Extremely Loverly Doc!

So this week has been an interesting week in Television…I have LOVED Coronation street, more so than usual….mainly because of  Shaun (Anthony Cotton) trying to work out Bettys famous hotpot recipe…… pure genius script writing. With the weight of such a well known Corrie landmark resting on his shoulders, the portrayal of those scenes was brilliant.

I have now watched Louis Theroux BBC2 series Extreme Love more than once now…and what an interesting concept, I hadn’t thought at first very much into the title, 'extreme love'…. I just took to the title as nothing more than a few words to add to his name as its not really about him so they had to add something!

I now see this was not the case and how extreme love really can be.

The documentary was a two part series, with the first episode looking into, families whose children have autism, and the second whose family members suffer with dementia.

Both episodes showed extreme love, between families, where from the parents who couldn’t cope with their children, and the wives and husbands whose partners had dementia and were watching them think they were married to someone else. 

Both episodes were great and definitely worth a viewing and are available on Iplayer till Thursday 3^rd May,

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01gvt26/Louis_Theroux_Louis_Theroux_Extreme_Love_Dementia/

I have recently been re- watching some episodes of friends and it reminded me just how amazing the production team on the show must have been in particular the writers, I love how even spread out over 10 series everything links back and is intertwined….My favourite episode is the ‘one where know one is ready’ I love Ross in this episode…….I think his constant clock watching is brilliant and it is also the one where joey lunges in all of Chandlers clothes.

"Dear Blog readers I would love to know your Favourite Friends episode? So comment below???"

This week TV Highlights:

1. The Mighty Mississippi with Trevor McDonald- Monday 10:35-11:35pm, Trevor explores America from the river.
2. William and Kate: The first year. Tuesday ITV1 8pm- we all went a bit royal crazy last year, see how the year has been.
3. Piers Morgan: Life Stories- Jason Donavan- Friday ITV1 9pm- interview with the Aussie star, talking about his relationship with Kylie amongst more.
4. Alan Carr: Chatty Man- Channel 4, 10pm- episode 2 in his new series, guests David Walliams and Amanda Holden.
5. The Cube- Saturday 7:45 ITV1- cube show beat the cube’s games to win £250,000

Food and Family

Cooking shows are not something as a general rule I would ever series catch up with but when there on I do enjoy them……….however until recently I often wondered how many more different ways can they take a cooking program….of course there’s the race element like ready steady cook, and the teaching element like Saturday kitchen and the cooking extracts on This Morning and Lorraine….and there’s the competition element like MasterChef and Great British Bake off, and Come Dine With Me …..all make great viewing and not just for ‘foodies’ and then there is the food programmes that look at international cooking……..so I was surprised when I came across: The Little Paris Kitchen, cooking with Rachael Khoo, I was pleased to find a new take on a cooking programme, Rachael moved to Paris 6 years ago and is interested in Parisian cooking, she lives in a tiny Parisian flat with a two ring and hob and oven the size of a microwave but she runs a restaurant from her dinning room, of course the programme does have cooking tutorials but all from her take on Parisian food.

Well done on a wonderful new dimension on the international cooking programme. (the series is still available on Iplayer till the weekend) 

Studios seem to be coming along nicely!

Going back to a previous week where I said how I think that great TV, has the ability to make you feel every feeling under the sun…….if this is the case Long Lost Family must be amazing TV…..  again we have seen family history programmes before, and celebrities look at their family history, as well as the experts looking for the rightful heir’s to people’s estates. But the stories on Long Lost Family are so moving, and the contributors so powerful that it really is amazing watching……..The programme sets about to re unite long lost families, Davina McCall and Nicky Campbell present the show and help the families find each other whether it be parents looking for children or children looking for parents learning about places and people around the country and then the so far happy endings :) …the series is so moving and with its thursday night prime time slot it is definitely worth a watch. 

