When I saw that Susan Boyle on ‘Britain’s Got Retards’ I thought Mrs Doubtfire and Hagrid had had a love child. She’s a virgin eh? No shit. She’ll feel completely screwed when Simon Cowell milks her for all she’s worth bless her. No seriously, bless her, she looks possessed.
I’m glad the guys at ‘South Park’ agree with me. In this weeks episode the ‘singing sensation’ was mentioned as Cartman went to round up a gang of South Park kids to run off and join pirates in Somalia.
Kyle’s little brother Ike blames the Scot for making him want to run away – because he’s so sick of hearing about her. He leaves a letter to his parents which reads: “Dear mommy and daddy – I am running away. “Everyone at school is a f****** idiot and if one more person talks to me about that Susan Boyle performance of Les Miserables I was going to puke my b**** out through my mouth.”
Make sure you watch the new episode in the UK on Comedy Central at 10pm on Friday!

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8yc_GY5huUg

Now this looks cool to me, being a fan of ‘The League of Gentlemen’. BBC2’s Spring/Summer schedule includes a new series ‘Psychoville’ from The League of Gentlemen’ creators Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton!
The BBC’s press release for the show says, and I quote “An embittered one-handed clown; a desperately misguided midwife; a lovestruck telekinetic dwarf; a blind avaricious collector; and a serial-killer-obsessed man-child… five seemingly unconnected characters share one thing in common. Despite coming from different parts of the country and having different backgrounds and interests, each one has been sent an anonymous, black-edged card bearing the chilling message: “I know what you did…” Awesome!
Joining the writes/character actors in ‘Psychoville’ is a rich mix of talent, including Dawn French (ok maybe not her), Eileen Atkins, Nicholas Le Prevost, David Bamber, Janet McTeer, Christopher Biggins (or him), Daisy Haggard, Debbie Chazen, Daniel Kaluuya and Adrian Scarborough.
The world of ‘Psychoville’ is also expanded via an online experience, specially written by the show’s creators Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith. Principal characters will be supported by their own websites, exclusive videos and extra comedy, while users get the chance to interact with the mystery blackmailer.
Really excited about this one!

This past week has seen the introduction of a new animated comedy on FOX with ‘Sit Down Shut Up’ making its debut. I decided to catch the show online as it hasn’t made these shores as yet, and with a strong cast and writing line up, seemed a sure fire hit. I have to say I wasn’t impressed at all however with a show that was touted as the new ‘Family Guy’.
‘Sit Down, Shut Up’ counts ‘Arrested Development’ creator Mitch Hurwitz and long-time ‘Simpsons’ writer-producer Josh Weinstein among its executive producers, and its cast includes ‘Arrested’ cast members Jason Bateman, Henry Winkler and Will Arnett, ‘Saturday Night Live’ veterans Kenan Thompson, Will Forte and Cheri Oteri, along with Kristen Chenoweth, Nick Kroll and Tom Kenny who provides the voice of ‘SpongeBob Squarepants’.
Being given the 8.30pm Sunday slot between ‘The Simpsons’ and ‘Family Guy’ on FOX, they’ve also backed the show – and rightly so with such a strong cast etc
The show, about the barely qualified and otherwise preoccupied teachers at a Florida high school, is just too silly and juvenile – and this is coming from me – to fit in with a ‘Simpsons’ or a ‘Family Guy’ who, in their universal appeal drop in plenty of adult specific humour in amongst the general mainstream cartoon set up. For example, it features characters named Larry Littlejunk (Bateman), Miracle Grohe – a new age hippy chick (Chenoweth), Ennis Hofftard (Arnett) and Willard Deutschebog (Winkler), so we’re not exactly in high-brow territory here. Keenan Thompson, plays weary acting Principal Sue Sezno, who’s catchphrase is ‘No’. Get it? Yeah, I know, it sucks.
There were a handful of funny moments – particularly those involving Winkler’s character for me – but these are outweighed by a hell of a lot more that aren’t. I’ve watched one episode so I won’t totally condemn it right now but so far for me, this is a non starter. US readers, feel free to tell me otherwise!

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Ks3W35SggA

In news that will interest both TV sports fans and computer game fans, the voice of American Football, John Madden, has announced his retirement from his long-time role as television analyst of NFL games.
The former Super Bowl-winning coach was a part of NFL broadcasts for 30 years and won 16 Emmy Awards.
“It’s time, I’m 73 years old,” Madden said in a written statement released by NBC. “My 50th wedding anniversary is this fall. I have two great sons and their families and my five grandchildren are at an age now when they know when I’m home and more importantly, when I’m not. The NFL has been my life for more than 40 years, it has been my passion – it still is.”
Dick Ebersol, chairman of NBC Sports, stated that he spent time with Madden “to make sure he was sure about his decision”. He said “In true John Madden fashion, he was sure. He said it best when he simply said ‘it’s time’ and I admire him for that,” Ebersol said.
In addition to his awards for broadcasting, Madden is also a member of the Professional Football Hall of Fame. As a coach, he had a career record of 103-32-7.
Rumours that he retired to commentate alongside Michael Vick on ‘Monday Night Dogfights’ are unfounded.

Hey it’s Big Willie time! No its not post 11pm on Bravo but Scifi sadly.
Will Smith’s Overbrook Entertainment production company has teamed with Sci Fi or is it SyFy now – I get confused – to develop ‘Unfinished Business’, a two-hour movie that could expand into a full series.

The story follows a former policeman who, after an accident, starts seeing the memories of dead people. I guess he’ll use those memories solve murders or fulfil their last requests or something – the whole set up is close to their chests at the mo. As long as it isn’t ‘Wikky wikky Wild West’ I don’t mind.
Casting and production schedules have not yet been set. “Band of Brothers” Helmer Mikael Salomon will direct.
“Sci Fi is excited to begin development on ‘Unfinished Business’ with Overbrook Entertainment and Will Smith,” Mark Stern, the net’s executive vice president for original programming, said in a statement. “It is a compelling and thrilling drama that is perfect for our audience.”

No word on whether Smith will guest on ‘Unfinished Business’. I hope they can get ‘Carlton’ involved though from the ‘Fresh Prince..’

CSI: Las Vegas Executive Producer and former lead William Petersen has confirmed a film based on the show will be made. A movie version? Hmmm, never good.
Speaking to the ‘Radio Times’, the star, who played Gil Grissom, said: “It’s about finding the right story, there has got to be a real reason to do it. I can understand people are a little trepidatious because of the franchise around the world and how well it’s doing,” he said.
“Usually people leave it till a series has finished – they did that with ‘The X-Files’ and ‘Sex And The City’. But it’s about finding the right story.
“There has got to be a real reason to do it. You don’t just do it because you want to make money; you do it because there’s a story that can’t be told on TV and needs to be told from CSI’s perspective and the audience wants it. And we can’t wait for CSI to end or Grissom will be about 90.” Or they’ll have to do it with Laurence Fishburne. Nooooo!

Finally, some relief this weekend when Stephen Hawking recovered from a serious bout of illness. Relief for some I guess, I was just interested to see if when he died the Windows Shutdown music played. I wondered why he wasn’t on that ‘I’m a PC’ advert.

By Darren Avery

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