britain

Last year, after multiple recommendations from my English friends, I got around to watching a few episodes of The IT Crowd. Unfortunately, it failed to live up to all the wild hype generated by my buddies, but something did stick in my mind... The crazy-haired, nasal Moss character, played by Richard Ayoade. There was something wonderfully weird about him and, since I was so intrigued by his strange voice, I decided to look him up. Well, as it turns out, his usual voice is really that weird and nasal, which just made him a million times more better in my mind. In fact, Ayoade's the only cast member who has been carried over from the original version of The IT Crowd to the American adaptation, reprising his role as Moss.

Christopher Guest has agreed to direct the pilot for The Thick of It, a comedy being created for ABC by Arrested Development creator Mitch Hurwitz. The show is being adapted for an American audience from the popular British comedy by the same name. In Britain, it was about a member of Parliament who had to deal with inept politicians, a prime minister and other silly minions. I can only guess that the American version will take place in Congress?

According to his IMDB bio, Guest hasn't done much directing for television lately. He seems to stick to the "mockumentary" (he hates that word) movie genre that's heavy on improv, such as Best in Show and Waiting for Guffman.

Jack Bauer is a good name. It's a strong name that doesn't denote much ethnicity. It's the name of a fictional American hero.

And now it's also the name of a computer programmer in Britain. Tim Annan, 35, loves 24 so much that he has changed his name to 'Jack Bauer'. And he makes people at work call him that. He says, "It beats being plain Tim from Watford." Yes. Now he's "crazy Tim from Watford." No word on whether he does a lot of heavy breathing into a cell phone like his alter-ego.

According to British newspaper The Sun, the British Jack Bauer is single. Surprise, surprise.

Tomorrow, the UK's Channel Five will broadcast Five's Birth Night Live, a two-hour special during which one woman will give birth, or so the creators of the program are hoping. This is the first time a live birth will have been captured on British television, but while Channel Five and host Gabby Logan insist they'll remain unobtrusive, the series has caught a lot of flak from experts who insist the mother should be in a calm and unobtrusive environment, a situation they feel is impossible with a camera crew filming every moment. The folks behind the special say they'll withdraw if any problems arise for the mother or child, but that wasn't much assurance to those who feel they shouldn't be there in the first place. Perhaps one of out UK readers can fill me in on this, but I assume the mothers have to give permission before they can appear on camera? Whether or not you agree with this seems like a moot point if the one giving birth has agreed ahead of time.

The celebrity cameos are getting ridiculously funny on Extras, which is airing season two right now in Britain (HBO hasn't announced an air date for season two in the U.S.). Last week, it was Orlando Bloom trying to convince 'Maggie' that he's more famous than Johnny Depp. This week, it's David Bowie in a restaurant, singing a song about Andy and his pug nose face. It's completely over the top and, in true Ricky Gervais style, it's uncomfortably hilarious.

Video is after the jump.

A British study of 69 children ages 7 to 12 found that the kids, when having blood samples drawn, experienced less pain if they were watching cartoons than when their own mothers tried to soothe them. My first inclination, which was also echoed by Dr. Brenda McClain of Yale University, is that when a parent is obviously trying to console a child, the child becomes more anxious because they believe something must really be wrong. Kids tend to be smarter than people give them credit for, and they pick up on things like that. Nevertheless, other researchers insist that this means television is having more of an impact on kids than their own parents. I don't see it as anything so dramatic, but what do you guys, especially those of you with kids, think? I just wonder when the kids get to have their revenge and jab the researchers with sharp objects. It seems only fair.

[via Lost Remote]

"Terrour Plot": Senior Carryonologist John Oliver elaborated on the foiled terrorist plot over in England, live from Heathrow Airport. He contemplated the degree of seriousness in the airport security's new "no liquids" rule. Is yogurt a liquid? What about custard? And 75% of the human body?! John Oliver's fitting in pretty well. I wonder if he's going to do filmed reports any time soon. It'd be interesting to see what those are like.

Ah, you Brits are so lucky. Ricky Gervais, creator of The Office and Extras, is bringing his imaginary characters to life on ITV. The 'Flanimals', about which Gervais has now written two books, are ugly, little monster-like creatures with goofy names such as Clunge Ambler, Grundit, Puddloflaj... although it's much funnier to hear Gervais say the names in his accent. The Flanimals will be the subject of six 30-minute episodes that will air during primetime. Making the deal even better is the news that former Aardman Animations pioneers Charles Mills and Terry Brain are also on board. Aardman, by the way, is the brilliant claymation studio that created Wallace and Gromit.

Yeah, I know, a few of my American readers are saying, "Why the heck would I care about a game show debuting in the UK?" Well, just keep in mind that we've stolen a lot of our recent game show ideas from across the pond, so who knows when am Americanized version of this game show will appear on TV screens here in the states. Besides, it sounds like a pretty cool idea. The game show, called Codex, will take place in the British Museum where contestants must use artifacts around the museum to break a code and win the game. Hmmm, a museum you have to search in order to break a code. Why does that sound like some movie I keep hearing about? Oh, that's right, I think it was the plot of Police Academy 6. The show will be hosted by Tony Robinson of Blackadder.

The British won't get to see the infamous episode of South Park, which outted Tom Cruise something like 13 times in 22 minutes. Cruise, who has a crazy fear about people thinking he's gay, complained about the episode to Paramount and the production company agreed not to play it again. According to The Register in the U.K., Paramount got worried that Cruise would sue them, as he has sued so many tabloids in the past whenever they 'out' him.

The episode in question aired November 16th here in the states. It featured Nicole Kidman and John Travolta characters who kept pleading for Tom to "come out of the closet." At one point, Kidman's cartoon character says, "Don't you think this has gone on long enough? You're not fooling anyone." It really was a funny episode and I'm sad that our friends in Britain won't see it but I'm sure if you scour the internet hard enough, you'll find it.

Sodoku seems to be sweeping the world, isn't it? There seems to be a puzzle in every newspaper in the country now, becoming more popular than the crossoword, word find, and Jumble, all at once. Well, in England, the craze has graduated to the next logical step: Sodoku is getting its own TV show! ITV2, the UK's most watched digital channel, will air an audience-participation Sodoku game, where viewers call in to a toll number (the call will cost 60p) and give their solutions to the 9x9 number puzzle, with the chance to win cash prizes large and small.

Sounds scintillating. Reminds me of the video game program that was on Channel 11 here in New York (WPIX), where kids would call in and yell "PIX! PIX! PIX!" in order to move the gun/shooter/runner/etc. on an Intellivision video game. All that show did was make me want to buy an Intellivision and play the game myself. But I was stuck with an Atari. Ah, well.