6 posts tagged “television”
Poor old Hugh Jackman. This journal was last year lauding his performance in The Boy from Oz. And now we have Viva Laughlan.
Good luck to actors who set up production companies. They are obviously intent on diversifying their involvement in their vocation. And good luck to such an obviously-talented bloke like Our Hugh for taking a gamble on this program.
Trouble was - it was awful!
Maybe Hugh was being adventurous in casting the British actor Lloyd Owen. Last time I saw him, he was settling into life as laird of Glenbogle. Now he has half-gained a very frail American accent and an even dodgier singing voice.
Not that you'd know this from the advertising on Channel 9. This advertising suggested that the program was wall-to-wall Hugh Jackman - who, apparently, was only going to be in every 3rd-or-so episode.
Well, as it turns out, he was in 100% of the episodes aired in Australia because it was axed yesterday after one (count them: 1) program - following the axing of the series by CBS after 2 programs.
What went wrong? I subscribe to the Sydney Morning Herald writer's theory that "Viva Laughlin has the fingerprints of nervous network executives all over it."
Maybe, given a chance, it would have developed into something. (Certainly, I would have hoped that Lloyd Owen's outrageous accent would have gone to something beyond his unintentional vocal impersonation of Billy Crystal.)
This might have given the chance for the bastard-behaving casino owner (played by Owens) to redeem himself. I mean, who cares about a casino owner's fortunes?
Anyway, its all over now. This however does not hold the record for rapidity of dumping. That belongs to Australia's Naughtiest Home Videos - axed in mid-broadcast, reportedly on the orders of late station owner proprietor Kerry Packer.
- The quotation in the headline of this post is from the New York Times of 18th October 2007.
- Article in the Sydney Morning Herald.
Recently we upgraded our home internet link to broadband. We decided that this was not a passing craze after all. No ADSL2 in our neighbourhood but still considerably faster than what we have been used to.
Now we can tune into things like this item from YouTube:
Amazing that such things from my childhood are re-surfacing on such platforms.
The Samurai was an early excursion into multiculturalism in 1960s Australia - before the word was invented! This TV drama series was hugely popular on Channel 9 Sydney, causing small boys across Sydney to dress up in dressing gowns in the blazing sun to look like Our Hero, whilst waving fake swords, sticks, &c, in mortal combat.
The star knives, in particular, must have had the Emergency Departments of our public hospitals here very busy as small boys lacerated their fingers as they converted the lids from tin cans into home-grown versions of these weapons (and I am embarassed to own up to this myself).
Our Hero's sidekick, Tombei The Mist, also was responsible for adding a term to Australian English. This form of English borrows one of its forms from Cockney rhyming slang - "German band" for pair of hands, "trouble & strife" for wife, and so on. "Tombei The Mist" became an Australian term for being pissed (drunk in Australia English, rather than angry in American English).
And the voice dubbing! The voices go at an entirely different speed to the images. And such emotion! Listen to Shintaro intercept the street thug: "So you want to steal my wallet, eh?" he says in a monotone reminscent of the fellow who makes train announcements at Wollongong railway station. (And anyway, did wallets exist in medieval Japan?)
There's a lot of dross on YouTube, but there are also gems like this item. I am grateful to 8dramaqueen for posting this.
Recently I read an blog posting on objectivity in Wikipedia. The gist of this article was how the subject of the article (a live human being, danah boyd) sat back and watched people argue via the platform of Wikipedia about how the article on her biography should be presented.
This gets us to just what is the basis of objectivity in knowledge - particularly when people are encouraged to add or refine this knowledge, as Wikipedia explicitly sets out to do.
This of course was also against the background knowledge that David Tench was the subject of a biographical article in Wikipedia - and the trick here is that David Tench does not actually exist, except in the TV program David Tench Tonight.
Sir Humphrey Appleby (1929-2001) is another Wikipedia biography about a non-person, although the article makes it clear that Sir Humphrey does not exist (even though I and millions of others worldwide know exactly what he looks like and how he sounds).
The idea of the animated talking head was pioneered by Max Headroom in the 1980s - although David Tench seems to be taking this to new heights (or depths).
His guests look mostly a bit stunned or disconnected (although Mark Holden really got into it last night, with pseudo-Rat-Pack reminiscences about their wild times in Vegas).
But my question is - with a Wikipedia article (albeit since pulled), a tonight show, and much media hype - when does David Tench start to exist?
- The Max Headroom picture is from the website of Joe Struss. (For some reason, Vox won't let me write this into the Photo details.)
- David Tench Tonight is on Channel 10 (Australia) and affiliated networks (Southern Cross Ten in Wollongong) on Thursdays at 8:30pm.
No, Rex has not become Minister for Consumer Affairs for New South Wales - railing against "killer toys at Christmas".
No - tonight's episode of Inspector Rex on SBS Television featured hunt against a disgruntled would-be author who bumped off those who he thought had wronged him by aiming explosive-laden toys at them.
