The So How Did I Do This Time Post?

Now they've announced the new shows, it's time for me to see how good I was at predicting which new entries last season would show up...

NBC

The Event
What I Said: "Reasonable."
Was I Right? It turned out to be more than reasonable - Channel 4 took it.

Chase (retitled for the UK)
What I Said: "Pretty good."
Was I Right?: Yep - it was bought by SkyLiving (although the series has yet to be screened by them).

Undercovers
What I Said: "Better than my chances of having sex with Blake Lively. Much better. In fact, pretty much guaranteed considering past series."
Was I Right? Well, I certainly haven't boned Blake yet... but it hasn't shown up over here. Yet.

Law & Order: Los Angeles
What I Said: "Considering Hallmark, Five and Sky, it's not if but when."
Was I Right? Not at this point in time.

Outsourced
What I Said: "Not that high, I'd say."
Was I Right? Yes.

Love Bites
What I Said: "Very good."
Was I Right? Nope. Also, it's been relegated to the summer.

Outlaw
What I Said: "Could happen."
Was I Right? It hasn't happened.

The Cape
What I Said: "Good."
Was I Right? No, but with NBC and Syfy being in bed together I still wouldn't count it out.

Friends With Benefits
What I Said: "Do not count it out."
Was I Right? See Love Bites.

Harry's Law
What I Said: "All of his previous shows about the bar (with the exception of girls club) did..."
Was I Right? No.

The Paul Reiser Show (formerly Next)
What I Said: "Not great, Omid Djalili notwithstanding."
Was I Right? Yes.

Perfect Couples
What I Said: "Not out of the question - I mean, Rules of Engagement and 'Til Death did..."
Was I Right? No.

FOX

Raising Hope
What I Said: "As Possible Possum always put it, 'It's possible - it's possible...'"
Was I Right? Not so much possible as definite - Sky One bought it.

Running Wilde
What I Said: "Considering the pedigree, very good."
Was I Right? Will Arnett's last series, Arrested Development, was given a full repeat run on FX (Arnett and creator Mitchell Hurwitz came over to launch it). Running Wilde has yet to show up.

Lone Star
What I Said: "It just might."
Was I Right? It did - to Sky One, although it has yet to actually be shown.

Bob's Burgers
What I Said: "Not out of the question."
Was I Right? It also wasn't out of the question that it would join E4's lineup.

Terra Nova
What I Said: "Other than Invasion America, there are very few Spielberg TV productions that haven't come to the UK."
Was I Right? It's launching this COMING autumn, so...

The Chicago Code (formerly Ride-Along)
What I Said: "Three words - Ex. Cell. Ent."
Was I Right? Yes. Another one for the Sky lineup.

Traffic Light (formerly Mixed Signals)
What I Said: "One of the three friends is Kris Marshall from the long-running BBC sitcom My Family, so I'd say pretty good."
Was I Right? Like fellow Brit-starring US sitcom 100 Questions, this hasn't shown up here. Yet.

ABC

Body Of Proof
What I Said: "In its favour. Sounds right up Hallmark's or Alibi's alley."
Was I Right? Yes - Alibi bought it.

Detroit 1-8-7
What I Said: "Given that it stars Michael Imperioli from The Sopranos, I'd say so."
Was I Right? Was I heck.

My Generation
What I Said: "E4 or Fiver, maybe..."
Was I Right? Schedule filler being what it is, this could still arrive eventually.

No Ordinary Family
What I Said: "I'd bet on it."
Was I Right? I should have bet on it - it went to Watch.

Off The Map
What I Said: "Living, anyone?"
Was I Right? See My Generation.

The Whole Truth
What I Said: "Most lawyer shows do. As long as the programme buyers don't remember Justice..."
Was I Right? Apparently they did remember Justice.

Better With You (formerly Better Together)
What I Said: "It might."
Was I Right? It did, as the second new show on 5 Star (formerly Fiver, and the star in the channel's name is actually laid out as the internationally recognised symbol of a star - five points, the works - not as a word, but I can't represent it here thusly).

Happy Endings
What I Said: "I think it might, you know."
Was I Right? Not yet, but it started in midseason, so...

Mr. Sunshine
What I Said: "Chandler Bing and CJ Gregg? Count on it."
Was I Right? Er... no.

CBS

$#*! My Dad Says (formerly, as it were, Bleep My Dad Says)
What I Said: "I'd say pretty good."
Was I Right? Better than pretty good - this was the first new show on Five Star (see Better With You).

Mike & Molly
What I Said: "Living or Comedy Central, I bet."
Was I Right? It was Comedy Central. I should have put money on this one.

Hawaii Five-O
What I Said: "It'll be here. Aloha."
Was I Right? Yep; it was the very first of the new crop to find a UK home, on Bravo... although that didn't keep the station (and Channel One, formerly Virgin1) from being closed down by new owners Sky. Which is why the new improved Kono and the new everyone else are now on Sky One.

The Defenders
What I Said: "It might have to be a hit first."
Was I Right?: That didn't stop FX.

Blue Bloods
What I Said: "A cop show starring freakin' Magnum and Donnie Wahlberg, from graduates of The Sopranos (Robin Green and Mitchell Burgess) and Leonard Goldberg, who used to make some of the most famous TV shows ever in partnership with Aaron Spelling? I'll be surprised if this doesn't come over."
Was I Right?: Yep; it's been bought by Sky Atlantic. Even though it's not an HBO (or AMC, or even cable) show.

Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior
What I Said: "Unless Living and sister channel Virgin1 lose their minds, good."
Was I Right? Virgin1 is out of the picture, and it hasn't otherwise shown up here - but I bet it will.

The CW

Hellcats
What I Said: "Gimme an E! Gimme a 4!"
Was I Right? The series is a rare scripted show on MTV.

