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What is the best UK show no one knows about?

What is the best UK show no one knows about?

In the past few years, British series (first comedies and then dramas) have become increasingly popular in the US. From poor US adaptations (imitation is the sincerest form of flattery) to broadcasting the original (on PBS or BBC America), the American public is recognizing that there may be TV quality beyond its borders. Yet, with limited (legal?) access to the wide variety of British dramas out there, most of the quality programming from across the pond still has a niche audience.
So what are you missing out on?
This post is based on little-known shows that have yet to be broadcast on American screens (with one exception). That means that, no, Sherlock is not gonna be on this list. Neither are Luther or Downton Abbey. In addition, this is only about current UK series, so no House of Cards or Coupling.

Special mentions:
The Hour (by Abi Morgan)
Sadly canceled earlier this week, the show still has two good seasons behind it. It stars Dominic West, Ben Whishaw and Romola Garai and is set in the mid-1950s at the BBC (around the Suez Crisis).
It is true that the first season was broadcast very recently on BBC America (and the second is co-produced by them), but despite this, the show remains fairly unknown at large.
Some are describing it as the UK version of Mad Men, which I can understand if only for the time-frame of the series. Beyond the 1950s angle though, I feel the stories are usually more engrossing than its American counterpart, but maybe that’s the setting. I’m a fan of any show that can handle TV production in a topical manner while still maintaining some level of objectivity. Honestly, you should probably give up Newsroom for The Hour.
Sorry Sorkin.

Mr. Selfridge (by Andrew Davies)
Coming back from a long break due to–let’s just say mercury poisoning, Jeremy Piven stars in his first British drama.
The show is already being compared as “the new Downton Abbey,” which, beyond its period aspect, is ridiculous.
Newsflash: any serial will have some soapy element to it (like all the shows on this list), especially one set in a novelesque period like the early 20th century.
The show follows Piven as Harry Gordon Selfridge, an American commonly known in the UK for having founded the Selfridges department store. It is interesting to see the actor in something a little different from what he’s recently been known for (either Entourage or Old School). To be fair however, Selfridge is kind of the 1900s version of Ari Gold. Maybe this is some kind of parallel universe spin-off.

Cuckoo (by Robin French & Kieron Quirke)
Let’s put a comedy in the mix. Once again, the cast speaks for itself: Greg Davies (from Inbetweeners fame), Helen Baxendale (Emily from Friends) and, wait for it, SNL‘s Andy Samberg as an obnoxious American. That’s right, Samberg is shedding his Lonely Island skin to jump in something actually fresh. The pitch is very simple: Set in the West Midlands of England, the parents of a teenager learn that she got married to a hippy-like American. Although a fun comedy, I have the same issues with the series as with FX’s Wildfred. I can enjoy the humor behind the concept as well as some of the comedy, but it does get tiring after a few episodes. Unlike Wilfred, the show has only six episodes so one can easily finish the season.

Dancing on the Edge (by Stephen Poliakoff)
Here’s the third period drama on this list. I sense a trend.
Before talking about the show, let me just list the cast:
Chiwetel Ejiofor. Matthew Goode. John Goodman.
Anthony (ex-Stewart) Head. Jacqueline Bisset. *mic drop*
That alone should make you want to tune it to, at least, the pilot.
The show focuses on “a black jazz band in the aristocratic world of 1930s London.” It may not sound like the most compelling logline ever, but the grandiose of the time and engrossing plotlines pull you in (plus, again, superb cast). I widely prefer it to the latest season(s) of Downton Abbey (sorry, I’m not that interested in Bates’ prison routine).

At this point, I also wanted to give a nod to a few UK dramas from the past couple of years that have since ended, but should still be recognized for their quality.

