Hey, hey Kids!

We do have a show for you this week, with a fascinating conversation with Carol-Lynn Parente, the Executive Producer of Sesame Street, but I’ve had a couple of corrupt file issues in the elements of the show. All being well, it was just an issue with the transport media and the recordings are safe and well at the studio.

Consequently, the show will be up about a day late but it’s definitely worth the wait.

Love and kisses,
BB

We’re very excited to welcome Nelly Thomas to the regular Boxcutters team.

Long-term listeners might remember Nelly from her co-hosting duties on episodes 130 and 137.

Joining us fortnightly, Nelly will bring her wonderful experience in all matter of media, her unabashed love of good television and excellent comedic sensibility to Boxcutters.

She will alternate with John Richards, whose many other commitments have forced him into fortnightly hiding lest he incur the wrath of the government broadcaster.

It’s an exciting new time for Boxcutters. We return this Monday with all new insights into the world of television. Nelly starts her Boxcutter tenure on 25th January.

Hey there lovely Boxcutters Family.

We’ve decided we need just one more week to get everything back in order for a wonderful 2010 Boxcutters-style.

We’ll be back with normal, but seemingly fresher, programming about programming, programmes and other television-related discussions on 18 January.

Thanks for understanding.

“In the history of network television, no remake of a previous hit series has ever become a hit itself on network television.

“Plenty have been tried… Digging through the files of series past, one could perhaps make an argument for some shows spawned from original hits. Star Trek, of course, gave birth to four separate series, but those were all spinoffs. They were not remakes of the original with the same characters.”

– from Why Studios Keep Cranking Out TV Remakes, Despite the Flops – NYTimes.com

We’ve talked about TeeVeeLand’s inability to come up with solid new concepts for a while on Boxcutters. While this New York Times article doesn’t seem to build anything on what we already know, it’s good to see that the studios and networks are aware that all they’re doing is throwing shit at a flagpole, or something.

It’s also good to see the argument that the only good remake was Battlestar Galactica and that might just be because it was on Sci-Fi (as it was called when it launched), a cable channel that may just have given the creators the freedom they required to make a show on its own merits.

Countless television projects try and fail. It’s the nature of the beast. But the problem with remakes of old TV shows is that there is an inherent lack of understanding about what made it popular in the first place. It’s not just about the characters, the actors or the subject matter, but also what its competition was, how people led their lives and what could they be shown that they have never seen before.

There were a number of things that we neglected to cover in the last show or maybe we just touched upon them.

One of those things was a look at the decade 2000-2009. For those pedants who say 2010 was not the start of a new decade (and you know who you are), we’re defining a specific ten year period to look at.*

Other things include a few shows that we’ve said were “great” but might not have expanded upon that.

Programmes like East West 101 and Supernatural, to name just two, deserve a little more analysis.

So we’ll try to do some of that here on the blog during our break and hopefully troughout the year.

And always, feel free to let us know what you’d like us to cover in the comments. We’re more than happy to oblige.

* That one is just for those pedants who wrongly believe one can’t end a sentence with a preposition.

In episode 202 we suggested there should be a action show called “ACMA Squad”. Actualchad agreed, and sent us this:

Tivo announced it will change the ‘Watch Live TV’ option to ‘Watch Freeview’ ….
http://smarthouse.com.au/Media_Centres/Set_Top_Boxes/V5V6V4B5

Although none of us know what Freeview is, it has enough pull to trick Tivo US into allowing the name change.

There are some great specials available at the You Do Buy It US store at the moment.

A couple of weeks ago we mentioned Errol Morris’s The Fog of War documentary and it’s currently half price.

You can also get the complete Addams Family for cheap!

There are a bunch of other specials including indie-movies, sitcom box-sets, and a whole lot of British television.

Help support Boxcutters by getting yourself some wonderful entertainment.

Everybody wins.

If you’d like even more Boxcutter action – and who wouldn’t? – here are a few other shows you may enjoy:

The Podcraft – Jade Gulliver’s show about podcasting – is usually a tight half hour. Not this week. Really, it’s like a bonus episode of Boxcutters as?the fabulous Jade tries to get a word in edgeways.?It’s sixty minutes talking about television?- teacher, mother, secret lover. Warning: podcasts about podcasts may break the internet.

That Podcast Show says some lovely things about us, and they’re American so it feels like Hollywood. Listen to the lovely Daniel and Jana?by clicking here.

Josh flies the Boxcutters flag as guest on episode 20 of?The Fool And The Opera, Joy Melbourne’s opera show (hosted by the fantastic Dan Vo).

And don’t forget you can see what the boys would look like if they were awkwardly holding televisions by clicking here. Oh, and buy some T-shirts. It’s better than going nude.

Earlier this week I sat down to watch the first episode of Underbelly: A Tale of Two Cities.

What I found was a disappointing display of potential that had been dashed upon the rocks of Australian commercial television.

In the first episode we’ve got two main characters, Robert Trimbole (played by the excellent Roy Billing) and Terry Clark (who looks a lot like Matthew Newton with a moustache).

These could be complex characters but they seem to be whittled down to a couple of key phrases including: “Don’t you cross me” and “Where’s my money?” The latter of which can be really interesting as in the paper boy from Better Off Dead but in this case just comes across as one-dimensional.

The main problem is that the story-telling is so rushed we aren’t given the opportunity to get emotionally invested in any of the characters . So we have no reason to keep watching because we really don’t care if they live or die (and they are most likely going to die).

There also seems to be a rule that a random woman must show her breasts every 12 minutes or people will turn off.

I find the whole thing condescending and a little bit boring which is disappointing because we really could have some great television here. The stories themselves, told by somebody who cares, are fascinating and exciting. Unfortunately here it’s like they’re told by someone who not only doesn’t care, but also wants to get away from you as soon as possible.

Underbelly 2: A Tale of Two Cities airs on Monday nights at 9:30 on Nine.