TV series, armed birds, unpresents, writing and not blogging

A few items from the web that caught my eye, in case you missed them.

A hit in the US, the psychotherapy drama has quality acting from Gabriel Byrne and Dianne Wiest and a great script. So why are UK networks afraid to commit to the couch? Clare Birchall examines the reasons why The Treatment won't be appearing in UK TV screens on The Guardian TV and Radio blog. Pity, as it sounds a good show. Maybe it will eventually be available on DVD. There's a comment to the post that made me laugh, by someone who could try reading a book or getting out more: "As usual, UK networks underestimate the audience's desire for intelligent, quality drama. We watch stuff like Holby City or Casualty because that's mostly what's on in the evening, but it doesn't mean we love it."

If you like Improbable Research, you'll know what to expect if you check out these armed bird photos (not babes with guns). I'm nost sure if this is more silliness or welcome sanity: Scott Adams's negative Christmas (or birthday): "rather than giving gifts, you can force a family member or friend to discard one item that he or she already owns. The selected item might be a hideous shirt that you consider an abomination, or that pair of bedroom slippers that are an insult to all footwear. The idea is that the unrecipient should be better off without the item you ungift."

As is well-known, more than 90 per cent of blogs last for less than three months, many of them only ever featuring one post - a bit like the diaries I started on 1 January when a child. The New York Times recently ran a feature on this statistic, which I idly read thinking it might contain some new insight on this old (internet timescale) chestnut. It didn't - people stop blogging because nobody reads their blogs, because they don't make any money at it, because their readers get too intrusive, because they get no comments, or for other predictable reasons. You might like to read one or two of the case-histories, though, which are mildly amusing, particularly the poor mystery author who was surprised to discover that nobody read her rants against the Bush administration.

Finally, a couple of useful posts for writers. Random Jottings reviews A Seriously Useful Author's Guide to Marketing and Publicising books by Mary Cavanaugh, which sounds pretty good, in particular this excerpt provided by Elaine (the reviewer): "A bookblogger is an independent person who takes it upon themselves, for no financial reward whatsoever, to post online articles about books they have currently read, mostly on a daily basis......their reading output is amazing.....as well as being devoted and fanatical readers, they also review books. The biggest breaks of my literary career were made by Book Bloggers and without them I would have got very meagre coverage in any sphere". Hear hear! And Jane Smith of How Publishing Really Works provides a very useful round-up of writers' forums, with a great set of comments providing feedback about these sites. Best comment (selected by Jane): "the major benefit in using writers' workshops is in the critiques you write on other people's work, not in the ones you receive.".

 

Comments

[Clare D]

Thanks Maxine - very useful, as usual. Sad about that psychotherapy drama - it sounds really good. I might watch that - Holby City and Casualty have never been to my taste, I'm afraid.

[Maxine]

Me neither, Clare! I think from the Guardian comments that the psychotherapy one may already be available on region 1 DVD (the US region, anyway) - so I would not be surprised if it gets a region 2 (Europe) release. I used to have a soft spot for Gabriel Byrne in the distant past when I went to the cinema - mainly for Defence of the Realm which I thought an excellent film, very well acted.

[Norm]

A brilliant comment on book bloggers because I sometimes think we are the only reviewers who actually read the books.

[Norm]

I watched Holby City for twenty minutes a few weeks ago and was astonished that it was on in a prime time spot.
Has our TV descended to this level?
Recent US TV series such as The Wire, Mad Men, The West Wing are so superior, and it is clear a lot of thought has gone into the casting of those programs. Not so on Holby!

[Bernadette]

I have got The Treatment on my queue for renting as I assume it'll never get to air here either. I adore Gabriel Byrne so am looking forward to it.

Isn't Scott Adams' marvellous? Even when I disagree with him I love the way he thinks. Negative Christmas sounded like a grand idea to me (being that I am the biggest Scrooge in these parts)

[Maxine]

Totally agree on Scott Adams, Bernadette - it doesn't matter whether one agrees or not with his point, he has such an original way of thinking. And so funny - I don't laugh at much but I often do at him.
Norman, I haven't seen Holby City and only a few episodes of Casualty back in 1989 or 1990, thereabouts, so I'm blissfully unaware. I agree that there are some excellent series on US TV but there must be a lot of dross, too. If you only judged UK TV on the basis of boxed sets like Little Dorrit or Dr Who you might think it was all good ;-)