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MSN TV Blog: The Remote ControlBoxing clever about the world of TV with the latest TV news, TV reviews and TV gossip.
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November 20 Danyl threatens to quit X FactorIs the pressure getting to Danyl Johnson? Stories are emerging in the papers that's he's threatened to quit the show on two occasions. According to The Sun. He's said to be at "breaking point" after a change of song just 48 hours before tomorrow's show. Danyl - who apparently stormed out of a practice session - has been criticised by the other X Factor judges for being "cocky". Credit to his mentor Simon Cowell who has continued to vigorously support him on the show. It's like Arsene Wenger and Arsenal - he'll never criticise his players in public. And if Henry was still playing for my beloved Gunners, I'm sure Wenger would swear that he didn't see that handball. Back to X Factor and landing in the bottom two - and consequently having to sing for his survival - was the first major knock to his confidence. He's said to have told producers he'd had enough days afterwards.
 Now we're hearing reports of a clash between mentor and hopeful over the song for this week's Wham theme. Danyl, 27, has apparently convinced Simon to let him attempt Careless Whisper.
A show insider said: "Simon was surprised to hear Danyl had thrown the strop and told him to come to his office. They thrashed out a plan and decided he should do Careless Whisper as he'd practised it for an earlier show. Danyl's ego is out of control. He's rivalling Mariah Carey in the diva stakes. He's so desperate to win he can't keep a lid on his temper. He acted really badly the other night, stropping off like that and not telling anyone where he was going. His arrogance needs to be kept in check. He hasn't won the show yet and the way things are going he won't win it."
Well, well, well. It's all a far cry from the day Danyl gave X Factor its water cooler moment. Quirky and original, his version of With A Little Help From My Friends was unforgettable; he interacted with the audience, he sat on stage, he flirted with every female in that room (watch the look on the faces of Cheryl and Dannii). Little wonder he got a rapturous standing ovation and a unanimous four yeses. Simon said it was the best first audition he'd ever heard.
Danyl Johnson became a massive YouTube sensation and he appeared on American TV. Since then, it's all gone wrong. He appears to be imploding. Maybe he peaked way too early.
Today I am mostly lovin' - Sky1's hilarious sitcom Modern Family. Last night Ed Norton appeared on the show (because he's a huge fan too). He played a member of Spandau Ballet, which is hysterical in itself, but they even went as far as mocking up a picture of the group (and inserting him in!). I totally cracked up when they played True. Got to say, I wasn't crazy about Ed's minging Brit accent. It was ear-bleedingly bad.
The star of the show is Manny (superbly played by little Rico Rodriguez). He's the one I look forward to seeing each week - who da Manny!
November 06 Gest who's popping up at Jackson's séance? Both programmes will be presented by broadcaster and music fan June Sarpong. I worked with June back in our Kiss FM days and she's a wise old head on young shoulders - always has been. That's why I'm very surprised to see her name on these shows. I never thought it would be her kind of project. Still, a girl's gotta eat. So if you tune in, what will you get? According to the press release, the programmes "aim to give fans a final chance to connect with their hero, himself a firm believer in psychic ability." Derek Acorah will lead proceedings in the hour-long live séance taking place in Ireland. The venue was familiar to, and previously inhabited by, Michael Jackson so his attempt to contact the music legend will have an added twist. Stuart Murphy, Director of Programmes for Sky said: “There is an insatiable appetite to find out more about Michael Jackson. He was an extraordinary figure and the curiosity surrounding his life – and his death – stretches well beyond fans of his music. These programmes will explore whether it is possible to make contact with Michael and will seek to give his fans new insight into their idol.” June Sarpong commented: “I’ve always been a huge Michael Jackson fan, he truly was the King of Pop, and I was shocked and saddened by his sudden death. I think viewers will find this programme intriguing and will want to tune in to see what happens. It’s the first time I’ve done anything like this but I’m open minded and can’t wait to see what Derek uncovers.” Writing in his blog, Derrne Brown said of the planned live séance: "Can you honestly imagine anything - anything - more anus-invertingly unpalatable than this? I hate myself for drawing attention to it." I kinda know where he's coming from...
