ITV
Matt Groening spoofs Downton Abbey in Simpsons season finale!
The town of Springfield has long been ‘on the map’ as a destination city because of its’ most famous family, the Simpsons. Springfield, however, is also known as the home of the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant, owned by Montgomery Burns, the Kwik-E-Mart, run by Apu Nahasapeemapetilon, Barney’s Bowl-A-Rama and The Leftorium in Springfield Mall. [...]
Wild Horses couldn’t drag them away….from ‘Downton Abbey’, that is
On the virtually impossible outside chance that The Rolling Stones sound a bit off during their current “50 and Counting” tour which began this past week at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, they have a good reason. According to Downton Abbey star, Laura Carmichael (Lady Edith), guitarist Ronnie Wood confessed the Stones’ love of [...]
‘Downton Abbey’ reaches new heights with ‘Iron Man 3′ reference
From 30 Rock to The Office to The Chris Matthews Show to, most recently, Iron Man 3, the cultural impact of Downton Abbey knows no boundaries. We all know about the talented efforts of Sesame Street, The Colbert Report, Saturday Night Live and Latenight with Jimmy Fallon as they paid tribute to the likes of [...]
Sherlock, Downton Abbey add to already stellar casts
While it’s often been said by those involved both in front of and behind the camera, whether it be comedy or drama, the strength of a supporting or ensemble cast is right up there in setting British television output apart from the rest of the world of telly. Besides the writing, casting is spot on [...]
ITV’s Life of Crime is a gripping drama that spans three decades
With both DCI Banks and Scott & Bailey as brilliant examples of ITV’s gripping drama output, one can’t help but have high hopes for their newest entry in the police procedural genre, Life of Crime. With Life of Crime, the twist of the 3-part storyline is what takes it up a notch. Life of Crime [...]
Mr. Selfridge open for business as filming begins on series 2
Given that there are still a few episodes left in the first series of Mr. Selfridge for U.S. audiences, there may be more spoilers than the law allows in today’s post so read on at your own peril if you are in the U.S. It’s safe to say that in both the U.S. and the [...]
A sneak peak at the 2013-2014 comedy / drama pipeline
Aside from the known commodities of Sherlock and Downton Abbey, that PBS, the BBC and ITV are hanging their collective ratings hats on in 2013-2014, there is cause for optimism in the comedy/drama output pipeline in the not-too-distant future… The Guilty Tamsin Greig (Black Books, Friday Night Dinner, Green Wing, Episodes), Katherine Kelly and Darren [...]
ITV gives early Christmas gift to ‘Vicious’ fans
Over the course of the normal commissioning of series in the UK, it’s common practice for a new series to be given the go-ahead for a certain number of episodes, somewhere in the neighborhood of 6-8 episodes. In the case of series that have been on for several years, the addition of a Christmas episode [...]
Endeavour’s walking tour of ‘Morseland’, a.k.a. Oxford
As UK viewers found out last night, the Year of Endeavour is upon us. With last nights UK premiere of the first of four new episodes that follow the highly successful ITV1 2012 ‘pilot’ episode, fans of PBS’ Masterpiece Mystery! series have a telly treat in store for them when the series premieres on Sunday, [...]
Final five Poirot’s with David Suchet will not disappoint
When ITV announced the go-ahead on production of the final five small screen adaptations of the Hercule Poirot stories written by the late Agatha Christie, it was not only met with mixed feelings by Poirot fans worldwide, but also from the actor who has invested 22+ years of his career playing the infamous Belgian detective, [...]
