I had never been a particular fan of Dennis Potter, but this was different. The film noir atmosphere, the unreliable narrator, ambiguous events and characters, the explicit play with the genres of fiction, both popular and...
Read More
“I haven’t anything to be – except this.” Dushane, Top Boy (Channel 4,...
Read More
As yet another week on British TV draws to a close I am moved to wonder what has happened to our...
Read MoreGoogle, that old faithful of lazy scholars undertaking armchair proxy research, tells us that about 280,000 sites offer “Television is Dead”. The expression even has its own site though the title is slightly misleading....
Read MoreWhat to make of Boardwalk Empire? HBO’s costume drama set in the USA during Prohibition reminds me of one of those fascinating objects that often crop up on Antiques Roadshow. One can admire from afar the detailed textures and...
Read MoreITV celebrated the 50th anniversary of Candid Camera on UK screens with an archive show, originally broadcast on 28 December 2010. Ideal, I thought, for my course on TV history. It was even repeated on 9 September 2011,...
Read More
It is hard to imagine that Autumn is around the corner as we all bask in a late heatwave. And as...
Read MoreI watch pirate television. Will you forgive me some narcissography in this first blog, given that enticing new status? I live in Mexico City, the biggest in the world. It also lays claim to more political demonstrations than...
Read MoreLate last year John Caughie published an essay (in Screen vol 51 no 4 [Winter 2010]). Entitled ‘Mourning Television: the other screen’ his article characterised contemporary television in terms of decline, decadence and loss. I...
Read MoreRe: NOTICE OF CONSULTATION ON THE PROPOSED ACQUISITION BY NEWS CORPORATION OF UP TO 60.9% OF BRITISH SKY BROADCASTING GROUP PLC 8 JULY 2011 The result of the 100% acquisition of BSkyB by News Corporation would be the creation of...
Read More
Writing about the last episode of Sex and the City (HBO, 1998-2004) seven years after bidding...
Read MoreA piece I contributed to the “In Debate” section of the most recent issue of CST (6.1) ended somewhat enigmatically with these words: If television now leaps from platform to platform, TV scholarship must of course continue to...
Read MoreDana Delaney stars as Megan Hunt in a heavily trailed new series on ABC, Body of Proof, set right here in Philadelphia. Delayed from an autumn launch because of her illness, Delany plays a medical examiner with more than a touch...
Read MoreTHE DARK SIDE OF KELLEY David E.Kelley’s new primetime series on NBC, Harry’s Law, has just turned bleak. Fans of Ally McBealwere initially delighted by the idea of a sacked patents lawyer (‘Harriet Korn’/Kathy Bates) setting up...
Read MoreDon’t Do It Ofcom! The US networks have vandalized their prime asset. The length and placing of commercial breaks has made drama and sitcom almost unwatchable. There are five breaks an hour, all of them inside the shows....
Read MorePiers Morgan Half Term Report Big fanfare: Piers Morgan has taken over Larry King’s 9pm interview slot on CNN in the US. It’s another stage in Morgan’s serial relaunching of himself: from celeb columnist to Daily Mirror editor...
Read MoreBSkyB is complaining that millions of its customers are being unfairly excluded ‘from watching BBCshows on demand because of “unnecessarily restrictive” syndication rules’. Seemingly unaware of any hypocrisy on...
Read More
At last its time to re-launch CST Online. Things move fast in the online world. While the old site...
Read More