Today I am mostly hatin' - Sorry Darren Gough, but your Costcutter advert is cringe-inducing. MSN Editor Coops Share It
November 01 Time for Doctor Who and Gavin & StaceyAnyone that knows me will tell you that I am hopeless with time. I always think that I have more at my disposal than is actually the case. I think it stems from my childhood; my primary school was across the road from my house - five minutes walk. And yet I was often late, usually arriving way after the school bell rang. But anyone that knows me will tell you that there are five things I am never late for: 1. the hairdressers 2. hospital/dentist/doctor 3. weddings 4. football 5. press screenings/interviews.
I have a paralytic fear of being late for press screenings. I literally break out in a cold sweat at the thought. When I worked as an editor on MSN's Movie channel, I attended loads of press screenings. Having looked after MSN's TV channel for a couple of years now, I can say, without hesitation, that TV press screenings are on West Indian time ('soon come'). They hardly ever start when they're supposed to!
A case in point. Last week, I attended the press screenings for Gavin & Stacey and Doctor Who episode The Waters Of Mars. Neither started on time. The former was at a very plush hotel in London's Bayswater. Just as well they kept us wined and dined (hors d'oeuvres - lovely onion bhajis) while we waited.
We were shown the first two episodes of the third and final series. Gavin (Mathew Horne) starts his new job but the move to Barry Island means big changes for Stacey (Joanna Page) and the entire family. Smithy (James Corden) questions his friendship with Gavin, along with his own role as father to baby Neil.
Nessa (Ruth Jones) is also adjusting to new circumstances. Pam (Alison Steadman) and Mick (Larry Lamb - so much nicer here than in EastEnders) have to get used to an empty nest. Gwen (Melanie Walters) has a full house again and Bryn (Rob Brydon) is just as protective as ever.
It's the little moments in Gavin & Stacey that make it such a riot to watch. Of course it's well written, acutely observed and blessed with fantastic characterisation, but it really is the little moments that do it for me. I don't want to say too much because I'd hate to spoil what's coming. Suffice it to say that I laughed my a**e off really loudly at a couple of scenes in each episode. They're just classic. And anyone that knows me will tell you that once I start laughing like a drain, it's time to evacuate the planet.
On to Doctor Who and there are no words for how awesome David Tennant has been in this role. It's so sad that we're on countdown to his departure. Funnily enough, since the screening, I've been flashing back to the first time he made me sit up and exclaim, 'who the bloody hell is that!!!?'
It was the night Casanova first aired on BBC Three in 2005. As the world's best known and most notorious seducer, David Tennant brought an irresistible playful sexiness to the role. And let's not forget his wonderful comic timing which has so enriched his portrayal of the Time Lord.
So the venue for The Waters of Mars was a hotel in London's Soho; the cream of the media's TV/arts press was out in force. Oh, and yours truly too.
I was at Boyd Hilton from Heat magazine's table. I tried very hard not to eavesdrop on his conversation (loads of gossip!) but he had to shout to be heard. It's not my fault if I caught snatches of what he said, is it? Unfortunately, I can't repeat so don't ask. When we eventually took our seats for the screening, Russell T Davies and David Tennant bounded into the room. Mr Tennant looked ever so dapper in his striped suit.
The Waters Of Mars got underway and is it wrong that my heart flipped when Peter O'Brien (Shane Ramsay in Neighbours) appeared on screen? I've got a soft spot for the glory years of Neighbours.
 After the credits rolled - there was a stunned silence. Then rapturous clapping. We were asked for questions and... silence. "Nobody's got any questions?" said an amazed Russell T Davies. "Give us a moment to recover from what we've seen first," piped up a journo from the Daily Mail (at least, I think it was the Daily Mail). Yes people - it's that good. The Waters Of Mars actually took the breaths of an entire roomful of journalists away.
Asked if some kids might find it too scary, David Tennant pointed to the Harry Potter books and films concluding that it's along similar lines. A playful Russell T Davies added: "Yes, and if any don't watch, I'll slap them!"
