Have you been watching Michael Palin’s latest travel around the world programme? It’s the usual stuff you’d expect following on from 80 Days, Pole to Pole and the Pacific one I can’t think of the name of. Not quite as epic, as he’s just covering Eastern Europe, he’s also looking a little older and doesn’t seem to have quite the sharp wit from a few years ago.
Anyway, the content is fine, but the opening sequence. It looks like it was done in Powerpoint! Cheesy floating jigsaw pieces, dodgy lift music and some ugly typefaced title text. Maybe they had some work experience kid in and he wanted to try all the effects?
The best US TV gets this stuff so right. Some US programmes can have fairly innocuous content, but given enough style and a slick soundtrack they can be so much more spectacular. A friend said I should watch Gossip Girl as, “the soundtrack sounds like your CD collection”. So I did, it’s a fairly standard teeny drama about rich kids. Kind of like Dawson’s Creek mixed with Dallas.
It’s not clever and funny like The OC, but it looks shiny and expensive and glamorous. The soundtrack is really great. It’s a mixture of top 40 stuff and more edgy indie tracks. First episode included: Peter Bjorn and John, Aqualung, Cold War Kids, Justin Timberlake, AIR, Lyrics Born, Timbaland and Amy Winehouse. I might just listen to the next episode rather than watch it. British TV would be so much better if they really thought about this. Putting a few tracks (with no thought at all) in Hollyoaks doesn’t count.
** If you do watch it, don’t you think the main star looks like a young Cat Deeley?
(a) Pole to Pole?!?!? On broadcast television? How liberal things are over in the UK. (Oohhh wait, its probably not what I’m thinking it is…
(b) My ex works in film and television and I used to always give him crap about how much money they spent on producing even the tiniest piece of content. Individual cut shots for a commercial costing (by my estimation) well over $200,000. Once he came home and said that the job was lame b/c “they didn’t even have a craft services table”. My response was along the lines of “Poor baby - didn’t get free lunch at work today?”
(c) I’ve seen the teaser adverts for Gossip Girl a few times and its marked a turning point. I’ve already slipped out of MTV’s demographic and I’m starting to slip out of the prime time demo. I’m actually pretty glad about it.
Comment by Frank Jania — September 26, 2007 @ 2:56 pmHaha, no it wasn’t quite that kind of pole to pole, though I could see that might be more popular.
I also found out I was officially out of the BBC Radio 1’s demographic when I was 25. Trouble is, I’m not quite sure what sort of thing is meant to appeal to me now.
Comment by Darren Shaw — September 26, 2007 @ 3:08 pmI agree … from the trailor I can tell she looks sooo much like Cat Deeley.
Comment by Hanan — September 30, 2007 @ 1:25 amWonder when it’ll be on in the UK.
I can’t wait for Ugly Betty to start though … that’s just as beautiful
Yeah, thought I am sure she could do worse than look like a young Cat Deeley.
Comment by Darren Shaw — September 30, 2007 @ 6:30 pm