BBC unveiled a nifty new logo for forever-running sci-fi hit Doctor Who. We know it’s not much, but DW fans have been rather neglected the last year or two, what with only a small handful of specials here and there. BBC America has yet to announce an exact date, but we’re told the next special, The Waters of Mars, will air sometime this fall with two more specials in the next few months. A full new season will finally premiere sometime in spring 2010.
Here’s an extended trailer for BBC America’s upcoming series Occupation. The trailer hints at a dark and emotionally taxing drama. We’re excited for the return of JamesNesbitt. His last appearance on BBC America in Jekyll was spectacular, to say the least, and we’ve always held out hope that the network would one day show Murphy’s Law or any of his TV films (Quite Ugly One Morning, Passerby) we’ve heard such great things about.
The official description:
Having participated in the invasion, and helped fly a critically injured child from Basra to a UK hospital, three soldiers find it impossible to slot back into civilian life. Driven by very different motives – each heads back to Basra. Sergeant Mike Swift (James Nesbitt, Jekyll, Murphy’s Law) returns for the love of an Iraqi doctor, Aliyah (Lubna Azabal). Corporal Danny Peterson (Stephen Graham, Boardwalk Empire, This Is England) returns for money, setting up a private security firm. Lance Corporal Lee Hibbs (Warren Brown, Shameless) returns because he passionately believes in the mission to rebuild the country and help the Iraqi people—and the mission is nowhere near accomplished. Amid growing sectarian conflict, and a boom time fuelled by billions of dollars from the U.S., their dreams of riches, love and making a difference come to define not just their lives but also the occupation itself.
As months turn into years, their lives move in directions they could have never imagined. Mike’s marriage falls apart as he pursues a love affair with an Iraqi doctor, who is now obliged to work within the country’s new religious framework at the hospital. Hibbs is deeply affected by the murder of his closest Iraqi friend, and begins to psychologically unravel. Mercenary Danny’s blatant exploitation of the situation leads to even more corruption and chaos. Occupation unveils a tale of wasted billions, lost lives, corporate greed, and a war that has left many questions unanswered.
Vodpod videos no longer available.
Occupation premieres Sunday October 18th at 8pm on BBC America.
The drama returns! Tonight marks the return of The CW’s Monday night power duo featuring long-runner One Tree Hill and pop-culture phenom Gossip Girl. We hope you’re ready for the all drama: We certainly are! While BBC’s Skins has been keeping our teen drama levels from sinking too low and The CW’s premieres of Melrose Place and The Vampire Diaires last week were helpful, we’re ready for some good old American-style overload.
Let’s get started with a quick One Tree Hill roundup:
First, we were super excited to learn that Skills would be returning to Tree Hill for a seventh season despite Antwon Tanner’s legal issues. There was also a whole bunch of promotional trailers posted to The CW’s official youtube channel, including the first four minutes of season 7 episode 1. There were also not one or two, but three really short teasers they released early this summer. Also, despite the Brian Austin Green tease, we’re excited to have Lipstick Jungle‘s Robert Buckley joining the cast and curious as to how long Shantel VanSanten will be sticking around as Haley’s older sis, Quinn. And just in case you missed anything, here’s the season 7 up to speed trailer:
And here’s One Tree Hill creator Mark Schwahn describing a scene entitled 4:30am (Apparently They Were Traveling Abroad). On a side note, I like knowing that the creator of a show is still around at the seventh season. That seems so rare!
One Tree Hill returns for it’s seventh season tonight, September 14th at 8pm on The CW.
At long last Robin Hood is returning stateside! This weekend marks the beginning of the third season of the BBC/BBC America c0-production. Season two ended with a heart breaker of a plot-line: the murder of Robin’s beloved Marian in the Holy Land. Not quite sure where Robin will go from this point – I imagine it will be nothing short of all out war? The problem there is the updated Brit-folk hero series makes it a point for the good guys (i.e. Robin) to kill very little, if at all, so we’re not expecting a bloodbath.
The third season of Robin Hood begins tomorrow, Saturday September 12th at 9pm on BBC America.
