Jack Yan on Vox

Young Farmer of the Year

nobody@vox.com(Jack Yan) — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 21:59:15 +1200

I see that the annual Young Farmer of the Year contest is on again, televised on TV One.
   The questions aren’t that easy. But what they don’t show are the heats, featuring questions such as, ‘How many legs does a sheep have?’
   And, ‘What is the end by-product of sheep?’
   ‘No, no, it’s not cheese. And it’s not an escort agency, either.’ (With apologies to the late Peter Cook.)

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Jekyll ﬁnally on in New Zealand

nobody@vox.com(Jack Yan) — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 02:51:11 +1200

Finally, Jekyll began in New Zealand, a year after the UK, though it’s on after 11 p.m. on TV One on Mondays. Come on, TVNZ—put these decent programmes on at a normal hour, and stick the commodity American stuff later!

Jekyll - Trailer

Also, the excellent Day Break, one of the best American shows in the last few years other than Journeyman, is being rerun on Thursday nights on TV2, but again late, at 10.30 p.m.
There are shows they just want to kill, aren’t there? Certainly with the Brit shows they can say, ‘No one watches them,’ and buy fewer and fewer of them—a trend that has been happening with the state-owned networks for years. Even a friend who stars on local TV says they do this to domestic shows in favour of US ones, for cost reasons.

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It’s like I’ve landed in a different city

nobody@vox.com(Jack Yan) — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 17:45:09 +1200

Life on Mars US

US Life on Mars looks like it’s in some sort of Hollywood hell, because of all the back-room deals that have gone on. The only new drama from ABC TV in the US this fall, there’s a lot riding on it. The pilot was already made, but now the network wants to tinker. David E. Kelley, who wrote the adaptation and executive-produced it, has departed. In fact, there’s talk of scrapping the pilot and starting from scratch, shifting the story from Los Angeles to New York. Somehow it’s all got to work out before the series débuts.
Scott Collins of the Los Angeles Times tries to summarize what has been going on and it looks like a mess. One excerpt:

The network and producers are talking about tossing out the pilot and starting over. Or not; maybe they’ll just tweak a few details. Some of the actors might get canned. Not necessarily, though. One thing we know for sure: Over the last few days, the decision was made to move the series out of Los Angeles—in both its setting and its production—to shoot on location in New York City, giving it a very different look.

What I thought was funny was that the network felt Kelley departed too much from the original.
I do agree that New York is a better venue for the show; I always felt Seattle would have suited the theme more. But if they are retooling the show before the première, they had better work fast.

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Take a look at the law man

nobody@vox.com(Jack Yan) — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 16:46:51 +1200

Quite a lot of the f word in this following segment of bloopers from the 2006 series of Life on Mars, but some of these are very funny. The first, and the last three, are among my favourites. Liz White’s bloopers are rather adorable.

Life on Mars Outtakes

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Classic Kiwi TVCs

nobody@vox.com(Jack Yan) — Fri, 30 May 2008 12:51:03 +1200

New Zealanders, remember these? Bring back the great Kiwi jingle!

Kentucky Fried Chicken

Cadbury Ad - This Little Angel

The latter first ran in 1982 or 1983, I believe, and it continued into the late 1990s. I hope my friend Chloë, whom I met in 2002 but was actually at law school with prior to that, made heaps from the repeat fees.

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The ﬁrst step to winning back a colony is to dominate the media

nobody@vox.com(Jack Yan) — Sun, 18 May 2008 17:59:26 +1200

The Independent on Sunday has a good article on American remakes of British shows, though I should add that Britain has had its share of remaking others’. Anyone remember how Married with Children (Married for Life) and Who’s the Boss? (The Upper Hand) did not translate that well in the UK?
Ready for the American treatment are:

ABC
Life on Mars

CBS
The Eleventh Hour (prod. Jerry Bruckheimer, starring British actor Rufus Sewell)
Worst Week (based on The Worst Week of My Life)

NBC
Top Gear
Gavin and Stacey

Big screen
State of Play (to star Helen Mirren, Russell Crowe and Ben Affleck)

Also coming
The Vicar of Dibley
Footballers’ Wives

   Don’t forget the Americans are also redoing Opportunity Knocks with Ashton Kutcher, though the concept sounds a little different from the original, Kath & Kim from Australia and Good Behavior (née Outrageous Fortune) from New Zealand (already remade in the UK as Honest with Amanda Redman).
   They join The Office, which of course has been a big hit in the US and perhaps led the way with this current crop, long enough for people to have forgotten Cracker with the late Robert Pastorelli. And, of course, American Idol and America’s Got Talent are rehashes of British shows.
   Once upon a time there were many versions of Popstars, which originated in New Zealand. Pity we now license New Zealand Idol, Stars in Their Eyes and Strictly Come Dancing. At least when the Americans remake things, they generally pick better source material.

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US Kath & Kim: no Sharon!

nobody@vox.com(Jack Yan) — Sun, 11 May 2008 11:27:21 +1200

I’m not even that huge a fan of Kath & Kim but I find the US remake news interesting. The two lead characters will still be Kath and Kim Day, but there will be no Sharon, Kel or Brett! Yes, they are being Americanized to Heather, Phil and Craig!
   I am keeping an open mind but just as I can’t visualize this set in the US, I can’t see Sharon called Heather!
   Official site is now up with very little content: http://www.nbc.com/Primetime/Kath_and_Kim/index.shtml.
   I’m wondering what sort of American accent would equate to Melbournian suburban—and no one I know in Melbourne talks like Kath and Kim anyway!

Meanwhile, I understand that Outrageous Fortune already has a UK remake (Honest, with Amanda Redman) and that the US version approached Rene Russo for the Robyn Malcolm role, but IMDB says it has gone to Catherine O’Hara. I was wrong about the name: Throng reports it is to be called Good Behavior and IMDB confirms this.

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Life on Mars in the American press more

nobody@vox.com(Jack Yan) — Fri, 09 May 2008 15:19:09 +1200

Life on Mars (the US version) has made the news a bit more lately, with a report that David E. Kelley could leave the show if financial arrangements don’t suit.
   Variety reports that October Road executive producers Josh Appelbaum, André Nemec and Scott Rosenberg could join the series as showrunners if Kelley departs.
   The Hollywood Reporter says ABC is close to picking up the US version of the British time-travelling cop show as a series.
   So for those of us without Ashes to Ashes to watch till 2009, this might be the next best thing. And because we know the British ending, there’s always a chance that the US one won’t work out the same way (even if Three’s Company kind of did).

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Columbo’s last case (for now)

nobody@vox.com(Jack Yan) — Wed, 07 May 2008 21:08:25 +1200

I would have watched Alias if it was more like this each week.

Alias-bloopers 50th-Columbo visit CIA

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QotD: ﬁctional friend

nobody@vox.com(Jack Yan) — Wed, 07 May 2008 20:38:46 +1200

What ﬁctional character do you relate to most and why?

Let’s see: what Chinese ﬁctional character had to operate in the west, deal to the establishment, drive a rare two-door car, impersonate others, and have his adventures chronicled?
Simon Templar.
Pity he was always played by Caucasians on the screen, but I always thought he was Chinese, since his creator was. A new pilot is being made now, which, inter alia, Sir Roger Moore and his son Geoffrey are producing.

The Best of return Of the Saint - Volume 1

TV trivia buffs might notice John Steed’s Rover SD1 from The New Avengers in the last car chase, reused here. It was also George Cowley’s Rover SD1 in the first season of The Professionals. Stingey British Leyland!

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