Nathalie Emmanuel from Game of Thrones has been cast as the lead in the TV series adaptation of Four Weddings and a Funeral. She replaces the departing Jessica Williams. Oh, and Andie MacDowell is joining the show too.
Australia’s Nine Network are reviving the Halifax f.p. series of TV movies. 21 movies were produced during its original run from 1994 - 2002, with star Rebecca Gibney returning as forensic psychiatrist Jane Halifax.
In the new series Jane Halifax will face the most thrilling and dangerous case of her career when she hunts down a killer terrorising an entire city. As she is drawn into the killer’s web, has she put herself and her family in the firing line?
You can find most of the Halifax f.p. TV movies streaming on YouTube.
If Apple is going to make any impact in television, it is really going to need to find a way to make it possible for more people to be able to watch it. As far as connected TV devices go, the Apple TV is lagging well behind the competition. Despite the fact that it’s probably the best mainstream streaming box around, its price has prevented a lot of people from buying.
Rumour has it that Apple has been looking to release a cheap(er), Chromecast-style dongle.
Esquire has a good explainer on why Dogs on Netflix is worth your time. (It’s really quite good).
That ability to tell a human story through a non-human narrative is what Dogsmanages to do best. In the same vain as the cat-inspired 2017 documentary Kedi, the Netflix anthology series pulls a bit of a bait and switch with its cuddly stars. What begins as six examinations into the lives of dogs becomes a meditation on the humans who care for them and what that might say about each of us. And those lessons come in thoughtfully shot, hour-long portraits scattered across six different parts of the world.
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George RR Martin got to talking about VR at the launch of a SyFy VR promotional tie-in to the upcoming series Nightfliers.
“The technology is not mature and we haven’t really figured out how to tell stories for it,” he said, “but I think, 20 years from now, 30 years from now, maybe sooner, it may replace television and film and other things as a totally immersive sort of art form that you can, not only, you know, like read a book or watch a television show, but you can live an adventure.”
He spoke of a possible future in which an audience immerses itself in and interacts with a world and maybe even affects the outcome of a story. “But I think we may be like the theater before Shakespeare, you know?” Martin continued. “There were plays before Shakespeare, but it was the Elizabethan theatre that really made the theatre come alive. And of course, movies began with little, real things of trains arriving at the station and then eventually we got up to Star Wars.”
A proposed spin-off of sitcom The Middle is not going ahead.
And finally…
There is no way that I can justify this as a TV-related story. But it’s Friday. So enjoy Jeff Golblum performing with his jazz band:
That’s it for this week. As always, the bonus ABW issue with some viewing suggestions from throughout the week will go out for the weekend.
