Even Helen Mirren thinks the BBC licence fee has had its day.

Mirren stressed that “we cannot lose the BBC,” but on the licence fee, she reportedly said: “I think we are moving past that. And what will follow it I don’t know. I think that the licence fee has had its day.”

Source: Deadline


Advertising works. At least, it does if you place your ads during an episode of Friends.

During January through August 2019, TVSquared found that direct-to-consumer advertisers received one customer inquiry for every 4,600 views of their commercials on “Friends.” The rate for all shows measured in the period, including other popular sitcoms, was one per 56,000 views.

Source: The LA Times

“Friends”

The Plot Against America is a Phillip Roth book that has been adapted by The Wire’s David Simon and Ed Burns for HBO.

Today we get the trailer:


It’s 2020. Where the heck is Eurovision Asia, the spin-off to the European singing contest announced for Australian broadcaster SBS back in 2016? They’re still working on it, says Paul Clarke from Blink TV (the production company that produces Australia’s Eurovision coverage):

All the SBS executives have taken Eurovision Asia really seriously. We were in Japan in December but ultimately it doesn’t come down to just SBS being interested. It has to be some major partners as well… and Northern Asian partners. It’s just still in development.

Source: TV Tonight


Lark Voorhies is upset that she wasn’t invited to come back to the Saved By The Bell reboot series. You may recall that she played Lisa Turtle. For some reason the producers of the new series opted to only bring back the actors who are still working.

“I have to admit I did feel a bit slighted and hurt when I was not invited to be part of the Saved by the Bell reunion, as well as other cast members events,” she says. “Yet, of course, I also realized that having this puzzling disorder may have played a major part in that factual decision. With that in mind, I am truly thankful for having had the chance to work on a show that has been so successful.”

Source: TV Line


Krispy Kreme in Australia have a line of Rick & Morty donuts. Did they not learn from McDonalds Szechuan sauce incident?

Regardless, one of the flavours is called Pickle Rick. Can anyone tell me what flavour this actually is? I only ask as I fear my lifelong dream of a pickle flavoured donut will never come to be.

krispykremeaustralia

Wubba Lubba Dub Dub! Our Krispy Kreme x Rick & Morty doughnut and shake range has arrived! 🥳
Allow us to welcome Pickle Rick, Simple Rick's Wafer Cookie and Strawberry Smiggles to the in-store doughnut lineup! Riding along with them is Fleeb Juice, our newest shake! These must-tries are now available at a Krispy Kreme store near you! 🤤

Not available at 7-Eleven, BP or in South Australia.February 17, 2020


Don’t quite count streaming game show HQ out just yet. CEO Rus Yusupov says that he has been able to find a buyer for HQ which will enable them to pay recently retrenched staff severance pay and pay-out money owed to game players.

Source: Variety


There won’t be a new season of Doctor Who until the back-end of 2021 and some fans are getting annoyed that there is repeatedly so long in-between seasons. And fair enough.

The producers say they work on the show without breaks. And there is the defense of the show that each episode involves new sets, guest casts, etc. But is the production demands on Doctor Who really that much greater than most TV shows? I’m not convinced.

I’m not a Whovian by any means - every season I watch a couple of episodes and decide that it isn’t really for me. But, something that I realised recently is that everytime the show loses me, it’s usually about 35 minutes into the episode. Which has me thinking: Are episodes of Doctor Who just too long? Would the show be better served by going back to a half-hour serialised format? It would fix a lot of problems:

  • Producers could release more episodes every year
  • A serialised approach would make the show a lot more binge-able. Let’s be honest - in 2020 that makes sense for viewing via streaming services
  • The show might be fun to watch again

At the bottom of this email is a speech bubble icon. Click that to leave a comment. Whovians… tell me why I’m wrong.

Source: Radio Times

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