I devoted last week's TV Eye column to Skins, the "new" series that just debuted on BBC America. I say new in quotes because the series is already two seasons old abroad. The good news is that U.S. audiences can be assured that the series is not going to disappear after a too short run (Freaks and Geeks comes to mind).

Anyway...I was curious about the title and write to the p.r. folks to inquire. I imagined "skins" is British slang for something, but what? The response came after deadline:

"I recently heard the creator speak about this and he said it wasn't one thing ... it is slang for cigarette papers, condoms but it has other potential, deeper meanings."

So, there you go.

The 2008 Little League World Series has narrowed the pool down to four teams and four final games to be held this weekend. It's Japan versus Mexico in the International Championship game (11:30am, Saturday, ABC) and Hawaii and Louisiana playing to see who's best in the U.S. (2:30pm, Saturday, ABC). The Championship Game will take place Sunday at 2:30pm with the Consolation Game being played at 11am (both on ABC). For more on LLWS schedules and scores click here. If you got a young'un who's not ready for the Little League action to end, Activision has got you covered. Little League World Series 2008 is out now for the Wii (and Nintendo DS) and is the first officially licensed LL game for next-gen consumers. The motion-sensing controls allow easy accessibility for players of all ages and all skill levels. Sixteen teams from around the globe are featured (eight from the U.S.) as well as three Little League stadiums (Lamade Stadium, Volunteer Stadium, and All-Star Field). LLWS 2008 also features fun power-ups, World Series mode, skill challenges, and much more to keep the young baseball fan fixated until next season.

I dodged your earlier question of Branagh vs. Olivier; I think I'd rather circle option C – Orson Welles. Only his Othello is widely available (although Chimes at Midnight and Macbeth are both posted on YouTube); so why not celebrate the Big Boy Orson tonight by watching The Third Man on Turner Classic Movies? That's what I'll be doing, reveling not just in one of the greatest films of all time, but also the fact that not once does anybody bust out in verse. So this is me saying sayonara to Shakespeare. Dear reader, you can still vote and comment on every day's debate through till next Thursday. We close voting next Thursday, and then we'll announce the winner of Film Fight at our Happy Hour event at Spider House that night (Thursday, Aug. 28, 7:30pm). There will be prize giveaways and drink specials and an all-around good time to be had, so please, come out and say hi. And let us know if you have any ideas for next month's Film Fight, eh? We're all ears. Now for a little exit music...

Whoa! I don't know who "Connie" is on the last posting to the ME Television blog I posted regarding the layoffs of VJs Paul Saucido and Bavu Blakes, but when "she" wrote that as of Friday, ME TV was kaput, I knew I had to do some checking. This message just came to TV Eye from Connie Wodlinger, executive director at ME Television:

"I understand some misinformation has been posted to your blog. Thank you for bringing it to our attention.
ME Television has had some significant layoffs, but the management team and a base crew remain in place. The network will continue to produce a 24-hour on-air signal as we aggressively pursue several viable options to return to full production and move forward.

– Connie Wodlinger"
Surprise layoffs, mystery commenters, and misinformation. If anybody wants to tell us the real story, TV Eye's all ears.

Jennifer Perkins, host of Craft Lab and Stylelicious on the DIY network has a new book out. The Naughty Secretary Club: The Working Girl's Guide to Handmade Jewelry (Northlight Books) came out in July, but she's having her very own coming out party for the splashy new book Aug. 30 at Craft-o-Rama.

Craftsters will recognize Jennifer as a member of the Austin Craft Mafia, a group of local craft mavens who sew, hot glue, knit, and crochet fun and funky arts and crafts for the modern guy and gal. If you're a crafter and you don't know Craft-o-Rama, well, what have you been waiting for? The bright and airy shop is designed for the inner seamstress in you, but have just enough yarn and embroidery threads to keep fiber fanatics happy too. Whether it's a book release party or an occasional swap meet, Hayley Pannone (and mommy in waiting) does a swell job of making the event festive and full of casual, crafty fun.

I have to second your Shakespeare fatigue. We both thought last night's screening of Hamlet 2 might give us fresh legs, but, disappointingly that wasn't the case. I didn't hate it like you did – it was just another indie comedy that regurgitated elements, from gross-out to twee to self-referential, that I'd already seen in two-dozen other indie comedies – but Steve Coogan, no matter how uneven his character, still manages to make me laugh more often than not. Honestly, the most interesting thing about the film – which is about a failed actor/high school drama coach who writes a sequel to Hamlet, despite, as one character points out, the fact that almost everyone is dead at the end of Hamlet 1 – was the high school production itself and not the piffling plot about Coogan's sad-sack drama coach or the quasi-inspirational story of inspiring teens to make art. It's a great idea -- let's see, everybody's dead, so where do we go next?! -- but Hamlet 2's primary interest is in Coogan's roller-blading pratfalls. Ah well...

