We Love TV

Autumn's up and running and it's getting cold outside, so what better time than now to watch some TV?

It used to be that BBC & ITV would save all their programmes up for the big Autumn schedule, but that seems to have gone away now and you tend to get things spread about a bit more through what were used to be the fallow periods. Plus with the major competition from Satellite, Cable and now the Internet they can't really afford to keep things under wraps for too long. However it's the latter that seems to be throwing up the more interesting TV from the USA via the wonder of Bittorrent.

How did we used to live waiting for shows to cross the Atlantic to be shown on our networks six months after they've aired in the States? How did we manage to wait a week until the next episode? Downloading shows via the filesharing networks has, along with Sky+, revolutionised watching television in our household.

"Heroes" is really the show to blame for this. Word of mouth drummed up interest in this show, and about halfway through the US broadcast of the first season, we took the plunge and downloaded the shows shown so far. It was one of those rare shows where you watched one episode, and then.. you had to watch the next. What was intended to be just a quick viewing of an episode before bed turned into a five hour marathon only halted by the need for sleep.

Of course the first season is now about halfway through on it's UK terrestrial BBC2 showing, but in the US the second season has already commenced, so we're downloading and watching the new season episodes weekly and it's a frustrating experience! I need to see the next episode... now! Grrrr.

Heroes Season Two so far is a bit of a slow burner. It's four months after the (not quite) explosive events in Kirby Plaza and almost all of the characters are flipped in intention and situation from where we first met them last year. There's some new characters, and the killing off of some familiar ones also. And a new enemy, and maybe the return of an old one. Far too early to pass judgement yet but it's so far not up to the high standard of the best of the last season, but not much is.

So what else is there to view?

Readers may remember my article earlier this year about remakes of old TV series and films, and in particular NBC's "Bionic Woman". I responded to criticism of the casting of ex-Eastender Michelle Ryan as Jamie Sommers saying "wait and see" before having a go. And I've been proved right - she's actually pretty good in the role and her American accent is top notch. The first episode of the show is not bad. They've revamped the pilot which was doing the rounds in the summer, dumping the deaf sister for a delinquent high school kid sister instead, and Battlestar Galactica's Katie Sackhoff makes a great Bionic nemesis. It's a neat update. Not sure it's got legs though, as the second episode was lacking somewhat with a bit of a dull story about germ warfare terrorists, and it looks as if it may turn into espionage adventure by numbers. We'll see.

I've also watched the first episode of "The Riches" with Eddie Izzard & Minnie Driver heading up a family of travellers who steal the identity and lifestyle of a wealthy couple who've just died in a road accident. They intend to steal the American Dream. It's black comedy at times, with some dark undercurrents. Izzard's accent is shit but he manages to rise above this in the lead role of Wayne Malloy, a conman who wants so much more for his family and shows subtle hints of stopping at nothing to get it. Driver plays his heroin addicted wife, newly released from prison, struggling with her addiction and the new world she's been flung into. Add to this a stoned son, a daughter who has issues with her addict mother, a transvestite youngest son and the vengeful head of the gypsy camp they've stolen money from, and you've got potentially a very interesting series. About the only thing worth watching on crappy Virgin 1 anyway.

Over on Paramount Comedy, they've finally got some new imports to show instead of old "Man About The House" shows.

"The Sarah Silverman Programme" is delightfully batty, if at times in baaaad taste. 25 minutes of whimsy and crudity, and stupid songs usually about poo. Only watched the first two so far and they're just... barmy. If you like "South Park" you'll get this. And talking of which, series 11 of "South Park" looks to be as spot on as ever, the first show taking a mad diversion into a tale about the world of headlice, purely to make a wickedly joke about Angelina Jolie. Also on Paramount "The Knights Of Prosperity" is a short lived sitcom in the "My Name Is Earl" mode about a bunch of losers who try to rob Mick Jagger's apartment. That's it. Not laugh out loud funny but dumb and amusing.

It's not all Bittorrent and Satellite though. "The IT Crowd" Series 2 recently finished over on good old Channel 4, and didn't really for me hit the comic heights of Series 1, but maybe repeated viewing will help. Certainly the first show with the theatre visit was superb, and Matt Berry is always good value as new boss Douglas. Loved Moss's appearance on "Dragon's Den" with his bra as well. Another returnee over on BBC2 was Steve Coogan's "Saxondale" which on it's first outing received a mixed reception from some quarters, but I loved it and always said that it needs time to bed in. Repeated viewing yields delights you may have missed first time round. The second series was almost all entirely good, with some unexpected subtle humour from Coogan, and Morwenna Banks is excellent every week as the bitchy Vicky back at the office.

