Front Row Dress Circle

Lost Boys actor Corey Haim has died at the age of 38, it is not known the exact cause of death as yet but an apparent drug overdose has been suspected. He was found in an unresponsive state at an apartment in Burbank, California.

Corey Haim, along with Corey Feldman, found fame in the 1980’s in a series of ‘buddy’ films which featured actors such as Sean Astin and River Phoenix and appeared in a tv series ‘The Two Coreys’. Both were to have problems with drug addiction and their careers waned in the 1990’s. Two of his better known films were The Lost Boys and Stand By Me.

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Is it just me or are the Oscars now becoming a rather run-of-the-mill event…? here in the UK we only get the edited highlights broadcast - if you want to watch the full thing you have to be a channel subscriber (rip off) - but having seen just the 90 minute version I decided that even it was too long. Oscar night used to be a favourite event for me and I always looked forward to the Academy Awards, but in Australia you get the broadcast in full and just hours after it has ended - and for free.

I was disappointed especially with the In Memorium segment; no tribute to the great Bea Arthur or even Farah Fawcett. Okay, so they were generally stage and tv actors but they were actors all the same and Bea certainly deserved inclusion in that segment. How many people ever know the names of the producers who are included…?

Not a wise decision guys…

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British television has produced some of the best entertainment ever seen, and continues to do so, why then can the industry not pull it together and give viewers a decent awards show anymore? last night’s Brit Awards was, in the words of mediocre compere Peter Kay, “twenty minutes of entertainment stretched over two hours…”

And he could not have been more correct and even those twenty minutes was a stretch. The two things that can really make a show like this work brilliantly is a) the host and, b) the writers. You had Peter Kay as host, one of the UK’s top comedians and yet he was let down badly by what he was given to say presentation-wise. I have to be honest and admit that Peter Kay’s appeal in the funny-stakes escapes me, I like a really dry delivery - which is what he has - but I just cannot find him funny enough to laugh at. Maybe it is because I’m not from ‘Up North’ - I have seen Micheal Parkinson almost fall out of his chair laughing at this guy, well he would wouldn’t he…?

The awards were given out to some really run-of-the-mill acts, except I guess for Lady GaGa…her stuff is starting to sound the same to me though. Unless she becomes the queen of reinvention a-la Madonna you will be hearing Poker Face type songs from her still in ten years time. Liam Gallagher - what can you say about this twat other than “grow up you imbecile”. That ‘moody, cool swaggering’ might have gone over fine when you were a young fella Liam, but now you just look like a cantankerous old twit - and as for your giggling-idiot of a wife Nicole Appleton…a has-been if ever there was a never-would-be.

The British television industry has some of the greatest comedy writers in the world - just look at Yes, Prime Minister; One Foot in the Grave; Dinnerladies…all a brilliantly varied mix of biting satire and comedic genius and yet we get productions like last night’s effort. Where are the great writers when the producers are putting these shows together! find them, use them, and get a host who can deliver the goods. And one last thing: Put Jonathon Ross out to pasture.

Popularity: 24% [?]