Last year, the BBC America presentaton of “Viva Blackpool” a musical mystery/sexy soap really blew me away.
It was one of the best miniseries in recent years. A sequel is coming in October:
David Morrissey (State of Play, Basic Instinct 2) is back in “Viva Blackpool: Ripley’s Return,” a magical musical movie sequel to the Golden Globe-nominated and Peabody Award-winning original series Viva Blackpool. In this innovative show, even characters in mourning pop out of heavy drama mode to sing along, karaoke-style, with hits from Johnny Cash, Queen, Dusty Springfield and Tom Jones. Ripley’s Return premieres Saturday, October 28, 10:00 p.m. ET/PT.
As the story opens, gambling man Ripley Holden, returning from Las Vegas as Reverend Ripley, attends the Blackpool funeral of his close friend, Patrick, who won a World Cup trophy in a crooked card game. Ripley’s already lined up a buyer for the legendary trophy, which was stolen from Westminster Hall in the ‘60s and has been in criminal hands ever since. But when aggressive sports agent Steve Pollard (Keith Allen, De-Lovely) moves in with a higher bid, a ferocious bidding war erupts.
This is all good news for Ripley, who has opened a successful Vegas-style wedding chapel in Blackpool with his daughter Shyanne (Georgia Taylor). Together they perform themed wedding ceremonies from Blue Hawaii to country-western and Harry Potter, dreaming of turning their single chapel into a nationwide chain. The money from the sale of the trophy would make their dream a reality. All Ripley has to do is get the trophy from Patrick’s elderly mother, Mrs. Berry (Annette Crosbie, One Foot in the Grave), and sell it to the highest bidder. But he’s horrified when he sees that she has placed Patrick’s ashes in the trophy, the centerpiece of a shrine to her beloved son.
Meanwhile, Ripley’s fallen hopelessly in love with walking temptation, Kitty De-Luxe (Megan Dodds, MI-5), who was jilted at his chapel. The glamorous blonde wants Ripley to invest the trophy money in her ice show, Paradise Lost on Ice. But the more Ripley gets to know Kitty, the less the pieces add up. A quick search through her bag reveals the key to a storage locker. Although it will break his heart, Ripley has to know what she’s hiding. Is Kitty the perfect woman for Ripley, a con artist — or both?
So many people were moved by the death of the beloved Crocodile Hunterr Steve that the Animal Planet will his memorial service exclusively in the U.S. commercial free on Tuesday, September 19th from 9-10 PM ET/PT, with an encore broadcast airing 12-1 AM ET/PT.
The memorial service, entitled “STEVE IRWIN: HE CHANGED OUR WORLD,” will be a same-day broadcast (with a two-hour delay) of the event Wednesday morning in Australia. In addition, Animal Planet International is airing Steve Irwin’s memorial service worldwide across Asia, Latin America, Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
The public memorial service will be held in the “Crocoseum,†a 5,500-seat stadium at Irwin’s Australia Zoo in Beerwah, Australia. Members of the Irwin Family, as well as Irwin’s long-time friend and producer, John Stainton, are expected to speak. Celebrities and dignitaries worldwide are expected to attend.
Two days prior, Animal Planet is airing a 15-hour marathon of Steve Irwin’s programs on Sunday, September 17th from Noon to 3 AM ET/PT. Throughout the marathon entitled CROCS RULE!: A TRIBUTE TO STEVE IRWIN, interstitial tributes from Irwin’s friends, colleagues and notable supporters will be featured.
Irwin, 44, died September 4 when a stingray’s barb pierced his chest while he was filming an underwater sequence on the Great Barrier Reef.
His family insisted that 3,000 tickets out of a possible 5,500 be given free to well-wishers prepared to queue for them.
This just in: Fox News Channel celebrities are headed to the Tampa Bay area.
Yes, Shepard Smith and the Fox & Friends folks will be visiting us in October.
