U.S. Kath & Kim Survives Against All Odds
November 2, 2008
I don’t get it, The U.S. remake of the Australian series Kath & Kim just got picked up for a full season!
This terrible remake that is probably one of the most unfunny sitcoms I have ever seen seems to have survived the axe for now. The show has already been taken off Australian TV and the ratings in the States have been poor, but for some reason NBC has confidence in the series. Do they really have so little material laying around NBC that they have to persist with this garbage?
Well, we’ll see how this progresses. For a deeper analysis on this listen to our netcast/podcast this week, we will be discussing this and many other hot topic items.
The 11th Doctor is Coming Soon
October 31, 2008
The rumours are finally confirmed, David Tennant is stepping down as Doctor Who. He will play the role in some special episodes through 2009 and do the Christmas special but then he is moving on.
“I’ve had the most brilliant, bewildering and life changing time working on Doctor Who,” said Tennant, who described the part as the “best job in the world”.
“I have loved every day of it. It would be very easy to cling on to the Tardis console forever and I fear that if I don’t take a deep breath and make the decision to move on now, then I simply never will. You would be prising the Tardis key out of my cold, dead hand.”
The rumour mill is now wondering who will play The Doctor next. Names that have been bounced around so far, David Morrissey, Paterson Joseph, James McAvoy, James Nesbitt and john Simm.
The hot name from a few months ago was Robert Carlyle.
And That’s Not All … Obama Infomercial
October 30, 2008
The American voters living overseas (like myself) may not get to see this video on TV so I am presenting it here.
Remember to vote everyone!
Sitcom Hell or Three Losers in Search of a Lobe!
October 30, 2008
We’ll just file this in the “what the hell!” box.
Apparently, Britney Spears, Lindsay Lohan and Paris Hilton have been approached to star in a new HBO sitcom that is supposed to be a cross between Friends and Ugly Betty.
HBO, (which has produced some quality TV with shows like Sex and the City, Deadwood, The Sopranos, Tell Me You Love Me, True Blood etc.) are reportedly keen to sign up the blonde trio to appear as flatmates struggling to make it big in Hollywood. The plot would see the trio of blondes playing roommates trying to make it big in their desired professions.
Interestingly, they would not be straying to far from their real lives as Paris would be playing a designer trying to make it big, Britney would be playing an aspiring singer and Lindsay an actress.
HBO are said to have approached Extras star Ricky Gervais and Desperate Housewives creator Mark Cherry to pen the script!
This all just sounds like a nightmare and I don’t believe it would ever happen. It would definitely be a train wreck and we would probably be unable to take our eyes from the screen.
Click Here to read the full story
Keith Olbermann Nails Sarah Palin To The Wall
October 30, 2008
This close to the US Federal Election I can’t help but get political. I am a left leaning liberal and I can’t stand what George W. Bush has done to my country. I love America and its people but I can’t live there at the moment because I am disgusted by the current administration.
At 41 years old, I think I can honestly say that this is the most important election of my lifetime. America will not survive another four years of a Bush style government and if McCain/Palin are elected to the White House that is what America will get. It is time to change! Change everything!
I have lived a lot of years in Australia and I have lived in England and I can tell you that having some socialised services (like basic health care, education, public transport, social walfare etc.) does not lead to communism. America would never call it’s closest allies (Australia and England) communist, yet both of these countries (and Canada, another one of the close allies) offer these services. These countries have thriving democracies and capitalist practices, you can still get rich! The biggest difference is that if you fall on hard times you are not shunned out into homelessness, you are supported and helped to get back to your feet … BY YOUR GOVERNMENT! That is real community spirit NOT communist spirit!
Anyway, The Huffington Post (huffingtonpost.com) ran this video of Keith Olberman talking about Sarah Palin (who is just plain evil, and I want her to crawl back under whatever rock she crawled out from) and her double standards, it is just wonderful.
Make Sure You Vote!!!
US Kath & Kim Savaged by Critics
October 9, 2008
The US Kath & Kim
Well this was inevitable. The first reviews of the US version of Kath & Kim are starting and it is not looking good. The San Francisco Chronicle TV critic, Tim Goodman, was scathing in his review of the remake. “jaw-droppingly awful” he said and is asking if the American executive producer Michelle Nader had ever seen the “fantastically funny” Australian version. He asks if an apology to Australia is needed. But on second thought:
“NBC sent the first two episodes of Kath and Kim, and both were jaw-dropping in their awfulness. In fact, by the end of the second episode, a stray thought occurred: Maybe an apology to Australia is unnecessary because the American version misses the mark so badly that it’s barely recognisable as a distant cousin to the original,” Goodman wrote.
