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YouTube Comedy Week, day four: Crabstickz, the Gregory Brothers and Psy
2 hours ago
Ycw continues to struggle for belly laughs on day four, with the Gregory Brothers' DJ Play My Song the pick of a tepid bunch
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You can't accuse YouTube Comedy Week of elitism. It's not all about the big names; it's giving web-based comic talent a great opportunity to get their work seen by an (even) wider audience. So how are they doing? On the evidence of today's crop of Comedy Week videos, not particularly well. YouTube's official comedy channel brings us a series of amusing enough sketches about a nuclear family carping at one another across the dinner table. The first episode is here.
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Elsewhere, the British performer Chris Kendall, aka Crabstickz, chooses to commemorate Comedy Week by aping the most tired of old-media formats, the TV panel show. Worst of all, the Us »
- Brian Logan
The Apprentice; Bankers – TV review
2 hours ago
An everyday tale of farming folk? There's no chance of that with these apprentices
I'm nearly too weak with hatred to type. It's one of the many reasons I try always to recuse myself from reviewing The Apprentice (BBC1). It's not fair on it, and it's certainly not fair on me.
But for the next three months it is hobbity entrepreneur Alan Sugar's world and we just live in it. The Apprentice is four weeks into its ninth series and as, unaccountably, no one has yet staked it or any of its vile progeny through their black, black hearts, we must review its doings.*
Thirteen of the hypergroomed skinbags surrounding the standard but rarely more futilely assembled collections of human organs – or "contestants" as we shall hereafter call them in grudging recognition of the limits of time, space and reserves of bile available – survive.
This week's task is to hang, »
- Lucy Mangan
Genesis of the Daleks: Doctor Who classic episode #7
2 hours ago
The Doctor literally holds the fate of the Daleks in his hands, in what has been voted the greatest story in Who history
Genesis of the Daleks: episode six (12 April 1975)
Spoiler Alert: We are discussing some of the Doctor Who adventures broadcast over the past 50 years. In this blog, we're looking at part six of Genesis of the Daleks. It contains spoilers both about the specific episode and the story as a whole.
The Doctor is about to commit genocide. Can he really bring himself to do it? In one climactic moment, a historic pivot point in 50 years of Doctor Who plays out not with explosions or creaking special effects, but the holding together of two wires and a poetic monologue.
Sensing that the Dalek menace is careering out of control, the Timelords have sent the Doctor back through the history of Skaro to avert the creation of the metal meanies in the first place. »
- Dan Martin
Have you been watching … Playhouse Presents?
3 hours ago
Grayson Perry, Idris Elba and Peter Serafinowicz are among the many stars involved in this inventive series of 30-minute one-offs
How often do TV critics hark back to the heady days of Play for Today and Armchair Theatre? Back then, men were men, bitter was cheap and Ibsen was on ITV. Since the 80s, this sort of arts programming has all but died out. There have been resuscitation attempts, but the reception has been mixed: The Hollow Crown won Baftas, while Jerry Springer: the Opera spawned hate mobs.
In 2010, Sky Arts produced its own attempt, Playhouse Live. It was valiant but half-baked. I remember Alia Bano's Hens, broadcast live on Sky Arts 2, and it was lifeless, shabby and clunkily shot. Backs blocked the camera. The set seemed half-finished. Without an audience, it felt both stilted and dated.
This strand was replaced last year by Playhouse Presents, a series of miscellaneous 30-minute one-offs. »
- Matt Trueman
The X Factor: Louis Walsh to be paid less than Sharon Osbourne | Media Monkey
3 hours ago
Louis Walsh is to earn less than the other three The X Factor judges for the next series – despite being the longest-serving member of the panel. The Sun reports that Simon Cowell has lured Sharon Osbourne back with an offer of £1.5m plus £300,000 to cover flights and stays at London's Dorchester during filming on the series. Gary Barlow and Nicole Scherzinger will also earns £1.5m. Altogether the judges' paybill has risen from £3.7m last year to £5.8m plus expenses this year. Tulisa Contostavlos will be doubly ruing her exit as a judge, while Cowell will be praying that the £6m can help add some sparkle to the show's flagging ratings.
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- Monkey
Spoof X Factor musical has a title: I Can't Sing!
