Anna's TV Scoop interview with Stephen Mangan

Gosh, this was very thrilling to read wasn't it? One of our gang getting a star interview! Nothing less than we'd expect as we all know and love our Anna, but it was a real delight to read her interview with such a name as SM.

Still best known from Green Wing, he's now the star of Never Better.

I think one of my favourite bits from the interview was where Stephen mentioned a friend who couldn't bear too watch The Office because "it's too much like real life. He just finds it unbearable". I think there is a lot of truth in that for me - it actually prevented it being felt as funny because frankly it just hurt to see semi-reality. The other, of course, is where you can almost FEEL Anna's glee at Stephen talking enthusiastically about The Mighty Boosh with her (I have a vision of her punching the air with glee as she talked to him about that). Especially when the topic shifts to characters attracting the ladies...

Noel just seems to be someone who just attracts the ladies... what is it with them? People like him and Julian Rhind-Tutt! It's the long hair, isn't it?!

TVS: I prefer Julian to be honest... Julian Barratt I mean!!SM: Oh right, well that's good because Julian Rhind-Tutt just gets the ladies flocking to him. It's just sickening...

TVS: I'm a Stephen Mangan fan, personally.
SM: laughs Thank you.

Go read the interview by Anna with Stephen Mangan either at Theatre is Life, or at TV Scoop.

Green Wing finale

Well, I always liked Green Wing so it was apt really that I liked it to the end. I liked it sorting out the Mac and Caroline story (ah, sigh) and sorting out (in a different way) Statham and Joanna. I liked the admin girls going wild (though how did Martin get out to the wedding?) and I liked Boyce being struck dumb and missing Statham's tormenting.

I know it's not been to everyone's taste, but I have to say it was a fitting end to a surreal comedy. Thanks folks.

Favourite TV characters

Following on from Joss Whedon over at Whedonesque giving his favourite 25 TV characters (as reported by lovely MediumRob), I thought that I should offer a list of my own.

I've thought about it of course, but I've tried to limit myself by giving myself just 15 mins to write the post. I've took a bit longer than than that (it took 7 songs on i-Tunes) but the longer I spend the more likely it was to take over my day.

Anyway, I get to include reference to the Whedonverse - a freedom available to me as I didn't write them. I've also stuck with those created for TV (so no Casanova folks as MUCH as we loved that!), even though that left off a lot of well-portrayed characters who came from elsewhere (Andy Dalziel, for example, or Edward Petherbridge's Lord Peter Wimsey [I'm re-reading some Sayers at the mo which is why that's in my mind]). And although obviously The Doctor is one of THE best TV figures ever created, since the character changes somewhat with every regeneration I've left that one off the list. I also gave considerable thought to disentangling characters from actors: so as much as I have loved performances by people such as Dougie Henshall (Psychos, Kid in the Corner), David Tennant (Blackpool) and Ken Stott(Messiah, The Vice, Takin' Over the Asylum), Christopher Eccleston (Our Friends in the North, The Second Coming), and David Morrissey (Holding On, Blackpool), I've come to the reluctant conclusion that in most instances I was attracted by the performance and the actor's inhabitation and not just the character.

So in thinking out this list I've gone for characters that perhaps anyone else might have played (because the writing was so good) but which had the good fortune of great casting to be given to the best person for the job.

1. Willow Rosenberg from Buffy the Vampire Slayer - because, well pretty obvious really
2. Josh Lyman from The West Wing - for being a volatile heart on his sleeve guy
3. Dr. Dana Scully from The X-Files - for being able to keep a straight face even when the plot went utterly bonkers and her Carter-penned soliloquies became unbearably portentious (you should see her as a double act with Mulder really I guess as a great character)
4. Brian Topp from Spaced - for anger, pain and painting
5. Lisa Simpson from the Simpsons - for being smart and surviving
6. Munch from Homocide: Life on the Street / Law & Order: Special Victims Unit / X-Files 100th episode - for being so fantastically conspiratorial
7. Gregory House from House - because I just never got Jeeves & Wooster so I have NO problem with the accent and love smart characters
8. Det. Robert Goren from Law & Order: Criminal Intent - because again, smart guys
9. CJ Cregg from The West Wing - because she was just so incredible
10. Spike from Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Angel - for having such a great character arc and huge numbers of great lines
11. Dr. McCartney from Green Wing - for being quick-witted, but stupid in love
12. Dr. Joel Fleishman from Northern Exposure - for being sweet (though its a tough call against DJ Chris...)
13. (Ale)Xander Lavelle Harris from Buffy - because for all his faults he and his humour remained adorable
14. Bernard Black from Black Books - wickedly funny
15. Edmund Blackadder - for sustained historical wit and ingenuity
16. Sue White from Green Wing - for being surreal
17. Abby from NCIS - goth girl geek!
18. Dr. Perry Cox from Scrubs - for being sarky and soft-hearted
19. Father Dougal McGuire from Father Ted - for managing to make confusion so appealing
20. Mal Reynolds from Firefly - for courage and stupidity
21. Dharma Finkelstein Montgomery from Dharma and Greg - because whilst the actress may be a scary kook, Dharma was a great kook character (especially when having eaten lots of sugar)
22. Jane Tennison from Prime Suspect - for really taking 'cop shows' to another level
23. Gil Grissom from CSI - for just being ineffably cool
24. Niles Crane from Frasier - for being wimpish to the extreme
25. Lois from Malcolm in the Middle - for somehow holding it together

