Eek, awards seasons starting up again already lol. Here’s the people and shows I’ve voted for in the pre-nominations stage of these this year. Voting is here.

Actress: Freema Agyemen in “Doctor Who”
Actor: David Tennant in “Doctor Who” (sorry, this might get boring, lol …)
Comedy Programme: Very tough to pick just one, but I have to vote “Jam & Jerusalem”
Reality Programme: the lesser evil, “The Apprentice” ... still don’t watch it
Serial Drama: “Eastenders”
Newcomer: hmm. I was sure there had been some really good younger additions to the soaps this year but none seem nominated. I had to go with the guy who plays Eli in “Emmerdale”. God I sound common.
Factual: The F Word
Drama: “Doctor Who”
Entertainment Presenter: “Jonathan Ross”
Talent Show: screw them all – in fact, let me tell you a story that should convey how much I detest those shows … I still haven’t checked out the many YouTube clips of that cutie Connie from Britain’s Got Talent, lol, and probably never will … so anyway, I had to go with “Any Dream Will Do”, even though Charlie Brooker pretty much nailed that one when he did a special Screen Wipe for The Culture Show lol.
Entertainment Programme: “Friday Night With Jonathan Ross”

Umm. And that’s that. Apparently I’ve been wonderful. I might actually have to decline if I win the trip to the ceremony lol. Pretty boring in the end, had I not started this entry prior to starting the voting process I probably wouldn’t have written it, lol. Ah well.

I wouldn’t have thought I’d be writing anything about this one before today, but around midday I suddenly started to get excited … the last episode … they’re getting married tonight! And as the episode started, I got a buzz almost akin to that you get from a real wedding, lol, it’s crazy. This has been a beautiful sitcom about real, tragically beautiful to borrow from “Wicked”, people, a little Royle Family, a little Two Pints, a lot of Welsh. In 6 episodes they covered a whole relationship from inception to marriage. Compressing such a major period of two peoples’ lives in such a short time turned out to be probably the most perfect way to do it. A criticism I imagine some might have levelled at this show is that it was all too fast … but in the end, this is probably the thing I loved the most about it … love is just like that, even in my limited (though, I feel, ample) experience.

I don’t know if I’d like to see more of these two characters … but they left it open for a whole nother rollercoaster with Nessa and Smithy which I’d love to see, and I’m sure the writers (also, coincidentally, the actors who played Nessa and Smithy) are probably itching to get started on … in fact, I’m not entirely sure that this whole series wasn’t really just a set-up for “Nessa and Smithy” lol. But anyway, in short, I loved it.

Update 4: Hurray! Got it working. I don’t know if this was the issue, but for the interest of others, while I was at work last night, I found my whole internet wasn’t working, couldn’t get on Facebook, Flickr, anything … I remembered somebody saying once before that if you’ve used your laptop to connect to the ‘net via bluetooth on your phone (which I have, at my brother’s wedding a few weeks ago), it creates a new connection profile on your phone which sometimes causes conflicts, and is perfectly safe to delete (a new one will be created next time you connect from your computer). It hadn’t caused any problems till now, but I figured why not delete it anyway … and now the mobileTV works fine. Better than fine The picture is a lot better than I expected. I watched Mitchell and Webb and The League of Gentleman while walking home, lol. Very strange I have to be careful with that “Big Brother” button, though … there’s something about having the live feed in your pocket that makes it strangely appealing …

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Making a separate entry on this that started in my entry on LazyTown, ‘cos it strikes me as interesting enough to warrant a spot of its own.

While I was fooling around with my phone (adding my LazyTown theme), I discovered that T-Mobile have launched their MobileTV service And one of the channels is Nick, whoohoo! lol. They have a 24hr pass and a 30 day pass. Till the end of the month the 24hr pass is free (presumably you only get to do this once – I’ll update when I activate mine), and the 30 day pass is £3.50 which sounds reasonable to me. This probably doesn’t include data transfer, I’m guessing, but I’m on Web ‘n’ Walk Plus which allows me 3Gb so I should be ok whatever.