The visit is part of a 10-city tour entitled, “Thank You America,†commemorating the network’s 10th anniversary. The tour kicks off on Tuesday, September 19th with Fox & Friends and The O’Reilly Factor in Boston. The anniversary tour will span over two months with the network presenting key shows at landmark venues in selected markets.
The Fox people will be hunkered down at the Don Cesar Hotel on Oct. 17.
Someone was mentioning in the lunch room about how rude people have become lately, and was wondering if the newsroom was running a story on it. The problem was that rude behavior is so rampant that it has just become another thing we just deal with and move forward.
From children to drivers to sales and customer service people, it seems that rude is the way to go.
When I had moved to Tampa about five years ago, you could see a wave of a hand as a thank you gesture if you let someone cut in front of you on the road. Gradually, the number of such nice gestures has been replaced by the flip of the finger, sharp honking etc.
We hear of road rage and learn how not to react to an uncivil driver. We learn to be civil when we call for customer service and are met by rudeness. We learn to hold our tongues when we encounter angry customers calling.
There is no excuse for being rude, it just leaves a bad taste in the mouth and ruins someone’s perfectly good day.
Most of us want to live in a civil environment in peace. It is not too difficult to think before one speaks; it saves a lot of aggression and anguish.
I just know that what goes around comes around, and if it is rudeness going around then it doesn’t make for a good return package.
What IS this stew? This pot of men? You write the caption.
Sure the newer iPod have some cell-phone style games, but Apple wasn’t really considered a player in the game industry until Tuesday.
With the introduction of the upgraded iPod, Apple announced downloadable games for purchase on its iTunes music service. Popular video games designed specifically for the fifth generation iPod include: Bejeweled, Cubis 2, Mahjong, Mini Golf, Pac-Man, Tetris, Texas Hold’em, Vortex and Zuma. They each cost $5 and can’t be played on your PC.
Apple also unveiled feature-length films for purchase at Tuesday’s event in San Francisco. However, Disney is the only studio so far to offer up its film library.
The iPod interface is a little clunky for gaming, but perhaps future designs of the machine will be more mindful of this.
I received some e-mails about Katie Couric’s first week:
“I wondered if you could tell me if Katie has had a face lift? I can’t decide if she has had one done or is just trying to keep her face from showing any emotion. I like her and have watched her two shows but she seems stiff and starched. Just wondered if it could be a face lift.”
Thanks
March Becraft
Next e-mail:
“Dear Mr. Belcher:
My compliments on your article about Katie Couric for extending beyond (the media’s missed the mark again) the nonsense the average person really doesn’t care about.
Although my purpose here is not to discuss myself, if I tell you something about myself first it may help you understand why so many average people think Katie not only deserves it, but will do just fine.
I’ve lived in Zephyrhills for 5 years. For 53 years before that I lived in Northern N.J. I lived within 30 miles of the World Trade Center. My house was in the flight path of 93 and the one that hit the Pentagon. I saw the two giant plumes of smoke in the horizon. I knew people who lost someone that day. There is no way to describe how far from ground zero the real confusion and terror spread. Every time we heard a chopper or jet overhead, praying it was ours. Walking into a convenience store and seeing the expression of sadness or fear on the clerk of middle eastern heritage. Like he wanted to say he was sorry or please don’t be mad at him, he didn’t do it. I don’t know if I’m going to see the movies, because I can barely watch the previews. If anything that day we needed to cling———to connect.
That’s what Katie does———-she connects. She comes from a sensible, grounded, middle class background. She’s not financially extravagant, in spite of her wealth. Her mother scolded her for buying a red convertible, because it was too showy. She made peanut butter and jelly sandwiches in her kitchen with her daughters and took them down to the workers at ground zero. Her intelligence and experience interviewing world figures and celebrities speaks for itself. Her class and grace dealing with personal tragedy.
