I Am A TV Junkie, A Blog For The Clicker Jockey

It's a BBC America Weekend Week Summer Year

So much going on at BBC America, I had to keep revising the headline. So, we'll go in order ...

Spaced

Simon Pegg, Jessica Hynes and director Edgar Wright are coming to Southern California for Comic-Con, and just before that, this weekend, actually, six episodes of their comedy Spaced (see pic, right) will run Sunday between 3 and 6 eastern (do the math for your time zone).

I have my DVR set to record already, I'm good like that.

Pegg is just so funny in Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz (which I just watched again the other day) and although I didn't catch this during it's initial BBC America run, I did note that the DVD set was coming out in the States next week (thus, all the promo and the trip here and such).

Here's a link to pre-order the DVD set.

I have a taste for you in a clip after the jump.

Gavin & Stacey

A huge hit for BBC Three, this is from their website:

This is the story of how a nice boy from Essex and a sweet girl from Barry fell in love and got married. Only their life isn't quite so simple - family and friends make sure of that.

Gavin spoke to Stacey everyday on the phone for months before he met her, and when he finally did, there were fireworks. There were noisy disturbances of a different nature when their mutual sidekicks Nessa and Smithy had their first encounter, but that's another story.

Gavin is Rob Brydon, who you might remember from The Catherine Tate Show, Joanna Page is Stacy, and you'll recognize Ruth Jones from Little Britain (she also is one of the creators of the series with James Corden, while both of them play the best mates of the leads).

[Okay, that's not right. Well, some of it is. Hey, it's late and I'm tired so I'm just gonna ask you all to click to the comments 'cause my pal Toby from Inner Toob has corrections and I'm just that damned lazy.]

There are 13 episodes that comprise two series, and we will see them in the US all at once, which is refreshing.

I have a promo clip after the jump, as the other clips would have spoiled the plot for you. No spoilers here.

Finally ...

Primeval

An ITV hit, some say their answer to Torchwood, BBC America will let you see for yourself which you like more when this show premieres on the network on August 9, Saturday, in the Torchwood time slot of 9 eastern.

Here's comments from writer Paul Cornell, who you know from the Whoniverse, from his blog. He writes for the show:

For those who don't know, the series is about a group of scientists who deal with anomalies that have started appearing, connecting different time periods. Their major problems concern the animals that wander through the anomalies, from pre-dinosaur reptiles to giant centipedes. I love the emphasis on genuine natural history, that the animals behave like animals, rather than 'monsters', and that our heroes have a duty of care towards them, and are fascinated by them. I like the SF emphasis on logic, and the family teatime emphasis on high adventure. I especially like the production team, how easy it is to work with them, and how they have a long term plan with some lovely twists (and a genuinely SFnal sense of dread and alienation creeping in around the halfway point next season). The showrunner is Adrian Hodges, who also wrote one of my favourite episodes of Rome.

No clip after the jump for Primeval, but go there for clips from the comedies and just know that the Summer is not barren, there's BBC America here to entertain.

"First Rule of Terror Watch List? Don't Talk About Terror Watch List"

Drew Griffin works at CNN, he's an investigative reporter. In May, he ended up on the terror watch list. Why? Well, you know you're not allowed to know that. Hell, Drew can't even find out, and he's an investigative reporter.

You know what else happen a little while before the day Drew joined the many many many many many people on that terror watch list? He did an investigative report on the terror watch list and how many ridiculous names are on it.

Like Ted Kennedy, for example. Yeah, Ted's a terrorist. You would think with the whole brain cancer thing the gov't would do him a solid and take him off the list. Hey, what if the constant scanning and wanding at the airport actually gave Ted Kennedy brain cancer, has anyone thought about that?

Also, if you're a guy named Dave Nelson, any Dave Nelson, even my friend Michelle's husband, you're on the list, too. So are the Roberts last name Johnson, like the founder of BET, Robert Johnson.