3 hours ago
Brainchild of Harry Hill will feature 19 original songs and an explanation for the height of Simon Cowell's trousers
Harry Hill's spoof X Factor musical has been given a title, I Can't Sing!, and will play in the West End from February next year, it has been announced.
The comedian described the show, which will run at the 2,200-seat London Palladium, as an "all-singing, all-dancing, all-mickey-taking spectacular", and revealed that it will feature "a singing hunchback, a talking dog and a man in an iron lung".
The musical, coproduced by Simon Cowell's company Syco Entertainment, will feature 19 original songs by Steve Brown, who has written for Spitting Image and Hill's own show TV Burp. Hill has put together the book and contributed lyrics, while Sean Foley – who is elsewhere about to make his Royal Shakespeare Company debut – will direct. Casting is yet to be announced.
The title seems »
- Matt Trueman
Channel 4 aims to make a killing with subtitled French drama
4 hours ago
The broadcaster's first foreign-language drama series in 20 years features zombies, murderers – and (horror) subtitles
There are no shortage of scares to be found in new Channel 4 drama The Returned. Zombies, for a start, along with a series of gruesome murders and a cannibalistic serial killer.
But the real shock, which once would have had viewers of a sensitive disposition hiding behind the sofa, is that The Returned is a subtitled French television series – the first foreign-language drama on Channel 4 since German epic Heimat 20 years ago.
Expected to be given a primetime slot when it launches next month, it is evidence of the changing attitudes towards subtitled drama that can be traced to the success of Danish murder mystery The Killing on BBC4, which has just announced its latest acquisition, the Belgian thriller Salamander.
Channel 4's chief creative officer, Jay Hunt, said subtitles were "no longer the turn-off »
- John Plunkett
Shameless star to play Tommy Cooper in ITV film
5 hours ago
David Threlfall and Amanda Redman to feature in biopic of comedian penned by Men Behaving Badly writer Simon Nye
Just like that! Shameless star David Threlfall will play Tommy Cooper in an ITV biopic of the comedian scripted by Men Behaving Badly writer Simon Nye.
New Tricks star Amanda Redman will play Cooper's wife Gwen in the two-hour film to be made by independent producer Left Bank Pictures (Wallander, The Damned United).
The film will focus on the dilemma faced by Cooper when he fell in love with assistant Mary Kay, embarking on a relationship which lasted 17 years.
The comic magician became one of the small screen's biggest stars at the height of his fame with his ITV shows in the 70s.
He made his TV debut on a BBC talent show in 1948 and died on stage, live on television, after he suffered a heart attack during the Lwt show, »
- John Plunkett
Mad Men recap: Season six, episode eight – The Crash
5 hours ago
The writers' speed binge brought on flashbacks, blackouts and the presence of a genuine hippy. Just as trippy was Sally's encounter with Grandma Ida
Spoiler Alert: This blog is for those who are watching season six of Mad Men. Don't read on if you haven't seen episode seven.
Catch up with Paul MacInnes's episode seven blog here.
'I've had loss in my life. You have to let yourself feel it, you can't dampen it down with drugs or sex.' – Peggy Olsen
It's one of the great things about Mad Men that, not only are there episodes in which the characters are on drugs, when watching them, the viewer feels as if they're on drugs too. Last season gives us Roger's acid awakening in which the doors of perception were held open, chivalrously, so that the audience could see harlequin hairdos and hear symphonic bottles of vodka. This week we »
- Paul MacInnes
EastEnders: will Denise Van Outen rule the Queen Vic? | Media Monkey
5 hours ago
BBC soap EastEnders could be about to receive an injection of glamour with the arrival of Denise Van Outen as the new boss of the Queen Vic pub. The Daily Mirror reports that the 38-year-old, who made her mark with a raunchy performance as Roxie Hart in the West End production of Chicago, has been in secret talks to jon the show. Producers are apparently desperate to inject some "flirtiness and spice" into the show, with one source describing Van Outen as "a new, young and fresh Peggy Mitchell". Van Outen the new Babs Windsor – was that a compliment?
