Greenlit: Russell Brand: Give It Up, BBC3

Russell Brand: Give It Up  (1 x 60′) – Following on from his critically acclaimed documentary From Addiction To Recovery, Russell has spent the last 18 months finding out more about addiction treatment around the globe, and investigates how we might best improve treatment for addicts in the UK. The film sees Russell concentrate on […]

Greenlit: The Feed, FYI

The Feed w/t (6 x 60′) –  Part road show, part buddy comedy, part talk show – this is a deliciously inventive new series celebrating food in all its creative, ingenious glory. Three unique and distinctly opinionated hosts – culinary expert and Top Chef judge Gail Simmons; rock star super-chef and The Taste judge Marcus Samuelsson; […]

Historical Facebook

Ever wonder what the world would have been like if Facebook had been around hundreds of years ago? Me neither. But someone obviously has. Check out updates from God, Abraham Lincoln and the Titanic here.

Reimagining the World’s Populations

Someone has assessed the populations of all the countries in the world and reorganized the map to put the countries with the largest populations in the countries that have the largest land mass. The USA, Brazil, Yemen and Ireland all stay where they are but everyone else moves around. Pakistan moves to Australia and Canada […]

Old Men in Speedos

Apologies in advance to those of a nervous disposition, but I couldn’t resist the Ronseal-titled Old Men in Speedos. Don’t pretend you don’t know what you are getting yourself into. via @ajtesler

The People of Walmart

For some reason someone has been photographing shoppers in Walmart. The result could form the basis of a great What Not to Wear: Extreme Edition.

Awkward Pregnancy Photos

If you are expecting a happy delivery from a stork in 2011, don’t forget to document your pregnancy bump. Pregnant chicken has assembled some fine specimens… The naked-upside-down-man-bump-combo is particularly arresting.

Wait, What?

Take peek at Wait, What? to see the intriguing and amusing, “last lines of hypothetical conversations you wish you were a part of”. For example: “… so I spent the next 3 hours plucking shards of glass out of my own head and the prick never even sent a thank-you note.”

Educational Posters for Doctors

B3ta challenged people to design posters for doctors to display in their waiting rooms. Very amusing they are too. See the best here.

TV Development and Pitching 101: Do You Have What it Takes?

Not everyone who makes it into a commissioner’s office exhibits the ideal qualities for a successful pitch (and that goes for people on both sides of the desk). I’ve attended countless development meetings and I’ve come to recognize the recurring characters who inhabit Development Hell. Which one are you? Click through and take the quiz to find out. (Photo by DVIDSHUB CC BY 2.0)

Be sad: get ice cream

You need one of these in your office… British artist Demitrios Kargotis, has invented Dr. Whippy, an ice cream machine that asks you several questions to ascertain how stressed you are and then dispenses a dose of ice cream depending on how stressed or unhappy you are – the more in need of cheering up, […]

How to Build a Marshmallow Tower

On the marvellous TED Talks Tom Wujec reveals how a team-building problem involving dry spaghetti, a marshmallow and one yard of tape reveals that toddlers are more creative and collaborative (and successful at solving the problem of building a tall tower with the marshmallow at the top) than MBA students. Fortunately for us, architects and […]

Hot Guys Reading Books

So we’ve had property porn and weather porn – here comes new something to fuel your acquisitive aspirations and and put you in awe of the beauty of nature: Hot Guys Reading Books. It is one of those ideas that is so simple and so obvious that it is complete genius (and it’s a blog […]

Development Insider: Commissioning Steers

Back by popular demand is the Development Insider who tells it like it is. This week, commissioners get skewered:

Sky recently revealed they want “dynamic and challenging subject matter about the contemporary world.” Bravo declared that “programmes need to stand out; we want ‘did you see?’ moments that will get people talking.” Five “want to tackle mainstream subjects in interesting new ways and find talent that help pull an audience to our shows.” No shit… (Photo by das.viereck CC BY-SA 2.0)

People of Public Transit

A little frivolity for the end of the week that will make you think long and hard about your pubic image and wardrobe choices for next week’s commute. People of Public Transport is user-generated photo site that documents strange sights on planes and trains. My favourite is this photo, which defies concise description, so you’ll […]

Five Worst Reality Shows That Actually Made it Onto TV – According to Gawker

Snarky website Gawker has done a round up of The Five Worst Reality Shows That Actually Made it onto TV My Bare Lady – Fox Reality; Ty Murray’s Celebrity Bull Riding Challenge – CMT; The Search For The Next Elvira – Fox Reality Channel; Transamerican Love Story – Logo; Space Cadets – Channel 4. Looks […]

Tired of London

If you are heading to London and need some offbeat, and reliable, suggestions of things to do, or are a Londoner all out of ideas what to do, check out Tired of London, which lists one new idea of something to do each day. Current suggestions include: Eat pie and mash at F. Cooke’s in […]

Regretsy

Etsy is a brilliant place to pick up handmade, artisan-crafted gifts. Unfortunately, like …. Got Talent there are a number of people trying to sell their wares who have an inflated idea of their abilities. Check out the worst on Regretsy.  Among the safe for work items featured is a goat coat, a pair of […]

