WETA UK Launches June 2 - Preview of What is to Come

I opened my mailbox today and saw the cover of WETA Magazine announcing the start of WETA UK on June 2.  In my previous post about this new 24-hour All UK TV channel for viewers in the Washington DC Metropolitan Area (DC, Maryland, and Virginia) I talked about what WETA planned to show in general in this new channel.  


You can go to WETA Programmer's Choice website and get a day by day schedule of what we'll soon see on WETA UK. You can also see clips of some of the shows including the Vicar of Dibley's Handsome Stranger (Part I) with the handsome stranger Richard Armitage:

http://blogs.weta.org/programmerschoice/

Richard Armitage and Dawn French

WETA UK will also have a Special British Television Marathon June 2 and 3 showing all the shows or previews from the shows that those in the viewing area will be able to see on the channel. 

If you look at the photos on the WETA Magazine cover you can see other shows I've featured on this blog in the past, like BBC's Robin Hood and MI-5 (Spooks). (Advise to WETA: In future Robin Hood PR make sure to use Guy of Gisborne as well. Your female audience demographics of all ages will increase, I'm sure of it.)

Though I love watching the classic British Television comedies and my favorite shows that I've already mentioned before, I do hope WETA UK brings us some new shows we haven't seen in the US before. Below I'll list a few new or never before seen in the US program suggestions that star or feature some of the cast we'll see in some of the shows already on the channel's schedule:

Richard Armitage (Robin Hood, MI-5, Vicar of Dibley):

Strike Back  (2010)

Miss Marie Lloyd (2007)

The Impressionists (2006)

North & South (2004)

Sparkhouse (2002)

Dawn French  (Vicar of Dibley)

Roger & Val Have Just Got In (2010-2012)

A Bucket o' French and Saunders (2007)

Rupert Penry-Jones (MI-5)

Silk (2011-2012)

North Square (2002)

Peter Firth (MI-5)

World Without End (2012)

Hermione Norris (MI-5)

Outcasts (2011)

Kingdom (2007)  

Cold Feet (1997-2003)

Mathew Macfadyen (MI-5)

Ripper Street (2012)

Some of the shows I've mentioned above I've seen, or seen some episodes, but many I have not seen, but want to, and I'm sure others do as well. For information on the shows I've mentioned above, go to IMDB. 

I'm also really looking forward to Saturday nights and The WETA UK Movie, which seems to be more UK TV Dramas than movies, at least in June: Place of Execution, The Last Enemy and Tess of the d'Urbervilles.  

One new comedy series that's new to me, but I'm looking forward to seeing on Fridays is Black Books (2000-2004). Just the type of dark, crazy, UK comedy I like the best!

I'll be watching the new channel starting in June, and as I said before, I'll be reporting back once in a while on what I think about the new channel and some of the shows, especially those new to me. 

Thank you again PBS in Washington DC Area for WETA UK! 

A Day at the Mall: Andy Warhol and the Pastrana Tapestries

I spent part of my Thanksgiving Holiday here in the US at the Mall. No, not a shopping mall in unarmed combat with fellow shoppers on Black Friday, but this Mall:

The Mall in Washington DC

Most of it I spent at the National Gallery of Art visiting two temporary exhibits separated by centuries. If you are in the Washington DC area, or visiting any time between now and January both exhibits are worth a visit.

Warhol: Headlines

Photo from www.nga.gov

Andy Warhol is one of the best known artists in the 20th Century and continues to fascinate lovers of contemporary art. Known by most of the public for his Campbell Soup Cans and for his own otherworldly appearance and personality, Warhol was very interested in celebrity and the tabloid press. From the 1960's until his untimely death in 1987 he worked to incorporate newspaper tabloid headlines from around the world into his art. The current exhibit at the National Gallery explores this interest and his work including prints, videos, sculpture, drawings, and his source materials. 

I found his collaborations with artists Keith Haring and Jean-Michel Basquiat, and his stitched photographs to be the most interesting. His videos are always thought provoking if sometimes puzzling. For those of us that were around in the 70's and 80's it is interesting to see some celebrities of the day in these videos that have now gone from the scene or are no longer as famous (and I don't mean Madonna). 

 Work by Keith Haring and Andy Warhol

http://www.nga.gov/exhibitions/warholinfo.shtm

There is also a Warhol exhibit at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden that is part of the Warhol on the Mall celebration this fall in Washington DC.  I hope to see it during my Christmas break :) 

The Invention of Glory: Afonso V and the Pastrana Tapestries

From www.nga.gov

Now lets go from the 20th Century to the 15th Century and to another wonderful exhibit at the National Gallery of Art. The exhibit has brought together these four recently restored Belgian tapestries commissioned in the 1400's to commemorate the conquest of two cities in Morocco by the king of Portugal Afonso V.  The detail in these monumental tapestries is amazing from the elaborate armor and faces of the warriors on both sides, to the ships masts on the harbor and the city walls teeming with people. This is epic warfare long before CGI.

http://www.nga.gov/exhibitions/pastranainfo.shtm

(Disclaimer: I am an art lover and eternal student of art history, but I am not an expert and have no more than general knowledge of art.)