Even BBC1 has got a reasonably funny sitcom at last with "Not Going Out", which on the surface looks to be a typically creaky British sitcom, but has a gag rate to almost rival "Friends" at it's peak. Lee Mack & Tim Vine make a great double act and hopefully there will be another series (check out co-writer Andrew Collins's blog listed somewhere to your right for more info). Could do without Miranda Hart's cleaner though - how does someone so untalented get work?

BBC4 has given us the return of "Charlie Brooker's Screenwipe", for another frustratingly short run. So far he's done a brilliant job of exposing the way News has been dumbed down over the years and a scathing attack on the BBC's policy of shrinking credits at the end of their shows. All done by Mr Brooker with liberal amounts of gurning and swearing.

"Spooks" is back on BBC 1 and is back on form after the patchy Series Five, with a gripping story about biological germ warfare. Hints that the storylines may wrap over from one week to the next more so than before have been confirmed with two cliffhangers at the climax of the first two episodes, and the ever present threat that any of the main cast members may get killed off. Quality escapist drama. "Top Gear" has bedded in on Sundays again, with the usual mix of cars you'll never afford and the boys being arses. The first show was a bit shit to be honest, but the second with the return of the task - this time across the Channel by car... in water - was irresponsible fun. Clarkson, Hammond and May are like a "Last Of The Summer Wine" for the Nintendo generation.

And a good Doctor Who fan like myself is being kept reasonably placated until the next series by "The Sarah Jane Adventures" on CBBC. This is pure kids TV but it's actually different because it's good, keeping up the standards set by the pilot and frankly is just a fun undemanding romp, with the farting Slitheen finally finding their natural home in the world of Dick & Dom and Shaun The Sheep. Not that all this means that the scripts are dumbed down, no way. It reminds me of the really good children's adventure mysteries that the BBC used to do so well back in the day, with half decent acting even from the kids. And if Elisabeth Sladen's not had botox then I want to know what she's taking, because she's wearing far too well for a woman of 59!

And the treat of the week so far for me is "The Peter Serafinowicz Show". From the people who brought you "Look Around You" half an hour of more stupid spoofs and impressions. "Who he?" you may ask. Well, you'll have seen him in many a comedy over the last ten years, but notably in "Hardware" with Martin Freeman, as Tim's paint-balling nemesis Duane Benzie in "Spaced" and as Pegg & Frost's bad-tempered flatmate who turns into a zombie (as you do) in "Shaun Of The Dead". Oh, and he was the voice of Darth Maul. Highlights so far are the excellent Shopping Channel sketches, Brian Butterfield the crap lawyer, adverts for "Kitchen Bang!", and an uncanny Michael Caine Acting Masterclass which, having seen the original I can safely vouch for it's accuracy. And that's what's great about it - even when the jokes are weak, it more than makes up for that by the amount of care and attention to detail that shines through.

And that's about it. Who says there's nothing on the box?

"Life On Mars" Series 2 promo stuff

I've had these hanging around for the best part of 7 months and thought it might be nice to keep somewhere. The first is a promo poster for the second series of "Life On Mars" and the second is a scan of "The Rules Of Modern Policing", an amusing promo book that was left around bars and pubs publicizing the series.

How we used to live

Whilst skimming through Google images, I stumbled across many old photos of this town I find myself living in now. It was a shock to see how much Blackpool has changed even in my lifetime . I thought it might be appropriate to feature some of these pictures to show the changing face of a seaside town and it's neighbours.

Above is a an aerial photo of Blackpool Tower from 1952. Just above the Tower you can see a railway station. Below is a photo of that reasonably busy Blackpool Central Station in the early Sixties, before the Beeching cuts destroyed much of the rail infrastructure across the UK. Alas this line, which carried many a holidaymaker through South Shore before arriving at the terminus just near the Tower, was closed down, the tracks ripped up, the station demolished...

and now we have this instead:

Blackpool Central... car park. Yes holidaymakers still come in down what was the old railway line but it's now it's Yeadon Way, a bypass transporting coachloads of tourists to this cold 70's nightmare. Where the terminus was is now Coral Island, a gaudy tatty glorified arcade run by people who don't give a monkeys about the town but are happy to try to bleed it dry of cash. This car park is the location for what was to be the Mega Casino. The Council still have plans for it but I'd say it'll still be a car park in 5 years time.

Here's some more photos of the station before it was removed:

The Art of the Pet Shop Boys & Mark Farrow

Possibly my favourite band... or is that New Order? Anyway, I've always been of the opinion that the look of the record, CD or DVD whatever, is almost as important as the contents itself. You can buy a great record with a shit cover and it's still a great record, but a great sleeve makes it something special. How less great would "Sgt Pepper" be without it's Peter Blake sleeve design? Or Pink Floyd's "Dark Side Of The Moon" without the Hipgnosis's light prism? Nirvana "Nevermind" without the baby? Debatable.