From what I’ve read and heard she is attempting to bring the news and attitudes beyond what a lot of us are fed up with, “there’s 12 people that matter and then there’s the rest of us”.
So that’s my point of view Mr. Belcher, just an average person, who practiced nursing for 26 years, and likes calling her friends up north in a blizzard, while she’s wearing t-shirt and shorts, to hear them yell “shut-up”. And why Katie has so many “average people” fans like me.”
Ruth Mason
And this one:
“I read your article on Katie today, and I have a few comments.
I have always loved to watch Katie Couric, and I was excited to see her go to the CBS News. After watching her last night, for the third time this week, I was angry when the news cast ended.
I want the news to be news of facts. Not slanted with CBS’ opinions. It is so obvious that CBS hates the Bush Administration and the war. They did a story about how support was dropping in (I believe it was)Jacksonville for the war, but when they interviewed a couple of soldiers and a coffee shop waitress, they did not say that they didn’t support the war. And the way they edited her interview with The President, made little sense. They did not show his full answers to any of her questions. Then they flash to her, and she has some bulls**t look on her face…it made me sick. Love him or hate him, I will make that decision. I don’t need the CBS Evening News to tell me how to feel.
I can now see that the days of fun loving Katie are gone!”
Kristina Chutz
Interview updates: I talked to Rachael Ray today (Sept. 12) and heard a new word:“Rachaelmagize.”
The producer of the new “Rachael Ray” talk/entertainment show used it to describe how Rachael takes over a story or an event and makes it her own.
Full interview with The Rach Monster runs on Sept. 18, the day that the new show starts.
More updates: The interview with Megan Mullally, formerly of “Will & Grace,†is tomorrow (Sept. 13) She has a new talk show. Somehow I missed the interview with Jodie Sweetin, of Fuse’s weird show “Dance-Off Pants Off.†She didn’t call.
Tomorrow morning I am speaking at the Plant City Chamber of Commerce Breakfast.
Linda McQuaig, a Canadian journalist who writes a weekly political column for The Toronto Star, has released a blistering attack on the Bush Adminstration with “It’s the Crude, Dude: Greed, Gas, War and The American Way.” Doubting the argument that President Bush puts forward that the United States is trying to bring democracy to the Middle East with the invasion of Iraq, McQuaig argues that what the Bush Adminstration wants is control of the world’s largest oil fields - particularly now that oil supplies are dwindling in other locales.
This looks like one those books that will preach to the choir, since probably only similiarly-minded people will pick it up.
In another controversial topic - well, controversial for literary scholars - Ron Rosenbaum takes a look at the centuries-old battle over William Shakespeare in “The Shakespeare Wars.” Much as he did with “Explaining Hitler,” Rosenbaum - a New York Observer columnist - takes a fresh approach to the examination of who Shakespeare was and what was his inspiration for what most consider the greatest creative output ever produced. I know, I know. This will only appeal to Shakespeare nuts and scholars and curious students. Still, this is an excellent book that deserves your attention even if you are just casually interested in The Bard.
Tales of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round table are too numerous to count. But interestingly, few take a look at the person who wrote those stories - Sir Thomas Malory. In “Malory: The Knight Who Became King Arthur’s Chronicler,” author Christina Hardyment examines the life of Malory. It’s definitely interesting. Most scholars have believed that he was a criminal - charged with rape, ambush and attacking abbys - and spent most of his life in prison. That, however, is not the case, Hardyment argues, citing official records that indicate Malory never was convicted of anything and may have been the victim of a frame up by ememies during the turbulent years of the War of the Roses.
Well, it seems Dr. Phil’s wife, Robin McGraw is finally speaking up. I knew she was more than just talk show arm candy for the big wind from Texas. Her new book “Inside My Heart” hits the bookstore shelves today, and I for one am looking forward to lassoing myself a copy. In it, she dishes about her difficult childhood with her dad, and her courtship and marriage to the advice-doling Doc. (Frankly, I’d be interested to know what the attraction was.) I’m not the least bit surprised that she didn’t show old Phil any of her drafts before publication. He’d have shanghaied the project quicker than Jesse James after a gold train. At least this way we will get a look at what’s going on behind that lovely smile, minus any of Phil’s Texas whitewash.
