Artificial intelligence / machine learning can be put to many great, important uses. Maybe none more important than determining who should be the next person to play James Bond.
Largo.ai is AI software that can be used to determine audience reception to actors. According to Largo.ai if the next James Bond is to be played by a British actor, the top three contenders based on audience favorability would be:
- Henry Cavil - 92.3%
- Richard Armitage - 92%
- Idris Elba - 90.9%.
What happens if they also consider actors who aren’t British?
- Karl Urban - 96.7%
- Chris Evans - 93.9%
- Will Smith - 92.2%
But, approach the James Bond gender-blind and there’s a new contender:
- Gina Carano - 97.3%
- Katee Sackhoff (94.4%)
- Angelina Jolie (94.2%).
So, what is it that the software is looking for? It analysed thousands of on-screen attributes like character type, story elements, and cinematographic tones. It then compared those attributes against similar attributes exhibited by depictions of James Bond on screen.
Obviously this software can exhibit bias based on the data fed it. For example, the perfect person to cast might not have had any screen performances fed into the system and instead toils away in obscurity writing TV culture newsletters each morning…
Read more: Micky
Goodbye Doc
In 2021 the tenth and final season of Doc Martin will be filmed.
ITV Head of Drama Polly Hill:
I just want to thank Martin and Philippa and everyone involved in Doc Martin because it’s a brilliant, beautifully made series that has delighted audiences for many years. I am pleased that we are making Series 10, and sad this will be the last, but respect their decision to bring it to a close.
Source: Deadline
Sports. Not the album by Huey Lewis
Sports have been largely non-existent across the globe due to the stupid virus. But nature finds a way.
From March through August, Twitch has been a go-to destination for people streaming live chess games. 41.2 million hours worth of Chess has been streamed during that time, which is four times as many hours as in the previous six months.
And where there is an audience, there are now Chess celebrities with endorsement dollars that have flowed in their direction.
Read: New York Times
Tyler Perry makes A LOT of TV
What have you accomplished during lock-down? Learned how to bake a loaf of bread? Finally fixed that squeak on the bathroom door? Well, Tyler Perry went ahead and made four TV shows during a 2-month locked-down set at his studios in Atlanta.
82 episodes of TV were produced all-up with cast & crew working and living within a COVID bubble.
There were four positive tests (out of 360 people) during the check-in phase on Sistas, none of which involved cast, and a cast member of Ruthless tested positive during check-in.
But the bubble held up; there were no positive cases in camp once cast and crews had checked in and production started.
Source: Deadline
Trailer Park
New BBC drama Us is an adaptation of the David Nichols novel.
Us tells the story of Douglas Petersen, who is blindsided when his wife Connie tells him that she’s not sure she wants to be married to him anymore. Agreeing to still go on their planned family grand tour of Europe, Douglas vows to win back the love of his wife and repair his troubled relationship with their son Albie.
What’s next?
