Month: May 2008

  • Film Partnerships…

    …or product placement/licence agreements. In my review of Iron Man yesterday, I neglected to mention the crass product placement throughout the film. We saw an LG phone used on more than one occasion, with the US network, Verizon, getting an on-screen namecheck too. Then there was Audi. One scene of Tony Stark (aka Iron Man)…

  • Virgin Radio Sold

    So finally, after months, and years even of sale process, Virgin Radio, my employer, is being sold. The purchaser is TIML Golden Square Ltd, which is a subsidiary of Times of India Media Group. One era ends, and another begins! More from The Times here. Also, the BBC (carefully saying that the sale is “reported”…

  • Digital TV in the US

    In exactly 265 days, analogue TV in the US will be switched off, and everyone will need to switch to digital TV. That is, the whole country is switching over on a single day. All 300m or so of the population. One day. Does that really seem like a smart idea? I don’t think so,…

  • Iron Man

    In a turn up for the books, I’ve now seen two of the summer’s blockbusters, and you know what, Iron Man’s not too bad at all (this week’s major title is Sex and the City, and having not seen a single episode of the TV series, I’m certainly not bothered about the film). Iron Man…

  • Recount

    Recount is a star-studded new HBO film that aired in the US on Sunday evening, based around the farcical procedings in Florida during the 2000 Presidential election. It’s easily the best drama I’ve seen this year. The cast is phenomenal: Kevin Spacey plays Ron Klein, Al Gore’s former Chief of Staff, and the lead Democrat…

  • Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

    I must admit that I had to go away and double check that title. Perhaps, in the fullness of time it’ll come as second nature, but it’s unnecessarily complicated it for you ask me. Anyway Indy’s back, and it’s been a while. We first meet him having been kidnapped and brought to that secret warehouse…

  • Heartbeat Detector

    Here’s a bit of an oddity. Heartbeat Detector is a French film focussing on the headquarters of the French division of a German company. We follow Simon, a psychologist employed by the firm. He’s recently overseen the downsizing of the company – it’s into fuel in some way, but we never hear a great deal…

  • Overnights

    If you woke up yesterday morning to learn that the audience for Wednesday night’s Champions’ League Final in Moscow peaked at a very creditable 14.6m, then you’re using overnights. These are the figures that broadcasters and others get the next day to record how many people saw a programme on TV last night. They’re produced…

  • Privatising Radios 1 & 2

    At the Radio 3.0 conference today in London, outgoing GCap chairman Richard Eyre called for the BBC to privatise Radios 1 and 2. Eyre, stressing that he was speaking in a personal capacity, said it was no longer appropriate that the BBC should spend nearly £100m a year on the two mainstream national stations –…

  • Feist

    The FX channel has rather smartly just started showing the very excellent Colbert Report. It’d be great if they showed it at 9.00pm just after More 4 has shown its sister The Daily Show. But anything’s better than nothing. This week, both shows are off, but we get repeats, which are welcome since in this…

  • Crusoe

    I noted recently that NBC had bought Merlin, a new series commissioned by the BBC and produced by Shine for broadcasting this autumn. At the time, I hypothesised that this was probably the first British series since The Avengers that had been bought by a major US network for its primetime schedule. Well, Power begs…

  • Fine TV

    Isn’t TV great at the moment? We’re nearly into summer, and Euro 2008 will overtake BBC1 and ITV1, but the sounds of cupboards being scraped are already being heard. Starting last Sunday, and continuing for the next three weeks, is a new run of everyone’s favourite – Ultimate Force with Ross Kemp. I say “new”,…