Filed under: MISC
PEEP SHOW: THE FUNNIEST SHOW NOT ON AMERICAN TELEVISION
Peep Show is an award-winning sitcom, televised in the UK on Channel 4, and written by Jesse Armstrong and Sam Bain. Additional material is also provided by the two main actors in the series, David Mitchell (Mark Corrigan) and Robert Webb (Jeremy).
Let’s meet the two main characters:
Mark
If there was a straight man in this series, Mark would be it; the voice of reason in comparison to Jeremy.
Jeremy
A wannabe musician more focused on chasing sex and experimenting with drugs than getting a job.
Thus creates the comedic genius behind Peep Show, a series arguably more funny than The Office, at least that’s what I’m arguing anyway. I have picked up a variety of funny-isms from the show which usually end up sprinkled about in my Facebook status.
Marauder is cold wet grass.
The show is unique in that it is produced almost exclusively from each character’s point of view. Several scenes are filmed with cameras strapped to the actors’ heads to create an entirely realistic point of view.
So far, I’ve only watched Season 1; in marathon fashion mind you. Netflix, would you mind providing season 2 – 3 as well so I’m not forced to track it down illegally?
But don’t fret. Apparently, an American version is underway for Spike TV, originally to be written and directed by Robert Weide, the executive producer of Curb Your Enthusiasm. Alternatively, it is currently being written by the creators of the British version, Jesse Armstrong and Sam Bain.
You have a holiday people. Use it wisely. Peep Show is the answer to all of life’s ills. . .at least the ones worth laughing at.
Filed under: BROADCAST/CABLE
Comedy Central announced The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and The Colbert Report will both resume production January 7, without their writing staffs. This return date follows a scheduled two-week, end of year hiatus. Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert issued this statement about their return: “We would like to return to work with our writers. If we cannot, we would like to express our ambivalence, but without our writers we are unable to express something as nuanced as ambivalence.” (http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601204&sid=aogXa9VyeVL0 12/20)
What do the writers of The Daily Show think of the WGA strike? Find out by watching the video below. I award this video: Funniest Layered with Sarcasm Strike Video. Most proof that The Daily Show isn’t much of a show without its writers.
Striking writers Chris DeLuca, Dominic Dierkes and Jonathan Garbus are producing a satirical Web series titled “The Void” and have signed a revenue-sharing deal with Worldwide Biggies, a company formed by Albie Hecht, the former president of MTV Networks’ Nickelodeon. (http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/news/e3i6e97406a00e0eb19accc9d4681619916 11/21)
BBC America debuts a new comedy sketch show, That Mitchell & Webb Look from British comedians Robert Webb and David Mitchell on February 8 at 920p. The comedy duo behind the sitcom Peep Show, collect a group of colorful characters and rely on Monty Python influences as well as Peter Cook and Spike Milligan.
Scene from Episode 1
Cable networks such as HBO, Showtime, AMC and FX were big winners in nominations for the 14th annual Screen Actors Guild awards. The Jan. 27 event will be televised live by TNT and TBS simultaneously. (Mediaweek 12/20)
Fox’s pilot project Saint of Circumstance from ABC Studios has added David Denman (The Office) in the lead role, and Zack Braff (Scrubs) as Exec Producer/Director, reports THR. The story is about a guy who leaves his office job to become a paramedic.
