TV and radio blogCulture

Channel 4 has an ident crisis - the latest from the TV blogs

Veronica Mars and Jerico got cancelled, but Kyle XY has a promising telekenisis story line. Meanwhile, have Channel 4 ruined their '20 Questions' idents?

Veronica Mars: canned despite chocolate-themed protest.

Warning: may not ACTUALLY contain spoilers to The Sopranos, but may contain links to posts which DO contain spoilers, links to blogs which have spoilers in other posts on their site, or whose blogrolls may contain other blogs which DO contain spoilers. So, in brief: May contain traces of spoilers. Beware, Soprano-Nuts.

With the justifiably attention-grabbing big US series coming to the end of their seasons, and some to the end of their lifespans, it's been difficult to find much that wasn't about castaways or mobsters on the bigger and better TV blogs this week. But it's all been said enough, and I know people are very wary of spoilers, so we shall avoid, here.

So what's being talked about this week out there that ISN'T The Sopranos? (Oh, by the way, last episode? A spaceship abducts Carmela, Meadow has a sex change and then Tony wakes up to discover the whole thing was a dream and he's actually a maths teacher from Cheadle Hulme, in case you haven't picked that up anywhere else.)

There's some interesting conversation going on about the act of cancelling big cult shows - James Donaghy tried to start his own campaign to save Veronica Mars here on the TV Blog, but as he mentioned on his own site, by the time the plea was published, it had already been cancelled. Still, he tried, and that's the important thing. Isn't it? Well, South Dakota Dark has an interesting treatise on the nature of 'save-our-favourite-niche-show' internet campaigns, though it's all based on the cancellation of a show called Jericho, the news of which raises no bile, but more of a Gallic shrug from your rounder-upper. Still, good piece.

Actually, speaking of good pieces about shows that I couldn't give a monkey's eyelid about, SDD also has a review of the first episode of a new series of a show called Kyle XY, a programme that has so far completely passed me by, and may have continued to do so, apart from the fact that this line from their review amused me greatly:

Adam was an early test subject gestated for 13 months and this prolonged gestation allowed him to develop the ability to do things like move a glass of water with his mind ... Telekinesis, awesome. I was born a week early, so I guess that explains why I can never get my cats to come when I call.

Brilliant. Sadly doesn't tempt me to watch the damn thing, though, as it sounds rather worryingly like a slightly weaker version of the already quite weak Smallville. I could be wrong though, of course. Am I wrong? Anyone know?

It's not quite drama, but the stars of and spaces between, I have always loved the 20 questions idents from Channel 4 - they're arguably some of the best channel identifiers in a long time, but like idents.tv, I'm conflicted. Have C4 ruined it with the '20 Questions interrupted' series? Or is it a natural progression that has made the idents better? Or do you have some fancy skip-the-ads telly and never watch the guff between the shows anyway and so have no idea what I'm talking about? (Though SURELY you've seen the favourite swearword one? - can be found here if not).

Sad truth though, really, that if there's any news about quality drama to be had, it's over there we're having to look, because let's face it, it's summer, and British television is (apart from some notable exceptions, including the current rash of Fabulous Doctor Who episodes - highly excitable review of Blink here from The Stage's TV site) awash with Reality.

Which, of course, all things being equal, has its place, but I have run out of space, so it'll have to have its place some other time...

Tomorrow, in fact.

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