Along with being the biggest month of the year for both series and season premiere’s for TV, September is also one of the biggest months for TV on DVD releases. Don’t ask us why. We think it’s kinda stupid to wait until September as, like we’ve already pointed out, the month is crammed with plenty of stuff to watch on TV AND it doesn’t give people much time to catch up before the next season begins, beyond the fact that it’s a wallet-buster. It’s a massive month of overload, in our book.
But that doesn’t mean we can’t still be excited! We’re especially looking forward to Fox’s mind-bending first season of Fringe, the fourth season of The CW’s cult-hit Supernatural (on blu-ray to boot!), Canadian sci-fi lite dramedy Being Erica‘s first season and, of course, the third season of NBC’s comedy giant 30 Rock.
In anticipation of the release of Fringe‘s first season on September 8th, they setup a cool website in which you can enter to win a visit to the show’s set in Vancouver, among other things. Once you enter you can watch a video about the difficulties of filming the episode The Ghost Network and then play a game which, if you answer correctly, gives you five extra entries into that set visit contest. And here’s a little hint for our readers: you may wanna brush up on some episodes of ABC Family’s Greek for some help on the game. Check out the site: Completethepattern.com
See September TV on DVD releases after the jump:
We’re not sure if we should be excited about this or not. MTV has announced that they’ve secured the rights to produce and broadcast a U.S. version of DVR Life’s favorite teen soap, Skins. The original brit-com is chock full of kids swearing and having sex and doing drugs – everything actual teenagers do.
As we’ve said before, the series is about as close as any TV show has come to matching our actual teen years. That’s a pretty significantly awesome thing in our book. We’re hesitant at the thought of a U.S. network, burdened by much stricter obscenity laws and dogged by the religious right, remaking the series.
From the moment we first saw Skins on BBC America, it was love at first sight, even with all the edited language and blurred body parts. Then we wondered when someone would make a U.S. version. As season one and two ended and an extended haitus came about before they aired season three (which just finally premiere August 6th – still airing each Thursday at 9pm on BBC America), we thought a U.S. version would never happen…And didn’t really mind that much. The original is so fantastic and, upon months of contemplation, we came to the firm opinion that there was no U.S. network, broadcast, cable or pay, that could do the series justice.
All this time, though, apparently MTV and The CW were battling it out for the rights to create a U.S. version of the series. Not sure why it took two years for the brits to give the go ahead but I think maybe they made the correct choice. While The CW is the go-to network for bitchy teen dramas, their limited broadcast hours would force the show into either an 8 or 9pm time slot, which, especially for a broadcast network, would limit how much producers and writers could get away with.
Over at MTV, there’s talk of the new series being broadcast during late night hours, which would free the creative team up a bit. Their cable status also lends a bit more leeway to the situation. According to that Live Feed article, the network has other “boundary pushing” scripted fair in the works that the series could be paired with. Perhaps we’re seeing the birth of a good thing here. Late night teen dramas sounds like a fascinating option to me and, thinking back to my high school years, would have really liked late night options.
Looking for some teenage angst mixed with raunchy good times? U.S. teen soaps not fulfilling your drama needs? BBC America’s got your back, then, with the return of Skins. If you watched the previous two seasons on BBC America, you should probably have a seat then, because we have to break some bad news to you: Tony, Sid, Anwar, Cassie, Maxxie and all the others you came to love and laugh at…they’ve all gone now. To university, to the states, to the city. They’ve graduated and scattered to far corners.
We have a new generation now, lead by Tony’s younger sister, Effy. I’m sure you remember her – she started showing up a bit now and then after Tony’s accident last season. We’re sure Effy and the new gang will be just as boisterous, flamboyant, f’ed-up and helpless as the last gang, but its gonna take some time getting used to.
To help you out with this transition, BBC America has set up an ‘Orientation’ page for us. Time to study.
While the show is often over the top, it’s still a brutally honest portrayal of teen life. You can read our previous thoughts on that topic here.
Season three of Skins debuts on BBC America Thursday, August 6th at 9pm.