I could have gone for any number of others instead or as well as these. Any number of great characters from the Whedonverse, or The West Wing, let alone all the random residual memory characters from my TV viewings (Ilya Kuryakin! Burnside from Sandbaggers! Tom and Ruth from Spooks! Marty Hopkirk - the first TV programme I remember watching! Joy Merryweather from Drop the Dead Donkey! Earl Hickey! Francis Urquart!).

It's no good, this list would change in a minute. And excuse the lack of links but I wanted it posted.

UPDATE: MediumRob has his own list which only serves to highlight how partial my list was and how incomplete and how I managed to omit so many great characters. Sheesh, I mean, I doubt my mother will ever forgive me for forgetting Avon from Blake's 7. She's gonna start haunting me I tell ya...

On medical dramas and comedies

Okay, a couple of weeks ago we had the finale of series two of Green Wing, which I know some of you hated/didn't get, but which - so help me - I winced and laughed like a drain at on a regular basis. Now it seems that there will be a Christmas Special according to a Guardian Guide report based on remarks from this blog (he's one of the writers). As long as Mac's in it, I really don't care. At least kill him off dramatically, surrealisticly - riding into the sunset on his moody motorbike just doesn't cut it.

Anyway, last night we sat down to watch the first few episodes of Scrubs Season 1 on DVD. Damn, I really really like that series. And though it seems as if it may have sagged recently (scroll down for 'not-quite-a-spoiler-alert' from Medium Rob), I'm looking forward to watching the rest of season 1 and then probably getting hold of the other series too. And I still want to properly watch the tearbursting genius of John C. McGinley in a particular episode from the last UK-aired season. Anna, you know which one I mean.

I'm also, unsurprisingly, a bit of a House addict. Although I loved Blackadder, and have fond younger memories of Fry and Laurie, I never really got into the whole Jeeves and Wooster thang so the shift of Laurie's voice to an American-ish accent wasn't really a problem for me (lord knows that half the Guardian staff are still hung up on that - I take it as a further sign of her genius that the adorable Nancy Banks-Smith doesn't appear to be one of them). Anyway, House is a cantankerous genius. Just the way I like them. Now reading Medium Rob's post (as mentioned above - though no need to scroll) I'm not sure how far behind the current Five episodes are with regard to a finale, but I'm interested in how they will deal with a threat to a major character.

Which brings me to Grey's Anatomy. Medium Rob calls it pants. Well, I can see where he's coming from. Certainly the urge to smack bloody Meredith Grey across the face with a large supply of wet kippers is big with me (how could we tell? can she emote?). But Chandra Wilson as Dr. Miranda Bailey gets tons of great sarky lines and T.R. Knight as George O'Malley has the perfect amount of Xander-esque dorky charm. So laziness on a Thursday night has led GA to appeal to me. Just shoot me (another show I think only I actually liked).

Which brings me to the big bad god of medical TV, E.R.

I just don't care anymore. I'm sorry. Over the years I have laughed and loved the characters, but its dedication to the realities (PAH!) that people die and move on and come back and travel the world and have babies and save the world and have political intrigues and oh so help me I JUST DON'T CARE!!!!

Okay, I'm off to eat.

See ya after part one of the Who. Possibly. If I'm not behind the sofa.

Green Wing (and weekend TV watching)

I feel a little like a one-woman supporter of Green Wing this season since it has, to me at least, been no where near as bad as people criticised. Whilst there were probably a few too many moments of grossness, most of them worked well in terms of making me laugh (Joanna in the cupboard in Doctor Statham's office? Hysterically terrible). It seems unlikley there will be a third series - no Mac??? - and the characters generally did get rounded off nicely (even though it is just plain WRONG as a relationship, Caroline and Guy at the station seemed apt as a [un]happy ending). So overall, as good as I could have hoped, far better than some would have me believe, and defendably up there as cracking TV.

I have to say that I had gone to great lengths to tape Green Wing, and Doctor Who this weekend as we were away Friday night till Saturday night with friends. Despite 'leckies potentially working on our house and switched the power off, thus rendering a video setting irrelevent, and getting various friends across the country to tape them for me, in the end it didn't matter.

