The music of a PBS 'Masterpiece', Case Histories

The PBS Masterpiece presentation, Case Histories, has definitely taken viewers minds off the fact that there are still 76 days until the premiere of Downton Abbey 2 on January 8, 2012. Two episodes into the 3-part series starring Jason Isaacs as private investigator Jackson Brodie has generated not only strong viewing numbers but significant viewer […]

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BBC targets January 2012 for Sherlock 2 premiere

With the long-awaited premiere of Sherlock 2 settled in the U.S. for Sunday, May 6, 2012 as part of PBS’ Masterpiece series, Friday’s low key announcement that the series would be available for purchase on Amazon UK beginning 5 March 2012 had some significance with respect to the scheduling of the UK broadcast on the BBC. […]

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IT Crowd powers down – :(

When the word came down on Friday that the brilliant Graham Linehan comedy, IT Crowd, was coming to an end after four seasons, my first thought was to take the sage advice of either Roy Trenneman (Chris O’Dowd) or Maurice Moss (Richard Ayoade) and try turning it off and on again. Unfortunately, the message was […]

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Downton Abbey 2 takes a hit from critics

From the Department of Life’s Lonely at the Top comes news out of the Downton Abbey 2 camp that the second series is coming under fire not only from avid viewer critics but also the editor of the Oxford English Dictionary himself. Mirroring the uproar caused by brief visual glimpses of an extraneous television aerial […]

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Rowan Atkinson – America is a 'tough bean' to crack

Credit where credit is due here. That brilliant headline comes from Susan King at the Los Angeles Times. With Rowan Atkinson’s new film, Johnny English Reborn set to open in U.S. theaters nationwide today, the British comedian has found, historically, that the American market is, indeed, a tough ‘bean’ to crack when it comes to big screen […]

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Alan Partridge – He's alive!

Thankfully, for all our sakes, not to mention Alan Partridge, Steve Coogan has decided to not pull the plug on his alter-ego any time in the near future. What started out as a brief stint as a spoof sports reporter on the BBC Radio 4 program, On the Hour, has led to a comedic empire […]

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Vote for comedy on public television in 2012!

BBC Syndication Showcase 2011 postcript As we close the book on the third annual BBC Syndication Showcase, PBS stations across the country leave BBC West (New Orleans) armed with an incredible number of potential choices for programming of all genres to acquire for broadcast in their individual markets. Science, Natural History, Drama, Factual and Comedy. […]

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Blackadder the Fifth – Any thoughts?

When Rowan Atkinson put Teddy to bed for the last time recently, he did offer up, in exchange, that he’d be up for the possibility more Blackadder brilliance someday in the not-too-distant future. That’s the good news. Unfortunately, there’s this little issue of generating equal interest amongst the likes of writer, Richard Curtis, and other cast […]

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Red Dwarf S10 production bits and bobs

Red Dwarf series 10 ramps up for November, wobbly sets and all We’ve known for some time, thanks to a series of cast interviews, that there were plans for the return of Red Dwarf in the not-too-distant future for a welcomed tenth series. First it was Craig Charles (Lister) who ‘leaked’ the commissioning of the […]

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Case Histories – New PBS Masterpiece tonight!

There’s a new sheriff in the PBS Masterpiece town. Actually, depending on who you talk to, there’s either a maverick ex-cop or a private investigator in town. In either case, he goes by the name of Jackson Brodie and is played brilliantly by Jason Isaacs. Isaacs, who’s most recent gig was as Lucius Malfoy in […]

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