Cat Craziness

Thrillist found a site dedicated to mad, bad and sad cats doing evil or having evil done unto them. There’s a naked man in a shower with a cat, a cat attacking a baby, cats in fancy dress and a Russian skydiving cat. Don’t ask why, I don’t know. See more. Watch the Russian skydiving […]

Crazy Classifieds

Trendhunter has gathered together a collection of strange and disturbing classified ads, including: A pair of false teeth for sale (only two teeth missing) A tombstone inscribed with the name Grady A used, Spanish speaking Honda Civic for sale A collection of old people for sale Read them all:

Edinburgh International Television Festival – The Evidence

As Peter Andre said, “you can ignore the headlines as you know they’re probably not true, but you can’t ignore the photographs…” All photos by Rob McDougall 2009 1) TV’s Got Talent winner Carolyn Philpot 2) Five’s channel controller Richard Woolfe 3) Director of BBC Vision Jana Bennett and Dragon’s Den series producer Sam Lewins 4) Peter Andre […]

Crappy Taxidermy

Crappy Taxidermy is a site dedicated to ill-executed, ill-advised or just plain wrong taxidermy specimens, from a rat covered in blood to a cat that appears to have turned into a vase. Let’s hope Benson – the 64lb 25-yr-old British carp that recently died, and is deeply mourned by the fishing community – doesn’t suffer […]

Odd Cops

You don’t see this every day: A cop playing a guitar to a busker A Staffordshire bull terrier being frisked A lady cop watching a naked man do an unconventional high-wire act See more on Trendhunter

Channel Branding: A Quiz – Answers

Last week I posted a list of UK and US straplines that should – if they were doing their job properly – tell you which channels they referred to. In case they didn’t, click through to find out the answers. (Photo by bdunnette under CC BY-SA 2.0)

Channel Branding: A Quiz

After the success of the programme logline quiz, I thought I’d challenge you again. This time you have to identify the following channels from their tagline (to make it more difficult there is a mix of UK and US channels). Click through to give it a go. (Photo by bdunnette under CC BY-SA 2.0)

Urban Legends

Snopes.com has a whole host of urban legends, that it explains and pronounces true or false, for example: The woman who sent an email to her friends describing her date and how she’d overlook his mullet if he showered her with gifts (his boat only had room for six so didn’t really count as an […]

The Guardian’s Random Documentary Generator for BBC3

If you are finding it hard to come up with ideas for the youth orientated BBC3, The Guardian has come to your rescue with its F*ck Off I’m a BBC3 Random Documentary Generator. It offers you four lists from which to choose your documentary elements: Z-list ‘celeb’ presenter Style of reportage Edgy subject matter Trite […]

Wedding Dance

It’s common, I think, for couples to have a couple of dancing classes prior to their wedding in order that they don’t trip up during their first dance; now it looks like you need get a choreographer for the groomsmen and bridesmaids too…and who knew it was possible to have so much fun in church? […]

Square Mile Barista Throw Down

Considering I’m not a huge coffee connoisseur (give me a 75 cents cup of NYC deli coffee and I’m fine), it’s surprising to me that I AM a huge fan of Square Mile Coffee (and coffee shop Tina, We Salute You in Dalston, London). Square Mile Coffee founders James Hoffmann (World Barista Champion 2007) and […]

How to Write an Arresting Tagline: Quiz Answers

Last week, we looked at loglines – where you boil your concept down into one succinct, hooky sentence – with a fiendishly difficult quiz. As promised, here are the answers (click on the headline to go to the answers). Remember, the first thing your buyer will look at is the title, so the logline should complement and build upon it, so they get an instant feel for the tone and content of your programme. Give yourself a point for each one (and subtract five if you failed to get no. 6 correct).

If you didn’t do that well, you can console yourself with the thought that the loglines weren’t doing their job properly.

And, as ever, feel free to share, tweet or comment. (Photo by ♠ le max)

How to Write an Arresting Factual TV Tagline: A Quiz

When you are selling factual television show, whether you are sending an email, writing a proposal or pitching in an elevator, you need to capture the attention of a buyer within seconds. The best way of doing that is to boil down your concept into a single succinct sentence that captures the essence of your programme, suggests the content and makes your commissioner want to know more.

A successful logline (aka tagline or strapline) looks deceptively simple and obvious, but they are fiendishly difficult to devise; and you need to have thought your idea through thoroughly in order to do it right. That means a lot of work, but you knew that, right?

The best way to understand loglines is to look at what other people have come up with, so here’s a quiz to get you going.

I’ve given you 20 taglines that have been attributed to factual TV shows – can guess which show each one refers to (I’ve removed the actual name of the shows in a couple of instances)?

(Photo by Nick J Webb)

Underground Humour

Travelling on the London Underground is not normally a laughing matter, however sometimes the straitened circumstances bring out the best of British humour, the best of which has been captured by Zipadeeday.