Viacom’s MTV is looking to make a splash in the original musical arena with “The American Mall.” The project, from “High School Musical” producers Bill Borden and Barry Rosenbush, will premiere in the summer on the cable network, followed immediately by a release on DVD. (http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/news/e3i3b664324ba4ea5c091e1fee3d313726d 12/21)
Nickelodeon, the home of Jamie Lynn Spears’s hit “Zoey 101″ series, is considering airing a special focusing on “sex and love.” The news follows on the heels of the announcement by Spears, 16, that she is pregnant. There is yet to be an official announcement about the future of “Zoey 101.” (http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1576987/20071220/id_0.jhtml 12/21)
James Murdoch, in his first interview since his appointment as the head of News Corp.’s Europe and Asia operations, says he is an “optimist” about the company’s future in the media world. “My management skills are going to be put to the test — but I am sure that I will manage somehow.” (http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2007/dec/21/newsinternational.newscorporation 12/21)
Time Warner Cable executives have rejected an offer by the NFL to enter binding arbitration before the potentially historic Dec. 29 matchup between the New England Patriots and New York Giants. The game, which is to be carried by the NFL Network, could cap a perfect season for the Pats. (The Washington Post 12/21)
Former Cowboys coach Bill Parcells, right, signed a four-year contract with the Miami Dolphins, putting him in charge of the team’s football operations. (By John Mcdonnell — The Washington Post)
Time Warner Cable has completed its $60.2 million sale of cable systems in and around North Carolina’s Mecklenburg County to MI-Connection Communications System, an entity formed by the governments of Mecklenburg and Iredell counties. The deal involves 15,800 subscribers, whose service Time Warner Cable acquired last year from Adelphia Communications. (American City Business Journals/Charlotte, N.C. 12/20)
Comcast and DirecTV have settled their lawsuit revolving around a consumer survey related to high-definition TV that the cable company was using in its ad efforts. The settlement agreement allows Comcast to continue using results from the survey. (Multichannel News 12/20)
Filed under: ONLINE SERVICES/INTERACTIVE MEDIA
ONLINE SERVICES/INTERACTIVE MEDIA
As the buzz increases for rival Facebook, News Corp.’s MySpace plans to accelerate business partnerships and tech initiatives in 2008. The goal is to make MySpace the starting point for all Internet users, “where people are in control,” says co-founder Chris DeWolfe. (http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/technology/2007-12-20-myspace_N.htm 12/21)
Time Warner’s AOL is completing its acquisition of online advertising firm Quigo. AOL is also inheriting more than 500 Quigo online publishing partners, including a recently cemented deal with Time that boasts a network of around 3,000 advertisers. (http://www.cbronline.com/article_news.asp?guid=605D3E8F-5261-4764-B287-8E47CBA6FF9C 12/21)
Google’s planned acquisition of online advertising giant DoubleClick may create an ad powerhouse of unrivaled knowledge of Internet users’ lives. Google is set to become “the world’s private ministry of information,” says Jeff Chester, head of the Center for Digital Democracy. (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/20/AR2007122001218.html 12/21)
Macintosh computer owners are more likely to download and purchase music tracks online than PC users, and they are also more likely to buy CDs, according to The NPD Group. “Mac owners are the kinds of people that like to engage in digital music,” said Russ Crupnick, an NPD analyst. “The entertainment management is done extraordinarily well on the Mac.” Mac sales rose from 6% of the consumer market last year to 9% in the first nine months of 2007, according to NPD. (The Sacramento Bee (Calif.) 12/20)
MTV’s 7 virtual sites built for Laguna Beach, The Hills, Pimp My Ride, Real World Sydney, Newport Harbor, Kaya and the VMAs attracted over 1.5 million registered users in 2007, who spent an average of 30.54 minutes logged on to the sites.
Events based social network Going.com have launched their 3.0 version with several new features. Central to Going.com 3.0 is a new events and people recommendation engine that allows users to discover events and people in their area. The new features takes Going.com’s event focused social networking service to nearly a dating service. Where as before Going.com recommended events and tied together friends, the new version recommends new friends based on a users event history. Essentially it’s pattern based matching combined with Going.com’s event engine. For example if you’ve been to three or more events in the one city, and someone else has as well, they may recommend that person as a friend match. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/12/21/goingcom-gets-extra-social-on-events 12/21)
Photobucket has announced inline support for inclusion of Photobucket photos within MySpace. To use, MySpace users click on “Add Image From Photobucket” when leaving a comment, which then provides them the ability to browse their Photobucket photos. Users can also search Photobucket for images other than their own for inclusion in a comment. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/12/21/photobucket-now-available-inline-for-myspace-users 12/21)
Uncov has a very funny post on the demise of Kevin-Rose-founded-Twitter-clone Pownce, noting that their traffic seems to have fallen to the point that “Even TechCrunch can’t save you now.” The image above is taken from their post.That may or may not be true, but when you look at Pownce v. Twitter on Compete.com, the difference doesn’t look quite so brutal. Still, there is probably only room for one Twitter in this world, and Twitter itself seems determined to hang in there. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/12/20/is-pownce-going-to-the-deadpool 12/20)
More viewers are turning to the Internet as an entertainment option, according to a survey by Harris Interactive. Online video viewing is “virtually ubiquitous” among the under 30 set. Also, YouTube is widening its lead as a one-stop site for watching online video. (http://www.bizreport.com/2007/12/tv_viewers_turning_to_internet.html 12/20)
Lifetime plans to roll out a slew of original digital content offerings tied to three soon-to-premiere reality series on the recently launched myLifetime.com. The new series “How to Look Good Naked” is hosting a contest inviting users to submit personal photos to the site. (http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/news/recent_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003687815 12/20)
Click below for a preview of How to Look Good Naked
I’ve had about all the Carson Kressley that I can take. . .
