As Jonathan Ross is an incorrigible tweeter, theartsdesk has decided to review his last stand on the BBC on Twitter. Adam Sweeting and Jasper Rees will watch Friday Night with Jonathan Ross and tweet a joint review live as the programme goes out. The show begins at 10.35pm on BBC One on 16 July.
tv buzz
Ismene Brown
Melvyn Bragg last night won this year’s Bafta TV fellowship for his long championing of ITV’s arts with the now mothballed flagship The South Bank Show, which itself has been nominated for more than 30 Baftas and won nine. Ironically Simon Cowell was another winner at the London Palladium, with a special award for an outstanding contribution to entertainment and for furthering new talent in reality talent shows such as The X Factor and Britain's Got Talent. The political satire The Thick of It won three awards, Julie Walters's win for Best Actress as Mo Mowlam beat herself in the euthanasia drama A Short Stay in Switzerland. The Haiti earthquake brought a three-way fight for the News gong, won by ITV.
josh.spero
American television network executives more concerned about remaking old dramas (Rockford Files 2010, anyone?) than maintaining a powerhouse drama which has wowed critics and fans for 20 years have finally killed off Law & Order.
Adam Sweeting
From Monday 12 April, retro channel History is airing a 10-part series called WWII Lost Films. It will present the story of the Second World War from the viewpoints of 12 Americans involved in the war effort, using a newly restored stash of rare and unseen colour footage.
Jasper Rees
Every generation is inclined to moan that they don’t make them like they used to. It’s a favourite refrain of television dramatists. It scarcely seems credible now that a theatre animal like Simon Gray could regularly write single plays for television and attract audiences of millions.
Jasper Rees
It could so easily have been just another bit of God-slot box-ticking. But The Bible: A History, in which Channel 4 has invited guest presenters to mull over some aspect of the Good Book, has been exciting a lot of comment from viewers. Summoning Gerry Adams to present a film about the life of Christ won't have done anything to dampen audience ardour. Channel 4 have responded by organising a public discussion. It takes place at the British Library next week on Wednesday 3 March at 6.30pm. Roger Bolton chairs, and the panel consists of three of The Bible's presenters - historian Tom Holland, journalist Rageh Omaar and theologian Robert Beckford. For some reason the Sinn Fein president has not accepted the invitation which was doubtless issued. For more information visit the Channel 4 TV Show blog.
theartsdesk
Read theartsdesk's reviews and interviews for the British Academy of Film and Television Arts award-winners.
Ismene Brown
The BBC launched today its own popular opera talent hunt (details below), while ITV's Popstar to Operastar has suffered heavy critical attack and disappointing public ratings. The BBC's Commissioning Editor for Music and Events, Jan Younghusband, added a private comment to our review of the ITV show here
theartsdesk
theartsdesk received a New Year's gift last night when we were given a significant accolade from BBC Radio 5 Live. In Web 2009 with Helen and Olly, the station's podcasters and self-styled "internet obsessives" Helen Zaltzman and Olly Mann recognised theartsdesk as one of the five "essential sites of 2009" in a series of awards to the "cream of weblebrity".
theartsdesk
The morning after the day before has dawned. If you're not inclined to join the shopping queues, theartsdesk is happy to suggest alternatives. Our writers recommend all sorts of cultural things you could get up to in the next week.