This weeks highlights:

1. The Little Paris Kitchen: cooking with Rachael Khoo- Monday 8:30 BBC2- Chef who lives in Paris and has a restaurant in her tiny dinning room cooked in her tiny kitchen.
2. Waterloo Road- Wednesday 9pm BBC1 last episode in series 7 end of term and the school prepares to close!
3. Louis Theroux: Extreme Love Dementia- Thursday 9pm BBC2 following last weeks autism episode this week Theroux looks at families struggling with dementia.
4. Long Lost Family- Thursday 9pm ITV1 (or ITV1 +1 at 10pm) Reuniting families with Davina McCall and Nicky Campbell, Nicky has tweeted saying this is his favourite episode.
5. Piers Morgan’s Life Stories: Carol Vorderman: Friday 9pm ITV1- Carol Vorderman opens up about her life being abandoned by her father at 3 weeks old, and how she coped with the death of Richard Whitley.

"On This Morning, This Morning"

I will be the first to admit that being a student has its benefits, and one of my favourite perks is the ability to watch daytime TV (and although the amount of time I do get to enjoy this luxury has drastically decreased since my undergrad I’m sure its still much better than most peoples so I do count myself lucky…..

I love how multi genre daytime TV is from current affairs to entertainment and helping people, of course Jeremy Kyle does get some stick, I think the show is great and although I’m not an avid viewer I think he does do some great work, and good luck in America !

I will happily watch TV all day and can sit through GMTV, Jeremy Kyle, This Morning, Loose Women and then Dickinson’s Real deal before realising its mid afternoon…..I  don’t however do this anymore. This Morning is my absolute favourite daytime viewing, I love Philip and Holly they are so entertaining whilst being so serious when it is necessary. I hate the weeks when I have no need to say "this morning on this morning" the show is perfectly current that it is always necessary to discuss with other viewers or tell people what happened, and hats off to ITV when they decided to turn the weeks highlights into 'This Morning Weekend' for all those 9-5 working people.....Genius. 

This weeks Tv Highlights:

1. The Sydicate- Tuesday 9pm BBC1 Leanne's (Joanna Page- Stacey from Gavin and Stacey) episode her past live catches up with her after the lottery win.
2. I Woke up Gay -Wednesday at 8pm BBC3 documentary about 21 year old Chris Birch who had a stroke and woke up gay.
3. Long Lost Family- Thursday 9pm ITV1- Davina Mc Call and Nicky Campbell reuniting families episode 1 was very moving and wonderful TV. 
4. Louis Theroux: Extreme Love - Autism Thursday 9pm BBC2 (Iplayer) Louis visits a school in amaerica to see how they cope with autism. 
5. The Voice UK- Saturday BBC1 7pm week before the live shows, acts get cut from 10 to 5 per judge. 

Everything's a Drama!!!

Having finally caught up on the first two episodes of ITV1's Titanic, I feel now equipped to pass judgement, and as I have already said I HAD reservations....... Firstly we all know what happened, what different spins could be put on a real life event.....Secondly ITV's budget wouldn't compete with that of Hollywood, and thirdly would it not just be Downton Abbey but on a boat?


In this instance I don't mind being proved wrong..... With Downton Abbey such a huge success of course it was going to work, the only two similarities between Downton and Titanic are firstly the characters virtually fit into staff and 1st class passengers both having separate and intertwining stories.....And  secondly exceptional script writing.... So why stop a winning formula!?!!!


I am not loyal to a particular channel and even sometimes get caught on QVC for longer than advised..... But throughout this consent channel hopping I have begun to notice how very different they are no more so than BBC1 and ITV1. When comparing Eastenders to Coronation Street, there are of course the obvious differences London/ Manchester, The Square/ The Street and The Queen Vic/ The Rovers.  But there are so many more..........Eastenders uses more point of view camera shots, and creates tension with this technique, for example Phill walking through the market whilst everyone stared at him made me feel very uneasy (presumably how they hoped) if you were to compare the overall colour of both Corrie and Eastenders, Corrie has a much warmer orangey feel whilst Eastenders more cold and blue. 
But whilst watching The Syndicate (Tuesday's BBC1 9pm and on iplayer) which is great, I found myself thinking this is very " BBC" I'm not certain why exactly I came to this conclusion.....The great writer Kay Mellor who wrote both The Syndicate and the amazing series Fat Friends, I presumed that The Syndicate was going to be more like Fat Friends, more comedy perhaps and although I love it, I presumed that Fat Friends must have been an ITV drama, because it was more light hearted and perhaps more closer to reality! 

