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TV Today: Get Spaced on BBC America

BuzzSugar — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 08:00:30 -0700

For all you folks who are huge fans of the Simon Pegg-Jessica Hynes comedy Spaced, you've probably already ordered or put at the top of your Netflix queue the new series DVDs, which are releasing this upcoming Tuesday, July 22. For everyone else, BBC America is awesomely running marathons of the show today, starting at 3:00 p.m. EST.

According to EW, those of you holding out for the DVDs will certainly not be disappointed, as they feature "uber-geeky, super-amusing, very informative commentary by Quentin Tarantino, Kevin Smith, Matt Stone, Bill Hader, Patton Oswalt, Diablo Cody, and of course show creators-stars Simon Pegg and Jessica Hynes, and director Edgar Wright."

In the meantime, I'm going to make my TiVo work overtime today with both this marathon and the Mad Men one. Yippee!

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Troubled Life on Mars Adaptation Could Have Life on ABC

BuzzSugar — Wed, 07 May 2008 11:33:53 -0700

One of the pilots I've been curious about for more than a year now is ABC's remake of the BBC series Life on Mars, which followed a police officer who found himself somehow transported to 1973. The remake, which David E. Kelley was writing and producing, was originally expected to be considered for the current TV season - but Kelley had trouble finding a man to play his lead character, so the pilot was never made.

Fast-forward a year. Jason O'Mara (at left), most recently seen as the brain tumor/bear attack guy on Grey's Anatomy, has been cast as officer Sam Tyler, the pilot has been filmed, and all is going well. In fact, ABC is reportedly close to giving the show a spot on its schedule ahead of next week's upfronts.

Oh, except there's one more problem: Now Kelley might leave, and since he owns the U.S. rights to the show, its future is mostly up to him. One option has the October Road team coming on to run the show, which makes my stomach feel a bit queasy; I've seen several episodes of the original Life on Mars, and while Kelley might not be the perfect fit to write a remake, I think he's closer than the Road folks.

After all of this, I'm wondering if Life on Mars is even a show people want to see. I wasn't familiar with O'Mara until his recent Grey's arc, and he bugged me there - but that could have been the character's fault, not his. Would you want to watch more of him? Does the concept interest you? And, if you've seen the original, do you think the show could work in the U.S.? To watch the BBC's original trailer, just read more.

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Ellen Page to Play Jane Eyre in BBC's Big Screen Adaptation

BuzzSugar — Wed, 07 May 2008 05:30:20 -0700

This news totally makes my day already: Ellen Page has been cast as Jane Eyre in the big screen adaptation of Charlotte Bronte's beloved novel. Variety has more:

Alison Owen of Ruby Films, who most recently produced The Other Boleyn Girl, is working with BBC Films to develop the new adaptation of Bronte's classic 19th century romance. It's the story of a mousy governess who softens the heart of her saturnine employer Mr. Rochester, only to discover that he's hiding a terrible secret.

Though Page's name seems to now be synonymous with "sass-talking pregnant teen," I could actually see her doing well in this role. Jane Eyre is even more precious to me than Wuthering Heights (which is also getting a big screen makeover and will star Natalie Portman) and it's important that the person playing Jane seems smart and strong. I know she's not a British actress and will have to adopt an accent, but still I say: Hooray for Ellen Page!

What do you think about this casting news? Right on, or not so much?

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Monty Python's Flying Circus Heading to America

BuzzSugar — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 10:31:40 -0700

BBC America, that is. The American BBC has acquired the rights to all four seasons of Monty Python's Flying Circus - along with "a pair of specials the troupe did for West German television" - and will air them in a 10-hour marathon on Memorial Day, Monday May 26. According to Zap2It:

The Flying Circus episodes have been digitally remastered, allowing fans of the Cheese Shop, "How Not to Be Seen" and Spam a fresh look at the classic sketch series.

It also includes the lesser-seen pair of "Fliegender Zirkus" West German TV specials, including one in which Graham Chapman, Eric Idle, John Cleese, Terry Jones and Michael Palin performed new sketches in phonetic German.

Flying Circus has aired on TV in past years, though never on BBC America. Who else is making a mental note to set the TiVo on May 26?

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New Wallace and Gromit Story in the Works!

BuzzSugar — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 09:30:00 -0700

It's not a feature-length film, but the folks behind the lovable duo Wallace and Gromit are back to work on a 30-minute short! This next TV feature will be titled "Trouble At' Mill" and will air over BBC1 around the Christmas holidays in 2008.

According to Variety, "The film sees the pair open a bakery business before Wallace becomes sidetracked by a love interest, Piella Bakewell. With his master distracted, Gromit is left to solve a murder."

I love these guys! It's also neat to know how excited writer/director Nick Park is about the project. He says he enjoyed doing the full-length Curse of the Were-Rabbit, but it took about five years to complete, and it sounds like he had to compromise some of his ideas to make the film more palatable for American audiences. He can't wait to create a new TV adventure for the die-hard fans of the buck-toothed, cheese-loving Wallace and his loyal friend Gromit.

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Who Said It? David Brent vs. Michael Scott

BuzzSugar — Mon, 03 Sep 2007 08:00:00 -0700

In honor of this Labor Day holiday, I'm challenging you guys to a quiz featuring the bumbling paper company managers of "The Office" - both the U.K. version featuring Ricky Gervais and the American version with Steve Carell. Let's see how well you've been paying attention when you've spent your off hours with these office mates.

For each question, I'll present you with a quote, and you'll decide whether it was David Brent (Gervais) who said it, or good ol' Michael Scott (Carell). So, do you think you have the smarts to be an assistant to the regional manager, or might you be called an "ignorant slut"? Let's find out...

