Thursday, March 30, 2006

 

In Which He Attempts To Calm Nerves

My friend just asked me if 'Peep Show' had been cancelled. I hadn't heard any rumours to this effect, but a quick look around the internet reveals that, for a while, one of the best sitcoms of the last ten years had bitten the dust. Fortunately, however, Channel 4 have changed their minds.

Thank goodness!


Channel 4, understand - your remit is to show quality, inventive programming. 'Peep Show' is this. It matters not if only a couple of million people want to watch it. We are the ones with taste, remember?

UPDATE!

Confirmation (last paragraph)

UPDATE 2!

I have also just discovered that the audiobook for 'That Mitchell And Webb Sound', the radio series which was, if possible, even better than 'Peep Show', by the same creators, is now available to buy. Sadly, however, only the marginally inferior - but still absolutely amazing - series two is on sale. We want series 1! We want series 1! We want series 1!

Comments:
COME ON BOFFINS! USE YOUR BRAINS! SELL SERIES 1!
 
Damn right! It does, indeed, need SORTING!
 
oh, and that's a baaad miss...
 
God knows, snooker commentary needs to be far more entertaining. Frankly, the BBC could take a leaf here.

Can you imagine what a commentary featuring sexual tension between John Virgo and Willie Thorne would sound like?
 
bristly?
 
actually: i can't believe i didn't make a nob joke there. slow off the mark today.
 
I know! I throw a softball like that, and you swing and miss!
 
Oh, and that's a bad miss...
 
"haha, you, errrr, you sounded a bit like you were punishing a small girl there Willie."

"Well, erm, it wasn't punctuated by spanking was it? John? Though it could be..."

"Far be it for me to judge Willie...I was just making a little gag!"

"oh really? is that for me? I mean, I know Virgos are known for their promiscuity, but you're something else..."

...

Hazel Irvine in the studio: "Who'd have thought that the result of that team bonding exercise would've been so?"
 
The front cover of the DVD is like an Escher picture. It looks like the one at the front is being bummed by the one behind, but how could that be possible? No-one has such a dick.

WE NEED SOME BOFFINS TO SORT THIS OUT FOR US!!

Perhaps he's going in for autoerotic-asphysxiation or something, he looks the type. Especially with that tie.
 
only a couple of million people want to watch it
In the fragmented US TV market, that's a hit.
 
Matty - I hadn't noticed it before, but that tie really is hideous, isn't it?

I'm just praying they bring out series 1. They can't let Raymond Terrific just get lost in history.

Happy - Yeah, just about managed it. I've arrived back at home now - it's soooooo nice unwinding.

SafeT - I'd be fascinated to hear your opinion, as an American, on something. In Britain, if you have Sky, you have approximately 100 channels. I don't have that, I only have about thirty. Presumably, you have even more than 100. What I'm curious about is this: do you feel that you get more, or less, choice with that number of channels? That is to say, do you find yourself watching what's on, or always looking for what else is on?
 
Steve55, I've though a lot on this subject.
Cable TV channels always start with a stated mission, often related to the title of the channel. As time goes by, these stations realize that they need to cater to a larger base audience than their originally intended mission can muster.
They then move their programming toward a lowest-common-denomenator, which usually ends up looking much like every other station on the dial. So while the channel started interesting, it ends up with nothing to say. The fact that the same set of sponsors buy advert time on all the networks doesn't help the matter much. They tend to want everything predictable.

MTV Music Television, originally showed nothing but music videos and music related news. Now it is mostly reality TV shows and celebrity expose'.

VH1 Video Hits 1, originally showed music video "hits" which had stood the test of time, often appropriate for an older audience than MTV. Now it is mostly reality TV shows, celebrity expose' and psuedo-documentaries about the last few decades of pop culture.

TLC The Learning Channel, originally showed educational edutainment programming with a decidedly scientific bent. Now it is mostly reality shows (usually of the home renovation variety), celebrity expose' and psuedo-documentaries about whatever they can find free film stock of.

Animal Planet, originally all about animals. Oddly, this is one channel that still follows its original mission, albeit badly. There has been a pet psychic TV show for awhile, and animal variants of reality shows such as Animal Cops and Worlds Funniest Animal Videos.

Bravo, originally a light version of the Independant Film Channel, they had lots of fairly high-brow film entertainment including movies and documentaries and interview shows. Now it is mostly reality shows, celebrity expose' and that same old interview show.

History Channel broke my heart by becoming a channel known for programming history as long as there is free film stock of the history. You end up with celebrity expose' and Nazis, mainly, with a handful of reality shows and a few British documentary imports.

Anyone remember when A&E was the Arts and Entertainment network?
When Spike was The Nashville Network?

About the only channels still doing their thing RIGHT is Nickelodeon, Cartoon Planet and Comedy Central.

In the end, you have a dial with 180 channels, but they are made up entirely of three or four formats copied multiple times with different names and slightly EVER so slightly different flavor.
 
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