"Little slices of glamour beamed directly into your home in half-hour chunks; a perky theme, flashy titles, charismatic host, inventive format, gags, quiz, games, raucous outro – the works! Incredibly plain people given a quick glimpse of the good life, to which the tanned, funny man in the nice suit held the door."
The joys of the 1980s game show.
[more inside]
posted by mippy
on Aug 4, 2011 -
4 comments
Years after its final broadcast, the award-winning, pond-hopping, cult comedy hit
Whose Line is it Anyway? is returning to television! Sort of! Tonight in just a few minutes,
Drew Carey's Improv-A-Ganza (
promo,
sample segment) makes its debut on GSN, reuniting Carey with popular "Whosers" Ryan Stiles, Colin Mochrie, Greg Proops, Brad Sherwood, Wayne Brady, and
many more. Though the show will air every weekday, you don't have to wait around for new episodes to get your improv fix -- in spite of the lack of DVD box sets, there's a veritable treasure trove of past content available free from multiple online sources, including
the complete run of the American Whose Line on both YouTube and
fansite WatchWLIIA along with
every episode of the original UK run from Channel4's official YouTube channel and
their streaming video site 4oD. Too much content? Look inside for selections of the show's most hilarious moments as sampled from
the show's burgeoning TVTropes entry. See also:
Fan guide -
American episode guide (
UK version) -
List of game types [more inside]
posted by Rhaomi
on Apr 11, 2011 -
49 comments
Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie reunite for a 90 minute TV special to mark the 30th anniversary of their partnership. The programme sees the former double act reminiscing about their friendship, careers and sketches. Parts
I II III IV V
posted by lazaruslong
on Nov 28, 2010 -
37 comments
On
British TV last night,
Gail Trimble, a Classics scholar at Corpus Christi College, Oxford, singlehandedly
trounced the opposing team in
University Challenge. To some a
smug,
bluestocking know-it-all, to others a
role model. Cue the fightback and lots of
questions about whether we, as a society, actually like really clever people and specifically, clever
women?.
posted by MuffinMan
on Feb 24, 2009 -
166 comments
In 1967, before
"Monty Python", before
"The Goodies", and before
"Marty",
John Cleese,
Graham Chapman,
Tim Brooke-Taylor and
Marty Feldman teamed up to create a groundbreaking show that influenced (and provided sketch material and dialog for) much of what we know today as
British Comedy. Most of the material was erased when its owner,
Rediffusion London, disappeared in England's
1967 TV franchise reshuffle. Here is almost all of what survives of
"At Last, the 1948 Show".
posted by ubiquity
on Oct 10, 2007 -
17 comments
BFI presents screenonline | The
British Film Institute announces the launch of
screenonline: "This new site features an unrivalled collection of archive film and television footage from the
bfi National Film and Television Archive.... [It] is the first time the
bfi has given the public access online to its comprehensive collection of film and television material, giving teachers, students and film enthusiasts an exceptional opportunity to investigate British history, culture and society through cinema. "
posted by jacknose
on Dec 1, 2003 -
6 comments
One-in, one-out: the nominations. "Who should be granted honorary British citizenship and who should have it revoked?" The BBC's Today programme has its annual poll and this year, it claims, is a little different. Various celebrities, politicians etc will be giving their opinions and the result will be announced on New Year's Day. Who will you be voting for?
posted by Kiell
on Dec 18, 2002 -
6 comments
David wins Fame Academy! Mix Big Brother with Pop/American Idol and you get the
Fame Academy, where 12
gorgeous under-30s are thrown into a
glorified stage school for a few months, and only one emerges an idol. The prize? Supposedly the 'biggest TV prize ever.' A £1 million recording contract, a fancy apartment in London, a personal shopper, chauffeur, and more. All is not lost for the 'losers' though, as they've all gained professional management and
Mercury Records is considering them all for solo careers.
In contrast to the 'Idol' shows, being couped up for weeks on end has caused even the
wackiest contestants to grow in their singing and songwriting abilities. So will this show reach the US? Probably, given
these other crossover shows.
posted by wackybrit
on Dec 13, 2002 -
8 comments
It looks like that the British network
einstein.tv and the
FIDE may open negotiations this month for a reunified world chess championship. The championship was split in 1993 when Garry Kasparov left the FIDE to start his own failed league. Kasparov claims the world championship left with him, while the FIDE claims he abdicated by refusing to play nice with others. Kasparov lost the championship last year to Kramnik. Einstein.TV is
milking the publicity while the FIDE says
we are meeting but no comment. Wood pushers like me are probably better off leaving the politics to the people who can't stand each other and sticking to the
internet chessclub, the
free chess servers or simply
email chess.
posted by KirkJobSluder
on Apr 30, 2002 -
2 comments
Another trip into TV Hell. In the UK we're much kinder to bad television -- shows will go on for weeks without an audience and often get comissioned for second series before someone releases they're awful (yes you 'Let Them Eat Cake' -- if that French and Saunder monstrosity had been on UStv it would have been cancelled after two episodes -- if it had been comissioned at all). 'Off The Telly' considers all the things prospective television producers need to avoid if they're going to create something they're proud of. Does anyone else have any bad examples?
posted by feelinglistless
on Apr 4, 2002 -
18 comments
Was Christmas TV really ever all that special? 'Off The Telly' reviews three decades of Christmas Day television in Britain. "It's funny...that Christmas time is actually an excuse for some of the worst TV atrocities of the year to be inflicted upon us. Christmas telly does not equate with quality. And yet, never does TV become a more integral part of our own family or personal routines and traditions. And never are we so receptive to a gathering of disparate middle-of-the-road celebrities and their stale party pieces." And for the ultra-cynic, TV-Go-Home's Charlie Booker presents
an alternative schedule.
posted by feelinglistless
on Dec 24, 2001 -
17 comments
Great 'The Prisoner' site - I just recently got into this BBC sci-fi/paranoia classic on my local
PBS affiliate, so I was glad to find this lovingly done fan site. Anyone else have a pet obsessive fan site for a favorite TV show? SNPP.com comes to mind, of course, but I'm interested in the less famous and less frequented places.
posted by GriffX
on Dec 5, 2001 -
18 comments
Last night's Brass Eye special was mysteriously pulled from the schedules, seemingly because it concerned "an army of paedophiles". Apparantly,
this is not the case
posted by Grangousier
on Jul 6, 2001 -
15 comments
"He doesn't say please, he doesn't say thank you." Yeah, it's
Survivor, British-style. A natural leader with survival experience emerges, gets his tribe organised, and is promptly voted out in the quietest of revolutions. My American girlfriend, who'd watched Colby marshal his people through the Outback season, is visibly gobsmacked. ("I really couldn't do psychology in this country.") Different levels of
power distance at work?
posted by holgate
on May 22, 2001 -
12 comments
Comic Relief hits the UK yet again. This is a fundraising event based around comedy and comedians that attempts to take the worthiness out of charity by making the day entertaining. Generally it fails. However, highlights of the event this year (both on and off the web) include: A celebrity version of
Big Brother. The pairing of
Graham Norton and Sarah Ferguson.
Hot Naked Robbie Williams doing The Fast Show's Ted and Ralph. And finally:
Mo Morgan will donate £1 for every page impression he gets. Let's bankrupt the bastard.
posted by barbelith
on Mar 16, 2001 -
11 comments