So, if you're standing on an airport line behind a guy who looks like this guy pictured above, and he gets pulled out of the line, just know that you were standing behind a TV reporter who performed the high crime of doing his job.

I have clips (2) after the jump, one being Griffin talking about being placed on the list, and Keith's Worst Persons segment, which discusses it (though Bill-O the Clown wins the horserace).

I completely expect that I'll be on the list, too. If you don't see me in NYC in August, check the watch list ... but don't talk about it or you'll be on it, too.

Gong Show Premieres Tonight at 10, Queefing Included

If you wanna know what that is, click here, but please, please don't click there if you're prudish or gross out easily or ... oh, it's at your own risk. Have at it, I guess.

Rockville Centre's own Dave Attell, (South Side HS, class of 1983) hosts, and tonight's celebrity judges include Andy Dick, recent arrestee!

Yeah, Andy Dick is not sober, AGAIN! Not surprised? Me neither:

Police said Dick, who was heavily intoxicated, grabbed and fondled the breast of a 17-year-old girl before pulling her top down in the parking lot of the Buffalo Wild Wings Grill & Bar about 1:15 in the morning.

"The victim was traumatized by this," said Lt. Dennis Vrooman, spokesman for the Murrieta Police Department.

Yeah, Andy, weed and Xanax and liquor are a bitch of a combo, huh?

Clip's after the jump. It is something to see.

Sarah Silverman (who's no longer f**king Jimmy Kimmel) Ironically Nominated for F**king Matt Damon

Yes, this got an Emmy nod for best song, and it's up against two song from Flight on the Conchords, a song from a Disney Channel show (HA!) and Jordan Peele's "Fitty" song from Mad TV this season.

But none of them just broke up with the person who was the intended recipient of their nominated song, so they don't get posted and Sarah does.

Sadly, no nom for Sarah for her self-titled Comedy Central show. He got into the final round of voting, but then came of short.

LINK

Oops! First Big Snub on the Emmy List I've Seen So Far, Ashley Jensen in Extras

UPDATE: I'm sorry, she entered the supporting category and got a nomination, oops! Well, watch the clip anyway, because she was brilliant.

Really, Ashley was heartbreaking in the Extras Christmas special and show finale as Maggie Jacobs gave up so many of her dreams and found herself cleaning toilets in an office building ... and I'll tell you there were moments etched on her face that I will never ever forget.

And all this from a show with so many comedic elements. That's what made the show so notable.

The nominees in the lead actress, mini or movie, are:

Phylicia Rashad, Raisin in the Sun
Catherine Keener, An American Crime
Susan Sarrandon, Bernard & Doris
Dame Judi Dench, Cranford
Laura Linney, John Adams

And I continue to search through the nominations for newsworthy stuff, they are at this link.

After the jump, a comedic moment from the show where Clive Owen takes some salt and rubs it in some wounds, Maggie's wounds. He's brutal.

"By the Way, It's Not About Making Money. It's About Taking Money, Destroying The Status Quo. Because The Status Is Not Quo"

Discuss.

Part II of Dr. Horrible tomorrow. I've bought mine at iTunes already, will receive them as they become available.

It's really the way to go, everyone's doing it. All the popular kids, anyway.

You wanna be popular, right?

The Bestest, Sickest, Deprave-iest (Huh?) Show Ever On DVD (and don't tell anyone but I already have mine)

That's right, I already have mine, and it doesn't release for a week. Don't tell.

It's TV Funhouse, lasted only a season on Comedy Central and for the most severely demented of us, it was manna from ... well, not quite heaven, let's shoot for purgatory and see what happens.

Yes, TV Funhouse also refers to the series of animated short from Bob Smigel et. al. that appear SNL occasionally but there's also a series by Smigel, Doug Dale, and Dino Stamatopoulos (Moral Orel, Mr. Show), was hosted by Dale and featured The Anipals, who are pictured with him above on the DVD box. The Anipals are what might happen if both you and your stuffed animals did a whole lot of Ecstacy and fell into a alternate but parallel universe.