Talking about the episode, David Tennant also said: "It tells a different sort of story, I think. It's not the standard sort of structure. The Doctor knows he's running against his own demise." Russell T Davies added: "The chickens are coming home to roost. Well, outer space chickens!"
Asked how he felt about leaving the role behind, David Tennant acknowledged the poignancy of it all but professed a great deal of excitement too: "We'll tell a big old farewell story and then hand it on in rude health. I'm thrilled that it's carrying on."
Gavin & Stacey airs in November on BBC1
The Waters Of Mars airs November 15 at 7pm on BBC1
A list of the fab TV coming this November: including I'm A Celebrity and Spooks
Today I am mostly loving - Arsenal 3 - Spurs 0. Take that Spuds! Sorry Famouseccles my Spurs supporting mate. Hope you're in good health. Still trying to get you your Last of The Summer Wine stuff. :-)
Today I am mostly hating - If I see that cash4gold advert one more time, I'm climbing into my TV and getting Medieval on everyone in the commercial.
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October 28 Streaker targets The Wright Stuff The Wright Stuff, Five's early morning talk show presented by Matthew Wright, usually comments on stories making the news. Today, the show itself became news thanks to serial streaker Mark Roberts.According to The Sun, he ran onto the live studio set, completely starkers, this morning at 9.45am. Matthew Wright was in the middle of an apology after guest panellist Hardeep Singh Kohli, lately reporting on The One Show, uttered a naughty word. Fans of ITV1's This Morning will have more reason than most to remember Mark Roberts; he swam, completely in the buff, onto weatherman Fred Talbot's floating map in 1995 and enacted Talbot's trademark leap from Scotland to Ireland - naked.
The Wright Stuff crew dealt with the incident quickly enough to avoid camera men inadvertently broadcasting the streaker's floppy bits to the nation (during half-term too!). Matthew Wright's guest, Hardeep Singh Kohli, Craig Kelly and Gemma Bissix saw the funny side of the episode.
However, Matthew Wright didn't: "You're an idiot. You're the worst streaker I have ever seen!" he said. After everything was in hand (so to speak), he added "Just goes to show how quickly middle-aged men go downhill. Oh dear that rather spoilt things. No willies on this show." Other famous targets of Mark Roberts', who has streaked nearly 400 times, include Paris' French Open tennis final in 2003 and an Anna Kournikova match during Wimbledon in 2000. Share It
October 23 Nick Griffin's having a laugh on Question Time When I was growing up, I quickly learned to cross the road whenever I saw a group of skinheads. I recall the National Front distributing leaflets outside my school. I remember Blair Peach, the school teacher from New Zealand who died during a demonstration by the Anti-Nazi League in 1979. I remember the shooting of Cherry Groce and the death of Cynthia Jarrett and the London riots of the early 1980s that were sparked as an indirect result. I will also never forget Stephen Lawrence. So yeah - I don't exactly embrace the British National Party. Or any form of extremism come to that, whether it's based on race or religion. I don't agree with a goddamn thing Nick Griffin says. But he does have a right to his opinion.
Like it or not, he was democratically elected as the Member of the European Parliament for North West England. The people that voted for him should be able to see him engage in political debate - even if it's on the BBC. But more importantly, it's the people that didn't vote for his party that need to hear what he has to say. As well-intentioned as the objections from the likes of long-time anti-Apartheid campaigners Peter Hain and Jerry Dammers of The Specials were, personally, I don't agree with them.
I want to know what I'm up against. For that reason, I'm glad the BBC didn't back down. I agree with their stance on this matter. To the show itself. The panellists were Jack Straw (Jewish), Sayeeda Warsi (Muslim), Chris Huhne (that surname doesn't sound Anglo-Saxon to me) and Bonnie Greer (black American Anglophile) - who was placed next to Nick Griffin (white skin. But who knows what his heritage is? Does he?).