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Take the quiz

BBC to Make Live-Action Jungle Book Adaptation

BuzzSugar — Tue, 14 Aug 2007 10:31:55 -0700

What?
Live-action talking animals. Rudyard Kipling's classic The Jungle Book. Natural-history filmmaker John Downer (whose 2004 lion "drama-documentary" Pride was nominated for an Emmy). Put all together you have a live-action version of The Jungle Book in the works.

How?
According to Variety, "[Downer] will shoot in the Ranthambore Tiger Reserve in India and intercut this footage with footage of trained animals shot both on jungle sets in the U.K. and against bluescreens."

A little refresher...
"Kipling's Jungle Books tell the story of Mowgli, a boy raised by wolves. He's kidnapped by monkeys and rescued by his animal friends, including Baloo the Bear, Bagheera the panther and Kaa the python. But when it comes to fighting the tiger Sher Khan, Mowgli must do that on his own."

So, why now?
There have already been a few live-action film versions of the movie made, but Downer claims, "My ambition is to use pioneering digital and wildlife filming techniques to portray one of the greatest stories of all time just as the author intended - with real live talking animals inhabiting the jungle world of Kipling's India."

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Planet Earth Miniseries: Just ... Wow

BuzzSugar — Sat, 31 Mar 2007 12:08:28 -0700

I watched the first three installments of the Discovery Channel's 11-part Planet Earth miniseries on a friend's 42-inch high-definition TV last week, and I can say hands down that it is one of the most incredible things I have ever seen on TV.

No, seriously. It's amazing.

Alternating between sublime panoramas and unbelievably intimate animal moments, Planet Earth uses high-tech photography to capture images you never imagined you'd see. In one scene, aerial cameras follow hundreds of elephants as they migrate across Ethiopia, then zoom in so closely that you can see one baby elephant, temporarily blinded by the dust, run smack dab into a tree. Honestly, it's one of the cutest things I've ever seen.

But this nature documentary on steroids - five years in the making - is more than just cute, and Discovery is airing five hours of it this weekend, so read more

In the BBC/Discovery production, we see sandstorms moving across deserts, great whites leaping from the ocean, and a monkey mincing across a river like he hates to get his fur wet. I found my jaw dropping every few minutes, so it's no surprise that it's kicking ass in the ratings.

Discovery is rebroadcasting the first three installments on Sunday, starting with Pole to Pole - my favorite so far - at 11 a.m. EDT, then continuing with Mountains and Deep Oceans. Two new installments, Deserts and Ice Worlds, will air tomorrow night at 8 p.m. EDT. Planet Earth continues on consecutive Sundays through April 22, so check the full schedule online.

Bad Idea of the Week: "The Baby Borrowers"

BuzzSugar — Mon, 19 Mar 2007 07:00:57 -0700

Some ideas are so jaw-droppingly bad, they make fun of themselves, and this new reality show from NBC is one of them. Called "The Baby Borrowers" and based on a BBC series of the same name, the premise involves five teenage couples being made to take care of babies, toddlers, pre-teens, and aging grandparents over the course of a month. I can't possibly be funnier than NBC's own press release, so here are excerpts:

As the five young participating couples are asked to literally grow up overnight, their journey begins when they are given a quiet suburban home and attend pre-natal classes as the "mother" wears a simulated "empathy" belly to prepare them for the arrival of their "baby."

When a real one appears at their door - courtesy of five real mothers who each entrusts her infant to one of the five couples - the fumbling new teen parents are in for three long, arduous days that make chilling out a distant memory. They must stick to rigid routines (under supervision), handle the feeding chores, diaper duty and crying jags that might be shared by both baby and teens.

Five real mothers are going to give their babies to some teenage fools surrounded by video cameras for three days? That sounds like a surefire way to irrevocably screw up your child. Could you imagine showing your son or daughter that video later? "Look, honey! That's when your fake mommy put Sprite in your bottle!"

There's a lot more, so read more

Back to the press release:

After the first three days, the late-teen couples will bid bye-bye to the baby and will receive a toddler as their fast-forward adult life progresses. As a result, they will have to cope with the "Terrible Twos," pouty tantrums and other messes for three more days. One of the couples will have to care for two siblings while another will have to handle three - and all of the twosomes will be given family pets to add to their responsibilities.

Do you think the pets will be goldfish or, like, a pony? It looks like the BBC kids got stuck with a goat and a ferret.

And finally:

After the three days, the weary couples must now face the reality of parenting a sassy pre-teen - or "tweener" - thereby perhaps providing them with a mirror image of their own recent relationship with their own parents. To complete the cycle of life, the couples are graced with the opportunity to care for an elderly grandparent, who will represent what might be in store for them in the distant future.

Aside from all the legal and ethical issues here, apparently the moral is that life sucks. "Hey, kids! First you get fat and pregnant, then you deal with children who spit up and poop on everything and sass back to you. Isn't growing up great?" Yeesh.

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Matt LeBlanc Returns to TV as Matt LeBlanc

BuzzSugar — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 12:30:32 -0700

Matt LeBlanc's career hasn't exactly been blossoming since his days as Joey Tribbiani, but Friends fans will be happy to know that he's returning to the small screen on a new Showtime comedy called Episodes. The show focuses on a British couple who find their successful show in the UK adapted into a "dumbed-down" American sitcom starring LeBlanc, which means he'll be playing himself on the show.

With popular BBC shows like The Office and Skins adapted for American audiences, the premise for Episodes is timely and sounds like it has the potential to be pretty funny. Plus, LeBlanc poking fun at himself just might be gold - are you excited to welcome him back to TV?