When good TV goes bad: Goodnight Sweetheart

At the start the sitcom was a compelling comment on male insecurity, but it soon descended into cartoonish plotlinesThe 1990s were an innocent time. Tony Blair was a god, Donald Trump was a joke and the world felt hopeful. It really did seem as though things could only get better. In 1992, the political scientist Francis Fukuyama went so far as to publish a book called The End of History and the Last Man arguing that the triumph of liberal democracy marked a new age of stable government and sunlit uplands. The only real worry was whether you preferred Blur or Oasis. So it was perhaps inevitable that into this comfortable stupor popped Gary Sparrow, a time-travelling bigamist TV repair engineer from Cricklewood.Gary, played by the affable Nicholas Lyndhurst, was the protagonist of Goodnight Sweetheart, one of the most successful sitcoms of that halcyon decade. In it, Gary is a man behaving boringly who is unsure about his role in this confusing modern world where women like his wife Yvonne have the temerity to study psychology instead of cook his dinner. Luckily, he discovers that he can leave this hellish peace and equality behind and travel back to the more exciting East End of the early 40s, where men were men and innocent people died by the thousand. He then does what any of us would do if we’d just discovered the secret of time travel, and shags the first person he sees. This person is Phoebe, a pub landlord’s daughter, who becomes Gary’s other wife. And so begins his... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'

[ The Guardian | 2019-07-01 12:00:23 UTC ]
News tagged with: #travel back #time travel #high concept

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Good Book Guide closes, subscriber list moves to Lovereading

The subscriber list and review archive for mail-order book business the Good Book Guide has been acquired by book review and recommendation site Lovereading, following a “turbulent” decade for the Guide. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2016-02-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Can TV Bring Salvation to Magazine Media?

[Sponsored Content] Publishers can benefit from the shift in advertising from TV to online video. The post Can TV Bring Salvation to Magazine Media? appeared first on Folio:. Continue reading at Folio Magazine

[ Folio Magazine | 2016-02-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
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TV War and Peace puts Tolstoy's book on bestseller list for first time

Epic novel, whose length has long discouraged readers, has made it on to the Bookseller’s top 50 after the BBC’s acclaimed new adaptationBritain is racing to address the fact that only 4% of Britons have read War and Peace, with Leo Tolstoy’s doorstopping epic entering the UK’s book charts for... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2016-02-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Ferrante's Neapolitan quartet to be Italian TV series

Elena Ferrante's hit Neapolitan quartet is to be adapted into an eight-part Italian language TV series. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2016-02-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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IEEE: 2016 will be the year of the drone, but there's bad news for MP3 players, digital cameras, and wearables

43 percent of UK consumers expect drones to be the most influential technology in 2016, according to IEEE’s annual survey, with smart phones (38 percent) and 3D printing (31 percent) close behind. The online survey, conducted in November 2015, questioned over two thousand adults to find out what... Continue reading at Betanews

[ Betanews | 2016-01-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Missing bookseller makes tearful 'confession' on China state TV

The Chinese government has broken its silence on the disappearance of five Hong Kong booksellers widely suspected of being detained by the authorities over the publication of controversial books critical of China's elite. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2016-01-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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New Writing North offers TV writing placements

New Writing North, working with Channel 4, Northumbria University and Lime Pictures, is offering aspiring TV writers from the North of England 12-month placements in either soap or children’s drama production companies. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2016-01-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Netflix to show TV adaptation of Mortal Instruments

Fans of Cassandra Clare will be able to watch the TV adaptation of her bestselling series The Mortal Instruments (Walker Books) next month, as Netflix has announced a global release date, excluding the US, of 13th January. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2015-12-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Print Books Having Good Finish to Solid Year

The book business looks ready to mark a second consecutive year of unit growth of print books. With one week to go in the year, unit sales of print books were up 2.8% compared to the same period in 2014. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-12-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Good to meet you… Sophie Blaney-Parslow

This aspiring writer first started reading the Guardian when it was 20p in her students’ union and she’ll never forget meeting the writer of her favourite articleI am a 25-year-old aspiring writer at home with my husband and two cats, Florence and Tabitha, to keep me company. Originally from... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2015-12-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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J.K. Rowling: Lord Voldemort 'nowhere near as bad' as Donald Trump

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has received his share of celebrity endorsements, with stars such as Mike Tyson and Dennis Rodman backing the controversial billionaire. "Harry Potter" author J.K. Rowling, however, is decidedly not a member of Trump's fan club. The Scottish writer... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2015-12-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Bad Quarter for Wiley

Revenue at John Wiley dropped 9%, to $433.4 million, in the second quarter ended October 31, 2015, and net income decreased 19%, to $43.6 million. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-12-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Are you truly thankful for the good books you already have?

On Thanksgiving Day, after the dishes are cleared, scan your own home library and remind yourself how lucky you are to have so much great writing at your fingertips. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor

[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2015-11-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Thursday's TV highlights: 'The All-Star Dog Rescue Celebration' and more

SERIES The Twilight Zone An annual tradition continues as KTLA presents an 18-episode marathon of Rod Serling's classic 1960s-era sci-fi anthology series. 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. KTLA 2 Broke Girls Ryan Hansen guest stars as Caroline's (Beth Behrs) ex-boyfriend. 9:30 p.m. CBS Elementary "Law &... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2015-11-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
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October Was Broadcast TV's Best Advertising Month Since January 2014

Perhaps the sky isn't falling after all when it comes to television advertising. Robust TV ad sales in October, as the new television season kicked off, drove the U.S. ad market to its best month this year, according to new data from Standard Media Index (SMI). In the findings from SMI, which... Continue reading at AdWeek

[ AdWeek | 2015-11-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Morrissey book could win bad sex award

Former Smiths frontman, Morrissey is the hot favourite to win the 2015 Bad Sex in Fiction Award for his first novel, List of the Lost. Continue reading at BBC News

[ BBC News | 2015-11-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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A Second Good Day at the Shanghai Children's Fair

The focus was on deal-making on the second day of the Shanghai International Children's Book Fair. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-11-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Target's Holiday Campaign Brings a Magical Story to Life Across TV, Digital and Its Stores

Target's taking kids and grown-ups alike on a "holiday odyssey," one that brings shopping and storytelling together in digitally fueled new ways. The Minneapolis-based retailer's 2015 campaign from 72andSunny is rooted in a digital children's book narrated by actor Neil Patrick Harris. The... Continue reading at AdWeek

[ AdWeek | 2015-11-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Quadrille acquires tasty TV tie-in by James Martin

Quadrille is publishing a new James Martin TV tie-in, titled More Home Comforts. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2015-11-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
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German Daily Die Welt Wants to Bundle Print, Digital, and TV into a Single Newsroom

When The New York Times announced that it would create a separate, centralized group of editors and designers to focus on producing its daily print product, those at the German publishing giant Axel Springer’s Die Welt took particular notic ... Continue reading at Editor & Publisher

[ Editor & Publisher | 2015-10-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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