One week, on two consecutive days, Anne-Marie drew her Twitter followers’ attention to the fact that two new and much-hyped TV shows were… well, a bit rubbish.
“Thanks for watching so I don’t have to,” replied Diane. “You’re a TV canary.”
“Hey,” said Keris, whose love of TV is eclipsed only by her obsession with blogs, “What if the three of us started a site and called it that?”
So we did.
TV Canary is an intelligent/insightful/informative guide to what we’re watching and why. We’ll sift out television’s gems from the… not gems (yeah, we’ve reached the end of our mining knowledge now) and we hope you’ll join us.
Starring (in alphabetical order)…
Anne-Marie
One of Anne-Marie Taylor’s favourite activities is reading the Radio Times from cover to cover every Tuesday, and her favourite recent invention is the digital TV recorder. She loves US dramas, cookery shows and BBC period dramas. During the day she’s a university administrator, which means she rarely gets a chance to indulge in her guilty pleasure – watching 60 Minute Makeover. When not working she blogs about lovely things and tweets a lot. Top TV: ER, Cranford, Brothers & Sisters, Spooks, Strictly Come Dancing, Masterchef, Friends, Outnumbered, The Mentalist, Buffy, Mad Men (I’ll stop there or the list will become unwieldy!). Turn offs: Eastenders, Jeremy Kyle, Holby City, Casualty, My Family, Him & Her.
Jenni is a self-confessed TV addict and doesn’t care who knows it. Whether
it’s excitement over the new series of a firm favourite or hoping that the new genre programme won’t be another FlashForward she spends a lot of time thinking and talking about telly. She loves pretty much anything with a science fiction slant, including home grown masterpieces and imported gems. She also loves reality tv shows where people learn something, dancing, ice-skating, or how to sing in a choir. She also has a soft spot for tv that’s so bad that it’s good, the stuff most people never even think about watching. When she’s not watching TV Jenni is studying for a degree in Information and Library Studies which means spending a lot of time blogging and tweeting. Top TV: Doctor Who, Torchwood, Sarah Jane Adventures, Being Human, Dexter, Glee, Spooks, Supernatural, Strictly Come Dancing, Dancing On Ice, anything with Gareth Malone, Brothers & Sisters, Top Gear, The Apprentice, Miranda… oh and so so many more. Turn offs: Eastenders, cosy British dramas designed for the 8pm Sunday slot, Loose Women, Jeremy Kyle, Deal or No Deal.
Occasional guest star:
Diane
Diane Shipley‘s idols include Denise Huxtable, Brenda Walsh, Lorelai Gilmore, and and just about any character Tyne Daly has ever played. She’s addicted to teen dramas and bad American sitcoms, The Closer changed her life, and she gleaned valuable advice for her short-lived PR career from Mad About You. A journalist and blogger, she’s a contributor to Smartpop Books’ anthology, Filled With Glee, and has written about TV for The Guardian, The L.A. Times, Handbag.com, Virgin.com, and TV Scoop. When she’s not writing about TV she likes to… er, watch TV. Top TV: The Closer, Damages, Arrested Development, Gilmore Girls, Friends, The West Wing, My So-Called Life, Parks & Rec, Community, Cougar Town. Turn offs:The majority of British comedy and drama. (Sorry.)
Past cast members:
Keris
Keris Stainton has been a TV-aholic for as long as she can remember. Her earliest crush was Bruce Boxleitner in How the West Was Won and she’s had more TV husbands than she can count (currently TV-married to David Mitchell). She spends half* her life on the computer – blogging and writing novels for Young Adults (Della Says: OMG! is out now) and the other half being mum to her two small boys, the oldest of whom recently introduced her to Phineas & Ferb (yay!) and Kick Buttowski (nay). Top TV: The West Wing, Felicity, Gilmore Girls, Friends, Spaced, Arrested Development, Still Game, Peep Show, Father Ted, 30 Rock, Black Books, Sesame Street! Turn offs: Soaps, most British drama (particularly hospital-based) and reality TV (with the exception of Strictly Come Dancing and The Apprentice).
*Probably much more than half.