R.I.P. Skins generation 1:
No idea how old this news is, but it’s brand new to us so we thought we’d pass it on. BBC America has finally set a return date for Robin Hood. We’ve been wondering when they’d get around to it.
The third season of the show aired throughout the spring and early summer in the UK with the last final episode airing June 27th. Word came down just this month that BBC has canceled the show.
The third and final season of Robin Hood debuts Saturday September 12th on BBC America.
Not much surprise, really. Torchwood has become one of the most talked about shows this summer the world over. It was the number one show five nights in a row in the UK and critics and fans are falling all over themselves to praise it. DVR Life is one of them, too: the freaking show is brilliant and has set itself up as quite possibly one of the greatest sci-fi television shows of all time, in our humble opinion.
So Comic Mix got a hot exclusive when someone from the BBC America ranks let slip that season 4 is in the works.
***SPOILERS*** If you haven’t watched the end of season 2 or Children of Earth yet, beware.
Season 2 ended with Owen & Toshiko being killed off and poor Ianto only made it to day four of Children of Earth. Captain Jack took off for the stars and Gwen is pregnant. Not much of an elite supernatural hunting force these days, are they?
Who knows where the show will go from here. With Russell T. Davies at the helm, no matter where they end up, I’m sure it’ll be good.
Rejoice teen-soap lovers as BBC America has finally lined up gritty brit-hit Skins to return for a third season. The series is perhaps the most realistic teen-soap to ever hit small screens, following a group of Bristol teens through their junior and senior years before heading off to college or real life.
The show picked up tons of flack from critics during it’s first season, many claiming that the stories were unrealistic and overly dramatic…DVR Life would just like to point out that either none of those critics grew up in the early to mid-90’s or we and our friends at Dr. Phillips High School in Orlando, Fl. knew how to live exceptionally well because we laugh our asses off while watching Skins, partly because we truly feel “we’ve been there, done that and love seeing it portrayed on TV all these years later.”
For those already initiated to the debauchery of Skins, be forewarned: series 3 features nearly an entire new cast. The only returning face will be Effy, Tony’s younger sister who merely put in a few occasional appearances in the first two seasons.
While we came to love Tony, Sid, Anwar, Cassie, Maxxie and all the other generation 1 characters, the producers came up with the rather novel idea of starting all over again with a new line-up of juniors: generation 2. We’re still not sure were DVR Life lands on this issue but you have to figure One Tree Hill already pulled the jumping past college thing and The OC had the kinda ridiculous idea of having their characters suddenly change life paths and skip college.
It’s a bit refreshing to see writers come up with a new idea.
DVR Life is just happy to have the show back. After series 2 ended on a few very depressing notes last January we were promised a springtime return which never came. BBC America is pretty good at that kinda thing (where’s Robin Hood?!?) so we were elated at this announcement.
Skins series 3 premieres Thursday August 6th on BBC America.
Rejoice teen-soap lovers as BBC America has finally lined up gritty brit-hit Skins to return for a third season. The series is perhaps the most realistic teen-soap to ever hit small screens, following a group of Bristol teens through their junior and senior years before heading off to college or real life.
The show picked up tons of flack from critics during it’s first season, many claiming that the stories were unrealistic and overly dramatic…DVR Life would just like to point out that either none of those critics grew up in the early to mid-90’s or we and our friends at Dr. Phillips High School in Orlando, Fl. knew how to live exceptionally well because we laugh our asses off while watching Skins, partly because we truly feel “we’ve been there, done that and love seeing it portrayed on TV all these years later.”
For those already initiated to the debauchery of Skins, be forewarned: series 3 features nearly an entire new cast. The only returning face will be Effy, Tony’s younger sister who merely put in a few occasional appearances in the first two seasons.
While we came to love Tony, Sid, Anwar, Cassie, Maxxie and all the other generation 1 characters, the producers came up with the rather novel idea of starting all over again with a new line-up of juniors: generation 2. We’re still not sure were DVR Life lands on this issue but you have to figure One Tree Hill already pulled the jumping past college thing and The OC had the kinda ridiculous idea of having their characters suddenly change life paths and skip college.