Update: Well, I activated my 24 hr pass, I won’t know till tomorrow if I can do it again but I can’t find anything on the website to say I won’t be able to. It also implies that this doesn’t form any part of my Web ‘n’ Walk allowance, except for the HTML/WAP pages that comprise the menus etc. Which is kinda cool, but I remembered one thing that makes this all make more sense: it’s not the same kind of mobile TV offered by some other companies … this is specially edited content, short clips of shows and stuff, probably never more than 5 minutes. So it won’t be a lot of data transfer anyway, even if you watch the whole offering. But I’m still speculating … I’ll check back tomorrow when I’ve had a good play around

Update 2: Doesn’t seem to be working for me yet, but I imagine that there’ll be teething troubles, the FAQ says “at full capacity” it will slow so try again later. Speaking of the FAQ, I loved this entry:

Also in the FAQ, I discovered that the content offered is “a combination of live TV and edited highlights” ... certainly not the short 5 minute clips I initially expected … it has a built-in cut-off of 1hr (you can instantly reconnect) which I think says it all. This could be very cool … if it ever works, lol.

Update 3: Well, my 24hr pass expired without my ever getting to watch a second of TV lol. The good news is, the price tag on the 24 hr pass still reads as free. I’ve activated a new one but still no luck with getting a “signal”. Apparently the error I’m getting is known by T-Mobile, though, and they’ve had dozens of complaints today already. I’ll just keep at it. It’s not like I’m away from the actual television much of the time

Not a lot to say here probably, but it deserves to be mentioned ‘cos it’s up there with the good TV of the year for sure, it got my tearducts working anyway. The challenge was to put together a 12-track album for children’s charity featuring major artists in just 5 days, and as you might expect from that set-up, the programme didn’t stand up so well to modern skepticism – of course some of it was a little too convenient. But this certainly had the edge on her “comeback” Christmas special (I can’t even remember what the challenge was there, lol).

I don’t know quite how to put this without sounding like I’m putting the show down … but somehow this one had that sorta-semi-_tackiness_ about it that made the old show so great sometimes. In the end, no matter how much the cynic in me wanted to say it was all set-up, for some reason it just felt more honest than any “reality” show (I don’t wanna put Anneka in that category, but technically, she was like some kind of pioneer I guess lol) ... I guess it’s the complete lack of hate and utter presence of innocence that the show has. Like, just looking at the faces of the children and the parents when they did the live show at the end, it’s like – doesn’t matter how well the album does, creating a moment like that is a million times more than X-Factor or Big Brother can do. I’m babbling, but I guess that was my intention … I just wanted to put down how much I loved this. And hey, the Avenue Q bits were icing on the cake … I heart Julie Atherton and Kate Monster soooooooooooooooooooooooooooo bad, lol.

So anyway, everyone, get onto iTunes and buy the album, ‘cos I can’t till at least payday, lol.

I’m gonna blame the BBC Four Children’s TV on Trial season for this, but I won’t deny, I was always gonna eventually discover this one. I just can’t believe I didn’t do so sooner. I remember Sportacus was on Paul O’Grady earlier in the year, and I just thought, ugh, another ridiculous looking kids’ show. Couldn’t have been more wrong. I’m addicted! No, seriously, I am … I watched my first episode on Friday and I’m now on my 9th episode, lol.

Though there’s definitely a huge amount of cheesiness, a small amount of patronising the audience (even though the target is obviously very young children, I still think it’s a little too much at times), the energy is just tooooo infectious … and the songs! I’ve downloaded the soundtrack but definitely intend to buy it (plus the bonus DVD), surely one of the best albums of last year if only for “Always a Way”, “Spooky Song”, and “Bing Bang” – all of which are sung by Stephanie, who I’m frankly besotted with, lol (in a non-creepy way of course …) – a poster has already been ordered from Play, lol.

Anyway, this entry began because I made a theme for my phone I wanted to share, then I figured I may as well write something about the show for my TV section … I guess it could equally go in the music section. But anyway, here’s a preview of that theme:

And the theme itself can be downloaded here until anyone complains – LazyTown’s Stephanie k800i Theme. There’s a ringtone in there too – an edited version of “Spooky Song” so when your phone rings you get “Boo! [pause] Dippity-dee, it’s only me! Boopity-boo, I scared you!” lol Would make a good wake-up alarm too.

While I’m here, you might notice one of those k800i’s above doesn’t have Stephanie on it … I realised I never shared my last theme for the k800, of Violet from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory ... at least I don’t think I did. Anyway here’s that theme: Violet Beauregarde. Hope someone out there in the ether can make use of.

Yes I am weird.

... or, the best thing I’ve seen on TV all year so far.

This is a season of programmes that BBC Four have been showing throughout this week covering just about every nook and cranny of (predominantly British – though obviously the more high-profile imports get touched upon) children’s television way back to its dawn in the 1950s.

