The Star Online: Entertainment: TV & Radio
The Star Online: Entertainment: TV & Radio |
| 'Daily Show' host Jon Stewart to direct movie Posted: 05 Mar 2013 06:55 PM PST LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Comedian Jon Stewart will take a break as host of satirical television news show The Daily Show beginning in June to direct a serious film about a journalist's imprisonment in Iran, network Comedy Central said on Tuesday. The exact dates of Stewart's hiatus have yet to be finalized but he will miss eight weeks of original episodes of the popular show that has turned the 50-year-old comedian into a prominent political and social voice. British comedian John Oliver, 35, who is also a correspondent on the Emmy-winning series, will fill in as host while Stewart takes a break from comedy to direct his first feature film - Rosewater. The film centers on Canadian-Iranian journalist Maziar Bahari who was working for Newsweek magazine when he was arrested in Iran and held in prison for four months following the country's disputed 2009 election that drew mass protests against the government. Stewart also wrote the script for the adaptation of Bahari's 2011 memoir Then They Came for Me: A Family's Story of Love, Captivity and Survival. The book details Bahari's imprisonment, which he said included beatings and psychological stress. The comedian became linked to Bahari after an interview the journalist gave to one of the program's fake correspondents ended up as evidence the Iranian government used to accuse Bahari of espionage. Bahari was freed on US$300,000 bail in October 2009 and left Iran. Comedy Central is owned by Viacom. |
| Posted: 06 Mar 2013 03:31 AM PST British TV has more to offer than just Downton Abbey. BRITISH shows are simply wonderful. The actors, participants or contestants in most British shows – except, perhaps those in Downton Abbey (Diva Universal) – are usually "real people", the kind that one would not be intimidated by if one were to bump into them on the street or at the grocery store. You know, people who don't look like any of the Kardashians, the Hiltons, the Jonases or ... Nicki Minaj (now that would be one scary encounter). Yes, the folks in shows like River Cottage: Summer's Here (Asian Food Channel), Murdoch Mysteries, Miranda, Lewis, Coach Trip, Are You An Egghead?, Britain's Best Dish and Come Dine With Me (all on ITV Granada) are more about the content and less about the look of the presenters or actors. Okay, perhaps Are You An Egghead? – a quiz show from 2008/2009 that pits really clever contestants against even smarter people for the chance to be the best ... quiz team (no, seriously) – doesn't actually have the kind of content that would appeal to the "regular" viewer, but if you're a sucker for really hard quizzes then you'd enjoy this. It's a tad boring, though, as it's all business and no flash unlike American quiz shows like Who Wants To Be A Millionaire and Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader. If, however, you prefer something less ... tiring on the brain, then check out the Come Dine With Me series – the one that's currently playing on TV is Come Dine With Me Ireland. Each week, the show features four strangers who will host a dinner for one another in their own homes. At the end of each dinner, the three invited guests will score their hosts based on the menu, quality of food, entertainment and the host's general hospitality. When everyone's done hosting, whoever has the highest score is rewarded with £1,000 (RM4,700). The best thing about the show is the narrator, Dave Lamb, who is just wonderfully sarcastic! The contestants themselves don't hold back when giving comments, and are not afraid of showing their "real" self – most are a little quirky, some are boring and a few, creepy – not just to their guests but to the camera, too. Sometimes, you wonder if the contestants even realise that they're being filmed. At the end of one Come Dine With Me Ireland episode last week, a cheeky little song came on and it goes something like this: "You have a face for radio, but I know you like to think you're the best in everything...". Funny. Also on the funny side is Miranda, a British sitcom created by and starring comedian Miranda Hart. The show made its debut in 2009 and is currently in its third season in Britain. In Malaysia, what we're now getting is a re-run of the first season (it was shown sometime last year). The sitcom is loosely based on Hart's personal life and features actors Sarah Hadland, Patricia Hodge, James Holmes and Welsh actor Tom Ellis, who has starred and guest-starred in countless TV shows, and appeared in movies like Buffalo Soldiers and Vera Drake. There are a lot of things that make Miranda a fun watch. There is the central character herself, who is a 185cm-tall woman who is so uncomfortable with her size and social ineptness that she jokes about them all the time in order to, well, be comfortable. With her unbearable little mother always on her case about her career (she wants Miranda to have a "proper" job even though the former owns a joke shop) and love life (she's worried that no one will ever marry her "giant of a daughter"), Miranda seeks solace in her best friend Stevie and Gary, a guy she fancies who works next door to her shop. At the moment, Miranda and Gary's relationship is just starting to blossom, and it's cute as cuddles! Not so cute last week, however, was the movie Kill Bill, shown on Ntv7. Quentin Tarantino's two-part, cult favourite of a film is infamously known for its violence. Despite the fact that the movie shown on public TV was heavily censored, there were still