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- Monkey
TV highlights 23/05/2013
8 hours ago
Fat Family Tree | Waterloo Road | The Last Days of Anne Boleyn | The Hunt for Britain's Sex Gangs | Most Shocking Talent Show Moments | Eddie Izzard's Mandela Marathons | North America | Golf: The PGA Championship
8pm, Channel 4
What the name Fat Family Tree lacks in sensitivity it makes up for in being utterly self-explanatory: Dr Dawn Harper looks at what we can learn from the genetics of an overweight family. This week, it's Tina, Lisa and Karen McConnon, who have a combined weight of nearly 60st. All have tried and failed to lose weight, with several family members dying from obesity-related illnesses. There are tears, and then help from scientists at Cambridge, Imperial College and Glasgow universities to turn their lives around. Ben Arnold
8pm, BBC1
Some people have bad days, but Sonya finds herself having a bad day of Olympic swimming pool-sized standards when she »
- Ben Arnold, Mark Jones, Andrew Mueller, David Stubbs, Hannah Verdier, Gwilym Mumford
Sharon Osbourne returns to X Factor panel
15 hours ago
Osbourne, who was last a judge on the show six years ago, will replace Tulisa Contostavlos
Sharon Osbourne will return to The X Factor judging panel to replace Tulisa Contostavlos, ITV has confirmed.
She will join Louis Walsh, Gary Barlow and Nicole Scherzinger – who have all signed up – on the ITV series when it comes back to screens later this year.
Osbourne, last on the show as a judge six years ago, had been widely expected to return after it emerged she had been in negotiation with programme chiefs. She said she "couldn't be happier" about her comeback.
The line-up announcement means Simon Cowell will be absent for a third year. His departure coincided with a ratings tumble for the show which was last year regularly beaten by BBC1 rival Strictly Come Dancing on Saturday nights.
Osbourne is reported to have been offered more than £1m for her return to the panel. »
Mick McManus obituary
22 hours ago
One of the big-name professional wrestlers of the 1960s and 70s who found fame and celebrity on television
Mick McManus, who has died aged 93, was billed at just 1.68m (5ft 6in) and 79kg (12½ stone), yet he was among the most powerful men in the professional wrestling business in Britain. His strength was not physical, but political, for behind the scenes he was the matchmaker for Dale Martin, the firm that controlled the business across the south of England.
By night McManus performed in halls around the country, but by day he worked from an office in Brixton, south London, determining the lineups – and results – for as many as eight shows a night. These decisions were not taken lightly: crowd favourites had to win often enough to maintain their appeal, but if villains tasted defeat too frequently, crowds would have little incentive to return to future shows.
Though McManus went for »
- John Lister
Why do TV historians talk in the present tense?
23 hours ago
Readers answer other readers' questions on subjects ranging from trivial flights of fancy to profound scientific concepts
When and where was it decided that historians, especially those on the BBC, would try to talk exclusively in the present tense?
Patrick Ferriday, Brighton
Television
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Zombieland: when fan power turns bad
22 May 2013 4:49 AM, PDT
The Kickstarter-funded Veronica Mars movie showed fan engagement at its strongest, but as the canned Zombieland TV pilot proves, viewers can also kill a project
After jumping into the TV game with a set of eight free-to-watch sitcom pilots last month, Amazon is now acting like a proper Us network by culling its slate. As the Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos put it when the pilots arrived online: "Amazon Studios is working on a new way to greenlight TV shows. The pilots are out in the open where everyone can have a say … Our customers will determine what goes into full-season production."
So far, they've picked two: Alpha House (John Goodman stars as a work-shy Republican walking and talking around Washington) and Betas (wannabe app coders in Silicon Valley try to land a big-fish investor). But after reviewing the "customer" feedback and checking the viewing metrics (how many people continued watching until the end, »
- Richard Vine
Twitter hails dummy – but Noel Edmonds deserves fare dues | Media Monkey
22 May 2013 3:06 AM, PDT
TV veteran Noel Edmonds might be used to be being in the spotlight, but he looks set to be outshone by a new rising star: his store mannequin. The Deal or No Deal presenter drives around London with a mannequin in the back seat of his black cab, as you do, to stop people flagging him down. The Daily Star reports that Candice, who is dressed by Noel's wife Liz, has now become something of a celebrity in her own right. The shop dummy has 18,000 Twitter followers and has received offers from fashion houses, record labels and retail outlets. Edmonds reckons there might also be potential for perfume ("eau de la dummy") and jewellery. Lets just hope it doesn't go the way of 1987 film Mannequin, which saw Sex and the City star Kim Cattrall playing a beautiful store dummy that comes to life, usually at night.
