(no subject)
Jul. 6th, 2009 01:33 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shapinglightA few not unrelated things to do with TV:
Firstly, I was miffed to learn on![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
deborahw37's LJ this morning that ITV are only showing a cut version of Moonshot, in which, as you no doubt mostly know, James Marsters appears as Buzz Aldrin. The History Channel are showing the full version, but since I don't get that, I shan't be able to see it. Grrr! (and the satisfaction of knowing Rupert Murdoch isn't getting a penny off me for Sky is tempered by the knowledge that he's probably getting it off me some other way, it's just that I don't know it).
Secondly, from the rate at which JM Live are dropping emails into my inbox, James is filling up his schedule fast with con appearances and fan events, which suggests he has no acting work and currently no prospect of it. :( I don't blame him at all for this, btw. He has bills to pay/kids to raise same as most of us, and if he can't get acting work, he has to do something. In fact, considering the state of things at the moment, and considering he doesn't have a steady gig like DB, (even if Bones is so boring I'd rather rip my own eyeballs out than ever watch another episode), he's just very lucky that he has a loyal fanbase who still want to see him. There must be hundreds and hundreds of jobbing actors like him who are really, really struggling.
Apropos of which, last week this story appeared in the Guardian, about how the BBC have cancelled their Saturday tea-time kids' show Robin Hood. Also in the newspaper article (though I don't know if it's repeated in the online version), the actor James Nesbitt (probably not well known outside the UK, but a staple of TV drama here) complains that the roles have dried up and Brit actors will be forced to decamp to Hollywood. Dunno where he thinks the jobs will come from, given that local actors like JM already can't get any work.
Finally, off at a wacky tangent, in today's Guardian, there's a bizarre piece about Dominic West, in which he says he's sick of foreign actors playing great Brits from history and British actors should be cast in those parts - which is a bit rich coming from an old Etonian who spent 5 years playing a Baltimore policeman in The Wire. I suppose if he discovers people he knows in the US are irritated by this, he's going to give the trademark McNulty shrug and say, "What the f**k did I do?"
Firstly, I was miffed to learn on
deborahw37's LJ this morning that ITV are only showing a cut version of Moonshot, in which, as you no doubt mostly know, James Marsters appears as Buzz Aldrin. The History Channel are showing the full version, but since I don't get that, I shan't be able to see it. Grrr! (and the satisfaction of knowing Rupert Murdoch isn't getting a penny off me for Sky is tempered by the knowledge that he's probably getting it off me some other way, it's just that I don't know it).Secondly, from the rate at which JM Live are dropping emails into my inbox, James is filling up his schedule fast with con appearances and fan events, which suggests he has no acting work and currently no prospect of it. :( I don't blame him at all for this, btw. He has bills to pay/kids to raise same as most of us, and if he can't get acting work, he has to do something. In fact, considering the state of things at the moment, and considering he doesn't have a steady gig like DB, (even if Bones is so boring I'd rather rip my own eyeballs out than ever watch another episode), he's just very lucky that he has a loyal fanbase who still want to see him. There must be hundreds and hundreds of jobbing actors like him who are really, really struggling.
Apropos of which, last week this story appeared in the Guardian, about how the BBC have cancelled their Saturday tea-time kids' show Robin Hood. Also in the newspaper article (though I don't know if it's repeated in the online version), the actor James Nesbitt (probably not well known outside the UK, but a staple of TV drama here) complains that the roles have dried up and Brit actors will be forced to decamp to Hollywood. Dunno where he thinks the jobs will come from, given that local actors like JM already can't get any work.
Finally, off at a wacky tangent, in today's Guardian, there's a bizarre piece about Dominic West, in which he says he's sick of foreign actors playing great Brits from history and British actors should be cast in those parts - which is a bit rich coming from an old Etonian who spent 5 years playing a Baltimore policeman in The Wire. I suppose if he discovers people he knows in the US are irritated by this, he's going to give the trademark McNulty shrug and say, "What the f**k did I do?"