some scenes that were pretty graphic with its depiction of violence, but not so terrible that an average viewer couldn't handle. These scenes were also integral to the story so cutting them out would mean screening a film that was totally incoherent. Kudos to Ntv7 for putting it at a later time slot, but perhaps a rating would help unknowning viewers figure out just what they're in for (Kill Bill Volume 2 is on this week's schedule, by the way). While we're on the subject of movies, the original Karate Kid was shown on HBO last week and it definitely brought back some fond "wax on, wax off" memories. Also on the nostalgia trail is the Bond movie Live And Let Die (TV2), starring Roger Moore, as well as the numerous Tan Sri P. Ramlee films that channels like TV2 and Astro Prima screen on the weekends. These gems, along with a few other choice movies that were on last week's schedule – American History X (Cinemax), Wall-E (Fox Movies Premium; this movie has been shown repeatedly but it's still good) and Layar Lara (Astro Prima) – do make up for irksome shows like Here Comes Honey Boo Boo (Discovery Home And Health) and The World's Richest People (TLC). Seriously, do we really need to have a show that follows the misadventures of a seven-year-old beauty pageant "veteran" or one that highlights how extremely rich people go about their daily lives? We already have problems keeping up with the countless Kardashian series on the E! channel, folks. n A big thank you to those who tweeted @MyStarTwo with their TV show suggestions. One stood out – a Canadian police drama called Flashpoint which used to be on HyppTV's schedule. We'll be on the lookout for it if it ever returns to the schedule. In the meantime, keep those suggestions coming! |
| Posted: 06 Mar 2013 03:31 AM PST A former lawbreaker takes on a new identity in Banshee. IF you need a reason to watch Banshee, let it be the awesomely good looking, oh-so-gorgeous Antony Starr whose incredibly beautiful blue eyes just pierce right through your soul. Erm, did I miss anything out? He's really hot, just in case I didn't make that clear enough for you. Oh, and it also helps that the storyline is pretty solid ... so far. Maybe you should watch the show for that reason as well. Starr plays an ex-convict (they are yet to reveal his real name on the show) who spent 15 years behind bars. What do most bad boys do when they finally get out of prison? Yes, they go looking for their ex-girlfriends who left them to rot in prison while they take on a new persona, settle down and have kids. That's what happened to the nameless ex-con's ex-girlfriend Anna, who married a lawyer and now goes by the name Carrie Hopewell (Ivana Milicevic). The ex-con finds Carrie, and a whole lot of trouble, in the Amish town of Banshee in Pennsylvania. It's obvious that the lead character attracts trouble wherever he goes, and the same happens in Banshee, when the town's new sheriff gets murdered while taking down some baddies. The nameless dude and Sugar Bates (Frankie Faison) – the owner of the bar where the incident happens – manage to cover up the deaths. It so happens that no one knows that the new sheriff, Lucas Hood, was already in town and the only person who's expecting his arrival had never seen him before. So, with a dead sheriff and no other job prospects waiting, the nameless ex-con decides to "become" Lucas. Of course, the only person who knows that he's faking his identity is Carrie, but she's in no position to call him out on his lie. Through the show, viewers slowly learn that ages ago, Lucas and Carrie were hardcore thieves who stole valuable diamonds from their former "employer", Mr Rabbit (Ben Cross). And Rabbit is one unhappy bunny as he is now hell bent on finding the duo and making them pay for their treachery. While the bad guys are hot on his trail, Lucas finds himself a new enemy in Banshee. Kai Proctor (Ulrich Thomsen) is a dirty businessman who didn't really accumulate his wealth by being nice to people. With lots of illegal activities on his colourful portfolio, Kai is on the police's most wanted list, but unfortunately, with no solid evidence or witness, they are unable to throw him behind bars. Lucas' unorthodox way of dealing with the local baddies soon lands him on Kai's bad side, who grows angrier by the day as the new sheriff shuts down his illegal operations one at a time. Taking Kai down isn't the only thing on Lucas' to-do list as he professes his undying love towards Anna/Carrie, who may be hiding the fact that her first born actually belongs to him. So much drama for such a good-looking guy ... don't worry, nothing fazes our hero and there is no problem he can't solve – be it in love or war. And there is not one moment where he doesn't look good on screen either. I checked. If there's anything that needed to be said about the acting on that show, well, somebody give Starr a Golden Globe award and an Oscar while they're at it (yeah, I know it's not a movie but who cares). The only thing that could be of concern here is how the creators of the show (they're the same people behind True Blood) are going to keep the story going. It can only be so long before someone who knows the actual Lucas Hood shows up and figures everything out. Oh well, there's still time for that and until then, there's nothing left for us to do but to sit down and watch Lucas (the fake one) fight baddies and look good while he's at it. New episodes of Banshee air every Friday at 11pm on Cinemax (Astro Ch 412). Reader response can be directed to entertainment@thestar.com.my, or via Twitter (@MyStarTwo). |
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