We got to our friends and Sue promptly muttered excitedly about it being the last of Green Wing and so a pact was made so we could scuttle off to watch that at 10pm. AND it turned out that since our friends were fully supporting a campaign to have "duderlede" as the new national anthem (try singing it with some accompanying wooshing sounds coming in later), they were well keen to set the video for Saturday evening themselves. When we actually arrived back about 3 mins before the scheduled start time for Doctor Who - for that was the theme were we singing! - we were asked if we wanted to stay a little longer to watch it... erm, YEAH!!!! And so it was, against expectations, that I got to watch both Green Wing AND Doctor Who, and both Neil and I got to see Doctor Who with Nick and Sue. Excellent! Communal watching ALWAYS makes things great!

In defence of Green Wing...

I know I know, here come the bricks and bottles complaining Green Wing just isn't funny.

I have to say that I LURVED the first series. It was just perfect for my insanity.

With all the criticism, some from very well respected corners of my blog world here, here, and here I was probably expecting it to be not just a let down compared to the first series but a revelation convincing me I was utterly wrong to find that first series funny at all.

But you know what? We got friends to tape it when we were away in New Zealand. And we caught up with the episodes. And we've been watching since our return. And guess what? I STILL think its funny.

Maybe not as superbly mad as the first series, but gigglesome and wince-worthy in the right measures.

And I LOVE Tamsin Greig. The whole thwarted Caroline & Mac thing? Sigh....

And now, the travels here...

I check my bag
I check my passport
My friends, I see it clear


...

Take care of each other folks, and I'll do my best to look in when/if I can. Anna will do a great job in the meantime of keeping MOST of you entertained. Gather ye in my absence every cutting and picture, every gigglesome piece of information you can, ready for my return on Easter Saturday.

Instructions have already been laid for Green Wing to be recorded (I'm giving up House, CSI and L&O:CI for the vacation... seems I'm actually giving up Channel 5 for the vacation actually)

See ya folks!

That forthcoming "long absence" explained: twelve days before going

Hee, Rosby spots the remark.

Yes folks, there will be a "long absence" coming up. As from the end of Thursday 23 March 2006 I will more than likely be away from the blog until Sunday 16 April 2006.

So actually not THAT long (but it will feel long to me).

Why the absence?

Well, I could say (as Cloud just suggested) that a 1960s blue police telephone box is coming to take me away for three weeks... Would that it was...

The truth is more prosaic: we're off to New Zealand to see Cloud's family.*

Okay, so that IS pretty exciting, but probably not as exciting as the 1960s blue police telephone box that Rosby is now picturing. Yes dear, you and Marie are hereby entrusted - from twelve days time (not a moment before!) - with looking after David for me till my safe return. I expect him to remain undamaged, unsullied (well... within reason), and preferably not having started Season Two in my absence. I'm already cross that Season Two of "Green Wing" starts a week after my departure. People: I need you all with video or DVD recorders at the ready. I will be requiring desiring (no, that's worse)... let's say "pleading" with people to not leave me on the other side of the world without hope of returning to find a stash to catch-up on of these televisual goodies.

Thanks for that...


* Actually, in terms of going to New Zealand, my lovely partner Neil's blogname of Cloud is apt since the Maori name for New Zealand - Aotearoa - is usually translated as "Land of the long white cloud"...

Green Wing forthcoming on DVD! About Blooming TIME!

Yike, I have been waiting for an AGE for this. Now its announced a new series WILL happen, AND that series 1 is due on DVD. Okay, its not due till spring but...

HURRAH!

Comedy and the possible return of Green Wing?

That there HolyHosesRob commented on the unfunniness of much current comedy. Well, if we're talking Little Britain, you know where I stand on that. If, however, you are talking about the wonderful GreenWing, that's another matter entirely.

I don't know if it will hit the heights of the first series, but it seems that there may be hope for a second series if the other commentator on Rob's post has good info...

TV Programmes (my second attempt)

I had a great post worked out in response to this. Blogger lost it. I have just resisted the urge to throw my cronky office computer from the window on a hot sunny day (even though I know its Blogger and not the computer).

GRRR

Recent / ongoing

* Blackpool (these boots...)
* Casanova (a confection of delight and tears)
* CSI (can I have all three versions?)
* Dr Who (recent series... and hopefully the next)
* Green Wing (just bonkers and hilarious: DVD btw anyone... anyone? Channel 4 have you gone to sleep?)
* House (best doctor in years and a smart character)
* Law and Order: Criminal Intent (smart character, again: even if Private Pyle all growed-up has nicked that quirk of tipping his head on one side from Clooney in "ER")
* Scrubs (Dr. Cox... 'nuff said)
* State of Play (script, actors, genius)
* The West Wing (the parallel world)

Past stuff: gone but not forgotten

* 24 (just Season 1: season 2 had its moments, but it going on and on - and on Sky - I've lost track. Prime 'climb-the-sofa' material)
* Buffy (can I have a slice of the Whedonverse - to include "Angel" as well please?)
* Dharma and Greg (I blame having cable TV for a while: I loved this show)
* Northern Exposure (before Dr. Joel and Maggie really got it together)
* Our Friends (in the South - aka "Holding On" / and the 'original' one, "Our Friends in the North")
* Psychos ("Did you like my flowers....?")
* Seinfeld ("Believe it or not, George isn't at home...")
* Spaced (worth repeated viewing: get them DVDs!)
* The Vice (Ken Stott: hangdog and emotionally tortured - just what he does best)
* The X-Files (because in less than a year we watched every single episode - even the end of season 9...)

