My Top 10 fav TV series

I don't know if you think that TV series are cheap entertainment, since they are on the telly and therefore free (I'll come to cable and Sky in a minute, hang on) and also because they are the most popular form of entertainment. Popular televised entertainment of course embraces anything from soap operas to reality TV (a form of entertainment I pretty much loathe), GMTV, talk shows, music videos, shopping channels, you name them. But it's mostly TV series that stick with us in the years, that define us, set trends, fashion, a way of thinking, and in some cases affect its big brother, the movies, too. I don't think TV series are cheap entertainment other than because they are fairly readily available to us, if not on telly itself, now through streaming or on DVD. If you pay for Sky or other digital boxes that bring home entertainment directly to your own tube, then you must be really spoiled for choice. I barely manage to keep up with what's on regular TV. But if we forget how many ways to enjoy TV  there are today, and if we take a step back to, say, 10 or 15 years ago, we can see what a different animal was TV back then. I'm not a romantic in the sense that I think TV was better then, I actually hated having to run home to watch something, and even in the age of VHS, when you could set the timer to record your favourite shows, it still wasn't all that great, but creativity ran high, didn't it? As far as broadcasting goes, of course I prefer how things are today, watch when you can, while you can, if you have a computer at hand it's there, on iPlayer or on DVD or your USB stick or on iTunes or the various pirate streaming channels on the web. Creativity is still running strong, thanks to TV's many outlets. New technologies allow a higher volume of request, and also of outlet. Amen!

The way we watch TV has always affected the way TV-makers made shows. In the 70's and part of the 80's producers simply ruled. If they had a production company they'd make the show and sell it to the broadcasting companies or networks. I am explicitly referring to the USA as for example in England channels like the BBC had its own way of doing things, commissioning series that they'd broadcast to the public, all hands on from beginning to end, pretty much. When in the USA, which we must say was the biggest producer of TV shows, networks became allowed to make their own shows, a lot of the then big production companies that made the series, sold what they had and went into retirement. And from that moment on the networks took over, to this very day.

So this is my list of 10 favourite TV series EVER. It's not an easy chart to do, but hopefully it'll give me an idea of what I consider top notch TV and maybe it'll show if the best was then or now...

1 - Millennium
                                         

2 - X-files

3 - Twilight Zone

4 - Deadwood

5 - The West Wing

6 - Life on Mars (and Ashes to Ashes)

7 - Mork and Mindy

8 - The Greatest American Hero

9 - Twin Peaks

10 - The Streets of San Francisco

   

Script rewrites... old ideas... new ideas... just ideas

I have been rewriting a script that I had originally written when I was about 18 or 19. The story is still very good, IMHO, but the original script was so bad, and I mean SO bad, that I gave it up altogether back then. I sort of picked it up again some 10 years ago (stop counting to see how old I am), but gave it up again. My patience for rewrites has never been that strong. But now, armed with improved skills, new ideas, and a lot of good will, I took it up again. The story is still worth fighting for. There are some crazy elements, an ancient Teddy bear, Cupid like you have never seen him before, a "star crossed" couple, London in the background. The rewriting good will has taken me to page 37, and I am starting to struggle again. The problem with rewrites, especially with old material, is that part of the old drafts are sort of embedded in your head. I am being rather ruthless deleting scenes, changing direction, killing my darlings, as you are told you must do... But after a while the élan you had when you started winds down quite a bit. I am not dragging my scriptwriting feet just yet, but I wonder whether I should leave the script alone for a few days and let the story brew in my head before continuing the rewrites. Dee dum, dee dum... No I shall continue. It's a mission. I must complete this script. The life of a Teddy bear depends on it, and so does Cupid's reputation.

Brevity is not the only soul of wit

Sorry Polonius and Shakespeare. Yes, being brief implies a certain ability to self edit and go to the point of something, acumen is not a widespread quality, but one can top brevity and wit with long-worded posts to mock and wind up the recipients, with enough wit to light a cruise ship around the world. (Try to say that all in one breath!)

I just spent... er... quite some time reading David Thorne's website, wasting precious time of my work-at-home day. His emails are not sharp, brief and witty, but they are sharp, intentionally prolix and witty. A gem of the www which I hope you'll enjoy as much as I did, and that I hope will make you waste enough precious time of your day as it did for me.

My favourite page must be his son's musing view of the world.

Source Code (review)

Saw Source Code last night followed by a Q&A with director Duncan Jones. It's one of those sci-fi films which relies on the story and storytelling, not on relentless moments of special effects. It does have it's sfx moments of course, but the story's the thing. And a cool one too. If you know me a little you know it's exactly the sort of stories I like.

It has Duncan Jones' signature style, although it isn't as moody, slow paced and dark as Moon (which I simply adore). But there are some scenes where Gyllenhall's character is being briefed (and debriefed) that will put you right back into Moon mood. It draws on a great legacy of sci-fi ideas, the right ones, like those of Quantum Leap and The Twilight Zone, so as far as I'm concerned, big thumbs up there. It's a great movie, story and character driven, the right amount of sfx, it's fun, intriguing, deep, moving, with funny spells. It is so spiffingly up my street I totally recommend it. Go see it!

The AWESOME Button

You know when you come across things that could need improvement and you think, someone should invent something that does so and so? Well, this guy has invented an "awesome button". We are now so facilitated by technology I wonder what the history of literature would have been like if the likes of Byron, Shakespeare, Conan Doyle, you name them, had an instant thesaurus at hand... or some magical, er, technological, writing aid like we do today. Still, this is a fun video and a useful gadget. Of course he makes it look easy, but I haven't got a clue what he's doing, how he's doing it, how it works etc. But I do marvel at it and smile. I'm glad there are people like that out there. Enjoy the video.