DarrenByrne.com

Part of me would love to see Sarah Palin show up on Saturday night Live to do her own spoof take on Tina Fey. It’s a funny and clever premise. The other half of me thinks anything that could potentially help McCain‘s campaign should be crushed immediately.

Rumours are still circualting that she may appear on SNL shortly. Slashfilm has it here, and this morning Palin said she would love to appear on the show. However Hollyscoop (nope I’ve never heard of them either) say it’s unlikely (ish).

What do you think? Good idea? Bad idea?

Here’s Tina Fey’s impression of Mrs Palin.

Lottie will be taking over the reigns held last week by Deborah on Avoiding Life and AJ on LeCraic the first week, to live blog tonight’s episode of The Apprentice Ireland. Tune in to TV3 at 9 this evening with laptops at the ready to praise, ridicule, berate and critique the contestants this week.

Show up and support Lottie – she’s nervous. 🙂

After my recent punnery on the show’s title, I discover that one of the greatest TV shows ever is returning. The Krypton Factor, which originally ran for 18 years and finished in 1995, will return for a new revamped series next year.

ITV say it will be harder and include the latest technology to create a new show for the 21st century. I’m excited. I think the only thing better would be news that they are bringing back The Crystal Maze.

A few things that made me happy today:

Firstly, there is a new series of Heroes starting on September 22nd. If we just ignore the last series, this has the potential to be the greatest thing this year. Ever. Ahem, here’s the trailer:

Secondly, and sticking with TV, there’s a new series of 24 starting next year, but on November 23rd there’s a made-for-TV movie that will bridge the gaps between series 6 and 7. Bauer is back! It’s called 24: Exile and here’s the excellent trailer:

As I surfed around the Interweb I came across something that makes every cat owner go “Oh my God that’s so true“. It’s a new episode of Simon’s Cat:

Pure genius!

Anyway, sorry for the excessive Video-linkery. Normal longwinded ramblings will return shortly.

Update: The musical, Wicked, is being made into a movie. More happy news here.

I watch a lot of TV (well, strictly speaking I buy boxsets and download a lot of TV shows to watch, but you get the idea). I love television and always have. It’s one of the things Lottie and I most enjoy doing together. We’ve watched entire series over a weekend and took less than a month to watch every episode of the new Battlestar Galactica so far. Earlier this year we saw West Wing from start to finish and have found Boston Legal too.

We love Heroes and Doctor Who is religiously followed. We found Lost and lament the loss of Studio 60. Torchwood is brilliant and Ashes to Ashes is an admirable follow on to Life on Mars. House and 24 are pure genius. The more recent Pushing Daisies and Reaper have so much promise.

Sometimes we don’t always agree though. I despise Smallville and, while I think if Lottie was honest with herself she would admit its crapness, she still keeps up to date with it. The OC was shockingly poor and I’m glad Lottie no longer has it to watch. I don’t really follow Prison Break or Bones, but they’re not that bad.

Thankfully, we both agree that One Tree Hill, The Hills, Hollyoaks, most reality TV shows, Grey’s Anatomy and many more are awful.

Then there are those shows that we haven’t gotten around to yet, but probably will: The Sopranos, Weeds, The Tudors, Rome, Nip/Tuck (the later series).

For the most part, I avoid chick-targeted shows, but Desperate Housewives and Ugly Betty do catch my attention – they’re just so funny. And that brings us to the newest show we’ve started to watch. Gossip Girl is a TV spin-off of the series of books by Cecily von Ziegesar revolving around the lives of socialite young adults growing up on New York’s Upper East Side who attend elite academic institutions while dealing with sex, drugs, jealousy, and other teenage issues. I guess it’s maybe a US take on Channel 4’s Skins. It’s a surprisingly clever show which has characters which are slightly less two-dimensional than the usual US show. I think it’s caught my attention because it feels like a natural follow on from one my favourite movies, Cruel Intentions. We’ve watched just the first three episodes, so it may all go horribly wrong, but for the moment I’m enjoying it.