New Coronation Street coming along nicely.

I have to tell myself that drama on tv isn't real, on a practically weekly basis! Living in Manchester means that I often bump into cast members from Corrie, and have to refrain from calling them their character names after all they are in my front room several times a week! This was more than testing when I literally bumped into John Stape in Topshop at the same time he was on the run from the police (on the soap) I was taken a back........ Then realised the whole thing is fictitious!  The lives of people on Coronation Street are crazy, and although based of reality all of the extreme events don't all happen to people who live on the same street all at once!!!!! 


This weeks highlights!! 

1.  The Matt Lucas Awards- Tuesday 10:35 BBC1 comedy awards with host Matt Lucas
2. Peter Andre- My Life Wednesday 9pm ITV2- love it or hate it Peter's life makes great TV
3. The Sinking of the Conordia: caught on camera- Wednesday 9pm channel 4- what actually happened, passenger stories!
4. The Sarah Millican Television Programme- Thursday 10pm BBC2- comedy chat show last in the series. 
5. Piers Morgans life stories- William Roache- Friday 9pm ITV1- set to be a very revelling interview start if the new series!

Just what makes good TV?

Love it or Hate The Only Was is Essex is a huge success, originally devised not for Essex at all, the program based on real people and their real lives in Essex…. And  I love it, but I believe that’s because I have watched it from the beginning, if I was to start watching it now I don’t think I would………Series 4 is long over but because TOWIE is continued though other mediums such as on Twitter and in the Papers it would make no sense for the program to pause between series. So ITV they have launched a Fresh out of Essex Webpisode……... Keeping its audience on track with what’s going on in the stars real lives.  I believe this is the trend many drams doc, dramalitly programs and documentary’s will follow soon.

This week I had my first experience of playing along with Million Pound Drop, and what a new age experience it was, and it got me thinking again about the changing way we not only watch TV but also participate in it…..and how interactive TV is taking over…….Channel 4 are the first to do this in terms of quiz shows with both, Million Pound Drop and The Bank Job offering the ability for the audience to play along at home and have their statistics read out live on TV…..of course participating in live TV shows has come into a new dimension recently with audience members have the ability to tweet and facebook and often fuel the conversation on programs such as This Morning. Have we become so dependent on the internet for TV content how would the programs suffer if the web went down?

Without working it out I guess I watch an average of 70+ hours of TV a week, not this week but as an average…….which probably means my £1 Television is likely to be destroyed very soon. This can be anything from soaps, to the amazing children’s programing that comes out of the BBC, E4’s American dramas, quiz shows, Dramality, real people documentary’s, cooking programs and drama.

            I am studying a media production masters and often contemplate… What makes great TV?

1. Makes you develop excuses as to why you can’t socialize when something ‘that good’ is on.
2.  Is constantly ticking around at the back of your mind wondering what will happen next episode?
3. Makes you want to be on TV.
4. The ability to make you feel every emotion know possible during a half an hour program.

1. Titanic: ITV1 Sunday 9pm episode 2 in the series (we know what’s going down but still worth a view nearly 100 years!)
2. The Tube: is available on Iplayer for a couple more days. Like Airport but a great documentary insight into the London underground network. http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01cl522/The_Tube_Episode_1/
3. The Undateables: Tuesday 9pm channel 4- the differences that disabled people face when finding love.
4. The Syndicate: BBC1 Tuesday 9pm- second episode in the series what will happen with the lottery win and more?
5. One born every minute, what happened next: Thursday 9pm Channel 4- revisiting the couples who gave birth on the program to see how they are finding parenthood one year on.