tonight (new podcast recording tonight).
Bit of an annoying episode because it appeared to live almost totally outside of the wider Lost story arc: a self contained episode.
We caught a few new things though, or maybe just one. We saw Juliet and Ben in The Pearl station/hatch. It was a flashback from soon after the plane crash - J and B were plotting to get Jack to operate on Ben. Obviously Ben's spinal growth did exist but I still had a bit of a funny feeling about how or why he had the thing until I saw this episode. At least we see Juliet apparently on Ben's side ... I'm still not sure about those two, what their "history" is (we know they "have history" thanks to Mr Friendly in the episode where Jack operates). But Juliet does appear to be at odds with The Others: she wants out, she gave Jack a video message asking him to kill Ben during the operation, she killed Danny, she was about to be given a death sentence according to The Others "eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth" legal process but thanks to Jack ended up with just a branding instead.
Nikki and Paolo. I think they're gone for good now. Even the writers Carlton and Damon appear to want to write them off as a bit of a mistake according to their podcast last week.
Yes Damon, we understand you're obsessed with Lost. You're up at 6:35 on a Monday morning blogging about it ... when you should be in bed because you're working til 10pm tonight (new podcast recording tonight).
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
Lost: The man from Tallahassee
I don't want to appear as if I'm some kind of Lost obsessive but I am. There's no escaping it (as the Beatnuts once sang).
What a fantastic episode. So many questions left in the mind:
Q: Was Ben ever going to let Jack and Juliet leave by submarine?
Q: Now that the submarine has been blown up by Locke, are there really no other ways off the island as Ben said? And no other ways of communicating with the outside world?
Q: Are Ben and Locke pleased that no one can leave the island now? Well, if that's true (see above question).
Q: Are The Others (AKA The Hostiles) some kind of pseudo scientific cult? Ben and his gang recruit people to join the islanders and he seems to hope they will learn to love their new life / not want to leave.
Q: Locke said that Ben's way of life on the island was 'cheating' - he was referring, we think, to the relative civilisation they have. What does this mean? Does he prefer a purist human-interacting-with-island approach where they commune with the environment without walls, a roof or refrigerators to put chicken in?
Q: Is Russoe an Other?
Q: If 'The Purge' was a fight between The Others and the Dharma Initiative ... what are their differences? Are The Others a breakaway group? Or maybe one stands for religion and the other for science? Which is which?
Q: GO Googling for Hanso Adoptions ... you'll see there is a lot of talk about family and belonging. Is this what the island experiment (if that's what it is) is all about?
Q: Parents. A constant theme growing ever stronger now that Locke's dad is on the island too. ALl of the Losties have wronged their parents ... except Locke. Mikhail referred to Kate and Sayid as 'flawed' in the Par avion episode. Is being 'flawed' about having wronged your parents? Certainly we know Sayid and Kate were not on Jacob's List. It's unclear but Mikhail said he rememebred Locke ... does this imply that Locke isn't flawed and may well be on Jacob's List? We also know for sure Jack isn't on Jacob's List from an earlier episode and Jack dobbed his Dad in to the hospital ethics board.
Q: Are all the parents on the island?
Q: Is Walt's Mum really dead? Is she on the island? Ditto Jack and Claire's Dad?
SO many questions!
What a fantastic episode. So many questions left in the mind:
Q: Was Ben ever going to let Jack and Juliet leave by submarine?
Q: Now that the submarine has been blown up by Locke, are there really no other ways off the island as Ben said? And no other ways of communicating with the outside world?
Q: Are Ben and Locke pleased that no one can leave the island now? Well, if that's true (see above question).
Q: Are The Others (AKA The Hostiles) some kind of pseudo scientific cult? Ben and his gang recruit people to join the islanders and he seems to hope they will learn to love their new life / not want to leave.
Q: Locke said that Ben's way of life on the island was 'cheating' - he was referring, we think, to the relative civilisation they have. What does this mean? Does he prefer a purist human-interacting-with-island approach where they commune with the environment without walls, a roof or refrigerators to put chicken in?
Q: Is Russoe an Other?
Q: If 'The Purge' was a fight between The Others and the Dharma Initiative ... what are their differences? Are The Others a breakaway group? Or maybe one stands for religion and the other for science? Which is which?
Q: GO Googling for Hanso Adoptions ... you'll see there is a lot of talk about family and belonging. Is this what the island experiment (if that's what it is) is all about?
Q: Parents. A constant theme growing ever stronger now that Locke's dad is on the island too. ALl of the Losties have wronged their parents ... except Locke. Mikhail referred to Kate and Sayid as 'flawed' in the Par avion episode. Is being 'flawed' about having wronged your parents? Certainly we know Sayid and Kate were not on Jacob's List. It's unclear but Mikhail said he rememebred Locke ... does this imply that Locke isn't flawed and may well be on Jacob's List? We also know for sure Jack isn't on Jacob's List from an earlier episode and Jack dobbed his Dad in to the hospital ethics board.