Speaking of the talk show game, congrats to Tyra Banks. Apparently her leap from the catwalk is turning out to be a big success, as she has just booked her second season of workin’ it on her own stage. Tyra has managed to drag Nicole Ritchie in for a no-holds-barred chat about stardom, the Paris flap, and most importantly, her scary weight loss.
And since Tyra is such a big gun on the subject of girls and body image, I don’t expect her to let Nicole get away with any softball questions on the subject. But I admit, I am much more interested in what she’s gonna dish about Paris H. As you know, Paris has only said about her split with her former BFF that “Nicole knows what she did.” So, okay Nicks, if you know, start talking! Paris herself is so fabulously gauche, I can’t even imagine what Nicole could have done to offend her Hilton Highness.
Last, but not least, Rachael Ray, the cookin’ cutie of the Food Network is striking out with her own network talk show. Oooops, did I say “striking out?” Just kidding. At least for her sake I hope so. She seems to have all the tools for a good run at it…lots of teeth in her smile, lots of star power in her corner (Oprah is one of her guests in a food prep session…OPRAH!) and the name recognition to draw a crowd. Plus, she seems to be sticking to what she knows best—food and travel—with no sobbing kleptomaniac housewives or cross-dressing bankers who raise Labrodoodles gumming up the risotto. Yet. But popularity is a harsh task-mistress. A little too much of the limelight can wreck a girl’s complexion, and with three shows in heavy rotation on FoodTV, books, a magazine, and a line of cookware all sporting her name, there is the distinct sound of the backlash rubber band being stretched to its limit and ready to snap any time now.
I have been spending a lot of time at Kaleisia Tea Lounge lately; ordering Mocha Matte (iced, lightly honey sweetened) and chatting up fellow regulars, employees and owners. My nightlife activities have been largely relegated to a handful of late night house parties and early nights at the tea lounge.
Why such active inactivity, you ask?
I have been working with the Seahorse Orchestra for the WMNF Birthday Bash (this coming Saturday, the 16th), of course! On top of that, I have been putting together our debut cd, Astronaut Breakfast. Though it is longer than some Serge Gainsbourg and Led Zeppelin albums, these days it is short enough to be called an EP. The artwork is simple-yet-brilliant and holds a couple of keen surprises.
Have no fear, dear reader, you are not forgotten - merely forgiven. This process with the band has presented me with various insights that I will…......... share with you later. I hope you enjoy counting the seconds until Saturday. See you there.
Of all women in history, even women in fictional stories, none can quite compare to the legend that is Helen of Troy. After all, how many women can say their beauty and allure was such that men when to war over her? In “Helen of Troy,” author Margaret George weaves the story into a skillful tale. The basic story: Helen is wed, and has a daughter, and finds herself in domestic bliss. Along comes Paris, and once she lays eyes on him, she realizes the passion that is missing in her life. The two become lovers within days, then run off together to Troy in the dead of night. Her husband, Menelaus, soon comes after her - with an army. Thus begins the seige of Troy. The special 25-CD box set of the book, read by actress Justine Eyre, is now available from Penguin Audio.
In another CD set - this one only 9 discs - author Jasper Fforde provides another “Nursery Crime” story with “The Fourth Bear” (also from Penguin Audio). In this one, investigator Jack Spratt has been demoted to solving missing person cases (after showing some poor judgment in a previous story in the investigation of the death of Mr. Bun the Baker). But his first case - looking into the disappearance of journalist Henrietta “Goldy” Hatchett - leads him to investigate The Three Bears, the last ones to see Goldy. To say the least, all is not what it seems with the bears, who live a seemingly placid life in Andersen’s Wood. For one thing, it appears there is a fourth bear that no one ever knew about.