It began with “The Kids’ Verdict” – four 10-year-olds, 2 boys, 2 girls, one room, one TV, watching programmes aimed at their demographic from each of the 5 decades (the 2000s didn’t really get a look in), with the nice touch of their clothing and surroundings changing with each timeshift, followed by their giving an opinion of what they’d seen. At times they were a little frighteningly smart-assed and cynical but I think really they’d been specially picked for this quality as it served the overarching message of the season well. It was amazing to see, though, that even when they hit the prim, proper, and black-and-white Fifties, one or two of the kids still seemed to get a genuine kick out of some of the ancient entertainment, and they were often able to easily pick out the similarities between old shows and the ones they’re more familiar (the whole windows imagery of “Playskool” and “Tikkabilla”, for instance).

This was followed by “Goodbye Children Everywhere” – a look at how in the digital age, children’s TV is being forced off onto specially targeted channels, a dream for advertisers, children being turned into commercial sponges, and the actual shows suffering as a result.

The centrepiece of the whole week was a new five-part series, again, one episode for every decade, one whole hour full of clips and interviews, all of it fascinating, but of course everyone will have their own decade of most interest.

Other shorter shows, some old, some new, have been scattered throughout – two programmes focussing on Blue Peter’s Biddy Baxter and John Noakes; a few on animation; a documentary about the changes taking place in teenage bedrooms (ooh-err, phrased that a bit wrong, lol – actually this one was pretty amazing); one called “From Grange Hill to Eastenders”, one on children’s news over the years; a few episodes of “The Clangers” and “The Story of Magic Roundabout”; Mark Lawson met the Teletubbies (well, their creators – yes, I was disappointed too), and “When the Stranglers met Roland Rat”; I’ve probably even missed a few things.

In short, just brilliant. If there was a reason I bought a DVD recorder last year, then this is it. This goes up there with “Shrink Rap” as one of the best things I’ve seen on TV in 2007.

This is gonna be regrettably short, hopefully you can forgive me after all I wrote yesterday I just want to write about 3 things I’ve watched in the past week which really deserve a full multi-paragraph entry of their own each. Two ITV drama productions that were first aired this year – “The History of Mr. Polly” and “The Bad Mother’s Handbook” – and one Carlton production that first aired almost a decade ago, “Cider With Rosie”. All of them brilliant, and in the case of the first two in particular, so good they’ve really made me feel bad for all the things I’ve said about ITV Drama in the past.

Lee Evans in “The History of Mr. Polly” – literally everything I see with this guy in these days further cements his position in my mind as one of the greatest actors I have ever seen. This production in particular is interesting – it really calls on his talent as a silent comedian, there’s lots of physical banter, yet it allows him to go seriously deep too, beginning when Polly considers suicide, right up until he’s defending his life in front of the violent Jim. I’d never heard of the HG Wells story let alone read it prior to this but I was hooked from the start. Just an outstanding TV production, and I hope to see Evans up for awards for it in the next year.

Catherine Tate in “The Bad Mother’s Handbook” – well, I always knew she’d be good in this, even more than I knew Lee Evans would be good in anything he took his hand to. It’s the story and the supporting cast here that wowed me. I was properly hooked by this to my utmost astonishment. When I clicked on the Sky+ recording and saw the running time I was simultaneously relieved and wary – 90 minutes, which actually means around 75 if you count ads and credits. Short enough if it turns out to be rubbish; but not long enough to be anything but rubbish. How wrong I was. This packs in a great story that gets to the core of motherhood better than anything I’ve seen (as far as I could know or surmise; for the record, I’d put Kill Bill: Vol 2. at the top of that list). I particular loved the shy new boyfriend, and the subplot regarding Tate’s own super-neglectful parents was a beautifully tragic piece of icing. Director Robin Sheppard previously did the Wuthering Heights update “Sparkhouse” and “At Home With the Braithwaites” ... I really shouldn’t be so surprised at how good this was.

As to “Cider With Rosie” ... I recorded this a while back thinking it was the 1975 BBC version which I’ve wanted to see for some time. Initially I was a little disappointed that it wasn’t – I never knew of this other adaptation – but I was really surprised by how good this newer production was. It reminded me a lot of the other classic childhood stories, except in this case it really doesn’t suffer from what I call the Jane Eyre syndrome (interesting kid, grows up too soon into boring adult). I loved the scene where the beefy-looking kid revolts against the teacher, and I was seriously surprised that even in the late 90s they showed so much in the scene where he takes Jo “down to the river”. I was planning to watch the old version anyway, but this version felt surprisingly like enough, and even got me planning to read the novel. Incidentally, I just noticed on the IMDb that the narrator was Laurie Lee himself – very cool indeed.

