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Merged BBC program featuring Randi.

Soapy Sam

Penultimate Amazing
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I get newsletters from Chris French at Goldsmith's College.
The following came today.

From: Psychology of the Paranormal Email Network (c.french@gold.ac.uk) Sent: 31 October 2014 10:56:09

Hi All,

There's a documentary about James Randi on BBC4 this Sunday (9 pm to 10:25 pm) that definitely looks well worth watching. Details can be found here:

http://www.tvguide.co.uk/detail/204...stemid=&gridspan=03:00&catColor=#.VFNohVeF-pg

"Documentary chronicling magician James Randi's attempts to expose supposed faith healers, fortune-tellers and psychics who have borrowed tricks from magicians to swindle the masses. The programme examines his rivalry with spoon-bending illusionist Uri Geller, as well as how he exposed evangelist Peter Popoff's use of in-ear receivers in the 1980s."

Best wishes,
Chris

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I think there is already a thread on this BBC showing.

From the description it sounds very much like the doc An Honest Liar that was released in the Spring of this year in North America. See http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2246565/

I did not get to see it when it was at the Toronto International Film Festival but I did get to meet Randi. :yahoo
 
Gord_in_Toronto said:
I think there is already a thread on this BBC showing.

From the description it sounds very much like the doc An Honest Liar that was released in the Spring of this year in North America. See http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2246565/

I did not get to see it when it was at the Toronto International Film Festival but I did get to meet Randi. :yahoo
Click to expand...

It sounds similar, but I don't think it is that one; they are still hoping for a theatrical release, and I don't think they mentioned showing on TV yet. Also, An Honest Liar goes into some (I haven't seen it, so I don't know how much) depth on Randi's relationship with his partner, and some of the deceptions involved in that.

ETA: Hmm, having seen the full description, maybe it is.
In telling Randi's strange, funny and fascinating life story, the film shows how we are all vulnerable to deception - even, in a surprising twist, 'The Amazing' Randi himself.
Click to expand...
As a backer of the kickstarter for An Honest Liar, I will be a bit put out if it does turn out to be that, though.

ETA2: The credits show:

Credits
Role Contributor
Director Tyler Measom
Producer Tyler Measom
Director Justin Weinstein
Producer Justin Weinstein
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They are the ones producing An Honest Liar, so I guess that's what it is.
 
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Curiouser and curiouser. I posted a question to the Honest Liar facebook page, which seems to be the most active channel they have, asking if it is An Honest Liar that the BBC are showing, and my post has been deleted.

ETA: As to why I was surprised that this appears to be on TV, the most recent update I got, just 11 days ago, said:
Our distributor, who is investing time and money into getting the film into theaters, will also not allow us to release it prior as they fear the ease of spreading a digital download or copying DVD’s will hurt the earnings of the film. We understand their concern and have to respect it.
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zooterkin said:
Curiouser and curiouser. I posted a question to the Honest Liar facebook page, which seems to be the most active channel they have, asking if it is An Honest Liar that the BBC are showing, and my post has been deleted.

ETA: As to why I was surprised that this appears to be on TV, the most recent update I got, just 11 days ago, said:
Click to expand...

If it is the same movie, or a BBC show that uses a lot of the movie as a basis for "Britishized" TV documentary, it may very well be that the producers are still looking for a North American theatrical release and that a TV show elsewhere in the World doesn't count.

(As an aside -- the most recent BBC Stonehenge documentary has appeared in both an Americanized and Canadianized versions on TV in NoAm. Neither as good as the original. :( )
 
Gord_in_Toronto said:
If it is the same movie, or a BBC show that uses a lot of the movie as a basis for "Britishized" TV documentary, it may very well be that the producers are still looking for a North American theatrical release and that a TV show elsewhere in the World doesn't count.

(As an aside -- the most recent BBC Stonehenge documentary has appeared in both an Americanized and Canadianized versions on TV in NoAm. Neither as good as the original. :( )
Click to expand...



It's being screened under the "Storyville" BBC documentary banner, with the subtitle "Exposed: Magicians, Psychics and Frauds". The BBC have done this quite a lot with the Storyville series (as they often did with their "Arena" strand in the 80s and 90s) - they either rebadge or "re-header" (with the "Storyville" header) an existing documentary, perhaps with minimal editing and sometimes a UK-English voiceover.

In the very recent past, exactly this sort of thing has happened with a Storyville-headered programme about the Lance Armstrong drugs story ("The Lance Armstrong Story - Stop at Nothing") and the "Blackfish" documentary about killer whales in captivity.
 