In 1986 Aliens delighted moviegoers with a simple recipe: more of the same. So what happens with so many of its sequential brethren? Yes, I’m looking at you, Lost Boys: The Tribe. And you, Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties. And definitely you, Weekend at Bernie’s II. Maybe in the end we just appreciate the opportunity to respond incredulously. After all, Jurassic Park III did gross some 180 million. And last year I did leave my family on Christmas day to see the much anticipated AVP2. Don’t judge. It’s not easy defending new Rambo as you plan the month of October around the release of the newest Saw installment. The good news? If you can relate, then you can also find some comfort among friends this Sunday at the Alamo Drafthouse at the Ritz as they screen the winning selections from this year’s Unnecessary Sequel Contest… 2.

First of all, Miss Jones, if you take away my knee-jerk naysaying, you’ll take away the very thing that makes me me. Rash judgments are my bread and butter, my stock in trade, my bailiwick, my sine qua non. They’re what got me through college and the Peace Corps and the seminary and Vietnam. They’re as Josh Rosenblatt as chocolate cake, as cigarettes, as long walks off short piers. Take away my rash judgments and you might as well do Film Fight with the movie critic for Family Circle Magazine. Or The Austin American-Statesman. Second of all, much to my shock and dismay, I agree with all your assessments about Orson Welles, Ian McKellen, and Maureen O’Hara. Technicolor was just made for her, wasn’t it? Have you seen How Green Was My Valley, by the way? Man, is that an entertaining movie about Welsh poverty and collapsing mine shafts. I just have to take issue with two points you made: One, I don’t have a problem with Ethan Hawke in general, just Ethan Hawke as Hamlet. And as a novelist, I guess. And as a director, I have a small problem with him. Oh, and as a pop philosopher in Richard Linklater movies. And maybe as a painter in Charles Dickens adaptations; I don’t remember. Other than that, I think he’s great. And secondly, if you had bothered to watch any of John Wayne’s underrated 20th Century Fox silent B-movie pirate classics, like Daredevilry on the High Seas, Hard to Starboard!, The Big Storm, The Big Storm II: Change of Socks, or Jub Jub the Chimpanzee vs. the Barbary Pirates, you’d know that he spent the better part of his early career soaking wet. In fact he was the first and last actor to have a “constant dampness” clause in his studio contract, leading director Raoul Walsh to comment on the set of The Big Trail, “John Wayne is the soggiest actor I’ve seen since ‘Fatty’ Arbuckle.” (Just a little touch of absurdity in the night.)

First of all, my apologies to our faithful readership, who no doubt have been wondering why we’ve gone silent. Josh and I went on a little Film Fight field trip tonight to see Hamlet 2, which opens in Austin tomorrow (at which point Josh and I will have more to say about that). (And since we’re talking, dear readership, I have to say I’m quite moved – if bewildered – that you continue to vote for me on yesterday’s topic even after I admitted I should lose. That is either blind devotion, or you didn’t actually bother to read the posts before you gave me your vote. That’s fine – whole governments have been built on an uninformed populace. So I’d like to thank you [and the academy] – couldn’t have done it without you.) Right, so back to the topic of the day: performances in Shakespeare adaptations. Now, you’ve got a leg up on me, having just watched Almereyda’s Hamlet with Ethan Hawke. (Or did you just YouTube a couple of clips and start assembling the snark? In which case… harrumph.) I haven’t seen it since it came out, although I remember at the time thinking there was some interesting stuff going on. I rather loved Bill Murray’s Polonius, and transplanting “to be or not to be” to a vacant-eyed ramble through Blockbuster Video is indisputably an inspired touch. I admit, rewatching the clip on YouTube– which is of course taking the scene out of context, and taking the film out of its ideal viewing experience – I was a little taken aback by Hawke’s flat delivery. Still, if you’re going to reimagine Hamlet as a whining, slacker filmmaker, then Hawke’s your guy. Maybe he didn’t do himself any favors taking on a role – or rather a reinterpretation of a role – that played too close to his so-called public image, but I’ve never heard you complain, “Oh gawd, it’s Cary Grant playing another witty sophisticate.”