The co-creator and executive producer of hit TV series 24 has quit the show. Joel Surnow's contract with 20th Century Fox TV, the program's production company, was due to expire on April 30 but it was announced on Wednesday the studio had granted his request for an early release to pursue new projects. He says, "I did some soul-searching. I took it as an opportunity to write on my own and do other things. After doing 24, I don't know if I want to do a mainstream show again. I like what's going on in cable; there is an opportunity to stretch dramatically there, which is something I'm trying to do."
From the archive:
“24,” by suggesting that the US government perpetrates myriad forms of torture, hurts the country’s image internationally. Finnegan, who is a lawyer, has for a number of years taught a course on the laws of war to West Point seniors —— cadets who would soon be commanders in the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan. He always tries, he said, to get his students to sort out not just what is legal but what is right. However, it had become increasingly hard to convince some cadets that America had to respect the rule of law and human rights, even when terrorists did not. One reason for the growing resistance, he suggested, was misperceptions spread by “24,” which was exceptionally popular with his students. As he told me, “The kids see it, and say, ‘If torture is wrong, what about “24”?’”
[The Simpsons attend a convention of scientists. Lisa is to present her findings about bullies. She and Marge are a little intimidated by the crowd, which includes the inventor of the walkie-talkie (and someone who isn't his wife).
Frink calls the crowd to order.]
Frink: Scientists -- scientists, please. Looking for some order. Some order, please, with the eyes forward and the hands neatly folded and the paying attention ... [shouts] Pi is exactly 3! [the audience gasps and falls silent] Very sorry it had to come to that, but now that I have your attention, we have some exciting new research from young Lisa Simpson. Let's bring her out and pay attention.
[the audience applauds as Lisa walks onstage. The crowd sees that she's a little girl, and doubts that she has anything useful to say]
Lisa: [clears throat] My study is called, "Airborne Pheromones and Aggression in Bullies."
[the crowd gasps. Someone says, "I'm afraid"]
For as long as there has been smart people, there have been bullies to prey on them. From Galileo [shows a slide of the astronomer getting beaten up] to Sir Isaac Newton, [another slide] and even in the animal kingdom. [shows a slide of a large dog victimizing a smaller one]
But why do the brawny prey on the brainy. Is it jealousy?
[Meanwhile, Marge and Lisa are gazing dreamily into a window filled with glamorous shoes.]
Lisa: Look at all those beautiful shoes! I know they're made from animals but WOW! Marge: Mmmm, If only I didn't already have a pair of shoes. Bart: Speaking of shoes, I don't care about shoes. I'll meet you ladies back here in half an hour.
Oh, how I love this skit. It's like a scene from a Michael Haneke film, only funny instead of frightening. Also, it seems newsworthy.
Dad: [ craving attention ] I had a.. funny thing happen today at work. When I left the office, I had trouble unlocking my car. Then I realized I had the wrong set of keys.
Mom: Did somebody take your keys?
Dad: [ annoyed ] Can I finish the story? [ pauses in stern silence ] It turns out that I had accidentally taken Jeff Peabody's keys, and.. he had taken mine. We.. really had a long laugh.
Mom: Mmm, I thought that's who took them.
...
Dad: I am a Division Manager!! That is very important!! That is very important!! You don't talk to me like that!! People are scared of me!!
Daughter: Why would anybody be scared of you! I hate you, you big fat terd!
[ stunned, they continue to eat in awkward, confined silence ]
...
Dad: Did you pick up my dry cleaning?
Mom: Hmm, it's not ready until Thursday.
Dad: I thought you said it'd be ready today?
Mom: No, it's going to be ready Thursday.
Dad: You know, I have that big meeting tomorrow.
Mom: Well, I'm sorry.
Dad: I wish you weren't a liar!
Mom: I didn't lie, Ted.
Dad: I wish you weren't a liar!
Mom: I wish you wouldn't call me a liar!
Dad: Don't raise your voice at me!
Mom: I am not raising my voice!
Dad: You do not talk to me like that!! I work too hard to deal with this stuff!! I work too hard!! I'm a Division Manager in charge of 49 people!! I drive a Dodge Stratus!!
[ their screaming comes to an end, as the agonizing silence returns ]
"What this season is about is just how far you can go on a lie," Simon says. The lie Simon is referring to is what deteriorating cities tell themselves: Everything is going to be all right.
The third season is now available. Add it to your Netflix queue today!
A remake of the hit 2001 BBC TV series The Office (2001), this is a mockumentary that documents the exploits of a paper supply company in Scranton, Pennsylvania. Made up of head chief Michael Scott, a harmlessly deluded and ignorantly insensitive boss who cares about the welfare of his employees while trying to put his own spin on company policy. With an office including the likes of various peers who have their own hangups, The Office (2005) takes a look at the lives of its co-workers: bored but talented salesman Jim, his mildly sociopathic, butt kissing enemy Dwight, mildly righteous receptionist Pam, and indifferent temp Ryan.
Do you know, or are you guessing? Do you know, or are you guessing? You're guessing, aren't you..? No points! 0! You don't get any points for guessing!
Simon, Burns and Wright wrote the screenplays for all seven hours. Burns and Simon will also serve as co-executive producers. Other producers will include Nina Noble (a producer of The Wire and The Corner, another Burns-Wright miniseries) and Andrea Calderwood (The Last King of Scotland). The film will be shot over six months in South Africa, Namibia and Mozambique.
So, I watched the No News clip and went exploring. I found this:
Time Trumpet was a six-episode television comedy series which aired on BBC Two during Summer 2006. The satirical series "looked back" on events of the first 30 years of the 21st century from the perspective of a nostalgia show in the year 2031 ...
Other sketches included were a look back on the program "RapeanApe", the time Charlotte Church vomited herself inside out, and ...
The controversial third episode, which featured a mock look-back at a jumbo jet crashing into the British Houses of Parliament and an assassinated Tony Blair, was due to be screened on 17 August 2006, but was canceled in the wake of security threats in London airports and substituted by another episode. The canceled episode was subsequently shown a week later, without the footage of an assassinated Blair.
Clips are linked here, but I recommend viewing them through the Flash application.
For the time being here’s a compilation of a few bits along the theme of ‘No News’ that I did for Time Trumpet last year. People tend to think that it’s all footage I’ve got from the BBC of newsreaders before they go on air (which I did have access to), but I made these from transmitted footage, which I tinkered with to make it look as if they weren’t saying anything. It’s not funny as such but it’s pleasingly odd I think. Enjoy!
Kiefer Sutherland on the Charlie Rose Show - Jan 12, 2007
Topic: TV
7:27 pm EST, Feb 14, 2007
I've posted this not because it's a must-see, but because it was mentioned in a recent article in The New Yorker.
Segment 1: Actor Kiefer Sutherland talks about the new season of "24".
Skip to 4:00 to get things underway; the comments referenced below start around 22:00. The segment ends around 36:40.
From the magazine article:
Sutherland declined to answer questions for this article, but, in a recent television interview with Charlie Rose, his ambivalence about his character’s methods was palpable. He condemned the abuse of U.S.-held detainees at Abu Ghraib prison, in Iraq, as “absolutely criminal,” particularly for a country that tells others that “democracy and freedom” are the “way to go.” He also said, “You can torture someone and they’ll basically tell you exactly what you want to hear. . . . Torture is not a way of procuring information.” But things operate differently, he said, on television: “24,” he said, is “a fantastical show. . . . Torture is a dramatic device.”