I got a reply, through, I suspect, gritted teeth:
You are quite astute. Yes, it is the same film. However, the BBC elected to change the film title to something a bit more "tantalizing", much to our objections.

While the BBC licensed the film quite some time ago for UK broadcast, we just found out yesterday that they were showing it this week. Needless to say, we aren't necessarily pleased about it as we hoped they would wait until we had released it theatrically in the US (which we intend to do in the spring).

Knowing that the BBC will adequately promote the broadcast and it's only available for viewing in the UK, we didn't feel the need to publicize the film.

Hope you enjoy.
Click to expand...
 
zooterkin said:
I got a reply, through, I suspect, gritted teeth:
Quote:
You are quite astute. Yes, it is the same film. However, the BBC elected to change the film title to something a bit more "tantalizing", much to our objections.

While the BBC licensed the film quite some time ago for UK broadcast, we just found out yesterday that they were showing it this week. Needless to say, we aren't necessarily pleased about it as we hoped they would wait until we had released it theatrically in the US (which we intend to do in the spring).

Knowing that the BBC will adequately promote the broadcast and it's only available for viewing in the UK, we didn't feel the need to publicize the film.

Hope you enjoy.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...

Another Kickstarter backer here. I'm more than a bit annoyed. I'm glad they respect their distributors because they obviously don't give a **** about their backers. Millions of people will have had the opportunity to see it but a large percentage of their backers are not allowed to see it for another 6 months, if then.

I'm so tempted to spread the news in the Kickstarter comments but I know it wouldn't do any good. I expect it will blow up in their faces eventually.
 
Too late for that, I already mentioned it there, too, before I had got the reply above. I find it rather odd (but that may be my UK-centrism) that they never breathed a word of having sold the film to the BBC. And, if you follow the link above, you'll see the programme will be available online for a while after it shown, which pretty much blows their distributor's intent of not having a digital version out there.
 
Zax63 said:
Another Kickstarter backer here. I'm more than a bit annoyed. I'm glad they respect their distributors because they obviously don't give a **** about their backers. Millions of people will have had the opportunity to see it but a large percentage of their backers are not allowed to see it for another 6 months, if then.

I'm so tempted to spread the news in the Kickstarter comments but I know it wouldn't do any good. I expect it will blow up in their faces eventually.
Click to expand...

Dishonest liars?
 
zooterkin said:
Too late for that, I already mentioned it there, too, before I had got the reply above. I find it rather odd (but that may be my UK-centrism) that they never breathed a word of having sold the film to the BBC. And, if you follow the link above, you'll see the programme will be available online for a while after it shown, which pretty much blows their distributor's intent of not having a digital version out there.
Click to expand...

Odd, the last comment I can see on Kickstarter is from 10/22. Considering some of the comments on other projects I've backed I would have sworn the project managers did not have the ability to block or censor.

ETA - Now that I think about it the bad comments may have all been on Indiegogo.

ETA #2 - Your comment is visible. I had been looking at the general project comments, not the ones specifically for the last update.
 
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Cool, thanks for the tip. One to catch on iPlayer I think :)
 
Randi on UK TV tonight 21-22:25 Sunday BBC4

Exposed: Magicians, Psychics and Frauds
Storyville, 2014-2015
link http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04ndsb3

Renowned magician James 'The Amazing' Randi has been wowing audiences with his jaw-dropping illusions, escapes and sleight of hand for over 50 years. When he began seeing his cherished art form co-opted by all manner of con artists, he made it his mission to expose the simple tricks charlatans have borrowed from magicians to swindle the masses.

This entertaining film chronicles Randi's best debunkings of faith healers, fortune tellers and psychics. It documents his rivalry with famed spoon-bender Uri Geller, whom Randi eventually foiled on a high-profile television appearance. Another target was evangelist Peter Popoff, whose tent-show miracles and audience mind-reading were exposed as chicanery when Randi revealed a recording of Popoff's wife feeding him information through a radio-transmitter earpiece.

In telling Randi's strange, funny and fascinating life story, the film shows how we are all vulnerable to deception - even, in a surprising twist, 'The Amazing' Randi himself.
 
Blimey, looking at some of the pictures from 30, 40 years ago it appears that Randi was always 150.
 
Just finished watching. Be fascinated to hear what others thought.

No doubt the issue of his relationship issues will be used against him, however unfairly.

Odd that the Million Dollar Challenge did not get a mention.

Fascinating that Geller almost admitting he was always a con. Not quite but nearly.
 
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