But, of course, all of this pales into insignificance when we remember that Rose returns next Saturday night. Who knew Billie Piper would become one of the most iconic characters in a TV series ever. Rose Tyler returns to Doctor Who at the earlier time of 6.40 on Saturday on BBCOne. Here is a preview:

Sir Tom Stoppard, one of the world’s most celebrated and influential playwrights and author of the fantastic Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, will be one of the highlights of the Dublin Writers Festival which runs from this Wednesday to Sunday in a number of locations in Dublin City Centre, including the Project Arts Theatre, MacNeill Theatre, Morrison Hotel, FilmBase, Peacock Theatre and Irish Writers’ Centre

On Friday at 6pm, Tom Stoppard will be in the MacNeill Theatre in Trinity College and if you would like a pair of tickets to attend this unique event, it’s very easy: just leave a comment and tell me why I should give you the tickets. Are you a Stoppard fan? Are you an avid reader and want to attend something at the writer’s festival? Are you just curious? Perhaps you just find Tom Stoppard extremely sexy? Whatever your reason, this is a great opportunity to witness first hand the mind of a a literary genius.

Click on the programme for a better idea of what else is on at this years Festival or click here or here for more information.

Dance your cares away
Worries for another day
Let the music play
Down at Fraggle Rock!

The Fraggles are back! It seems Jim Henson and the Weinsteins are making a Fraggle movie in which the Fraggles venture out of their caves to visit the human world.

For those of you who don’t remember the Fraggles, they were Muppets that came in a wide variety of colors and had tails that bear a tuft of fur on the end. They lived in a system of caves called Fraggle Rock that were filled with all manner of creatures and features. Fraggles lived a very carefree life, spending most of their time playing, exploring, and generally enjoying themselves. They live primarily on a diet of radishes and “doozer sticks”.

Dance your cares away
Worries for another day
Let the music play
Down at Fraggle Rock!

Work you cares away!
Dancing’s for another day!
Let the Fraggles play!
We’re Gobo, Mokey, Wembley, Boober, Red!

Woweeee!
Wow-eeee!

“Ooooh a Fwaggle! Hehe, hey look Ma, I caught a Fwaggle!”
“Ahhhhhhh!”
“Wahhhhhhhhhhh! Woopee!“

Dance your cares away
Worry’s for another day
Let the music play
Down at Fraggle Rock!
Down at Fraggle Rock!
Down at Fraggle Rock.

For more details see Variety.com or check out the Wikipedia

It’s tough to admit, it’s a dark disturbing and, some would say, sickening secret – I’m a Eurovision fan.

Some of my fondest memories of being a child include being gathered around in front of the TV excitedly watching the results of the Eurovision each year. We would shout at the screen, place bets (I won over three pounds one year!!), and laugh at the awfulness of most of the songs.

As I’ve gotten older, my interest wained and I missed the show entirely for a year or two, but in 2006 I got hooked again.  It’s criminal that LT United’s We Are the Winners didn’t win, and wonderful that Ireland was the only country who got the humour enough to give it 12 points.

This year, however, humour, irony and social commentary are nowhere near good enough reasons for putting that awful piece of shite, Irelande Douze Pointe, into the competition.  I, for one, will be hoping we don’t even make it to the final.

It won’t stop me watching the show though!!!

I love this show!!

I have just started to watch Battlestar Galactica on the recommendation of many people, most recently Lette. It seems to be everywhere I look at the moment, due to the start of the new series. Anthony has been twittering about it, Bock is giving up his political commentary to devote his time to it, Sarah Carey of GUBU is in a similar situation to me, Alexia is already talking about a prequel, even Will Wheton‘s life goes on hold for BSG!!

So, how have I missed this show? I’m a sci-fi fan, I watch far too much TV, and yet, I have let this incredible show slide by.

I never had any fond and fleeting memories of the original 70’s show. I knew of its existence, but didn’t know much about it. When the ‘re-imagined’ show began, I watched a half an episode one evening and didn’t understand what was going on (Gaius Baltar was in two places at the same time and having a bunch of conversations at once – it was too much for me). It is only now when the excitement over the new series became infectious that I wanted to find out what I was missing.

Last week, I bought the new series of House and a boxset of the first three series of BSG (including the mini-series) and I have been engrossed in it since then. I am currently half way through the third series and my interest hasn’t wained even slightly. The only negative thing is the freaky BSG dreams I had on Sunday night. I may be OD-ing a little on Adama and his crew.

I love Lost, I think it’s a great show. It’s different and while it may be full of typical Hollywood hunks and beauties, it doesn’t generally conform to the typical US TV Show standards.

The ppls that gave us Weebl and Bob have asked the question, what if JJ Abrams wrote the show like everybody else in the US media? Would this be the opening titles of Lost?

I guess this is in addition to my ambassadorial post on Monday.

Doctor Who rocks and the new series begins on BBC One, Saturday evening at 6.20.