Geektown Radio - TV News, Interviews & UK TV Air Dates

On this episode of the Geektown Behind The Scenes Podcast, I'm chatting with Neil Patel, production designer for Season 2 and 3 of Apple TV’s 'Dickinson'.

'Dickinson' is a comedy that audaciously explores the constraints of society, gender and family from the perspective of rebellious young poet Emily Dickinson. Set in the 19th century, the series is a coming-of-age story that finds Emily to be the unexpected hero for our millennial generation.

Neil used his training in architecture to bring many intricate designs to life that reflected the look of that period. One of the main focuses for season two was the Evergreens House which belonged to Emily’s brother Austin and his wife Sue. This house is an ornate Victorian Italian Villa Style home draped in a rich palette of blues, greens, and golds.

Another focus of this season is the rise of newspapers and automatic printing presses. This gave Neil the opportunity to design an elaborate steam-driven printing press that becomes a visual touchstone for several episodes. Other stand out designs include a luxury spa and the Boston Opera House - the latter having been particularly exciting for Neil with his background designing both Broadway and Opera productions.

Neil is a trained architect who has designed for film, television, and theatre, working on projects such as Hulu's 'The Path', HBO's 'In Treatment' and 'Last Week Tonight with John Oliver'. He's also working with Talking Heads frontman/artist David Byrne and writer Mala Gaonkar on a new immersive experience called 'Theater of the Mind'.

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In this episode of the Geektown Behind The Scenes podcast, I'm chatting with Alex Hajdu, the brilliant production designer behind 'Lucifer', as well as the upcoming return of the fan-favourite franchise, 'CSI: Vegas'.

As I'm sure most of you are aware, 'Lucifer' follows Lucifer Morningstar, who decides he's had enough of being the dutiful servant in Hell and moves to spend some time on Earth to better understand humanity. He settles in Los Angeles - the City of Angels, where he meets Chloe, an LAPD detective, and joins her in solving crimes.

'CSI: Vegas' returns us to the smash hit CSI franchise, and to Las Vegas, albeit with a new team running the Vegas Crime Lab. However, when an existential threat emerges which could bring down the whole facility, the brilliant team of forensic investigators must welcome back old friends and deploy new techniques to preserve and serve justice in Sin City.

Alex has been working in the tv industry pretty much his entire adult life. In the interview, we discuss how he went from carrying boxes for a production company to working on one of the highest-profile procedurals on tv. We go through his work on 'Lucifer', from recreating the initial standing sets when production moved to LA, to complex Season 6 sets such as the Gaudi-inspired God’s throne room and the Magic Castle Theater. We also cover his work on designing a new crime lab for the hugely anticipated return of CSI to our screens.

'Lucifer' can be found on Netflix around the world, whilst 'CSI: Vegas' is set to launch on CBS on October 6th in the USA. We don't yet have a UK premiere for the series, but if you click here, you can use our Never Miss feature to be notified when it does land on this side of the Atlantic.

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I'm away again this week (normal service will be resumed next week), so I'm releasing another behind the scenes podcast in place of the normal Geektown Radio podcast. The interview this week (recorded in-person for a nice change!) features composer Mike Barnett, who chats about a couple of his upcoming projects - 'Action Pack', which is a preschool animated superhero series coming to Netflix in January, and animated film 'Bear Grylls Young Adventurer: Endangered'.

Mike is a musician and composer of film, television and video games who, over the years, has garnered a reputation as a musical powerhouse working with some of the biggest companies in the entertainment industry.

Mike scores 'Action Pack', an animated series scheduled to premiere on 4th January 2022 on Netflix. With hearts, smarts and superpowers, the heroic kids of the Action Academy work together to battle the baddies — and even bring out the good in them!

In addition to that series, Mike most recently recorded with the Vienna Scoring Orchestra for the first in a series of animated feature films from BRON Creative/YBG Films’, titled 'Bear Grylls Young Adventurer', based around the famed survivalist. Set in a Hogwarts-like school in Castleton, UK, the young Grylls deals with the challenges of childhood, learn early life lessons, and embark on globetrotting escapades with a group of friends known as the Secret Ops Squad.

In 2016, Mike was nominated for an Annie Award for “Outstanding Achievement in Music in an Animated TV/Broadcast Production” for his score of Disney Juniors’ animated series 'Sheriff Callie's Wild West'. Mike's music can also be heard on Disney Juniors 'Mickey Mouse and the Roadster Racers', as well as the sequel 'Mickey Mouse Mixed Up Adventures'. His other work includes Scholastic Entertainment’s 'Clifford the Big Red Dog', Nickelodeon’s 'Adventures in Wonder Park' and 'Butterbean’s Café'; The Jim Henson Company/PBS Kids’ series 'Splash and Bubbles', and more.

Prior to setting out on his own, Mike worked at Hans Zimmer's Remote Control for Emmy-nominated composer James Levine on shows such as 'Glee', 'The Blacklist', 'American Horror Story', 'Rizzoli & Isles', 'Major Crimes', 'The Closer' and 'Damages'.

