Public Address | Cafe | Radiation: Ghosts of television past https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/ en-us Copyright (c) 2026 Public Address andrew llewellyn https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/radiation-ghosts-of-television-past/?p=23734#post23734 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/radiation-ghosts-of-television-past/?p=23734#post23734 Off topic, but somehow this reminds me of one of the funniest things I ever heard on the radio (NAtional Radio, but it was a UK show).

Contestants had to sing one song (say, Barry Manilow's Copacabana) to the tune of another (say, the Dam Busters' March).

I nearly wet…

]]> Wed, 25 Jul 2007 12:34:04 +1200 Danielle https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/radiation-ghosts-of-television-past/?p=23708#post23708 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/radiation-ghosts-of-television-past/?p=23708#post23708

I'm guessing that with The Singing Bee contestants are given random song titles, some of which THEY MIGHT NOT KNOW, and are forced to sing them — with often hilarious results!!!!!!!!

Aha! I actually saw a clip of this on The Soup (my favourite E! show by miles) on Sunday.…

]]> Wed, 25 Jul 2007 10:59:11 +1200 InternationalObserver https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/radiation-ghosts-of-television-past/?p=23678#post23678 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/radiation-ghosts-of-television-past/?p=23678#post23678 Bad news for Martin Henderson. ABC said no ...

Mr. & Mrs. Smith (Regency TV) NOT ORDERED
Exec Producers: Simon Kinberg, Doug Liman, Dave Bartis
Cast: Jordana Brewster, Martin Henderson, Bridgette Wilson Sampras, Rebecca Mader
Logline: Based on the hit feature about a married couple who are both spies.

Okay. I'll leave…

]]> Tue, 24 Jul 2007 17:01:08 +1200 InternationalObserver https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/radiation-ghosts-of-television-past/?p=23674#post23674 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/radiation-ghosts-of-television-past/?p=23674#post23674 Heh heh heh ...

But these shows were picked up and no doubt TVNZ/TV3 are devising a local equivalent as we speak ...

The Singing Bee (Gurin Co./Juma Ent.) PICKED UP
Executive producers: Phil Gurin, Robert C. Horowitz
Logline: Contestants sing the lyrics to popular songs

World Moves (Warner Horizon…

]]> Tue, 24 Jul 2007 16:32:54 +1200 InternationalObserver https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/radiation-ghosts-of-television-past/?p=23673#post23673 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/radiation-ghosts-of-television-past/?p=23673#post23673 If only they'd pitched it to HBO and not NBC ...

Kath and Kim* (NBC U TV) NOT ORDERED
Exec producers: Nancy Pimental (writer), Gina Riley, Jane Turner, Rick McKenna, Ben Silverman
Logline: The adventures of love and denial as only a mother and daughter could live it. Adapted from Australian…

]]> Tue, 24 Jul 2007 16:24:06 +1200 andrew llewellyn https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/radiation-ghosts-of-television-past/?p=23636#post23636 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/radiation-ghosts-of-television-past/?p=23636#post23636 Oh my yes, they give the dogs stick in Atanajuat, a movie we've been watching (it's 188 minutes long) over the last few nights.

Fantastic.

]]> Tue, 24 Jul 2007 09:00:37 +1200 paul mckessar https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/radiation-ghosts-of-television-past/?p=23620#post23620 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/radiation-ghosts-of-television-past/?p=23620#post23620 Mon, 23 Jul 2007 21:50:33 +1200 Danielle https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/radiation-ghosts-of-television-past/?p=23537#post23537 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/radiation-ghosts-of-television-past/?p=23537#post23537

In the '90s I had a conversation on whether this ruined "Reservoir Dogs" for New Zealanders or made "A Dog's Show" cool.

Heh. I had the proverbial blown mind when I saw whatever Tarantino film it was and recognised that tune, because I only knew it as an instrumental theme…

]]> Mon, 23 Jul 2007 12:50:45 +1200 InternationalObserver https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/radiation-ghosts-of-television-past/?p=23459#post23459 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/radiation-ghosts-of-television-past/?p=23459#post23459

...quietly-spoken commentators (why *did* they talk so quietly anyway?

I had a girlfriend once who used to get horny listening to the commentators on Pot Black. Those dulcet whispered tones did something to her (put her in a state of hypnosis?) and I discovered she was always ripe for sex…

]]> Sun, 22 Jul 2007 18:25:40 +1200 Russell Brown https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/radiation-ghosts-of-television-past/?p=23456#post23456 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/radiation-ghosts-of-television-past/?p=23456#post23456

Also, my Friends In England can testify that The Adventure of English is a really good documentary series. It unveils the rich history of our loveable bastard tongue. Also, Melvyn Bragg is choice.