It’s a bit refreshing to see writers come up with a new idea.
DVR Life is just happy to have the show back. After series 2 ended on a few very depressing notes last January we were promised a springtime return which never came. BBC America is pretty good at that kinda thing (where’s Robin Hood?!?) so we were elated at this announcement.
Skins series 3 premieres Thursday August 6th on BBC America.
As I posted earlier, BBC America has some good shows returning this summer and some new ones debuting. Of them all, the one I’m looking forward to the most is Survivors.
The show revolves around the premise that 99% of the human population is killed off by a virus and a small group of people who survive. It’s basically the show I’ve always wanted to create.
BBC America hasn’t announced a premiere date yet. Their website simply lists the show on the ‘Coming Soon” page. The show, of course, aired on the real BBC and is already over, but it makes note that they’re at work on a new series.
Series Overview
Actors Talk About Their Characters
Episode 1 Preview (Sound & Video Out of Sync)
The BBC America summer schedule is finally coming out. The network is notorious for not bothering to release scheduling and programming plans so it’s pretty good to get some news.
First off, the beloved sci-fi series Doctor Who will be returning. The network will broadcast the five Doctor Who specials, starting with the xmas one, on June 27th and the second slated for July. The others have yet to be scheduled.
Premiering on BBCA is a new six part series called Being Human. Not expecting the series to air here in the states I took a different route in acquiring the show, so we’ll just say I’ve previewed it for you.
The show has a rather great premise: A werefolf, a vampire and a ghost walk into a bar…just kidding. A werewolf, a vampire and a ghost share a house together. All three battle their nature, the vampire trying not to convert humans, the werewolf trying to manage his monthly “outings” without hurting anyone or anything and the ghost girl battling loneliness and trying her best to be seen and heard.
It has a great mix of graphic humor and horror and I wholly suggest tuning in for it’s July 25th premiere. You can see whole mess of previews and promos on here.
Also coming sometime, though no dates have been announced yet, are Survivors, a post apocalypse series following a group of people after a virus wipes out 99% of the world’s population, and The In-Betweeners, a soapy show about the awkwardness of teen life.
Primeval, which I previously posted about here, will be returning to BBC America this Saturday for it’s third season and today Variety announced that Warner Bros has picked up the movie rights to the ITV hit.
No word on anything yet, of course, as it’s waaaaay too early, except that one of the producers was a script writer of Angel and Demons who’s also producing a prequel, with Will Smith, of I Am Legend. At this point, other than the fact that the deal is worth a high six figures, who’s to say the movie will even be made. Picking up screen rights is not a guarantee but I would hope that the same actors and writers would be involved. The show is high-budgeted and great for TV, though not quite big screen quality, so lot’s of work would have to be done on it.
According to the Variety article, producers of the show are also shopping the idea of a duplicate series that takes place somewhere other than the UK, though seeing as the show already airs pretty much worldwide, I can’t quite see that working out too well. I know that’s what I also said years ago about The Office, but once the basic premise is out how much can you really change?
Received an email the other day from BBC America touting the return of Primeval. The return places the show in it’s previous Saturday 9pm slot. I must say I was pretty happy to hear(read) the news.
Season 3 premieres May 16th.
If you haven’t watched the show yet I’d suggest you get caught up in time. The first two seasons were fantastic and I suspect the third could only be better.
The premise for the series is really quite fun: Mysterious time anomalies, basically time portals, begin appearing throughout Britain with disastrous results. Humans sometimes stumble into these portals and past creatures, dinosaurs and the like, and future species, also make their way out. A team of paleontologists and scientists, lead by paleontologist Dr. Nick Cutter, is tasked with trying to figure out if there is a pattern to them in order to predict when and where they will open up.
Each episode brings new suspense, never knowing what’s going to come out of the portal or how to get it back in. The paleontologists are often in awe, as well, while witnessing the sometimes friendly, though usually vicious creatures they’ve spent their lives studying in books, never believing they’d ever have a chance to witness a real life T-Rex or 10 ton sandworm.
There’s also small bits of crushes and heartbreaks and such, but never enough to drown out the main story line.