On a nonfiction note, Zainab Salbi offers harrowing but ultimately hopeful tales of women during wartime in “The Other Side of War: Women’s Stories of Survival and Hope.” The author offers stories of how women, their families torn asunder and their homes destroyed, have provided “the glue that holds families and countires together…War is not a computer-generated missile striking a digital map. War is the color of earth as it explodes in our faces, the sound of your child pleading, the smell of smoke and fear. Perhaps by understanding women, and the other side of war, we will have more humility in our discussions of war.” The stories come from war-torn places such as Afghanistan, the Congo, Sudan, Rwanda and Bosnia.
System: Microsoft Xbox 360
Publisher: THQ
Reviewer’s rating: B
ESRB rating: Mature
Game type: Action
Kind of like: “Grand Theft Auto”
Best feature: Three-way gunfights between you, a rival gang and the cops can be hilariously over-the-top.
Worst feature: Online multiplayer falls well short of the large-scale gang warfare we were hoping for.
The bottom line: “Saints Row” is a shameless rip-off of the “Grand Theft Auto” series. It’s so similar there should be a lawsuit in the works.
Derivative doesn’t always equal bad, though. “Halo” wasn’t exactly original, either, but that didn’t make it any less fun to play.
In “Saints Row,” you take the role of a shiftless street punk who’s recruited to join one of four gangs in the city of Stillwater. Incidentally, you can customize the appearance of your character, which is one of the few places where “Saints Row” differs from “GTA.” After that, it’s a familiar formula.
Roaming freely around a vast, sprawling metropolis? Check. Beating up rival gang members? Check. Stealing cars? Check.
A variety of missions are made available, and you can accept them whenever you’re ready and in pretty much whatever order you choose. They range from recruiting hookers to protecting drug dealers while they’re making their rounds. Our favorite bit involves crashing spectacularly into oncoming traffic to commit insurance fraud. Good times.
Obviously “Saints Row” isn’t intended for younger gamers. When your kid begs for it, do us all a favor and just say no.
I’ve been a Minnie Driver fan since I saw her in “Return to Me,” a great little romantic movie so I am excited that she is doing her first TV series (this means I get to interview her).
FX today placed a 13-episode series order for a drama, “The Riches” (working title, formally “Lowlife”), starring Eddie Izzard and Minnie Driver, announced John Landgraf, President and General Manager of FX Networks.
“We’re excited to pick-up FX’s first ‘family show,’ albeit a show and a family unlike any television viewers have seen before,” said Landgraf. “The pickup of The Riches reflects two of FX’s goals: first, our continued efforts to make innovative, high quality television shows and second, our commitment to expanding the boundaries of our successful original series brand.”
Izzard and Driver star in The Riches, a one-hour drama focusing on a family of Traveller con artists, Wayne (Izzard) and Dahlia (Driver) Malloy and their three kids. Through a set of unusual circumstances, the Malloy’s assume the identify of a well-to-do “normal” family, the Riches (Doug and Cherien). The family soon finds out that living the American Dream with their newfound identity is more twisted and challenging than any of their previous stings.
The Riches was created by playwright Dmitry Lipkin, who wrote the pilot episode and will executive produce along with Izzard. Dawn Prestwich and Nicole Yorkin, who most recently served as writers and co-executive producers on Showtime’s critically acclaimed drama series Brotherhood, are also executive producers, along with Michael Rosenberg, Mark Morgan and Guy Oseary. The pilot episode was directed by Carl Franklin (Devil in a Blue Dress), with re-shoots directed by Peter O’Fallon (House, American Gothic). FX, Fox Television Studios and Maverick Television will produce, with production scheduled to begin in December with a premiere slated for 2007.
Did this chipmunk have too much caffeine or does it just have ants in its pants? You write the caption!
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