Get your agent on the phone…Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant’s Extras, their six-episode follow-up to The Office, gets picked up by HBO for broadcast Stateside. And there was much rejoicing (at least in these parts.)
Tag: Television
Adad Dada.
Slate‘s Seth Stevenson laments the rise of absurdity-for-its-own-sake in television commercials. I dunno…I still tend to crack up every time that Salt-n-Pepa Nextel ad comes on.
Dead Men Tell Some Tales.
Can’t tell a hooplehead from a squarehead? What are you, from Yankton? Well, this establishment here can at least help you separate fact from fiction on HBO’s Deadwood. Some spoilers to be had, if the writers keep following the basic history of the town. (Courtesy of the formidable proprietors of Triptych Cryptic.)
Kenny’s with the Angels.
“In 22 minutes, Trey Parker and Matt Stone manage to hammer politicians, the media, religious hypocrisy and every other aspect of the madness that is the Schiavo case. How they were able to put this together so quickly is astounding — it’s more timely than ‘The Daily Show.'” Salon‘s Andrew Leonard sings the praises of the most recent South Park.
Doctor Who?
At first I thought this might be an April Fools joke…but, no, it seems that Christopher Eccleston has already tired of Doctor Who after 13 episodes and will be replaced for the recently-announced second season. Phew, thank goodness for Gallifreyan regeneration.
Vox Populi.
“I’d recognize The Dude’s friendly growl anywhere. But almost no one else will…Why would Duracell pay big bucks for the voice of a Hollywood star?” In a world of commercial voices both gruff and soothing, Slate‘s Seth Stevenson delves into current trends in the voice-over industry.
Send in the Clones.
In case you missed them on the Cartoon Network, all twenty-five episodes of Genndy Tartakovsky’s Clone Wars are now available online. Season 2 in particular, involving General Grievous’ invasion of Coruscant, apparently leads right into Episode III…and they’re at least as entertaining as Attack of the Clones.
The F-Chip.
“I might as well be reading tabloids out of the grocery store…Anything to get a rise out of the viewer and to reinforce certain retrograde notions.” Sam Kimery, a former Republican precinct captain, builds and markets a device that blocks FOX News from infecting your television. Looks like Christmas will be easy this year.
Yanked out of proportion.
NBC begins its full-court press on the American version of The Office, premiering next Tuesday with The Daily Show‘s Steve Carell as Ricky Gervais and Six Feet Under‘s Rainn Wilson in the Gareth role. Hmmm…from the Screening Room clips, I’m not feeling it. Update: The NYT weighs in: “Luckily for NBC, which bought the rights to the British comedy, only a relatively small number of viewers in the United States have seen the BBC version. Those happy few should try to erase every trace from their brains – Eternal Sunshine of the Digital Cable Mind – because the NBC series, though it pales in comparison, is still funnier than any other new network sitcom.” Slate‘s Dana Stevens is less sanguine. “Remember that scene near the end of Annie Hall, when Woody Allen (as Alvy Singer) tries to recreate a fun date he once shared with his ex-girlfriend Annie (Diane Keaton), chasing live lobsters around the kitchen in an attempt to catch them and boil them for dinner?…That’s sort of how fans of the BBC series The Office will feel about the new American remake.“
Sick to Deadwood.
“You take the blue pill: the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill: you stay in Wonderland and I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes.” Or, if you’re feeling as under the weather as I have, you just take ’em both: DayQuil when you get up, NyQuil at bedtime. Fortunately, I’m feeling a bit better today, and at least I got to catch up on the first season of Deadwood over the weekend. I know I’m generally a late-comer to quality TV, and this is no exception. Still, it’s a great show.