The cast is lead by Douglas Henshaw who portrays Dr. Nick Cutter, a paleontologist with a painful past who’s awestruck with the wonders of the anomalies while also very aware of the dangers. His team, a group of pretty young things, consists of Andrew-Lee Potts as Connor, a former student of Dr. Cutter known for being a bit quirky and not always on top of things, a cutesy zoo keeper, Abby, specializing in amphibians played by Hannah Spearitt and Stephen Hart, a former protege of Dr. Cutter. The two share a strained relationship due to his part in Cutter’s painful past. Hart sacrificed himself in the finale of season 2, though I don’t think we’ve seen the last of him.
Ben Miller, who I’ve come to enjoy via Moving Wallpaper joined the cast in season two as the head of government operations, which is a treat. He doesn’t really care why or how the anomalies are happening, nor for what knowledge can be gained from them – he just wants to stop them. There’s also Lucy Brown who played two characters: Claudia Brown and Jenny Lewis (an ode to Rilo Kiley, perhaps?). The series began with Claudia Brown acting as the government liaison and crush interest for Dr. Cutter but disappeared due to a timeline change caused by an anomaly. She re-appeared as Jenny Lewis, a PR officer hired by the government to smooth over the press and keep the anomalies a secret. This was really confusing for Cutter as he was the only one to remember Claudia Brown.
There’s also various bad guys and conspirators but the main jerkface is Helen Cutter, steely played by Juliet Aubrey. She’s Cutter’s paleontologist ex-wife who disappeared years ago while working. Turns out she had discovered an anomaly and decided to pull a Doc Brown, living in the past. She’s jumps in and out of the anomalies, causing grief and trouble for pretty much everyone while also giving Cutter one hell of a rough time.
BBC America was added to my naughty list this year for not bringing back a number of shows I’ve enjoyed. It would be one thing if the shows were canceled but they’re still airing in Britain, BBC America has just stopped importing them…I think. Getting news out of BBC America is really hard. They keep things close to the vest and you just never know what’s coming back until a month or so before it reappears, so I was happy and a bit surprised to hear Primeval would return.
I’ve been watching ITV‘s Moving Wallpaper and Echo Beach from the beginning. I was fascinated when I first heard the idea behind the two shows. Here’s the skinny: Moving Wallpaper is a 30 minute comedy revolving around the behind the scenes antics of a creative staff putting together a British teen-soap called Echo Beach starting a week or so before the first airing. It’s funny, witty and charming with sharp, sometimes trashy (yet smart) humor.
After ITV aired each new episode of Moving Wallpaper, they then broadcast a new 30 minute episode of Echo Beach, the show you just witnessed the creation of on MW. Pretty brilliant, right? An hour’s worth of TV, split in two, yet created together. True sibling shows! EB, as I mentioned, is a soapy teen drama following the likes of The O.C., with less glitz and humor. It’s a good show, as well, but it doesn’t hold up to Moving Wallpaper.
Not surprisingly, EB was cancelled in real life after the first season, though MW moved on to a second season. I’ve yet to make it that far, but I’ve learned that the staff is now working on a zombie show and ITV chose to only create a 30 minute pilot and give it the web-only treatment. Atleast MW continued.
I think the mistake was pairing a smart comedy with a night time soap. For most viewers (though I am excluded from this generalisation), it’s one or the other, so the lead-in audience was cut dramatically right away. If Echo Beach had also been a thinking man’s comedy it may have lasted.
It is quite funny and fascinating to see them talking about something in particular in the writer’s room or on stage in a humorous manner and then find it portrayed seriously on EB. Case in point, on MW a biting joke was made about a writer misspelling a word and the prop master carrying that mistake onto the prop poster he made for the show. Twenty minutes later, on EB, the character hanging up the poster gets called out on his grammar.
As I said above, I do think it’s a great idea and since pretty much every good idea a British producer has come up with has made it to our shores, I’m surprised it hasn’t been imported to the states yet. Any producers out there wanna give me a job? We’ll make two smart comedies and rule the Emmy’s! I can see it now.
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