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- Monkey
Town with Nicholas Crane; Love and Death in City Hall – TV review
21 May 2013 11:00 PM, PDT
Here's Mr Crane again, in a programme that's just Coast by another name
If you were thinking of giving up television for a week – I don't know, maybe for health reasons, or because you want to rediscover reading or sex or something – then this would be the week to do so. It's a bit desperate, there really is almost nothing of interest. It says something that the best I can come up with today is Town with Nicholas Crane (BBC2). Even the prosaic title isn't really getting me going. You? Sooo excited for Town with Nicholas Crane, can't wait. Oh my God, did you see Town with Nicholas Crane last night?
He's the Coast dude, you know, Gortexed and relentlessly optimistic. Now he's left the band and is going solo. Crane unplugged. For this first one he's in Oban on the west coast of Scotland. Ha, west coast you see »
- Sam Wollaston
TV highlights 22/05/2013
21 May 2013 11:00 PM, PDT
Strange Hill High | Major League Baseball | Scott & Bailey | The Apprentice | Bankers | Great Artists in Their Own Words | 24 Hours in A&E | Justified
Strange Hill High
5pm, Cbbc
Smart-talking Mitchell (Doc Brown) is under surveillance after headmaster Mr Abercrombie finds out he burned down his old school, so when items go missing, he's named prime suspect. As Mitchell, Becky (Emma Kennedy) and geeky Templeton (Richard Ayoade) start their own investigation, they stumble upon a mysterious boy, the smell of hotdog goulash, and a load of witty one-liners delivered by digitally enhanced puppets. Suffice to say this gem from Simpsons writer Josh Weinstein is guaranteed to make Grange Hill fans feel very old. Hannah Verdier
Major League Baseball
5pm, Espn America
Intriguing double bill of Mlb action, featuring a pair of teams currently topping their respective divisions. First up, National League East leaders the Atlanta Braves host a Minnesota Twins side that »
- Hannah Velten, Gwilym Mumford, Julia Raeside, Andrew Mueller, Jonathan Wright, Ali Catterall, Hannah J Davies, Mark Jones
Eddie Braben: friends and fellow comic writers pay tribute
21 May 2013 4:00 PM, PDT
David Baddiel among those praising screenwriter who 'played all the right notes, in the right order, all the time'
Friends and fellow comic writers paid tribute on Tuesday to Eddie Braben after his death at the age of 82.
His manager, Norma Farnes, who announced his death, said: "It was Billy Cotton Jr at the BBC who recognised the brilliance of Eddie's writing was the ideal marriage that would guarantee the success of Morecambe and Wise.
"Eddie was a very humble man, a very quiet man and a very private man. He had a lot of integrity, which is in short supply in this business.
"I have to say – and he would have disagreed with this – that writing came easy to him, even on bad days, when he was writing Christmas shows for Eric and Ernie and he was under great pressure."
Miranda Hart, who interviewed Braben for a BBC1 documentary »
How Eddie Braben saved Morecambe and Wise's careers
21 May 2013 4:00 PM, PDT
The comedy duo looked uncomfortable on television until Braben came on board. But how did he turn them into comedy legends?
In his memoirs The Book What I Wrote, Eddie Braben, who has died at the age of 82, reports a conversation with the Duke of Edinburgh at a showbiz event. When Braben mentioned that he wrote the scripts for Morecambe & Wise, the Queen's consort snorted: "I thought they just made it up."
Prince Philip's comment reflects a common confusion among comedy audiences – and some comedians do indeed write or ad-lib their own stuff – but, with Braben and Morecambe & Wise, it was more the other way round: in a crucial sense, he made them up.
In 1968, Braben, a Liverpudlian who had become a gag writer for acts including Ken Dodd, was approached by the BBC to take over as lead writer on the Morecambe & Wise Show, which had been poached from ITV. »
- Mark Lawson
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