Q: Are all the parents on the island?
Q: Is Walt's Mum really dead? Is she on the island? Ditto Jack and Claire's Dad?
SO many questions!
Wednesday, March 21, 2007
Lost: Man from Tallahassee
Big potential spoiler alert here
I am obsessed with Lost - that long-running tv drama showing on Sky One in the UK, originating on ABC in the states.
I'm aware that in two short hours, all US citizens will be able to tune their TV to ABC and watch the latest episode - season 3, episode 13 - entitled "The Man from Tallahassee".
Are you watching it? Honestly, there's not a day goes by when I don't think about it, look it up on a website or download a podcast / YouTube clip for the latest theories, gossip and general immersalness.
The UK gets to see tonight's episode on Sunday night, 10pm, Sky One.
OK, so where are we.
At the end of the last episode (Par Avion) we saw Locke, Sayid and Kate enter the Others village that they tracked down ... due to some hokey thing about Locke having seen it on Mr Eko's stick as he was burying him: "a sign, a sign".
Anyhoo, at the end of the show we saw Jack playing football with The Others! He was playing with Tom, Mr Friendly, specifically. He seemed to be having fun. So we're left with the question ... is he now in league with The Others?
Having YouTUbed around, I found a trailer for this week's Lost on ABC (and hence Sky One in the UK, too). We see Jack talking to Kate. Oooh darn it if there's not a lov thang goin' on. Looks as if the little fling with Sawyer on the Hydra little island was perhaps born of pity because Kate thought Sawyer was a gonner. Kate didn't admit to loving Sawyer ... he did ask her and rather admitted he loved her.
Moving on. We discover Ben Linus knows that Locke was a wheelchair user for 4 years. He knows how he ended up in the chair, too. We hear from the voiceover man that Ben is going to tell Locke some of the secrets of the island in this episode too! I'm sure this must be connected with his apparent recovery and ability to walk again, Rose's bout of cancer remission and possibly even the reason why Sun became pregnant though her husband Gin is infertile (it's possible that Sun had an affair with that Lee fella we saw in flashback though, I think Damon Lindlaugh and Carlton thingumbyjig may hav admitted to this in one of their podcasts in the last run, Autumn time).
Ya know, it's only when I come to writing this down that I realise how dull it must be for others who know nothing about Lost? I was trying to tell my parents - they were up this past weekend - about the intricacies and how much I like the show ... they were zoning out barely before I started.
Latest Lost theories
• Desmond is Jesus -- Well. I had thought for a while back there that, tapping into this whole religious thing, Desmond was some kind of Jesus figure: keeps saving people (well Charlie), beard, keeps calling people 'brother', saved the world so others might live - but not sure about that now. Well, not sure what it would achieve in the entire story arc at any rate. Might come back to that another time.
• The great man -- Ben has talked about him, Mickhail the Russian fella who got killed talked about him. We're talking about the leader of The Others or the Dharma Initiative - if they are one and the same thing which I'm not altogether sure about. "He's a great man ... but not a forgiving man" said Ben back in season two when he was captive in the Losties' hatch. If he's not forgiving, could this be why Mikhail and Miss Klough were happy to die? Is he ruthless? Or is he a cult leader? Is the Dharma initiative a pseudo-scientific cult? Who is the leader? I think it might be Jack! But Jack has somehow either forgotten temporarily or is playing an elaborate game. Jack's faith healing tattooist saw leadership qualities in him, all the Losties defer to him as leader (mostly) and his tattoos say he is a man who stands alone amongst others. Others? Hallo, suss the big clue? He's the leader! He's why everyone is on the island!
• Leader backtrack -- Or maybe Locke is the leader ... Mikhail said he remembered Locke ... suggesting he may have been on Jacob's list. Hmm, whereas Tom (Mr Friendly) said Jack wasn't on Jacob's list back in the episode where Ben was in the operating theatre. But maybe Jack wasn't on the list because he IS the leader?
More at another time.
I am obsessed with Lost - that long-running tv drama showing on Sky One in the UK, originating on ABC in the states.
I'm aware that in two short hours, all US citizens will be able to tune their TV to ABC and watch the latest episode - season 3, episode 13 - entitled "The Man from Tallahassee".
Are you watching it? Honestly, there's not a day goes by when I don't think about it, look it up on a website or download a podcast / YouTube clip for the latest theories, gossip and general immersalness.
The UK gets to see tonight's episode on Sunday night, 10pm, Sky One.
OK, so where are we.
