h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Aww.

I wouldn't have included him here myself because he wasn't someone who was important to me in any way.

Yeah... I wouldn't have thought you would. I grew up watching reruns of Gilligan's Island and for a short while Dobie Gillis. I didn't figure either of those got much attention across the pond. I'm rarely familiar with the names listed here.

We got a long list of classic US sitcoms that I remember from the 60s - Car 54 Where Are You, Bilko, My Favourite Martian, My Three Sons, Petticoat Junction, Get Smart, Bewitched, F Troop, Run Buddy Run, Beverley Hillbillies, Green Acres, The Munsters, I Love Lucy, The Addams Family, Mr Ed, The Dick Van Dyke Show... and those are just the ones I can recall off the top of my head. And we also got Gilligan's Island. And the one set in a German POW camp which we've spoken about often, and the name of which escapes me

I recall, from when I was maybe seven or eight years old, that Monday evening between 8pm and 9pm seemed to be American sitcom night; it was certainly before I was 11 because I remember where we were living at the time and how old I was when we moved to another place. That was the regular slot for My Favourite Martian and Run Buddy Run, but there was a rotation of several others.

You have no idea how many theme tune earworms are flying around my head now

the one set in a German POW camp............ Hogan's Heroes

That's the one

The Log Lady
http://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-34389296

I'm not sure I could watch Twin Peaks again now. It was very much of its time, or rather, of my time, at the time. Maybe I'll come around to it again one day.

Twin Peaks is the reason I never watch shows like Lost.

Quirky intrigue, keeps the audience guessing, twisting plot lines... meh.

Actually, I like that style a lot, but I've learned my lesson.

I watched Fargo this year and loved it. I'll watch the upcoming series of Fargo as well.


Here's the big difference. Fargo has a complete story. It will finish at the end of this series. If they have another season, it will have a new story. Twin Peaks and Lost had great first seasons that sucked viewers in. But then they were picked up for indeterminate numbers of further seasons. The writers never were sure if the season they were currently writing were the final season so the plot lines went off the rails. When the shows finally ended, mainly due to flagging interest, the remaining viewers were left completely confused. They were left with nothing but loose ends.

I now have contempt for David Lynch. He doesn't give a damn about coherent stories. He makes beautiful messes. I got suckered into watching Mulholland Drive. It was critically acclaimed. Even though it was originally meant to be the pilot for another Twin Peaks show and he made the film as a complete film rather than as a mere pilot, IT STILL MAKES NO SENSE!

Gordon Honeycombe
http://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-34485074

From the days when (apart from the "And finally..." bit of News at Ten) the news actually meant something. And newsreaders sat down. And the news wasn't 'sexy' And it had a proper theme tune http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=swMDE4K3Iwc#t=2m35s (from about 2m 35s if that link doesn't take you straight there).

Jim Diamond
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-34495175

I never cared too much for I Should Have Known Better, but I Won't Let You Down is one of my favourite songs from 1980s http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7UHXEQSXaZ4

Here's the spooky thing (or Lettice O'Coincidence, depending on your point of view). I have thousands of songs on my laptop, most of them transferred from a previous machine, and I take it into work with me at the weekend cos I'm the only one there and I can listen to my heart's content. Unless I want to listen to an entire album I always have it on random, and last weekend it randomly chose I Won't Let You Down, which I hadn't heard for probably ten years

Geoffrey Howe
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-34495827

The only reason I include him is because of his action as a catalyst in this: http://pbs.twimg.com/media/CRCH76wUcAARVcS.jpg:large (It's one of my own pictures, not a dodgy link).

Reading through the o'bitcheries on the Independent website I found one I missed somehow.

Richard Davies
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/richard-davies-character-actor-best-known-as-sarcastic-mr-price-in-sitcom-please-sir-a6706811.html

Peter Donaldson
http://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-34707749

I think 'Voice of Radio 4' is a bit strong. I'd go for Charlotte Green. Ooh, would I go for Charlotte Green

Blimey, things have livened up a bit in these parts (no pun intended).

Colin Welland
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-34711578

He's probably known most (leastways, outside the UK) for *that* acceptance speech at the Oscars (Chariots of Fire), but I'll probably watch one of two things he was in tonight - either Kes (I think I have a copy of that) or Blue Remembered Hills (I definitely have a copy of that. Probably). And those are just two of the fine productions he's been in.

Tom Graveney
http://www.bbc.com/sport/cricket/34716024

Every sport has names associated with a period in the past when it all seemed less bussinesslike and more sportsmanlike. When winning was nice but not so important. And neither was money. Tom Graveney is of that time.

I've seen _Kes_.

I remember. I thought of you when I wrote that.

George Barris
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/george-barris-designer-who-created-the-batmobile-and-the-munster-koach-and-helped-define-californian-a6724961.html

No, I'd never heard of him either until I saw the headline. But I remember the Batmobile

And the Munster Koach, of course. I wonder now, who created the Monkeemobile.

I'm pretty sure I saw a story about it on TV. I think the Batmobile and the Monkeemobile were designed by the same guy...

....They were, but his name was Dean Jeffries. The Batman TV series schedule was bumped up and Jeffries was paid off and Barris took over.