I recently watched the movie “24 Hour Party People” on IFC and was reminded, yet again, of the impressive talents of Steve Coogan, who’s never had the impact here that he’s had in the UK. And maybe that’s a good thing (overexposure and all).
Coogan, as I’ve written before, starred in one of my all-time-favorite series, the BBC’s “I’m Alan Partridge,” so I was psyched to see that an “Alan Partridge” movie, called, of course “The Alan Partridge Movie,” is now in the works. It’s set to begin shooting in London early next year and is expected to be ready for movie screens next August. Coogan is writing the movie along with “Alan Partridge” co-creators Peter Baynham and Armando Iannucci and Neil and Robin Gibbons.
“Partridge,” a spinoff from “Knowing Me, Knowing You” — also starring Coogan as the smarmy, ABBA-obsessed TV talk show host — finds Alan trying to resurrect his BBC TV career, which ended disastrously when he accidentally killed a guest with one of Lord Byron’s dueling pistols (don’t ask). He’s now toiling as the overnight DJ on Radio Norwich — and living, in the first season, in a “travel tavern” in Linton after divorcing his wife. In Season 2, Alan graduated to a better Radio Norwich air shift, and was also hosting a history quiz show on digital TV while living in an under-construction house with his ditzy, immature foreign-born girlfriend, Sonja.
As is customary with many British TV series, there were only two seasons of “I’m Alan Partridge” (1997 and 2002), but they’re priceless. Coogan’s follow-up, “Saxondale,” isn’t too shabby, either (in that show, which also aired for two seasons, he plays a former roadie with anger management issues who’s now running a suburban extermination business).
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Forgive my cynicism, but I don’t have much empathy for the five stars of “Modern Family” — Julie Bowen, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Ty Burrell, Sofia Vergara and Eric Stonestreet — who are suing to be let out of their contacts in a roundabout effort to get substantial pay hikes.
Is everyone in show business trained to punch a gift horse in the mouth? I just never understand when actors work so hard to achieve success — in a medium that’s programmed for failure, no less — and then, when they reach the pinnacle, start whining about their contracts. Man up. We should all be so unfortunate to starring on a successful network sitcom. Do Bowen, Ferguson et al. deserve to earn more than the $65,000-per-episode they reportedly pulled down last season? Yes, I think they do. Their series makes a boatload of money for ABC and show producer 20th Century Fox Television.
On the other hand, according to the Hollywood Reporter, they’re being offered $150,000-per-episode, plus a $50,000 per-episode bonus, for Season 4 — which amounts to $4.4 million for a 22-episode season — and per-episode raises of $200,000 and $225,000 for Seasons 5 and 6.
So what’s the problem?
Git ’er done.
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Last, but not least:
* Tuesday night’s season finale of “Deadliest Catch” corralled nearly 3 million viewers on Discovery . . . CNN has hired Victor Blackwell as an Atlanta-based anchor/correspondent. He’ll co-host “CNN Newsroom Saturday” with Randi Kaye . . . Spanish-language Ch. 41 has unveiled its new, high-def studio which has all the bells and whistles (including an animated video screen, new sets and a phone bank center).