Loving the work of whoever did that. Can you imagine said person organising a dinner party? They'd probably put Peter Andre next to Katie Price.  On a side note, can I just say that I love Bonnie Greer's hair? If I ever get to meet her, I'll broach the subject of the role of women in Richard Wright's classic novel Native Son and then I will ask her who does her hair.
Then again, she'll probably tell me that she does it herself because she's all dat and a bag of chips. Can you tell that I admire Ms Bonnie? So back to the show and emotions were running high - I swear I could feel the nervous energy coming out of my TV set. I'm a David Dimbleby fan; I thought he did an admirable job chairing the discussion and keeping it on track. Can you imagine this same panel but with the late Sir Robin Day in the chair? I'm drooling at the thought.
Naturally a great deal of the questions were directed at Nick Griffin, who spent most of the night denying quotes attributed to him: he didn't say that black people walked like monkeys. He never said "Thank you Auntie" because the Beeb had let him on the show. He didn't say that Adolf Hitler went "a bit too far". What the flying duck did he say then? The (very mixed) audience didn't let Nick Griffin get away with everything, although when it came to the subject of immigration and migration, Jack Straw wasn't off the hook either. One of the questioners asked if the success of the BNP could be explained by the "misguided immigration policies of the government."
Let's just say that Mr Straw's dithering answer was far from convincing and leave it at that. Be prepared - that's the Scout motto. Pity Jack Straw ignored it. He knew he was sharing a platform with Nick Griffin - did he not think that the question of immigration would come up at some point? If you're going abroad, you don't leave your passport at home.
Similarly, Jack Straw should've explained the government's stance with conviction to shut Griffin up. He didn't. In fact, his performance on the whole was largely ineffectual. And some people wonder why the BNP gets votes. It's partly because the mainstream parties are failing to engage with the grassroots in constituencies up and down this country. And they're failing to connect on the issues that matter to those voters. Thank the lord for the calm, intelligent Bonnie Greer and her courteous, patient handling of Nick Griffin. She treated him as if he was Harry Enfield's Kevin The Teenager – it was pretty funny. After yet another spurious assertion about Britain's racial background, she even invited him to visit the British Museum (of which she is the Deputy Chairman of the Museum's Board of Trustees) to learn the anthropological history of Britain. With a few choice words, my girl exposed his stupidity far better than all the politicians on the panel combined.
Truth is, Griffin talked a load of codswallop. Like so many politicians, he's a bloody hypocrite too. What's a man like him, a man who wants the UK to be 'all white', doing begging Muslim, brown-skinned Libyans for money to fund his ideologies? Can any of you BNP voters see the logic in that?
When caught out like a deer-in-the-headlights, he resorted to bouts of slimy, insincere laughing. I'm not talking a little titter either – I mean great, big belly chuckles complete with clapping. He looked like a braying seal. This happened on a number of occasions. It was weird. It made him seem less like a dangerous threat to British democracy (to sum up the view of opponents to his Question Time appearance ) and more like a buffoon. Which is exactly what he is – a prize idiot.
The water cooler moment came from an Asian man who began his question: "Dick Griffin... I mean Nick." Dick Griffin is now a trending topic on Twitter; I kid you not. The man went on to passionately declare his Britishness before launching into the topic of repatriation. "Where do you want me to go?" he asked before striking the killer blow. "You'd be surprised how many people would have a whip-round to buy you a ticket and your supporters… to go to the South Pole. That's a colourless landscape, it would suit you fine." Booyakasha!
And so Question Time raced to its end (where did all the time go?) and the credits ran and the world didn't end. So now we can get back to more important issues like who's gonna win X Factor and why do the people behind that Tena advert think that a woman painting a man's toenails will make incontinence pads sexy?
* please keep comments clean or your post will be deleted.
Today I am mostly lovin' - Found a tape with loads of old episodes of Neighbours. Paul (Robinson) and Gail (Lewis) had that will they/won't they thing going on. I'm a sucker for unresolved sexual tension - one reason I'm so hooked on House. Today I am mostly hatin' - Actor Stephen Graham has hit out at the lack of investment in quality British drama. He's "gutted" about the demise of Jimmy McGovern's The Street - aren't we all...
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