In 2002, blogging evangelist Dave Winer made a “long bet”: “In a Google search of five keywords or phrases representing the top five news stories of 2007, weblogs will rank higher than the New York Times’s Web site.” Five years later, the clear winner is turning out to be Wikipedia. (http://www.boingboing.net/2007/12/21/blog-future-vs-nyt-f.html 12/21)
It’s not every day that a senator takes to the floor to defend “Internet blogs and other Web-based forms of media,” but Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) did just that in his recent push to pass a Freedom of Information Act reform bill he coauthored. The reforms in the bill “make it easier” for bloggers. (http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20071220-foia-reform-bloggers-are-journalists-too.html 12/20)
On Wednesday during the show Billboard will sponsor an all day event examining the state of digital music and how new technologies are impacting the industry. Keynotes include Gregg Latterman of Aware Records, Bryan Perez from Live Nation Digital, Tim Riley of Activision and Producer/Musician Don Was.
Advertising spending for the first three quarters of 2007 dipped 0.1%, but spending on the Internet continued to soar, with a 15.9% increase over the same period last year, according to Nielsen Monitor-Plus. Spending declines were noted in media such as spot TV and newspapers. (http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/business/news/e3i3b664324ba4ea5c05a45b1031b3fe785 12/21)
NBC’s Deal or No Deal increased its lead over its rival TV show sites, according to this week’s Hitwise data, receiving almost half of the broadcast website visits.
Top Visited US Broadcast Network TV Show Websites (Week ending December 15, 2007)
Rank Network Website Market Share of Visits
1 NBC Deal or No Deal 47.53%
2 FOX America’s Most Wanted 3.78%
3 NBC Heroes 2.59%
4 The CW America’s Next Top Model 2.44%
5 NBC The Biggest Loser 2.27%
6 FOX American Idol 1.88%
7 ABC Grey’s Anatomy 1.72%
8 CBS Kid Nation 1.72%
8 NBC The Office 1.68%
10 ABC Lost 1.59%
Source: Custom report from Hitwise
Filed under: WIRELESS
Verizon Wireless customers can now play a version of the popular “Guitar Hero III” game on their cell phones, thanks to a partnership inked by the mobile carrier with Hands-On Mobile and Activision. Customers will initially get 15 song tracks and have the option of buying more songs from Verizon. (http://news.vzw.com/news/2007/12/pr2007-12-20.html 12/20)
Nokia has applied for a patent on a hand-held device that features a phone, multimedia player and gaming machine. The system carries slip-down “wings” to enhance gaming comfort. (Engadget Mobile 12/20)
Filed under: BROADCAST/CABLE
Still hungry even after recently gobbling up Dow Jones, MySpace owner Rupert Murdoch is predicted to next take a big bite out of the booming video game business, such as publisher Take-Two Interactive. The merger of casual games and social networking is seen as the Next Big Thing. (http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/features/film/e3i3b664324ba4ea5c08eba04d66ae733d1 12/21)
Grand Theft Auto
Electronic Arts CEO John Riccitiello discusses the ongoing changes seen in the video game industry in this interview with SmartMoney Magazine. Highlights include Riccitiello’s belief that there is a medium ground between difficult games and those appealing to the mass market. (SmartMoney Magazine 12/19)
Filed under: TECHNOLOGY
Toshiba announced today that it had reached a deal with Sharp that would allow it to incorporate the company’s LCD panels in its TV lineup. A growing number of electronics makers are investing heavily in LCD technology, as it continues to widen its market lead over rival displays. (The Wall Street Journal 12/21)
More Americans must be lost than ever: Sales of GPS devices rose almost 500% through the first three weeks of the shopping season as revenue jumped 214%, according to The NPD Group. Overall, consumers spent $4.5 billion on electronics over the period, down about 0.5% from a year ago. (Advertising Age 12/20)
