Screenwipe

Charlie Brooker is the somewhat overblown, misanthropic host of BBC 4's Screenwipe. A show that spits much needed postmodern deconstructionist invective at the telly, with Charlie's added snark. To steal a phrase, it's fucking brilliant. David Spade's Hollywood show is pretty good, but this really takes the piss out of all the smoke, mirrors, marketing, artifice and product placement that is television.

Screenwipe guide to television. This long but totally worth it. I promise!


Screenwipe make up their own version of the Apprentice, called the Unloser.
Part I


Part II


Part III


Animal Hospital


Upcoming shows, sat. nite shows, icons on the screen, Last of the Summer Wine


First episode, first ten minutes.

My Super Sweet 16, etc

Go to Youtube and do a search for "Charlie Brooker", or "Screenwipe" and watch bits of the show.

Brooker photo courtesy, The BBC
Thanks to Alexis and Kyle for the initial heads up.

But I thought she was American

Minnie Driver. I thought she was American. The few things that I saw her in, Return To Me comes to mind(sorry), she did not have an English accent. Turns out, she's from London. Found out about that when she was on Fresh Air, or something. She's also a very accomplished musician, which she did before getting into acting. She and fellow Brit, Eddie Izzard both have various accents on The Riches, since they're Irish Travellers.


Which leads me to this tangent: English actors who can mimic convincing American accents. I started noticing English Actors who are able to do good American accents a long time ago. Many, over the years, have done the southern accent. I can't refer to anybody specifically, maybe Roddy McDowell, in some movie, or TV shows. For some reason, in the past, English actors gravitated to a southern accent. Not sure if it's easier for them, or they just like the sound, or what.

English actors with American accents have built up over the years and now there's a bunch of them on American TV. And they don't have southern accents.


I started watching Bionic Woman and fell in love with Michelle Ryan. I'm a sucker for brown hair and blue eyes. So, when I check out her IMDB page, I find out she's english. Huh. Her Jaimie Sommers character is accent free. She's still teh hott, English, or not. However, I'm in agreement with my friend Bill about Bionic Woman, not great, but not bad and Katie Sackhoff is a great baddie. Ryan did get to talk in her natural accent in the last episode where she plays an English exchange student.


Before that, I started watching another NBC show, Life, starring Damien Lewis. I really like Lewis, but I'm not wild about his character in Life. I first remember Lewis in HBO's Band of Brothers WWII mini series. In Life, he's an American cop in LA. The stories are pretty good. I've seen him in more films with an American accent, Dream Catcher and the afore mentioned films, than I have seen him perform in his own natural voice. It was weird to see Lewis in behind the scenes footage for Brothers, speaking with his normal English accent.

So, yeah, there's a bunch of Limeys running around, that sound like Yanks.

This post may be my most linktacular since I started the blog. Dynamic links are the only HTML I know.