Public Address - Radiation (Home)

Fit and they know it | Aug 17, 2004 22:36

Does it strike anyone as odd that Geoff Bryan has to present the Olympics from a studio in Auckland, while Tony Veitch has to read the New Zealand sports news from a balcony in Athens? Poor old Geoff, stuck in a TVNZ studio behind a fake high-tech grand piano clutching his One News mug when he should be sweating it in Greece.

I did catch Bjork's performance at the Olympics opening ceremony – possibly Iceland's only entry – with her typically eccentric song Oceania, but it was the athletes I felt really sorry for, having to endure two-and-a-half-hours plus of that Eurotrancetrash crap courtesy of some super Eurotrancetrash DJ. Jesus, it's a wonder they had the will to live after that, let alone compete.

But the Olympics are so eye candy, except for stupid sports like dressage and water polo.They are so fit and they know it, and we haven't even got to the women's volleyball – or The Cuteness riding at the velodrome they didn't have time to put sides on. I do think TV One is rubbing salt on the wounds of Coronation Street fans with their "Revenge is Street" promos though.

Here's a US critic's view of the Olympic coverage so far.

On a completely different issue, I'm beginning to think that the no. 8 wire ethos has to apply to New Zealand comedy before it's funny. For example -- Eating Media Lunch, eight half-hour episodes, made for $349,557: very funny. Facelift -- seven half-hour episodes, made for $1,240,000: not very funny. I rest my case.

Maybe frugality is the mother of frippery; it's not like you need a lot of money to be droll. I'm betting that the $281,378 that NZ On Air has stumped up for Great Southern Television – who make Eating Media Lunch – to produce a comedy called the Unauthorised History of New Zealand will be money well spent too.

The reverse is true for drama, probably. The Insiders Guide cost $4,823,000 and worth every penny, although I neglected to tape the final ep and the repeat isn't until this Sunday.

Meanwhile, Chris Bell has more pressing issues on his mind, like whatever happened to TVSN:

Not that it was ever really worth watching, I hasten to add -- their programming was always insane and never tallied with the Sky TV guide, making it an almost-useless service.

I did have fun betting with my evening visitors that they'd be showcasing crappy "Diamonesque" jewellery if we tried zapping to Channel 45 ... I won every time. I've tried googling TVSN, but can't find anything resembling news. Perhaps you or your readers can shed some light on TVSN's demise.

Actually what I'd like to know is does anyone know anyone at all who uses G-codes, especially on the Sky channels? With most Sky connections being digital, there must be about three people in the whole country who use them to tape sport or that soft porn they have on Sky 1 after midnight.

This is a bit old, but Onfilm has an interview with Caterina De Nave, Michael Galvin, Karl Burnett and Harriet Crampton to mark Shortland Street's 3000th episode in June. And E! Online has this interview with Seth Green about making Without a Paddle in New Zealand.

A correction to the Letterman list came from Prime: on Monday, David Spade is a guest and Jack White and Loretta Lynn perform. Cool. And here's the latest from the Whedonverse: Joss is thinking about spin-off movies, something James Marsters mentioned when he was recently on Rove Live – which is worth watching, btw, last Friday Wing was on, singing a selection of Carpenters and Andrew Lloyd Webber numbers. Fantastic.

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Sweet Insanity | Aug 08, 2004 12:25

Good old Melanie Lynskey, going where Angela Dotchin couldn't – into a regular Hollywood gig. Lynskey's turn in Two and a Half Men was supposed to be short term, but she tested well and they decided to keep her on, earning praise from Entertainment Weekly in the process, which said she managed to make insanity sweet, or some such.

And Two and a Half Men actually made me laugh on Wednesday, although TV2 playing two episodes at once was a bit much. After the frenetic-ness of some of the US sitcoms (quick, get that joke out before someone switches to another channel!) I like the way Charlie Sheen doesn't rush his lines, although he veers dangerously close to the so-laid-back-he's-almost-asleep school of joke delivery.

But it seems as if Hollywood has been a tougher nut to crack for female Kiwi actors than for male ones, unless you win an Oscar or something like Anna Paquin. Even Lucy Lawless hasn't found (hasn't pursued?) anything much, especially since Tarzan stiffed after only eight weeks. But there's a few of our guys over there now – both Karl Urban and Marton Csokas are in The Bourne Supremacy, Martin Henderson and Daniel Gillies, after Torque and Spider-Man 2, are both in Bride and Prejudice. Kevin Smith was about to do a movie with Bruce Willis, for god's sake, before he died. Do we need to mention Russell Crowe? I think not.

Did anyone see Animal Games on Friday? It was a particularly bizarro slice of CGI nonsense made by the same guy who did Weird Nature and Supersense in which animals were scaled to human size to compete in Olympic events. My kids loved it. We got the British version, of course (it screens there on 11 August), but it's just shown in the US and this reviewer thought the makers must have been smokin' something. Notice how the British commentary by John Motson was whipped off and the show was revoiced for the Americans.

Good old Kiefer as well, getting his kit off in Kiwiland, then winging home to a new girlfriend on 24. Maybe that's what will keep 24 fresh – like ER, a revolving cast of characters. Kief got an Emmy nom for lead actor, and the series is nominated too, although that's a long way from The Sopranos' 20 nominations. The Emmys are on September 19, in case you're interested.

News comes out all the time about the new season of The Simpsons: 50 Cent is in one episode, there'll be gay characters etc, but Harry Shearer isn't happy about the last three seasons. The last season we saw (15) had its moments, like the episode where Mr Burns took over all the media outlets in town, but hardly kid-friendly.

Future of reality television alert: it apparently lies with spelling bees, according to this story. Who knew?

I wonder if we'll ever get Da Ali G Show here, the American one that is. He's in his second season in the US, and interviews Noam Chomsky in one ep. He chatted with Pat Buchanan about whether he thinks Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction, "or as they is called, BLTs." When Entertainment Weekly asked him how the US is different to the UK he answered: "Well, dere's a lot a lot more gun crime in de US, crack iz more havailable, and de porn is a lot more hardcore. But dere iz also some fings about it dat me don't like."

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