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Cat Deeley excited about UK TV return - she doesnt realise everyone else wishes shed stay away for good.

EXCLUSIVE: Cat Deeley excited about UK TV return

Wednesday, December 16 2009, 12:12 GMT

By Alex Fletcher, Reality TV Editor

Cat Deeley excited about UK TV return

Rex Features

Cat Deeley has revealed that she is excited about returning to UK TV with dance show So You Think You Can Dance.

Deeley has not had a regular TV series in the UK since she finished hosting Stars In Their Eyes in 2006. The former SMTV presenter has returned for one-offs such as Peter Kay's Britain's Got the Pop Factor, but has largely worked in the US, where she took over as host of SYTYCD in 2005.

"I love that I'm going to be doing Saturday nights on the BBC," she told DS.

"Having all my friends and family here, I just can't wait. It is nice being back home. I still consider the UK home. When I fly into LA, it still feels like LA. When I fly into London, it feels like home to me. You see the river, St Paul's, the wheel and it's 'Oh, I'm back!' It's like when you come back from holiday - you know you have had a great time, but you are coming home."

Speaking about the UK version of the reality series, she said: "It is a show that I know and love already - I've done six seasons of it now in the States. Fingers crossed, it will be equally big and as successful over here. But you never ever know. What works for one place may not work for another.

"But it has been a massive hit in America and Canada and Greece.... and Poland... and Australia. It's gone all around the world and the format clearly works, so fingers crossed it will work over here."

So You Think You Can Dance will begin on Saturday, January 2 at 7pm on BBC One.

via digitalspy.co.uk

Something about this woman really grates on me.

Filed under: Celebrities TV

I just love the IT Crowd.
via youtube.com

Filed under: Comedy TV

Heroes Nightmares
Ive finally caught up on Heroes. What with work and everything recently I had got a bit behind but now Im up to date - in terms of BBC terms (which I think is only a couple of episodes behind the US). First impressions? Im not sure to be honest. Season 2 took me a while to get used to, yet now I look back on it quite fondly as a thoughtful, 'discussion' based series. We got more depth to the characters and it provided a respite after the all-action series 1. Season 3, of which I am at episode 3, has done the same frustrating that that a lot of shows do ie Prison Break. Its dismissed and got rid of characters (admittedly who may return) for the sake of keeping the franchise fresh. Keeping in mind how far I am in the series and that this list may because defunct as the series progresses, heres my 'niggles' about what ive seen so far.
  1. Matt Parkman and Mohinder Suresh were enjoying being new age dads throught series. Molly now serves no purpose so shes quickly dismissed early on with the line "shes somewhere safe". How are we supposed to believe a characters emotions when they can change so dramatically ? Going from laying their life on the line to protect her, and "I'll never leave you', to getting rid of her in an instant?
  2. When did Mohinder cross the line into Nutty Professor? He was always the voice of reason - within minutes of the first episode, hed lost the plot.
  3. Along the same line as the Molly thing... Claire Bennett, so attached to West throughout series 2, has now forgotten him totally.
  4. Nicky Sanders. (Im aware this story is still developing but it strikes me as this) Series 2, they had no clue what to do with the Nicky character. Her strength powers were boring and split personality thing confusing. Series 3, lets change her powers with a twin Nicky arriving. Asking a bit much of the audience that one. And what happened to the muscle mimic she rescued from the fire? Either way, if Nicky was going to die, she deserved a bigger send off than that. Poor Micah. Lets hope they keep him.
  5. Sylar. I realise he will change and be an evil bastard again, but working with Noah? Come on!
My point here is that they seem, to me, have asked a lot of the audience. Not only are we being asked to forget characters we have invested time in, not only are we being asked to accept extreme character changes, but they then throw in a whole load of new characters in one go. Apparently being a Hero isnt that special anymore, it seems everyone can fire flames from their anus this series. Thankfully they let Hiro and Ando return to series 1 form... and as annoying as it can sometimes be, at least their characters are consistent and likable still. I really love Heroes, and Im sure by the end of this series I will think it has been fantastic. I just get annoyed at that moment when a new season begins, and the writers and producers expect the viewer to have a memory loss. Unfair.
Filed under: TV

Moonlight
I know it seems like I watch a lot of TV. That's because I do. And last night I plunged into another series, and its all a bit odd really. I've always been able to get into sci-fi. Space, aliens, flying police boxes... its all good with me and I easily become consumed by it. I've never, ever 'got' vampires though. I didn't watch Buffy and didn't have any interest in the whole phenomenon. For me I guess scary monsters crosses the line into something I cant relate to. However, i was pleasantly surprised by "Moonlight". I picked it on a whim from the 'on-demand' listing on BT Vision, and for the first few minutes of the pilot I was very very cautious. It all seemed to be trying a little too hard to be clever and stylish and yet at the same time it kept throwing in cheap vampire gags. However, by late on in the first episode, I found I was beginning to warm to 'Mick St John' and his life as a good vampire. The more vulnerability his character showed, the more likable and watchable he became. I quickly moved onto episode 2 and was really glad to see it all settle down. The story was an interesting twist on the standard good versus evil vendetta, and Alex O'Loughlin really started to pull it out of the bag in terms of the vulnerability factor. Its clearly early days for me and this series, but it may just have turned around the whole vampire/fantasy tv genre for me. All they need to do now is drop the cheap vampire gags. Bloody awful.
Filed under: TV

