Terry Jones talks about writing Python sketches

Ever since that fateful day in 1974 when KERA, the public television station in Dallas, became the first PBS station in the U.S. to broadcast Monty Python’s Flying Circus I have wondered just what went on in the heads of Oxford graduates, Terry Jones and Michael Palin, and Cambridge graduates, Eric Idle, John Cleese and Graham Chapman. Just how did they come up with the classic sketches such as the Dead Parrot sketch, the Lumberjack Song or the Spanish Inquisition?

We caught up with Terry Jones back in 1999 as we paid tribute to 25 years of British comedy on public television and he talked about how the Pythons wrote as partners and how, overall, he and Michael teamed up to write the infamous Lumberjack Song sketch, how John Cleese and Graham Chapman partnered for the much more intellectual and organized material like the brilliant Dead Parrot sketch.

As the sun sets on Downton Abbey, take a brief peak into series 3

Aside from the massive anticipation of the first Maggie Smith/Shirley MacLaine battle of the mothers-in-law, the internet is already abuzz with thoughts on series 3 of Downton Abbey. While the U.S. is only 3 days removed from Sundays series 2 finale, Julian Fellowes sat down with The New York Times to reflect back on the second series of Downton Abbey and look ahead to his upcoming ABC mini-series, Titanic. Of particular interest to fans worldwide was Fellowes’ answer when The Times asked about what’s possibly in store for Downton Abbey 3…

NYT:  What are you legally permitted to tell us about what will happen in Season 3 of “Downton Abbey”?

JF: One of the reasons we chose 1912 is that the world was seemingly – I say, seemingly – very serene. In fact, there were all sorts of issues — women’s rights, workers’ rights, and across Europe, democracy and the legitimacy of monarchy – all pulsing away. But they hadn’t really broken the surface in a lot of people’s minds and of course it was all going to go up in flames two years later. So by starting it in 1912, it meant that we could have that post-Edwardian serenity, followed by the first World War, followed by the ’20s, a time of immense social change. You had the first votes being given – not to all women, but at least to some women – in 1919, and you have union activity, you have the Russian Revolution, you have all sorts of troubles going on across Europe.  And that gave us right there, three series where each would have a very different mood. Which was rather an attractive idea, really.

Although the sun has sadly set on series 2, production has begun on series 3, there are a few others that are talking very carefully about what US and UK audiences can look forward to in 2012-2013.

Hugh Bonneville, who plays Lord Grantham, cryptically told Zap2it – “…well it starts in the spring of 1920, that’s a few months after the end of season 2 and spans about 18 months. After the urgency of the war years, things calm down a bit … but only a bit! … There are plenty of surprises in store, put it that way.”

Allen Leech, who plays the Irish chauffeur, Branson/love interest to lady Sybil, recently tweeted, “On my Irish trousers… The 3rd series rocks more than the Cliffs of Moher!!

Admittedly, not much, but it’s just enough to get us through to tomorrow, which is a day closer to when Downton Abbey 3 is ready for broadcast in late 2012, early 2013. We’ll have production photos as soon as they become available so check back every so often for more Downton Abbey  3 news when we can dig it up.

Post Downton Abbey and Titanic, Julian Fellowes to write an Agatha Christie favorite

Post Downton Abbey Rule #1: One must keep busy in between series 2 and series 3.

Post Downton Abbey Rule #2: Pay attention to Rule #1 or one will succumb to severe separation anxiety.

This holds true not only for viewers of the runaway UK/US hit television series, but also for those both in front of and behind the camera of the series. With filming on series 2 ending last August and filming on series 3 set to begin this month, that leaves a mere 5-6 months of down time. Many involved with Downton Abbey found themselves quite busy and easily passed the time.

Julian Fellowes, creator/writer of Downton Abbey, has made the most of his brief down time. His just completed ITV1 mini-series, Titanic, centers around the 1912 sinking of the Titanic with a journey through its last hours. The mini-series will air on ITV1 in the UK and then ABC in the United States in April 2012, coinciding with the ship’s 100th anniversary. Must be too soon for me after Sundays finale….looks like Downton Abbey on a boat to me.

If that’s not enough, the long-time Agatha Christie fan has signed on to write an adaptation of Agatha Christie’s Crooked House, one of the authors favorites. Directed by Neil LaBute (The Wicker Man, Death at a Funeral), the film will be set just after the Second World War and will be shot in London. Fellowes said: “I love the period, I love Agatha Christie and I love the idea of reinventing it.”

Can’t wait for both. How about you? How will you pass the time between Downton Abbey II & III? Don’t forget, there’s always the printable Downton Abbey characters for those that need help in creating their own drama over the next several months.

John Leguizamo cast as American ‘Del Boy’

Over the last several years, American audiences have suffered endlessly through remakes of Coupling, Life on Mars and Prime Suspect while being subjected to continued rumors of remakes of British greatness such as MI-5, IT Crowd and Doctor Who. As we reported with sadness recently, the most popular British situation comedy of all-time, Only Fools and Horses, has become the latest in a seemingly getting longer list of British television that will be getting an American remake this Fall.

The ABC pilot for Only Fools and Horses was originally pitched as ‘the misadventures of two streetwise brothers and their aging grandfather as they concoct outrageous, morally questionable get-rich-quick schemes in a bid to become millionaires’, a pitch that at least somewhat resembles the British classic, which was voted Britain’s Best Sitcom in a 2004 poll.

More often than not, there exists the possibility that ‘pitches’ will never make it to the casting stage. Well, not so, for both ABC’s Only Fools and Horses, who have announced that John Leguizamo, who is currently touring the U.S. with his hit show, John Leguizamo’s Ghetto Klown, has been cast as the American ‘Del Boy’ and CBS’ Elementary, which recently cast Jonny Lee Miller for the lead role in their upcoming 21st century Sherlock Holmes series, Elementary. No other casting has been announced for either series.

Recognizing the brilliance of Only Fools and Horses, I’m just not ready yet to think this will transfer to an American audience. What will lovely jubbly translate as? To be fair, given the talents of both Leguizamo and Miller, I’ll definitely give these two a chance. A slim chance, but, still, a chance.