TV

Argumental
4x02 Episode 2

Life's Too Short
1x01 Episode 1
This seems to have had quite a mixed reception. It wasn't great -- a bit too much "The Office + Extras" -- but it had its moments.
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

The Graham Norton Show
10x04 (11/11/11 edition)
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Pointless
3x38 (4/11/10 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Rev.
2x01 Episode 1
Time flies: the first series of Rev. ended 15 months ago! There I was wondering if it had just been on earlier this year. Anyway, great to have it back.
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Fiction

Wikihistory by Desmond Warzel
I'd never heard of this story before, but apparently it's "beloved" and "oft-quoted". It's only a short'un, which is nice, and takes the form of a series of message board postings for a group of time travellers, who have to keep fixing each other's mistakes. Neat.

Articles

Bafta must recognise wordsmiths by James Moran
(from the pen is mightier than the spork)
They've just added an award for reality TV to the BAFTAs. Not necessarily surprising or bad in itself, but this is an awards ceremony that has (to quote the article) "six acting awards in total. Drama and comedy shows are rightly split into single drama, drama series, mini-series, continuing drama, comedy and situation comedy. Directing... gets three categories – factual, fiction and multi-camera. Sound and editing get two each." How many writing awards? One. It's not even split into Drama and Comedy. And that's ridiculous, as Moran outlines.

eBay to open UK high street store by Mark Langshaw
(from Digital Spy)

The internet retailer will open its first brick and mortar shop on London's Dean Street as part of a five-day experiment during the Christmas period...

eBay's store will not have tills or any products that customers can take away with them. Display models of the website's 200 most popular items will be affixed with a QR code that shoppers can scan with a smartphone to gain access to eBay's online checkout. Eight table computers will be readily available on site for customers to browse the eBay website and purchase their goods online.

Well, that's certainly... something that will be happening...

How good is the Friends pilot? by Andrew Ellard
(from Storify)
More on TV writing. Here, script editor Ellard demonstrates how the first episode of Friends is "so good that you know 4 characters after 7 LINES." That's some impressive writing.

A daily dose of sci-fi - Day 4

Best sci-fi heroine

I think this is the first day I've really struggled with, mainly because I kept thinking of fantasy heroines, for whatever reason. But sticking to a decidedly sci-fi universe, I'll choose...

Sarah Jane Smith

She might not go round wielding huge weapons like a James Cameron or Joss Whedon heroine*, but -- much like the Doctor -- that's part of what makes Sarah Jane so amazing.

Over 30 years after her first appearance in a classic kids' TV series, she was given the starring role in her own kids' series, the lead hero. But she was a hero before that, too, being arguably the first sustainable modern female companion in Doctor Who (previous attempts at Independent Modern Women, like Liz Shaw, floundered and were dropped).

And that makes her an even better choice, because before she was the lead in her own series she wasn't just the Doctor's chum along for the ride, she was a hero in her own right.


Read about a daily dose of sci-fi, with links to the rest of the series, here.

* P.S. I apologise for dragging Whedon characters down to a Cameron level like that. It was wrong of me.