Great news! Flight of the Conchords has received three Emmy nods for directing, writing, and original music and lyrics. It didn’t get an Emmy nomination for best comedy series, which I think is a sin.
   Not bad for a show conceived by a bunch of Kiwis, even if it did take American money and HBO to get it off the ground.
   And thank goodness it did—how else would it have become so widely received? I can’t see a TV3- or TVNZ-funded Conchords cracking the US market—it would, like Outrageous Fortune, have been remade at best.
   Good luck to Bret, Jemaine and the others associated with the show.

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I thought this was awesome news in that the photographer, Giuliano Bekor, shot regularly for Lucire. From the Lucire ‘Insider’ section.

Giuliano Bekor, whose credits include numerous Lucire shoots, photographed Hayden Panettiere for her 2008 Candie’s print campaign.

Hayden Panettiere will star in Candie’s back to school 2008 television, print and online advertising campaign, according to the company. Hayden, who is known as an award-winning actress, activist and star of NBC’s hit television series Heroes can now add recording artist to her résumé.
   Following last year’s marketing campaign with Grammy-award winning artist Fergie, the new fall TV commercial will be a direct lift from Panettiere’s first music video, ‘Wake Up Call’, which was styled using Candie’s apparel, footwear and accessories.
   This is Panettiere’s second season with the brand.
   To coincide with TV, a print campaign will feature Panettiere in a variety of sexy and sweet vignettes as she playfully poses with a piano, behind a beaded curtain and in a club-like setting among others. The ‘Wake Up Call’ video and the Candie’s commercial were shot in Los Angeles by famed music video director Chris Applebaum and the print campaign was shot by fashion photographer Giuliano Bekor, whose credits include Lucire, and created by the Iconix in-house marketing team.
   Fans can listen to ‘Wake Up Call’ exclusively at www.candies.com and www.kohls.com/inspire (streaming only) beginning today. The single will be available for download on iTunes beginning August 5. The single is being released by Hollywood Records.

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Some more news on US Life on Mars has emerged from TCA (the Television Critics’ Association), as reported at After Ellen. Executive producer Josh Appelbaum was there—the last time I recall seeing Josh’s credit regularly was the first season of Martial Law, but I know I have seen his name on the odd programme since.
   Appelbaum gave a few more insights into the new series, saying that Annie Cartwright (the third!) has not been cast yet, but that she would be stronger than Liz White’s character. She would be more outspoken and connected to the women’s lib movement, he said.
   The storyline seems to have totally changed, too, probably giving the new Gene and Ray a chance to shine with some homophobic comments and how times have changed—which was one of the points of the original that the rejected Kelley pilot lacked:

Appelbaum also said “the first batch” of the series starts off with a gay story line. But wait! It’s about men and “deals with a returning Vietnam vet, with finding a victim that’s gay ... we deal with all of that stuff, specifically how it’s viewed at the time.”

   Interestingly, he talks about ‘1973’, so the year will not be changed in the American version after all.
   He also promised (at another source) that the show will have a different mythology to the original and that viewers will see ‘a dozen’ possibilities of what has happened to the US Sam Tyler by the end of episode two.

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Another brilliant Eggtoon from Andy Wyatt: this time about Labour’s politics during the Blair era, in the style of South Park. I think it’s funnier than the Windsors one I posted earlier tonight, though the death of Robin Cook in the cartoon might be considered bad taste given that the man has passed away.

The State We’re in—West Minster

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My colleague Jen Hamilton and I were browsing YouTube after working on a site for a client, and stumbled across a bit of royal humour. What if the Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburgs, I mean, the Mountbatten-Windsors, were a Simpsons-style cartoon (featuring Mohammed al-Fayed and the Rt Hon Tony Blair)?
   Note to self: do not mention this blog post next time I see the Governor-General and his wife.

The State We're In - The Windsors

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More casting announcements are emerging from Hollywood about the American re-remake of Life on Mars.
   Jonathan Murphy (formerly Ronnie of October Road) has been cast as Det Chris Skelton, which means David E. Kelley’s successors on the programme have brought back both Chris and Ray—two characters missing from the first attempt at remaking the British series.
   The Hollywood Reporter’s description of Chris is familiar: ‘a jittery young detective who is new to the department.’
   It may mean that the redo will try to forge relationships between Sam Tyler and the rest of the department akin to the original’s.

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Here were the 80 lovely ladies in their national costume at Miss Universe 2008.

Miss Universe 2008 - The Finalists 14/07/2008

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It’s understandable that TV One in New Zealand has to cut around 13 minutes out of each Life on Mars episode to fit commercials in, but why did it have to be the Camberwick Green sequence from episode five of series two? It was the best bit! (Sam still says he comes out of a box when he gets to the nick, and local viewers will be wondering what on earth he was on about.)
   For Kiwi Lifers, here is the missing bit.

Life on Mars, Camberwick Green Opening

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[Cross-posted] Miss Venezuela, Dayana Mendoza, has won Miss Universe 2008, with Miss Colombia, Taliana Vargas, runner-up. Dominican Republic, Russia and Mexico rounded off the top five.
   Miss Mendoza, 20, hails from Caracas, and is already a model represented by Élite Model Management.
   The 57th Miss Universe contest was held in the coastal town of Nha Trang, Khánh Hòa, Vietnam, during the morning of July 14. It was broadcast live on Sunday night to American audiences.
   The show was compèred by Jerry Springer, who had hosted Miss World in the past. Melanie Brown, formerly of the Spice Girls, co-hosted and sang during the telecast.
   The judges were Donald Trump, Jr, Roberto Cavalli, Nadine Velazquez, Jennifer Hawkins, Louis Licari, John Nguyen, Joseph Cinque, Eesha Koppikhar and Taryn Rose.
  Special awards went to Miss El Salvador (Miss Congeniality) and Miss Thailand (Best in National Costume, decided by online voting).

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Fox News Channel farewells a former colleague. These are some of the people who knew him best, talking about Snow’s honour, decency, strength in his faith, generosity of spirit, and the love of his family. Brett Baer got teary in recalling Tony Snow’s caring, when Baer’s son faced open-heart surgery. Former president George Bush and former first lady Barbara Bush also offered their tributes in this clip.

God Speed, Tony Snow

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