At the end of the last episode (Par Avion) we saw Locke, Sayid and Kate enter the Others village that they tracked down ... due to some hokey thing about Locke having seen it on Mr Eko's stick as he was burying him: "a sign, a sign".
Anyhoo, at the end of the show we saw Jack playing football with The Others! He was playing with Tom, Mr Friendly, specifically. He seemed to be having fun. So we're left with the question ... is he now in league with The Others?
Having YouTUbed around, I found a trailer for this week's Lost on ABC (and hence Sky One in the UK, too). We see Jack talking to Kate. Oooh darn it if there's not a lov thang goin' on. Looks as if the little fling with Sawyer on the Hydra little island was perhaps born of pity because Kate thought Sawyer was a gonner. Kate didn't admit to loving Sawyer ... he did ask her and rather admitted he loved her.
Moving on. We discover Ben Linus knows that Locke was a wheelchair user for 4 years. He knows how he ended up in the chair, too. We hear from the voiceover man that Ben is going to tell Locke some of the secrets of the island in this episode too! I'm sure this must be connected with his apparent recovery and ability to walk again, Rose's bout of cancer remission and possibly even the reason why Sun became pregnant though her husband Gin is infertile (it's possible that Sun had an affair with that Lee fella we saw in flashback though, I think Damon Lindlaugh and Carlton thingumbyjig may hav admitted to this in one of their podcasts in the last run, Autumn time).
Ya know, it's only when I come to writing this down that I realise how dull it must be for others who know nothing about Lost? I was trying to tell my parents - they were up this past weekend - about the intricacies and how much I like the show ... they were zoning out barely before I started.
Latest Lost theories
• Desmond is Jesus -- Well. I had thought for a while back there that, tapping into this whole religious thing, Desmond was some kind of Jesus figure: keeps saving people (well Charlie), beard, keeps calling people 'brother', saved the world so others might live - but not sure about that now. Well, not sure what it would achieve in the entire story arc at any rate. Might come back to that another time.
• The great man -- Ben has talked about him, Mickhail the Russian fella who got killed talked about him. We're talking about the leader of The Others or the Dharma Initiative - if they are one and the same thing which I'm not altogether sure about. "He's a great man ... but not a forgiving man" said Ben back in season two when he was captive in the Losties' hatch. If he's not forgiving, could this be why Mikhail and Miss Klough were happy to die? Is he ruthless? Or is he a cult leader? Is the Dharma initiative a pseudo-scientific cult? Who is the leader? I think it might be Jack! But Jack has somehow either forgotten temporarily or is playing an elaborate game. Jack's faith healing tattooist saw leadership qualities in him, all the Losties defer to him as leader (mostly) and his tattoos say he is a man who stands alone amongst others. Others? Hallo, suss the big clue? He's the leader! He's why everyone is on the island!
• Leader backtrack -- Or maybe Locke is the leader ... Mikhail said he remembered Locke ... suggesting he may have been on Jacob's list. Hmm, whereas Tom (Mr Friendly) said Jack wasn't on Jacob's list back in the episode where Ben was in the operating theatre. But maybe Jack wasn't on the list because he IS the leader?
More at another time.
If Dragon's Den were on when I were a kid ...
When I was a lad, I used to get all fired up by TV programmes I watched.
If Blue Peter taught you how to make something, I'd be up, out of my chair, at the table, making it.
When the film 'WarGames' came on TV, I got up, went to my computer and tried to hack into something important. Didn't have a modem but that didn't stop me programming something with a password that made me feel like a technical whizz / hacker! Oooh! Ingenuity.
Superman? I drew a big Superman S thing and cut it out, put it on my TV shirt and became a superhero.
So to the present. This evening I watched Dragon's Den, got all excited as usual about starting my own business and making millions ... but what have I done about it now that I hav the tools, freedom and adult brain to make it a reality? Answer: nothing. Well OK I did sell a few old DVDs on eBay a few months ago after a particularly good episode of the business show but ... well if only it had been on when I was younger I could be a millionaire, innit.
If Blue Peter taught you how to make something, I'd be up, out of my chair, at the table, making it.
When the film 'WarGames' came on TV, I got up, went to my computer and tried to hack into something important. Didn't have a modem but that didn't stop me programming something with a password that made me feel like a technical whizz / hacker! Oooh! Ingenuity.
Superman? I drew a big Superman S thing and cut it out, put it on my TV shirt and became a superhero.
So to the present. This evening I watched Dragon's Den, got all excited as usual about starting my own business and making millions ... but what have I done about it now that I hav the tools, freedom and adult brain to make it a reality? Answer: nothing. Well OK I did sell a few old DVDs on eBay a few months ago after a particularly good episode of the business show but ... well if only it had been on when I was younger I could be a millionaire, innit.
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