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Sweet Home Alabama: the Southern Rock Saga, BBC FourSaturday, 14 April 2012
“Suddenly, all America wants to be a redneck”. That might be slightly overstating the impact of southern rock on American culture. Californian ex-actor Ronald Reagan becoming president in the footsteps of Georgia’s Jimmy Carter suggests it’s an unsound declaration, despite the prime-time scheduling of The Dukes of Hazzard during Carter’s tenure. Sweet Home Alabama made the case for the rock music of the south, but failed to convince that it inspired a cultural shift. Read more...
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Derek, Channel 4Friday, 13 April 2012
Ricky Gervais doesn't make it easy for critics or viewers. He has always pushed the boundaries of modern comedy with a cast of unlikeable characters, starting with his 11 O'Clock Show inquisitor to deluded fool David Brent in The Office and failed actor Andy Millman in Extras, as well as “himself” in The Ricky Gervais Show and Life's Too Short. Read more... |
Playhouse Presents: The Minor Character, Sky ArtsFriday, 13 April 2012
For those who saw David Tennant’s outstanding Hamlet either during the production’s 2008 run at the RSC or in its later television incarnation, there’s likely to be some built-in intrigue to his role in the debut instalment of new Sky Arts series Playhouse Presents, not least because his cut-glass vocals and pervasive melancholy are more than a tad reminiscent of his take on the Dane. Read more... |
Divine Women, BBC TwoThursday, 12 April 2012
I’ve long held the belief that much of what is wrong with the human race stems directly or indirectly from religion. But while this subject has had something of a renaissance in recent years, thanks to the likes of Christopher Hitchens and Richard Dawkins, the absolutely central story of the global banishment of the Goddess - in all her many forms - has largely remained untold. Read more... |
Titanic Round-UpMonday, 09 April 2012
I suspected that Julian Fellowes' Titanic (ITV1) would improve as it went along, but it hasn't. Sunday night's third episode churned along monotonously, listlessly keeping tabs on a list of characters who became less interesting the more you saw of them. We got a bit more of Italian waiter Paolo Sandrini and his instant undying love (just add water) for lady's maid Annie Desmond, plus the entirely spurious appearance of Latvian terrorist Peter Piatkow. Read more... |
Perspectives: Sergeant on Spike, ITV1Monday, 09 April 2012
As a prelude to last night’s John Sergeant Perspectives doco, I made a note of the four things I thought I knew about Spike Milligan. Read more... |
Homeland, Channel 4Monday, 09 April 2012
The opening credits of US television’s latest watercooler export Homeland have proved to be one of the critically lauded show’s few divisive elements, yet also encapsulate what could be most interesting about it. Read more... |
Twenty Twelve, BBC TwoSaturday, 07 April 2012
If Twenty Twelve's creators were looking for inspiration for their mockumentary about those making London 2012 happen, they need have gone no further than reading the headlines (now daily) in London newspapers about Tube drivers demanding more wedge to work during the Games, the Civil Service asking their staff to work from home and the London Mayor's transport officials suggesting that August may be a good time to find an alternative route to work - this after Londoners have put up... Read more... |
Horizon: The Hunt For AI, BBC TwoWednesday, 04 April 2012
What is it with these scientists? Two spanking-new child-sized robots stand opposite each other in a room, talking. Their designer proclaims with barely concealed pride, “I don’t know which one is going to speak first.” In fact he says this twice, as if this very fact is proof that these bipedal assemblages are on the cusp, or have even reached some kind of sentient intelligence - rather than simply being mildly amazing, mildly amusing mimics of sentient intelligence. Read more... |
Who Do You Think You Are? USA: Lionel Richie, BBC OneWednesday, 04 April 2012
“It's about as close to a spiritual awakening as I’ve had in my entire life,” said Lionel Richie. He was standing close to the unmarked grave of his great-grandfather, in the pauper’s section of an overgrown Chattanooga cemetery. Richie began the search for the man he’d discovered was called John Louis Brown thinking he was on the trail of a scoundrel. He ended it discovering Brown was a former slave who had become a pioneer of the American civil rights movement. Read more... |
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