Amen. It stands above most stuff of its kind, because of the way that Bragg engages you…

]]> Sun, 22 Jul 2007 16:36:17 +1200 Jackie Clark https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/radiation-ghosts-of-television-past/?p=23451#post23451 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/radiation-ghosts-of-television-past/?p=23451#post23451 Sun, 22 Jul 2007 12:36:26 +1200 Robyn Gallagher https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/radiation-ghosts-of-television-past/?p=23450#post23450 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/radiation-ghosts-of-television-past/?p=23450#post23450

The question is, is television giving us a shortened attention span (MTV generation, etc), or has the technology of television just caught up with the speed of human thought?

On a Screen Wipe episode earlier this year, Charlie Brooker looked at how the advent of digital editing technology in the…

]]> Sun, 22 Jul 2007 12:24:34 +1200 Joe Wylie https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/radiation-ghosts-of-television-past/?p=23448#post23448 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/radiation-ghosts-of-television-past/?p=23448#post23448

. . . is television giving us a shortened attention span (MTV generation, etc), or has the technology of television just caught up with the speed of human thought?

Of course, whatever the brain does during that shrinky-dinky attention span may not necessarily involve thought.

Longer commercial breaks? For the…

]]> Sun, 22 Jul 2007 11:35:37 +1200 Joe Wylie https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/radiation-ghosts-of-television-past/?p=23447#post23447 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/radiation-ghosts-of-television-past/?p=23447#post23447

. . . is television giving us a shortened attention span (MTV generation, etc), or has the technology of television just caught up with the speed of human thought?

Of course, whatever the brain does during that shrinky-dinky attention span may not necessarily involve thought.

Longer commercial breaks? For the…

]]> Sun, 22 Jul 2007 11:35:37 +1200 Fiona Rae https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/radiation-ghosts-of-television-past/?p=23445#post23445 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/radiation-ghosts-of-television-past/?p=23445#post23445 A Dog's Show. I think like anything nostalgic, it depends on how it sits in your memory, although when you see some of these programmes now, they are so slow. Whole plot lines in Mortimer's Patch consisted of someone making the tea. Also, movies.… ]]> Sun, 22 Jul 2007 11:09:45 +1200 Robyn Gallagher https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/radiation-ghosts-of-television-past/?p=23442#post23442 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/radiation-ghosts-of-television-past/?p=23442#post23442

Besides, that instrumental 'Flowers on the Wall' theme song rules. :)

In the '90s I had a conversation on whether this ruined "Reservoir Dogs" for New Zealanders or made "A Dog's Show" cool. No satisfactory conclusion was reached.

]]> Sun, 22 Jul 2007 01:45:34 +1200 Danielle https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/radiation-ghosts-of-television-past/?p=23440#post23440 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/radiation-ghosts-of-television-past/?p=23440#post23440 A Dog's Show. But only the eye-dog segments. The barky ones never gave you the combination of deeply comforting, quietly-spoken commentators (why *did* they talk so quietly anyway? It's not like they were actually herding the sheep themselves) and nail-biting tension: in this… ]]> Sat, 21 Jul 2007 20:57:00 +1200 Rob Stowell https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/radiation-ghosts-of-television-past/?p=23439#post23439 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/radiation-ghosts-of-television-past/?p=23439#post23439 friends overseas... any idea when Flight of the Conchords might start screening here? Some of us are up to Ep 5 and we can't talk about it in case it spoils things for others and this is unsatisfactory. ]]> Sat, 21 Jul 2007 20:37:20 +1200 Graeme Edgeler https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/radiation-ghosts-of-television-past/?p=23429#post23429 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/radiation-ghosts-of-television-past/?p=23429#post23429

Friends In England can testify that The Adventure of English is a really good documentary series

You don't need Friends in England to tell you that about this one – Friends who closely read the TV guide should be good enough – this aired on TV 1 in 2005 (at…

]]> Sat, 21 Jul 2007 16:44:54 +1200 Jackie Clark https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/radiation-ghosts-of-television-past/?p=23428#post23428 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/radiation-ghosts-of-television-past/?p=23428#post23428 Sat, 21 Jul 2007 16:40:03 +1200 Emma Hart https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/radiation-ghosts-of-television-past/?p=23423#post23423 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/radiation-ghosts-of-television-past/?p=23423#post23423 Kingdom is really very comfy slipper indeed. Friends in England shipped us the first three eps and I'll probably watch the rest of it, but even though I like that sort of thing I found it a bit bland.

Anyway, who doesn't want to see A Dog's Show again?

Only…

]]> Sat, 21 Jul 2007 14:31:20 +1200 Robyn Gallagher https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/radiation-ghosts-of-television-past/?p=23419#post23419 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/radiation-ghosts-of-television-past/?p=23419#post23419

Anyway, who doesn't want to see A Dog's Show again?

My memory of this programme is it was tediously dull and my parents always picked it over whatever was on the other channel. I watch some sheepdog trials at the Easter Show a few years ago and I was momentary…

]]> Sat, 21 Jul 2007 13:37:53 +1200 Public Address https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/radiation-ghosts-of-television-past/?p=23418#post23418 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/radiation-ghosts-of-television-past/?p=23418#post23418 Discussion from blog post.

]]> Sat, 21 Jul 2007 13:37:53 +1200