The Shadow Line (by Hugo Blick)
First I need to acknowledge an awesome 2011 British mini-series by Hugo Blick, also featuring Chiwetel Ejiofor. The show stars on top of that Christopher Eccleston, Rafe Spall, Stephen Rea and Richard Lintern. Pretty solid casting if you ask me.
Since I’m lazy, I’ll just quote Wikipedia as to the show’s description: “The Shadow Line is about a murder investigated by both sides of the line – police and criminals – and the opposing methods they use to solve it. But the real line is the morality within each character and how far they will go before they cross it”
Sounds like The Departed/Internal Affairs. It kind of is, but with seven episodes, you can guess that it goes deeper (not like Inception). It opens on a murder, and from there everything goes to shit. Shadow Line goes dark with pretty much no redemptive value for its characters (no white knight here). You’ll probably end up hating (or at like dislike) most, if not all of the people, but the story is so engrossing that it does not matter in the end.

Inside Men (by Tony Basgallop)
This mini-series came and went with four episodes starring Warren Brown, Ashley Walters and Steven Mackintosh (who looks like a British Dylan Walsh). Like anyone who knows me can tell you, I like structure, especially when it is played with successfully. Inside Men pulls the trick of telling a fairly classic story (armed robbery) in a very interesting way: flashbacks and flashforwards. Yes, I do enjoy my time jumps and flashes. In this case, it works really well as beyond simply witnessing the robbery itself (which legitimately should not last more than an episode or two anyways), we go through the events that lead up to it, as well as the aftermath (going months after). For such a short series (again, four episodes), Inside Men was very entertaining. Warning: the ending may disappoint some people (I was).

There you have it.
Almost.
There’s one more show.
*anticlimactic drum roll*

And the best UK show no one knows about is…

Black Mirror (by Charlie Brooker)
[Alright, alright. I’ve been talking about this show for the past two years now, so you probably already know about it. Doesn’t matter because, despite my incessant need to mention this show, most people have no idea what I’m talking about. Plus it is legitimately (one of?) the best show on this list.]
So, what is Black Mirror?
Simply put, it’s an anthology series. Like all good UK series, a “season” is only made out of three episodes (albeit 1-hour instead of 90-minute movies like Sherlock).
As soon as you mention anthology series, The Twilight Zone and The Outer Limits are brought up. You can calm your excitement because Black Mirror has virtually nothing to do with either. Although Twilight Zone/Outer Limits (and even Tales from the Crypt) were structured around some kind of moral wrapped in a (literally) fantastical metaphorical tale, Black Mirror is more about the unease in our current modern life.
I probably lost half of you with that sentence, but it’s way more interesting than it sounds.
Black Mirror oftentimes likes to take one aspect (or problem) of our technological culture/future and turn it up to eleven. The most obvious example is undoubtedly “The Entire History of You,” the third episode of the first season, which takes the concept of life-logging to its extreme. In a future where everyone has an implant capable of recording every sight & sound one experiences, a man goes crazy trying to figure out if his fiancée is cheating on him (by reliving memories).
Surprisingly, Robert Downey Jr. optioned this particular episode and is planning to make a feature version of it. Honestly, I’m not a big fan of the idea simply because it’s rarely a good idea to beef up a novella into a full novel. On top of that, I think the 2002 movie The Final Cut did a brilliant job of turning a similar concept into a thriller piece.
Going back to Black Mirror.
The first episode of the second season premiere this past week. Unlike the first season, the show doesn’t seem to go in as bleak a direction. As Charlie Brooker said:

We’re trying something slightly different. I didn’t want them to all just be bleakly depressing. One of them doesn’t have that much dread in it, and one of them has more dread than you’ve ever seen, so we’ve portioned out the dread in slightly different quantities! Last time there was always a point where someone smashes everything up in a rage, and they don’t all reach that point this time around. A couple of them are slightly more delicate, and then there’s one that’s a right old fist in the face.