So, anyway, BIG sorry to ITV. I’m sure you’ll still make the odd bit of pap, but this triple whammy reminded me of how good you can be.

Hehe … here I am trying to come up with a nice “summary” entry for my TV section since I just added the section to my main menu, and I find out these have been announced – I’d usually be quicker off the mark but my RSS reading routine is horrendously out of whack, I will make sure I fix this over the next week. Anyway the old summary will have to wait ‘cos this is easier. Here’s my personal picks to win from this year’s nominees:

ACTOR: I haven’t seen any of these, but MICHAEL SHEEN has deserved yet lost at least 3 awards in the past few months so I’m going for him. I still have “Longford” recorded, though, so if I watch that any time soon maybe I’ll pick one of those two.

ACTRESS: Again I haven’t seen these, but of the choices, I’ll go for the “Longford” girl, SAMANTHA MORTON, and hopefully I’ll feel even more strongly about this when I get round to watching it.

ENTERTAINMENT PERFORMANCE: I usually go for Jonathan Ross, but I think STEPHEN FRY being nominated is something of a rarity, and I adore “QI”, so my vote goes there.

COMEDY PERFORMANCE: Either of the “Extras” boys winning would be a bit dull, though if it goes that way I’d prefer Stephen Merchant. Which leaves an even trickier decision – both Dawn French’s Geraldine Granger and LIZ SMITH’s Nana Norma have (allegedly – certainly in the case of Nana, unless there’s gonna be a flashback) graced our screens for the last time this year. I loved both of the finales to these shows, but “The Royle Family”’s certainly hit me the most emotionally and it was all about Nana, so I’m gonna go with that.

SINGLE DRAMA: Haven’t seen any, but LONGFORD certainly appealed to me the most as should already be apparent.

DRAMA SERIES: D’Oh! Again haven’t seen any of them. Anything but “Life on Mars” or “Shameless”, I don’t have a good reason for that just prejudice of some kind lol. I always meant to watch SUGAR RUSH.

DRAMA SERIAL: Guess what!? I haven’t seen any of them! Okay, I let PRIME SUSPECT run in the background ‘cos my parents were watching – and obviously that will win.

CONTINUING DRAMA: Usually, even though it’s my least favourite category, something, even one of the soaps, sticks out for me in this category, but really, it’s all been deadly dull even by my bystander standards this year. I’ll go for EASTENDERS if only ‘cos it has two cute little actresses in it lol.

FACTUAL SERIES: That Stephen Fry’s THE SECRET LIFE OF THE MANIC DEPRESSIVE is even nominated here is about the coolest thing so far this year. If it wins I’ll be ironically overjoyed.

SPECIALIST FACTUAL: Gotta be PLANET EARTH, surely? I still haven’t watched it but I plan to.

SINGLE DOCUMENTARY: Absolutely no idea. Obviously the 9/11 title sticks out as it always does in these categories

FEATURES: F-WORD!

SPORT: does not deserve an award.

NEWS COVERAGE: BBC. The lesser of many evils.

INTERACTIVITY: Is this a new category? Well THE SECRET POLICEMAN’S BALL did a nice video podcast which let me show people the wonderful “Torn” sequence, lol. I don’t know what the other nominees did.

INTERNATIONAL: HOUSE for me.

ENTERTAINMENT PROGRAMME: I think I missed the Derren Brown thing. I think I have to go with HOW DO YOU SOLVE A PROBLEM LIKE MARIA? on this one. I didn’t like the outcome, and it tired towards the end, but honestly, it was something pretty special to me.

SITUATION COMEDY: THE ROYLE FAMILY has to win.

COMEDY PROGRAMME: Catherine Tate and Little Britain were as hilarious as usual but really just same old same old. I loved the Little Miss Jocelyn episodes I saw. But THAT MITCHELL AND WEBB LOOK was one of the few things last year to near make me wet myself.

PIONEER AUDIENCE AWARD: Making the daft assumption that the Great British Public are smart enough to have developed a blind spot for Big Brother, we’re left with the same tough decision between The Vicar of Dibley and Royle Family “finales”. And again I wanna say how the Royle Family episode hit me way harder on an emotional level, it was way more special, and since I went with Liz Smith on the actress category, I’m thinking I should balance it out by going with the Vicar on this one. Putting all that aside, I really wanna say, I’d like to see The Royle Family continue, and I think it can without Nana, whereas I think The Vicar of Dibley really should be left as is. So since I’ve babbled about this far too much, my finger lands upon THE VICAR OF DIBLEY.