We also saw a new policing technique from Rex.
Rex was hunting for explosives being used to implant into killer toys. (The Viennese Bomb Squad must have had a day off.) In the scene, he suddenly sat down, prompting Bock to exclaim:
"Look - he's found the explosives!"
(He actually said it in German - I am using a rather free translation.)
So this is how a dog communicates this! Next time I see a dog sit down, I'm running for cover.
But as mentioned before, who cares about this weak writing! I could look at Rex all day. What a dog!
The featured ingredient on tonight's edition of Iron Chef (Ryōri no tetsujin - 料理の鉄人, "Ironmen of Cooking") on SBS Television is ...
Umeboshi (Japanese plum)
It was good having our own Japanese guests explaining how this is used in cooking - how it can taste salty, how it can reduce the fishy smell in fish, and so on.
This was the first program where Iron Chef Michiba returned after his spell in hospital (which, if Chairman Kaga is to be believed, was partly due to being previously beaten in challenges twice in a row).
No prizes for guessing who won this challenge. The betting shop closed as soon as we saw who was being challenged.
Readers of the California Chronicle would have thrilled to the weekly posted installment of the Featured Ingredient, as featured on Iron Chef (Ryōri no tetsujin - 料理の鉄人, "Ironmen of Cooking").
What was it this week? Chicken? Turkey (the fowl, not the country)? Horse Mackarel? Bird's Nest?
It has been quite a surprise to me to realise that I kept my readers on the edge of their seats for about 2 and a half years with this information.
However, times roll on, and blogs roll on (so to speak) - so its time to introduce a new weekly spotlight on an obscure SBS Television program.
Kommissar Rex (link to German-language website) (re-titled Inspector Rex in Australia) brings us the adventures of an Austrian version of Rin Tin Tin.
The plots are wafer thin, and the story lines have holes that you can drive the number 10 bus to central Wollongong through. But who cares? Rex is a beautiful dog who is smart, funny, cute (he has this tilt-the-head-sideways routine that melts the stoniest hearts), super-fit (after getting out of shape with bubble baths and too many ham rolls from his previous boss, Moser), and he absolutely hates bad guys
This must be why he has something of a cult following in Australia. Apparently people ring up SBS and, forgetting that Rex lives in Austria, ask to talk to him; a former staff member said in a recent newspaper interview that he (the staff member) would bark down the line, and the caller would be satisfied.
Rex is employed by the Vienna Police Force (and I use the term "Force" rather loosely). He has a good-hearted handler, Brandtner, as well as 2 offsiders who broadly qualify for nominations in the Doppelgangers series.
Rex's current handler (Brandtner) is, in my view, a vast improvement on his previous slovenly boss Moser. Moser was an ugly bloke (despite being peddled by the show's producers as some sort of heart throb) who drank a bit, was embittered about his messy divorce, and often slept in or had bubble baths before work (but was still boss of his work unit); Brandtner, on the other hand, is genuinely handsome, extremely fit (despite being given terrible scripts by the writers, involving a lot of running after Bad Guys' departing cars), self-deprecating, has a sense of humour, and genuinely respects ladies without having to chase after every bit of skirt that crosses his path.
Despite watching this program for some time, I regret that I have not yet learned much German (the program is sub-titled in English) - except for WURSTSEMMEL, which means "ham roll". They are all (Rex included) fixated with wurstsemmel in this workplace - they eat them, talk about them, and toss them about at tea break in some sort of odd male-bonding macho display.
But like I said, who cares! We watch this purely because of Rex (who is a better actor than the others, anyway).
Our American friends Barbara and Ingrid though Rex was wonderful when they sampled a movie-length episode here at Christmas 2004. Also, Ingrid (who is originally from Germany) was amazed that a German-language program rated so well in an English-speaking nation.
And so to tonight's episode - entitled
GIFTGAS
which the SBS caption people helpfully subtitled "Poison Gas"; I'm glad they did, otherwise I would have thought that this was some sort of gas used at birthday parties. (The episode titles in Inspector Rex lack subtlety; the episode showing the death of Rex's previous boss, Moser, was entitled - surprise! surprise! - Moser's Death.)
This was a very loose story about 2 Russian Bad Guys (Bad Guys in this program seem to be inevitably from Russia or eastern Europe) who plan to let sarin gas off in some big jewellery exhibition in Vienna.
What for? Its not really made clear. But again, who cares? Rex
- has some horse play with his boss over wurstsemmel for breakfast (ugh)
- advises the team about the biochemical reactions of the body to sarin gas whilst making them all tea to go with the yummy wurstsemmel
- tackles the chief Bad Guy despite being wounded by him in an earlier shoot-out
Is there no end to this dog's talents???? I think not.
- Inspector Rex is shown on SBS Television (Australia) on Thursdays at 8:30pm. Wikipedia publishes a list of other countries where this is screened.
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