I’m personally very interested to see what this very, very bleak episode is going to be like.
In addition to using “near-future” tech in pretty much the most realistic portrayal I’ve seen on TV, Black Mirror is truly about characters. The most successfully emotional scenes are the ones with only two characters interacting, bare bones. It may sound ridiculous to think that such a high-concept series is that good, but Charlie Brooker and his writers are excellent at capitalizing true human emotions and real drama out of preposterous concepts (I can’t bring myself to pitch you the first episode).
This is the ultimate example of the oft-repeated adage: ‘It’s all about the execution.’
That is why Black Mirror is the best UK show currently on TV.

Financial Creativity

Financial Creativity

The concept of “free Internet” is probably one of the biggest debates of this century, whether on the net-neutrality front or a more direct access to content without ridiculous fees.

You may have noticed at the bottom of my posts a new little button: Flattr.
As previously mentioned, this is to bring the idea of social micro-donations forward, especially within a creative context and towards creative people.
The concept of Flattr is simple.
You set a monthly donation limit, say $15, that you put on Flattr.
Then you go about your online life. Browsing, clicking, reading, viewing, listening.
If you encounter compelling/insightful/interesting/cool content, you click on the Flattr button on that post/site (equivalent to “liking” something).
At the end of the month, the donation is split between all the Flattr content you selected. If you clicked on 10, they would get $1.50 each; 100 is $0.15. You get the idea. Clicking a Flattr button never increases the fee/donation you’re paying, it merely splits it. Sharing the love.
Sadly, there is not a true 100% thru-rate in terms of incoming donation. Meaning if you’re the recipient of said donations, you only get 90%.
To be honest, those 10% fees are still lower than any other content distributor out there.

If we take the obvious example of music, last year, TuneCore issued a guide online on “13 different ways to make money from your songs.” The company has arrangements with online digital music retailers (Amazon MP3, Napster, iTunes, etc.). Here is the document:

Interestingly, they do not specifically list fees for sales on, say, iTunes. Only royalties and the like.
It turns out that for a single song price of $0.99, $0.34 goes to Apple with 12% of the leftover wholesale markup going to the artist (in this case $0.10).
In other words, nearly 35% of the price you pay on iTunes goes to Apple with barely a tent of it going to the artist.
For a self-released MP3 download on iTunes, you can get up to $0.68, which is a huge improvement, however there are many, better options out there if you are going to self-release online.

A study by Professor Peter DiCola from Northwestern showed last month that only 6% of the “average share of music income” of musicians comes from sound recordings.
Here’s the fancy graphic:

Of course this is merely based on non-major record artists (since we are here talking about an independent aspect to creativity). Bands may make most of their money via tours and merchandising, but if a direct service of customer-to-content exists, the financial incentive to self-publish becomes greater.
One may say that name recognition is another factor on why “small-time” artists end up going through TuneCore and the like to “self-publish.” Yet, it is doubtful that iTunes gives any publicity leg-up to unknown bands.
YouTube isn’t even better with its sponsors and revenue dependent on views and clicks.
Ultimately, the services offered for small artists to monetize their content are rarely worthwhile.

Which brings us back to Flattr.
This entire post may seem like either some kind of ad for Flattr or a way to desperately monetize the blog.
It is neither.
For one thing, I don’t expect to make any money from Flattr. I assume only a fraction of people reading this (if any) is going to visit the Flattr website, let alone register, put money in and click back through my blog. I’ll be publishing any results (or lack thereof) in the coming months. The system is also very European-oriented (the default currency currently used is the Euro, not the Dollar).
More importantly though, I’ve been hosting on my own dime this pretty big website, with no ads, for almost five years now. Clearly if I wanted to monetize the site I would have done so a long time ago.

I simply really like the concept of Flattr. Beyond the social aspect given to micro-financing, it is, in my mind, a way of reinventing the way any creativity can be rewarded online.
In addition to the possibility of offering a direct monetization of creative content, such a social micro-donation service allows virtually anything to be financially helped. Anything can be “Flattrd” (especially through browser extensions).
Even a funny tweet, interesting video, or cool picture.