Awkward Family Photos

For no other reason that it will make you laugh out loud, visit Awkward Family Photos

Silent Library, MTV

Silent Library is one of my favourite segments in a Japanese show Gaki no Tsukai Arahende. Now MTV have made a version which transmits Mondays through Thursdays. It’s a cross between Russian Roulette and dare and is infectiously funny. But that’s the catch: the contestants are not allowed to laugh or they forfeit some prize […]

Graphololgy

Take this hand-writing test to get a hilarious “graphological tour of your personality” conducted by an expert from Tul pens. Apparently, TV Mole is calm, independent, efficient, proficient and matter-of-fact. And aloof, emotionally remote, cold, cruel and callous with unfulfilled sexual expectations. The TV Mole spokes-model refused to comment.

The Stories Behind 5 Famous WTF Photos

Cracked (which claims to be America’s Only Humor & Video Site, since 1958 – I’m betting they didn’t have many online visitors back then. I digress), has found out the stories behind some photos that have been doing the rounds on the social networking sites.  Check out how a diver was able to juggle a […]

Pillow Talk

Had an embarrassing ‘romantic’ experience that you need to tell someone about (anonymity assumed)?  Said in Bed invites you to submit the awkward things people have said to you at inappropriate moments between the sheets. “Your stretchmarks really disturb me. They’re like signs of violence. I think we need to talk about this before we […]

Development Insider: How to Steal Ideas

Stealing ideas. Everyone steals ideas. You forget you’ve done it a few times but you sure as hell remember the times when it happened to you. Perhaps it’s the nature of the game. But it’s still mighty annoying, so let’s consider the three most egregious forms of creative burglary in order of irritation caused. Bad […]

Scary Ideas

You might want to think twice before you get into a lift like this. The Freefall Elevator has what appears to be a glass floor that gives people the feeling of being in free-fall. It was designed as an advert for a Swiss sky diving company. Another ad for a zoo had the tagline “Come […]

Photos that Make You Think WTF?

Here’s a blog with photos that make you think WTF? Just because.

Go Clubbing Around the World from the Comfort of Your Sofa

Bored of radio DJ’s banging on about how they don’t get twitter and then talking about it incessantly? Go clubbing instead. Awdio is a new website that lets you listen in live to nightclubs and music venues around the world. Among others, you can visit: Le Queen on the Champs Elysees, Paris; Favela Chic, London; […]

Something for When the Boss is Out of the Office

Here’s something to do when your boss is away…Watch the video to find out what to do. Hat tip to SixWise — a blog that wants to enhance your life.

Little Ethnic Girl – Helen Hong

Helen Hong is funny.  By day she’s a TV producer in NYC. By night she’s an adorable Little Ethnic Girl. Watch her do her stuff (you’ll need earphones if you are to do it safely at work) – and do it for no other reason than she references a UK TV production company…can you guess […]

Ask a Urinal

If you are troubled by questions no-one in your close circle of friends can seem to answer, try asking a urinal. For sage advice, visit Ask A Urinal, or just scroll through other people’s questions and the photographic answers. Questions  include: I’m an artistic Indie type but I can’t afford to keep my wardrobe current. […]

I Saw You…

There seems to be a lot of romance in the air at the  moment….I was tipped off about I Saw You, which is a collection of graphic-art ‘missed you’ cartoons based on the sweet, weird and downright delusional ‘missed connections’ ads on Craigslist. The cartoonists range from Jesse Reklaw to Peter Bagge and Ken Dahl. […]

A Life Lived Through TV – Clangers to Conchords

Who am I?
The early years – pre-school

I was born above the shop across the road from the municipal cemetery, where my parents took me to play.

I spent my early years watching Andy Pandy, The Clangers, Pogle’s Wood, The Herbs and dark Czechoslovakian cartoons. I was emotionally scarred for life when a member of Barbar’s family was burnt in a fire.

I watched Antiques Roadshow and Coronation Street on an old black and white TV with my parents before bedtime.
Primary school

I rushed home from school to watch Jackanory and Blue Peter and tuned in on Saturday to Why Don’t You Turn Off the TV and Go and Do Something More Interesting Instead? and Fingerbobs on a Saturday morning… (Photo by BinaryApe)

Jason Hackenwerth, Balloon Artist

The last time I saw a balloon artist was on the NYC subway (the A train is like a cabaret, with performers and candy hawkers passing through), and he managed to turn a carriage full of cynical, po-faced commuters into a smiling community. It was magical. Jack Hackenwerth has spent years twisting balloons into sculptures, […]

Word Nude Day

Get your kit off to win $10,000 in gold. All you have to do is film yourself doing something funny – think You’ve Been Framed. But naked. World Nude Day is on Friday 6th Feb, so get stripping and shooting. If you are stuck for ideas, you could try naked motorcycle stunts:

TV Show Pitch Generator

All out of ideas? Can’t be bothered to come up with your own? No problem.

Field Guide to: Presenter-Led Documentary Series

An expert, often an academic, leads us through a subject, synthesizing all the arguments, simplifying the subject so it’s easy to understand.