In between their exploits (for example experimenting with a substance called Christmas Cheer, a dog named Xabu who has just a bit of OCD when it comes to his tail, a trip to Vegas to see Goulet -- yes, the late Robert Goulet -- with Triumph, the Insult Comic Dog) there are old-and-redubbed instructional films, strange sketches, all kinds of perverse, insane ... oh, you know, all that stuff I love.

Also involved in Tommy Blacha, co-creator of [adult swim]'s Metalocalypse (which is actually very funny but you need to click the subtitles on to really understand the jokes).

A show so memorable that I wrote this entire post before I even opened the package. Well, I had to check spelling on Xabu, but other than that it was all from my head.

Later in the week, I'll be giving away one or two copies (thank you Michelle at Wiredset), so bookmark the site and remember to check back. Or, just add my feed to whatever reader you're using.

These guys will be at Comic-Con on Thursday in support of this project as well, and I'll be at that panel.

Clippage? Sure, after the jump I got a great one. So twisted.

Dr. Horrible -- Brava! Roses, Cheers, Toasts & Possibly a New Model For Entertainment Delivery!

This will go down as the first real success produced for this space, and depending on how the financial back end works out for everyone, it may permanently change the way entertainment gets from the minds of the creative people who deserve the spoils to us, who deserve great choices and flexible use.

And Neil (above) as our anti-hero is just so lovable and quirky and funny, it makes me sure that this is not the last we've seen of this character (or any of the rest of them) and also makes me think Dr. Horrible could go to more episodes online or maybe on a pay cable network, or into theatres.

Certainly there's enough here, just in this 13-minute first episode, to see that you could make a feature based on this story.

What I said at iTunes (because you'll never find it among all the reviews this thing will have):

I Now Know What It Is To Be Culturally Fulfilled.

Okay, that's a bit much, but I'll tell you this, I've been looking forward to this for a couple weeks and it totally pays off. Funny, trippy, great songs, great performances, Felicia Day turns out to have a sweet lyrical voice, Simon Helberg is dampeningly good, Nathan's a singing hero (who can resist), and Neil Patrick Harris has found the role of his life, and it may be starting online but I see big things ahead for this story in all kinds of media.

The Whedons! All Bow!

Really outstanding.

The iTunes link is right here. I want you all to go buy it and support this new way of ridding all those nasty suits from the glom-athon that is the raping of my wallet for entertaining things. It's only $3.99, less than a venti latte.

Ladies & Gentlemen, Our Greatest Living Actor, Ms. Meryl Streep

God do I love Meryl Streep. I mean, I love Meryl Streep, like, so much, that I would enter into a sexless marriage with her if she demanded I do.

See, that's love.

Ms. Streep, I will setlle for being your best friend in the world. Okay, a friend, an acquaintance --- standing in front of you on a coffee line, maybe?

Also in this clip from the Today show this morning? Great Mamma Mia clips (included).

You know she rates, because the clip is before the jump. In fact, there is no jump.

I Can't Get on the Dr. Horrible Site, But Friends Tell Me Great Things

Toby at Tubeworld:

... as I anticipated, it could be a musical sibling to 'The Middleman'. Now that's a crossover I'd love to see!

While I was watching Neil Patrick Harris (Dr. Horrible) and Simon Helberg as the damp sidekick Moist, I was reminded of a book I read last year, "Soon I Will Be Invincible" by Austin Grossman. This was especially true with the mentions of the Evil League of Evil, the villainous Bad Horse, and Johnny Snow - references to other characters in a super-hero world we may never meet.

Watch, I'll have to get up in the middle of the night to see it.

If for nothing else to see Simon, who is one of my faves.

Note to international viewers, they are still working on getting it to work for all of you. Of course, like me, you're probably having page load issues right now. Be patient.