Maybe Magda Szubanski was right in her decision to bail out of this project and take her character, Sharon, with her.
The San Fransico Chronicle went on to say, “Molly Shannon, as the mom, Kath, who tries to make the most out of nothing, and Selma Blair, who’s completely miscast as daughter Kim, are light years removed from Jane Turner and Gina Riley, the Australian actresses who created and wrote the original series. Of course, actually creating and writing the series is part of the reason Turner and Riley nail their characters. They inhabit them.”
To read the complete article click here.
More on this can be found in The Advertiser
Australia Gets US Version of Kath & Kim First
September 12, 2008
News.com.au has just released this article stating that Australia will get Kath and Kim (the US version) before America but not on TV.
With NBC returning content to iTunes now they have worked out a variable pricing structure, NBC will launch five of the new premiere shows to iTunes before screening on TV. Titles include Knight Rider, My Own Worst Enemy, Life, Lipstick Jungle and Kath & Kim.
I still have a very bad feeling about Kath & Kim and now I have seen a trailer for the new show, the feeling is worse. I think NBC has a real stinker on their hands and I am predicting a mid season cancellation (5 to 7 episodes tops).
An interesting side note on all of this is that one of the funniest characters in the original Australian Kath & Kim has been cut from the US version. The character Sharon Strzelecki, played by Magda Szubanski, has been replaced by a gay man as the best friend. This is because Magda owns the rights to this character as she created it for another show called Big Girls’ Blouse. Magda, who was within her rights as the owner, decided to not let the character be played by someone else. This would be like Borat being played by Tom Cruise!!!! Or did she just smell the Thanksgiving dinner that this show could be from across the ocean?
All I can say is with all this content coming to iTunes, my lovely wife needs to let me get an Apple TV 
Kath & Kim premieres in the US on NBC October 7.
Read the full story at the link above and watch the trailer below.
Caprica Teaser is Online
September 5, 2008
I was wandering around the net looking for the release dates of the new season of US television when I came across this:
(or you can see a much higher quality version here http://www.scifi.com/scifiwire/index.php?category=14&id=57977) I knew, as any good BSG fan knew, that a spin off series was in the works but I thought it was still in the future, I assumed that they would finish Battlestar before moving on. Well, I was wrong and here is the first look at the prequel series, Caprica. Enjoy.
New (and last) episodes of Battlestar Galactica start in January 2009. Look for the new webisodes on the Sci Fi channel’s website in October.
Eva Mendes’ Nipple and a Little More on Censorship
August 28, 2008
Okay, I know I harp on about censorship, but it really is a big issue. This article caught my eye and I just want to share it with you. Eva Mendes (she starred in Hitch and Ghost Rider and I think she is so hot!) was in a new Calvin Klein ad called “Secret Obsession”. The ad has been banned in America, Australia and the UK because you can see her nipple!!!!!!!!!!! A cut version will go to air. Why would anyone not want to see Eva’s nipple?!?!?!?
Here is the ad:
Tasteful and arty and in no way offensive. In fact I would say I would like to see more nipples in advertising.
Eva Mendes raised a very important point when asked about this, she said, ”I’m completely American, I was born and raised in America and I love it but I think we are too quick to censor nudity, meanwhile, it’s OK to blow things up and our films are so violent and our television is so violent.”
She also said, ”I would rather see tasteful nudity than violence any day.”
Good for you Eva, while you are in Australia, want to come on the netcast ….. please, pretty please, pretty please with sugar on top
Two articles about this can be found here and here
Kath & Kim gets “de-Kath & Kimmed”
July 31, 2008
Most of you already know that the Australian series Kath and Kim has been bought by the Americans and has been re-made (like British shows, Life on Mars, Queer as Folk etc). The new Kath and Kim show airs in America in October and stars Selma Blair and Molly Shannon. Australian readers will probably be horrified to read that NBC is re-working the show again. NBC is apparently concerned about the first episode (the show skipped the traditional pilot process) and are doing some reworking to it. The execs are worried the show will fall flat with US audiences - I could have told them that before they bought it.
The network has invested heavily in this show and so they have asked if it can be more highly stylised.
“Think CSI: Comedy. They want to de-Kath & Kim it a bit,” an industry insider said.
I have to say that I am not a huge Kath & Kim fan and I don’t want to see the new series that much, but I will say that I have said from day one that I didn’t think this project would work. Kath & Kim is a very Australian show and is a product of time and place. Americans will not watch this unless it is completely revamped - and in a situation like that, why not just make something original. Why bother remaking something if it does not resemble the original.
To read the full story go to news.com.au