Unsurprisingly, the European-bent to the company is due to its founder, Peter Sunde (aka brokep) from Finland.
In case you’re not familiar with him, Peter Sunde is one of the co-founders of the notorious Pirate Bay website (one of the biggest BitTorrent trackers in existence).
[Speaking of, I definitely recommend the new documentary “TPB.AFK” about The Pirate Bay. Despite the name, the focus is not on the website itself, rather the three men behind it and their struggles with the copyright/judicial system. Big studios are clearly losing billions based on illegal downloads. Right?
Tying back to this theme, Flattr is also mentioned in the movie.]

Microloans have already changed the world. Micro-donations have the potential to change the way we interact with what we consume online, from articles to media.
This is a social financial experiment in creativity.
Although Flattr may not take-off in the States, I do believe in the idea behind the company.
This is not about what it does right now; it is about what it can do.
Viewers, readers, listeners able to directly reward and interact, one-on-one, with creators of the content they find most compelling, entertaining, engaging.

Isn’t that what a free Internet really is about?

Tips and stories from around the Web: Comic-Con 2011 Edition

We might be bitching about the ridiculous price of the tickets (especially next year’s) or the hotels, but Comic-Con is ultimately a celebration of — well, I’d say comics but we both know that’s not true anymore, so, let’s just say, a celebration of pop-culture mostly for the fans (and the pros).

As this will be my first trip to the Con, I did a bit of research to find some tips and guides.
Needless to say, I found several very interesting ones:
– Kotaku ran an article last year not necessarily on tips about the con itself, rather tips about travelling to it (and in it). Still a very interesting read.
– Another “Top 10” list to mention is the POVonline convention guide.
– If you’re a Flash fan, then you must know Speed Force. What you may not be aware of is that they published amazing suggestions “for making the most of comic conventions.” It’s all based on personal experience from the author and it has a lot of handy nuggets of information.
– I can’t list great Comic-Con guides without mentioning Shouting in the Wind’s own post. It pretty much answers most of the questions anyone has about attending the con. There’s usually an update every year, though I’m linking last year’s guide since, as you can guess, sadly no ’11 update has been made for now.

A lot of these tips may seem a tad redundant, but it’s pretty clear you can’t go to Comic-Con unprepared.
Three key suggestions seem to emerge:
Pack for the day with food and water, be ready to walk/stand in line with comfy shoes, and, perhaps most of all, have a hand sanitizer. I know I will.

With all of that said, I must also talk about one extremely exhaustive guide/tip-list stands out above all the rest.
I am of course referring to The Comics Reporter‘s own 150+ Tips For Attending San Diego’s CCI 2011.
That’s right, the website has over 150 tips, and these are definitely not one-liners. Warning: given its extensiveness, the page is pretty long.
This is clearly a must-read for any attendee, especially the first-timers.

I also thought it’d be a good idea to link in this post several other websites which are great source of intel about the convention.
– First up is SDCC Blog, an unofficial SDCC blog self-described as “the ultimate source for all things SDCC.” Although it’s not as “ultimate” as they seem to think, it is still pretty comprehensive. The most notable part of the site is its dedicated off-site events page.
– A great “counter-point” to this website is Comic-Con Geek, which also provides news on the subject, often more extensively.
– Finally, we have The Beat which has a dedicated Comic-Con section and often brings amazing insight into the con and news around it.

You should also know that the official San Diego Comic-Con website is full of amazing guides, from maps of the convention floor and shuttle information, to exhibitor listings and schedules.

If you’re interested in what my panel schedule will look like (I know I am), here’s a link to MySched–or what’s left of it.
Some panels still interlap as I’ll probably be deciding last-minute for those.
Obviously, it’s mostly a wish-list, since you can never tell how everything is going to go down.

I’m also hoping for some kind of ‘LA TV Writers’ meet-up to be organized.
And if yourself are attending the Con, you can always shoot me an e-mail!
If nothing is ultimately planned, I’ll probably tweet up something around Saturday, maybe a screening of a crappy pilot — or an impromptu get-together…
After all, isn’t that the point of a convention?