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Hosted by: Dave Elliott

Co-host: Gray Panton

In this packed episode of Geektown Radio, we dissect the carnage of US TV Bloodbath Week, chat about the best (and worst) of recent TV, discuss the surprise BAFTA wins and snubs, and Dave shares his hands-on experience with Apple’s ultra-premium Vision Pro headset.

⏱️ Episode Timestamps:

00:00 – Intro

Welcome to Episode 460! Gray is back and we kick off with birthday catch-ups and life updates.

03:10 – What We've Been Watching: TV Reviews & Reactions

• Poker Face Season 2 (Sky/Now)
• YOU Season 5 (Netflix)
• I, Jack Wright (Now/Alibi)
• The Studio (Apple TV+)
• Black Mirror Season 7 (Netflix)
• Doctor Who (BBC/Disney+)
• Race Across the World (BBC)
• The Genius Game (ITV)
• MobLand (Sky)
• Grace & Beyond Paradise (ITV/BBC)
• Hacks, Tracker, Bosch, 9-1-1, Dr. Odyssey

30:45 – BAFTA TV Awards 2024 Recap

• Jessica Gunning’s sixth win for Baby Reindeer
• Blue Lights, Mr Loverman, Would I Lie to You?
• Danny Dyer wins for Mr Bigstuff?!
• Joe Lycett’s surprise victory over Ant & Dec
• The Traitors snub shock

39:00 – Hands-On with Apple Vision Pro

Dave visits the Apple Store and tries the £3.5k headset – here’s what works, what doesn’t, and whether it’s worth it.

50:30 – US TV BLOODBATH WEEK: Cancellations, Renewals & Pickups (Network by Network)

• 🔪 NBC axes Found, Suits: LA, The Irrational, Night Court, Lopez vs. Lopez
• ✅ Dick Wolf shows (Chicago & Law & Order) safe
• 📉 CBS cuts FBI: Most Wanted, FBI: International, The Equalizer
• 🆕 Pickups: Tom Ellis’ CIA, Boston Blue, Einstein, 9-1-1: Nashville, Memory of a Killer, and more
• 🎬 Fox renews Doc, Grimsburg, Going Dutch, cancels Rescue: HI-Surf
• 🤔 ABC is the most stable – Grey’s Anatomy, Will Trent, The Rookie renewed; The Connors ends

1:23:30 – TV Highlights for the Week Ahead

• Love, Death & Robots S4 (Netflix) – May 15
• Murderbot (Apple TV+) – May 16
• Welcome to Wrexham S4 (Disney+) – May 16
• Code of Silence (ITV) – May 18
• The Bombing of Pan Am 103 (BBC One) – May 18

1:28:20 – Outro & Where to Find Us

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Welcome back to a new Geektown Behind The Scenes podcast. This week I’m chatting with Sharlene Royer, the Assistant Stunt Coordinator for utterly brilliant ‘Shogun’, which recently won a record-breaking 18 Emmys - including a very well-deserved one for Outstanding Stunt Performance!

Based on James Clavell’s novel, FX’s 'Shōgun' is set in Japan in the year 1600 at the dawn of a century-defining civil war. Lord Yoshii Toranaga is fighting for his life as his enemies on the Council of Regents unite against him, when a mysterious European ship is found marooned in a nearby fishing village...

It is an outstanding drama, available on Hulu in the USA, and on Disney+ in the UK and other territories. It's well worth watching and catching up if you haven't seen it yet, as it appears it will be returning for two more seasons following its record-breaking Emmy win.

Born and raised in Quebec to a Haitian mother and French Canadian father, Sharlene was a dancer from the ages of 7 to 18, before moving into modelling and acting. However, following a meeting with legendary Stunt Coordinator, Alan Oliney, she was encouraged to try stunt work, and found her calling. She soon became a very sought-after stunt performer being requested to double stars such as Halle Berry, Rosario Dawson, Vanessa Williams and many more.

On 'Shōgun', Sharlene discusses her work on the epic drama as Assistant Stunt Coordinator, working alongside her boss (and life-partner) Lauro David Chartrand-Del Valle, developing the hugely complex Emmy-winning “cannon” scene, melding VFX, physical effects and stunts for the “earthquake”, plus location scouting, stunt coordinating in the pandemic and lots more.

If that wasn’t enough, Sharlene was also Assistant Stunt Coordinator on season one of the hit CBS drama ‘Tracker’, for which she became the first Black, Female Stunt Coordinator to win a Leo Award from The Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Foundation of British Columbia. She talks about working with lead actor Justin Hartley (and his photographic memory), and also working with Justin alongside guest star Jenson Ackles... who sound like they were as much fun together as you'd expect!

Still want more? She also worked on the wonderfully fun DC superhero drama ‘Legends of Tomorrow’, performing the stunt work for Hawkgirl, so we touch on that in the interview too! Sharlene's other projects include things such as 'The Man In The High Castle', 'Never Let Go', 'X-Men: Days of Future Past', 'Siren', 'See', 'The 100', 'The Rookie', and lots more!

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