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2009-07-06 12:54 pm (UTC)Dear god, really?
no subject
Date: 2009-07-06 12:57 pm (UTC)Yup. Or as Bunk would put it, "There you go. Givin' a fuck when it ain't your turn to give a fuck." :-D
Too bad about the BBC, even if I don't have any love to spare for Robin Hood or Merlin. Let's hope it's a temporary thing - in public organisations, things tend to change a lot depending on who's in charge at the moment. And the BBC has such a fantastic track record when it comes to both drama and comedy that I can't imagine it just fizzling out.
no subject
Date: 2009-07-06 01:05 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-07-06 01:07 pm (UTC)Heh! That sums it up pretty well. Silly man (Dominic West that is, not you).
Yeah, I'm sure the BBC will recover. And they're still doing better than ITV, who are pretty much broke.
no subject
Date: 2009-07-06 01:31 pm (UTC)I think it was ITV who said that, which makes more sense.
What they don't say is that
I think
no subject
Date: 2009-07-06 02:03 pm (UTC)I need new eyes. Or a new brain.
no subject
Date: 2009-07-06 02:05 pm (UTC)As I said to Sueworld, I need to trade in my brain for a new one. The one I have is misfiring.
no subject
Date: 2009-07-06 02:06 pm (UTC)You're right. How embarrassing. Fortunately, not many people had commented so I only had to apologise twice. Thanks for pointing that out.
I'm pretty sure Dr Who is safe, but TW's had it, I'm certain, and you're probably right about Being Human.
Oh well, as long as they don't f**k series 2 up completely.
no subject
Date: 2009-07-06 03:00 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-07-06 03:26 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-07-06 04:23 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-07-06 05:05 pm (UTC)Why are all our exports public schoolboys? Hugh Laurie - Eton, Jamie Bamber - St Paul's, James Callis - Harrow, Dominic West - Eton, Damian Lewis - Eton.
And if James Nesbit is complaining then the roles must really be drying up - he's one of the golden boys.
At least Being Human doesn't have special effects or fancy sets so it must be cheap to make.
no subject
Date: 2009-07-06 05:12 pm (UTC)ITV can hardly afford drama anymore, can they?
no subject
Date: 2009-07-06 05:49 pm (UTC)As to work. He worked his arse off last year and into this one. The Dragonball press tour was a major commitment, he's done voice over work. He's done the play. We don't know what he's auditioning for but there have been times in the past when there hasn't been news of roles and then suddenly it all starts happening. Plus we're still seeing the stuff he filmed last year so I'm not feeling deprived .
It's tough in the industry right now but James is good and has worked pretty steadily. Look at poor old Alexis or even Nick B. They seem to have really struggled. We're fortunate fans in comparison.
The 69 minute version of Moonshot is great and the 90 minute one will be out on DVD soon. It's all good.
no subject
Date: 2009-07-06 06:04 pm (UTC)Oh, I know all this, believe me. I think James has done very well since AtS ended. Am certainly not one of these people who think he hasn't been trying hard enough or anything like that. In fact, I've always thought that people who complained about the roles he took or that he didn't have a series like DB does were people with no idea of how Hollywood works and besides, Bones is so boring!
and the 90 minute one will be out on DVD soon
That's good, then. Seems it's already available for order in Germany. Not here yet, though.
no subject
Date: 2009-07-06 06:05 pm (UTC)Doesn't look like it. If they'd wanted to do more Primeval they would probably have had to use glove puppets.
no subject
Date: 2009-07-06 06:08 pm (UTC)Well, they killed everyone, didn't they? Bit hard to come back after that.
And if James Nesbit is complaining then the roles must really be drying up - he's one of the golden boys.
That's what I thought. Seems like you couldn't turn around without finding him in yet another TV drama. There've been at least two in the last few months.
At least Being Human doesn't have special effects or fancy sets so it must be cheap to make
I think so, yes.
no subject
Date: 2009-07-06 06:38 pm (UTC)Can we ask them to make it that way? It could only be an improvement!
no subject
Date: 2009-07-06 10:01 pm (UTC)I agree. Primeval is already jaw-droppingly stupid. Glove puppets couldn't really make things worse.
no subject
Date: 2009-07-06 11:20 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-07-07 10:09 am (UTC)Well, there's an awful lot of competition, for one thing. James has done really well, in the circumstances.
no subject
Date: 2009-07-07 10:09 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-07-07 10:10 am (UTC)You're doing better than me, then. I liked last night's TW, but it'll be over at the end of the week. :(
no subject
Date: 2009-07-07 06:31 pm (UTC)