Honourable mentions

Blackadder, Curb Your Enthusiasm, ER, Father Ted, Frasier, Our Mutual Friend, Quantum Leap, The Sopranos (early seasons), This Life

Further back in time

The Sandbaggers (one of the few programmes I recall from my younger days)

Comedy continued:Britain & America

Casyn's comments on my previous posting nudged some reminders my way about my taste in comedy. Somehow I managed to miss out acknowledgement of the superb Scrubs - inspiration for the hysterical Green Wing, with the seemingly misanthropic Doctor Cox, who is actually deeply human and loveable. I also missed off the wryly amusing Arrested Development (this suffers from what British viewers call the "Seinfeld syndrome" - where programmes are arbitrarily pushed around the schedules until, surprise, only a hardcore audience remains). Those who know us, of course already know that Seinfeld was a big hit in the Cloud and Rullsenberg household.

Malcolm in the Middle, though I never seemed to be into it quite when everyone else was, has been another provider of mirth and delight: I must confess that I became more of a fan when I found out that Lois (the mother) was played by Jane Kaczmarek - a.ka. Mrs Bradley Whitford. What was not to love about a character given such verve by the woman loved by "Josh Lyman"?! Seriously though, her character - frustrated, anxious, opinionated - was just a joy to watch.

At one point, when we were better off and less stressed, Cloud and I had about two years with digital TV and grew fond of the Paramount Comedy channel. Whatever the ITV equivalent of the "Seinfeld syndrome" is, we saw plenty of examples of works that we knew HAD been purchased by UK terrestrial television but which had never taken off due to poor scheduling. Dharma and Greg - almost the antithesis of 'dark comedy' - was quickly a firm favourite. Becker - one of the few moments when I didn't want to hit Ted Danson - was fantastically misanthropic, but human despite all that [anyone spotting a theme here?] and I loved his umitigated frustration with human stupidity [as Cloud cites: "we have learned to live without it..." --- oh would that more humanity could do so...].

What often frustrates me about some British comedy is its resolute and disastrous desire to keep within the sitcom tradition. And don't even get me started on laughter tracks... I know that some of those identified above include them, but generally I just find them annoying. I'll know if it's funny. I don't need you to tell me...

British Comedy

Casyn over at The Slayer Library was recently praising British Comedy. Although she identified it as the best of what was on in a desert of limited choices, she selected out Coupling as deserving of comment. Now, don't get me wrong, I don't have a problem with coarse sexual humour per se, but Coupling - for me at least - often seemed to miss its mark. Farce, the disappointments of life writ at a comedic scale, walks a fine line: too far and I over-identify with the mockery and suffering and disappointment of the characters... and I have to switch off or walk away. It just hurts too much. [Identification of another type - memory - is what stops me enjoying The Office and Peter Kay's Phoenix Nights: I NEVER want to go back, physically or otherwise, to my seven years of office hell or the local 'chicken-in-a-basket' circuit venue of has&never-been variety acts]

Bizarrely, I find darker comedy, and surreal comedy, much more appealing and less emotionally destructive. Taken at face value from descriptions of the lives of its central characters, Black Books would indeed feel depressing and tragic. But its tragedy is what makes it so compelling and so painfully funny to watch (it also has a healthy sense of the surreal which probably tempers some of its darker edge). Spaced and Green Wing, the erratic quality of Smack the Pony, and even Nighty Night and Big Train - neither of which I never managed to watch as often as I would have liked - share this dark edge. Of American TV, only Curb Your Enthusiasm has anything like this dark edge to it - though I do find this PAINFUL to watch and can only deal with one episode at a time. Any other 'dark' American comedies...?

Green Wing links

Kathryn Flett not only spotted J R-T from Green Wing last week, but also the wonderful Pippa Haywood cropped up in a Robson Green drama - thus creating all kinds of problems with KF taking the drama seriously (personally, the name Robson Green does that for me).

Last night, Look Around You returned for another series. Mark Heap was there... and was that Karl Theobald in there as well? Was Olivia Coleman - harrassed mother "Harriet Schulenberg" with the fuzzy felt - also in there, looking very svelte?