Prison Break: Back on Form
Just to add to my last post about Prison Break - Season 4, its worth saying episode 2 is a definite return to form. The drama is back, the cliffhangers are back, and it has returned to a more subtle storytelling style compared with the first episodes slap in the face "this is whats what" style. Good to see the subtle introduction of a new character too! James Hiroyuki Liao as Roland lightened the episode and immediately became a likeable character. I have to say though, as much as I like Sara, and missed her in season 3, she seems a bit of a spare leg at the moment. Good to the show back on form though - Im definitely looking forward to the rest of the season now the clean up is over.
Filed under: TV

Prison Break: The Big Clean Up

 So it's back. And it works like this. Episode 1: Let's clean up all the shit left behind by the prematurely cut short season 3, set up a new premise to drive the season, and introduce all the old favourites to make sure everyone keeps watching. Dont get me wrong, I really like episode one - it was great to have the show
and characters back again. The contrivances to get us to the end of episode one at a point where we have all the drama set up for the rest of the season was a little too much though. Season 3 wasnt that bad, but someone somewhere assumes it was, based on viewing figures Id imagine. So within half hour we've supposedly wiped out Gretchen and definitely Whistler, the driving forces behind season 3, and we've brought back Sarah, the driving force of Seasons 1 & 2. All evidence of Season 3 is now removed from our minds by the company. It couldnt be more obvious that they are saying to the viewer "Please forget and forgive us for Season 3 and invest in Season 4 again. Thanks" And the thing is, I will. I like the style and the never ending hugely contrived "cliffhangers". I like the mysterious, but ever so slightly silly "company" stuff. I like dumb-ass Linc going round killing everyone who waves at him, and Sucre harping on about Monte Cruise. In the end Ill watch because I like the characters and thats based on all three seasons that went before. The show is always going to suffer because its orginal idea is now a distant memory, but with stong characters we care about, it can succeed again. I think I just felt a little 'miffed' that the time I invested in Season 3 was unceriomoniusly wiped from my mind in an instant.
Filed under: TV

Doctor Who Movie?

 Well according to the new boss, Steven Moffat, it could be a real possibility.
"I'm not against it. I don't think it's the most important thing for Doctor Who. A movie is one 90 minutes a year. So yes, so long as it never gets in the way of the show. If it gets in the way of the show that's appalling.
With David Tennant in the lead role, some good writing, and a ton of money thrown at effects, this strikes me as a really good idea. Maybe also a way of bringing Donna back too? Or is that just me be obsessional. Full article HERE
Filed under: Doctor Who TV

X Factor and the end of summer...
It's that time again. Another year has gone by and the X Factor has returned to TV and I don't care what TV snobs say - this is the ultimate in reality tv talent shows, brilliantly put together and endlessly entertaining. Nothing in it's genre tops it. The bonus this year is that the witch that is Sharon Osborne has been dropped in favour of Cheryl Cole, and it already appears a very good move. Not for a second did I miss Sharon - the program in fact feels fresher and sharper without her whining and screeching. Throw in on top of that the brilliant Holly Willoughby presenting the ITV2 support show and we have an Autumn tv schedule to look forward to. XFactor Saturdays have come to mean darker, chilly evenings, the start of winter, and the run up to Christmas when the series ends, and I cannot wait to enjoy every moment! Sad maybe, but who cares! TV for the masses at it's best.
Filed under: TV xfactor

BT Vision

 Theres something about BT its hard to like. I think for years we've all assumed we were being screwed by them with bills and service and so its pretty much ingrained on our brains. When i first took up the offer of BT Vision - their IPTV solution - I wasnt really very hopeful.. Having had it for 6 months now I have to say I was wrong to doubt. I really like the service. I mean really! So many times I have sat at friends or families houses flicking through their Sky channels (yeah I know we're a chatty family) and cannot ever find anything to settle on. However the On Demand element of BTVision really has done away with this problem when Im at home. So much TV past and present is available literally at the press of a button, theres alwas something to watch. Throw into that mix the TV Replay with all of last weeks TV on BBC and Channel 4 ready for selecting and you have a good package.
 I very quickly selected a subscription package so that I wasnt paying for every individual programme, and £14 a month for what you get, in my opinion is excellent. Impressive to friends and family is the ability to also select, on demand, music videos whenever you want....its a visual jukebox! The downsides? Well in fairness any failings are outweighed by the benefits, but if I had to pick anything Id say maybe the software is a little flaky (the box reboots randomly) although this is more down to the Microsoft software than BT. The only other failing is what any UK BT subscriber has come to expect - the poor customer service. On ringing them, the staff read from a script and have very little knowledge outside of this script. When ordering the Setanta Sports viewing card, (which I am assured will arrive within days) the card fails to arrive with BT providing excuses until a month later its here. There are reasons to dislike BT, but BT Vision isnt one of them. Id recommend it.
Filed under: Technology TV

Dull Daleks Pt 2

 OK, so the second part was better. The Daleks still bore me but the second part of Evolution of the Daleks had all the stuff they held back from the first part, and they even threw in some heart too. (Unfortunately the feeling of deja vu was also very strong however ie. stomping humans who have been converted to Daleks/Cybermen - we’ve been there before….) But on the plus side the emotion was back - David Tennant is now a master at the "I lost Rose" look - the jury is still out on Martha Jones for me though. Couldn’t help thinking Frank the Yank would have been a good one to drag into the Tardis as a companion though. The trailer for next week looked impressive though.. time will tell…
Filed under: Doctor Who TV
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