The Pet Shop Boys have 95% of the time had fantastic graphic design, courtesy of their long time graphic designer Mark Farrow, who's worked with them throughout their career with only a brief break for 2002's "Release" album (which looked very poor). His designs for Tennant & Lowe have a distinctive look, distinguished by simple images and clean simple typefaces.

Enough yakking. Let's have a look.

"Suburbia" 12" single (1986)

A defining image of PSB in their early years, and one which they'd come back to, time and time again - a single image of either Neil or Chris, with little or no text, but you know immediately what the product is.

"It's a Sin" 12" and CD single (1987)

Another classic image from photographer Eric Watson, with Chris typically in the background, and no cover text again. Somehow you don't need it - the image says everything.

"Always On My Mind" 12" single (1987)

White. Small image. Small text. That's a recurring motif. Their first two proper albums "Please" & "Actually" began this, and their Christmas number one single was packaged similarly in a distinctly tasteful classy sleeve. You had to almost squint to read the credits. The photos come from the "forthcoming" PSB movie "It Couldn't Happen Here". The remix was similar but with a bigger font:

The American release had a different image but the effect's the same.

"Heart" 7" and 12" singles (1988)

Marketing gimmick? Or Art? You decide, but for what won't be the last time, you can choose either a Neil or Chris cover.

or both of them, if you buy the 12" singles.

"Introspective" Album/CD (1988)

A change from the norm. Coloured bars ala the Testcard ahoy. Apparently this was a kick against their perceived image and the white covers.

Now I wish I had this. The clear vinyl 3 x 12" single version of the album.

Typically, the Japanese get different stripes:

"Left To My Own Devices" 12" single (1988).

Now, this is nice. Initial quantities of the 7" & 12" came in an orange pouch housing this bizarre sleeve. The CD single also came in the orange pouch, but with a different cover for the CD inside.

In 1988 the Pet Shop Boys released their first and only annual, called typically "Annually" designed throughout by Mark Farrow and written by their long time collaborator Chris Heath.

"So Hard" (1990)

Another iconic image. Neil looks blank and emotionless, whilst Chris eats an apple. Strangely brilliant. And nice coats.


"Jealousy" (1991)

Back to the either/or options with this sleeve.

"Where the Streets Have No Name"/"How Can You Expect To Be Taken Seriously?" Remix 12"(1991)

Don't know why I like this one. It's really just a dull close up of Chris's keyboard but somehow the blurriness of the background and the striking green "Remixed" makes it look really dramatic.

"Performance" VHS Video sleeve 1992

Featuring Neil & Chris dressed in costumes from the 1991 shows, this enigmatically sums up the show in one image.

"Can You Forgive Her" Remix 12"(1993)

Some see this as the start of the downward spiral, but they're very wrong. As a reaction against the criticism of them standing around looking moody, Tennant & Lowe recreate themselves as bizarre unreal characters in increasingly artificial scenarios. Hence we get the dunces hat and egg look. Not to all tastes.

"Very" CD Box (1993)

"Tactile for the Nineties" is how they put it. Increasingly tired of the lack of imagination put into CD design Farrow, Tennant & Lowe came up with this Lego inspired design (above) which stood out on the shelves.

This bright yellow design adorned the vinyl version of the album. Hmmm. The cassette was a bit better:

Back on track with the very lovely limited edition version came in this rubber sleeve with a similar Lego tactile feel.

"Various" VHS video (1994)

All the videos from the "Very" album wrapped in this mad sleeve featuring all the versions of Neil & Chris designed for this campaign.

"I Wouldn't Normally Do This Kind Of Thing" 12" remixes and CD Singles(1993)

By this point they'd gone a bit mad.As you can see.

"Discovery" Laserdisc (1995)

This document of the South American tour for the "Very "album sees a return of the Dunces hats against a backdrop of the Brazilian flag colours.

"Paninario '95" CD Single (1995)

Back to a more classic PSB look after the day-glo excesses of "Very" with these simple designs. Above are the CD singles, below are the 12" sleeves.

"Bilingual" CD (1996)

Still wanting their CDs to stand out and look special, here's a yellow sleeve with frosted title effect, and a return to traditional PSB fonts. The reissue version went with a similarly striking yet less expensive cover:

"I Don't Know What You Want But I Can't Give It Any More" CD Singles (1999)

The Millenium is impending and the dressing up box returns. And a return for dogs, another running PSB motif.

"Flamboyant" CD & 12" (2004)

Relatively abstract, a blurred video image shields us from the horror that was Chris's mullet.

"Fundamental" CD album (2006)

Not white but black. But the effect's just as familiar, and the neon lettering works a treat.

"Cubism" DVD (2007)

The tour for the "Fundamental" album was built round the visual concept of the neon lights and the costumes, with a fitting sleeve for the DVD - a cardborad slip case meaning you can have either a Neil Or Chris sleeve, as ever.