TV

It’s the one genre of television that the UK trumps all over the USA on. The sitcom.

Since Friends, the Americans just can’t get it right anymore and they’re obsessed with them too so instead of thinking up new ideas they’ve taken to regenerating our tried and tested formula and come up with American versions.

The latest recipient of the US remake is Gavin and Stacey.

Fox has ordered a script for a US remake of the show and creators and stars James Corden and Ruth Jones will take their place as executive producers on the American project. Continue reading »

It’s October, it’s Autumn, it’s cold and it’s rainy so what better way to spend your weekend than curling up in front of the telly with our top picks.

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The new series for Made in Chelsea may be about to start on E4 but the cast have some other exciting news.

The show is being taken to the US next month.

The Style Network will start showing the E4 reality show from its very first episode on November 12.  Cast member Cheska Hull said of the news that it was a “surreal” development.

She said, ”We’ve also just been bought by the Style Network in the US so Made in Chelsea is going to be shown in America.  It’s so surreal, we couldn’t have predicted this success.”

She’s getting a little bit ahead of herself don’t you think?  While it is successful in that they’ve landed a deal to air in the States, it doesn’t mean that they’re going to be successful with their audience does it? Continue reading »

So now that the Olympics and Paralympics are well and truly over, summer is long gone and autumn crisp and chilly days and nights are here, what is there to watch on TV this weekend?

Here’s our top round-up of the weekend’s viewing.

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Sky have unveiled an update to their Sky+ app for iPad which is set to revolutionise the way we use and watch TV.

The app update will allow users to use their iPad as a remote control.

It’s an update that will no doubt be a common feature in the near future; we’re guessing many TV’s will come packaged without remote controls soon enough because you can use your phone or a tablet to change the channels.

Sky has got ahead of the times and allowed their users to control their TV’s through the app.  You will be able to change the channel, pause, play and rewind with just a simple tap or swipe of your fingers on your iPad. Continue reading »

We are in the midst of switching to digital TV but UK households could face another change to their TV sets with a parliamentary inquiry now forecasting a second wave of switchover, but this time moving them from the airwaves to the internet.

The House of Lords have suggested  that every channel should move to the internet, in effect freeing up the spectrum for other uses such as mobile phones.

The Lords committee said, “Eventually the case for transferring the carriage of broadcast content, including public service broadcasting, from spectrum to the internet altogether will become overwhelming.” Continue reading »

Giant television screens are thought to be behind the increased amount of family time in their own living rooms.

OFCOM’s Communications Market Report found that the amount of time spent watching television has gone up.

UK viewers spent an average of four hours a day watching TV in 2011, which was up 3.6 hours from 2002.  They also found that in the fist quarter of 2012, more than 35% of television sets sold were at least 33 inches in size.

James Thickett, Ofcom’s director of research, said that the new wave of larger and flatter TV screens seemed to be bringing children back into watching television in the living room, rather than watching on the smaller screens in their bedrooms.

He said, “Television viewing has been robust between 2002 and 2011,’ he said. ‘What’s interesting here is that with all these new technologies being adopted by 16 to 24-year-olds and to some extent children, we’re not seeing TV viewing among those age groups falling.  It’s always been lower than average for the younger age groups because they have different lifestyles and less time at home. But we’re not seeing a major impact on TV viewing by all this extra adoption and use of new technology.  At the same time we are seeing an increase in viewing among the older age groups.” Continue reading »

Okay, so if you didn’t manage to get Olympic tickets and if you’ve seen the havoc on the roads already then you’re left with watching the Olympics on your TV screens.

Organisers Locog and the good old BBC have, however, got our best interests at heart with big live screens, live streaming and apps aplenty and we at Throng are here to highlight the best ways to get the most out of TV out and about and on the go. Continue reading »

Andy Murray has just won his second round match in Wimbledon this year but going forwards, the Scot and his tennis rivals could have a bigger break between competitions (the French Open and Wimbledon) if plans go ahead to move the grass tournament.

There are few summer traditions in Britain but Wimbledon is certainly one of them.  Organisers don’t care much for tradition though and spectators may well be looking at future Wimbledon events being moved.

The championships at the All England Club in South-West London have been contested annually since 1877, and are always embedded in our summer for two weeks in the last week of June and the first week of July.  The last time Wimbledon started in July was in 1896.  Although nothing has been confirmed, motions are being discussed to move the tournament.  Don’t worry yet, if it happens, nothing will happen before 2014 and it may only be moved back a week but a club source says,  ”It is being discussed. It could happen.”

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We’ve written before about research debating the health of children and their physical activity based on how much television they watch (you can read that here) but new research has suggested that banning children from watching television could actually make them less active.

Health guidelines have recommended that children should spend a minimum of an hour a day doing some sort of physical activity.