Regarding the Foxtel EPG having no listings for A-Z search, that also frustrates me totally. I tweeted about this a week or so ago and @mrfoxtel came back and indicated it was a fault they were working on. I did ask when it would be fixed but he didnt know. I've just asked him again and will let you know if I hear anything.

I just finished watching the first series of Bored to Death, and I have to say it grew on me. After watching the first few eps, my reaction was pretty much 'Meh'. I felt as though I'd seen those characters so many times before that it bordered on cliche. I felt slightly bored myself and didn't care enough about any of them or what was happening. I wasn't sure I could be bothered watching any more. (I didn't share John's feelings that it was misogynist, though, because the male characters seemed so pathetic themselves. Almost everyone is ridiculous or larger than life.) But, seeing as it's only an eight-ep series, I soldiered on. It wasn't until episode 6 that I really started to enjoy it. That was when it actually got funny, that the Ted Danson character started to shine, and when both he and the lead character stepped out of their cliches and showed more depth. I loved it by the end, but it took the last three episodes of the season to win me over.

Cast Offs sounds really interesting - here's some more reading: http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2009/nov/10/c...

Apparently Channel 4 (UK) has just started broadcasting Cast Offs, a comedy about a survivor-style reality TV show where the contestants each have a disability. Some of the writers worked on The Thick of It. The thing is, the six actors in Cast Offs aren't putting on their blindness/deafness/dwarfism etc.

By no means do I think that an actor who is able bodied should not portray a character who is not, any more than I think that a character who is English can not be portrayed by someone from Australia or...Estonia, and I do not begrudge talented actors their roles, it is simply that it pinches a nerve when you see a great role for someone who is disabled that is taken by someone who is not, in the sense that- for example, if someone with a disability auditions for a musical (or something) and blows them away- but does not get the part because of their disability... I suppose it's more that if you are a good looking young actor who can sing and dance and was in a boy band, the roles you are going to be considered for are more numerous (considerably) then your parapalegic twin.