Nikita
What I Said: "Sky One? Syfy? Virgin1? Five?"
Was I Right? It turned out to be the channel that we now have to call SkyLiving.

The Bob's Big Boy Of Models Post.

In the first/only good Austin Powers movie, Dr. Evil uses a Bob's Big Boy as an escape capsule; when the enormous fast food logo is spotted and a technician says it's back, Charles Napier points out that technically the chain's never been gone.

Similarly, Cindy's two newest covers arriving virtually together - first for Chinese Elle...


and then for Mexican Vogue...


...have led to yet more discussion of Cindy being "back." But really, was she ever actually "gone"? Think about it.

Since having Presley and Kaia she's slowed down, and certainly she hasn't been as omnipresent as she was in the '90s - but though the days of the calendars and the MTV gigs are gone she's still a busy pitchwoman (most notably for Omega) and while she is, in a sense, to be congratulated for deciding to act her age and not behave as if she has to keep up with the Miranda Kerrs and Brooklyn Deckers, the guy in me wouldn't mind too much... well, wouldn't mind at all were she to make another visit to the men's magazine section (Cindy hasn't done a shoot with the Y-chromosome audience in mind since that Maxim one a few years back).

Then again, Kate Moss appears in butt-baring mode on another country's edition of Vogue to lesser effect (even without Ashley Tisdale having done a similar shot with much more enticing results in the latest Allure, Reed Richards and Inspector Gadget combined can't bridge the gap in looks between 45-year-old mother of two Cindy Crawford and the somewhat younger Kate). Cindy has nothing to prove.

The Family That Sells Together Stays Together Post.

Somebody I have to update Cindy's Wikipedia page to add a complete list of products she's sold over the years (everything from makeup to German banks). Many would say her Pepsi commercial with those two little boys is her finest work, so it's inevitable she should reteam with Pepsi for... water.



Propel Water deserves props for being responsible for the first ad in which all four members of the world's most gorgeous celeb family appear (Presley and Kaia have been in Pepsi and JCPenney spots, and future heartbreaker Kaia modelled for Melissa Odabash to some people's distaste). It is possible that somewhere in the US, there is a family watching this with members sighing over every single person in the above. Age-appropriate, of course.

The Double Bill Post.

Five Star had the right idea pairing $h*! My Dad Says with Better With You, as the former is indeed $h*! and the latter is better. That is all. (And what is it with JoAnna Garcia and series with uniform episode titles? First Privileged with "All About..." and now Better With You's "Better With...")

The You Lucky Bastard! I Hate You! Post.

My online friend Brandon, pictured here with Baby V. Fortunately he lives in California and I live in England, or I'd be throttling him in a jealous rage at this moment.

The Crawford TV-Spot Post.

The Antiguan Cindy Post.

These are for Deichmann shoes. Good luck in noticing the footwear. :)

The More They Stay The Same Regarding Bajan Censors Post.

Like most people who heard about it, I was not too happy about the Barbados film censorship board's decision to ban Black Swan from the cinemas there... technically the cinema, singular, since it'll be shown - if the appeal is successful - by Olympus Theatres in its multiplex; the Olympus is, I believe, the Vista of the present day. (The Vista was located around the posher, more touristy part of the island and generally showed more high-end fare like Reds and Private Benjamin.) It seems they objected to the film's much-talked-about Natalie Portman/Mila Kunis/makeout scene and blocked the release as a result, leading to the formation of this Facebook group, which I'm pleased to say I joined. (Brokeback Mountain got passed, by the way. The spirit of Queen Victoria lives.)

(Cedric) Best noted: "I think the film was censored because it was deemed not suitable for public viewing."

Which begs the question of why Death Warrant, Super Mario Bros., Predator 2 and other utter drivel were passed... I should note that it's hardly the first time such things have happened, which is to be expected given we're talking about an officially Christian (it seems that The Passion Of The Christ had an easier time than the Twilight movies, for instance - ludicrously, the former got a PG-13 rating, so either it was cut for that rating or...) and definitely conservative island. Among the more ludicrous cuttings that I was subjected to in my movie-going years there:

1. Removing the satirical advertisements from Robocop (although the violence, language etc remained intact).
2. Snipping all of Nicole Kidman's unclothed scenes from Billy Bathgate, which had the effect of making an already tedious movie even more boring.
3. Cutting language out of movies already passed for adults only (Harlem Nights, Roadhouse).
4. Blocking The Last Temptation Of Christ (never mind the fact that the movie - which really isn't for all tastes admittedly what with its pacing and all - is very, very much on His side).

And so on.

The Birthday Magazine Post.

First off, a very happy birthday 45th birthday to the wondrous Cindy Crawford!

Secondly, a not happy at all day to the person who tore some of Cindy's presence out of the first issue of Michigan Avenue before it was sold on eBay to me... NOT DONE.

The Spartacus Post.

Varese Sarabande head honcho Robert Townson celebrated his 1000th release by tackling a score he and many others have been jonesing for for decades - Spartacus. An epic undertaking with an epic set to match; Alex North's makes-Gladiator-look-like-crap music not only gets four discs to itself (two with the complete score in mono, one with all the surviving stereo cues, and one with alternates and preliminary material), but it also includes a double-disc tribute album - made up entirely of versions of the love theme (probably the first ever film music tribute album devoted to one composition) - and a DVD of the likes of John Williams, Alexandre Desplat and Mark Isham singing the praises of North and his music. With the addition of a 170-page book (not a booklet, an actual book) on the score, on North and with a bit of Townson self-promotion (other labels have done their bit in bringing out Alex North treasures, like Intrada's release of his original music for 2001: A Space Odyssey, but they don't get mentioned) that is the only blip in this work of genius, it's thoroughly, utterly recommended.