Television Whats on TV?

[Mephistopheles]

One of my favourite authors is Dean Koontz and I make no bones about it, I got hooked when I read Whispers, which was made into a film but didn't do the book justice..

 

[Road of Bones]

Let's face it - given that only 2 good films* have been made of Steven King's vast body of work, perhaps it's no surprise that so few other horror authors have been suitably transferred to film.

(* Shawshank & Green Mile - both by the same director! Do not talk to me about the Shining though...)

 

[cider_and_toast]

And given that both those films were adapted from Stephen King short stories allowing the screenplay to be much tighter and reduce the pages and pages of filler that you normally find in full length Stephen King books it's no surprise they are good.

You only have to look at "The Stand" mini-series to know just how guff Stephen King can be at times. (oh, and then there's IT)

 

[Andyoak]

But the funniest of all was Pet Semetary - with the completely stuffed zombie cat

 

[McZiderRed]

Most films based on any book are generally shit...

 

[Dash Racing]

Films based on books usually suck because the screenwriter has to adapt a lot of material into a very short space, and very often what made the book work is something that really can only work in a long format.

 

[Mephistopheles]

"What's on TV"

Not Top Gear.

 

[Andyoak]

Watched the first episode of series 2 of Inside Number 9 last night...

More genuine laughs in half an hour than a whole series of "so called" comedy.

And I can't see it being commissioned by any other broadcaster than the BBC.

 

[Mephistopheles]

I watched Thunderbirds Are Go, the new animated one, the other night they saved the whole world from earthquakes and yet I still don't know what FAB stands for..

Five, four, three, two, one, Thunderbirds are go.

 

[cider_and_toast]

The official word is FAB doesn't stand for anything.. Gerry Anderson just thought it sounded good.

 

[Mephistopheles]

Which makes it even worse...

 

[rufus_mcdufus]

'Fab' was an in-vogue word back in the Sixties (short for 'fabulous') and this was basically picking up in the fashion wasn't it? I realise as an acronym it doesn't mean anything.

 

[Mephistopheles]

I came across something called gogglebox the other day it is supposed to be a comedy. it is is a family sitting and watching telly, so there I am watching telly and what I am watching is some people watching telly I thought I wonder if they are watching me watching them.

It was at that point I thought **** it everything has gone to shit...

 

[cider_and_toast]

And then convention dictates that you should have had a cider.

 

[FB]

Reggie Yates' Extreme Russia. Caught the second half of this show last and will go back and watch the first part on the iPlayer. You could feel the tension as Reggie sat and talked with overtly racist individuals who, if he didn't have a film crew with him, would probably have given him a good kicking, or worse. Reggie, you are a far braver man than I.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b05rbyhq

 

[cider_and_toast]

Ok, it wasn't on the TV but on Radio 2 last night at 10pm (but I listened to it through my TV so it counts) (and also we haven't got a what's on the radio thread).

The real Adrian Cronauer (as played by Robin Williams in Good Morning Vietnam) talked for an hour about his experiences in Vietnam between 1964 and 1966. Aboslutely fascinating and some of his views on the war were not what I expected. An absorbing hour of radio and well worth catching up on if you get the chance.

 

[Bill Boddy]

I've just finished catching up on Home Fires, a WWII drama set in a town/village in Cheshire. Strangely it was filmed in the village of Bunbury in Cheshire where my brother lives. We had a game of spot the difference, one of the biggest being they had moved the sheep out so that the field could be used for cricket.

My brother only lost his tv aerial for less than a day so it was only a £100 payment.

 

[Mephistopheles]

TV aerial!! Blimey how very quaint....

 

[Bill Boddy]

I have one as well, also two dishes, so I guess that I must be one third quaint.

 

[Jen]

"No offence" - third part on this week. Absolutely stunning series!