Some context: Spitting Image is a British satirical puppet show, created by Peter Fluck, Roger Law and Martin Lambie-Nairn. The series was produced by 'Spitting Image Productions' for Central Independent Television over 18 series which aired on the ITV network. The series was nominated and won numerous awards during its run including 10 BAFTA Television Awards, including one for editing in 1989 and two Emmy Awards in 1985 and 1986 in the Popular Arts Category. The series featured puppet caricatures of celebrities prominent during the 1980s and 1990s, including British Prime Ministers Margaret Thatcher and John Major and other politicians, US president Ronald Reagan, and the British Royal Family; the series was the first to caricature Queen Elizabeth
In an attempt to crack the American market, there were some attempts to produce a US version of the show. A 45-minute 'made for market' show by the original Spitting Image team, titled Spitting Image: Down and Out in the White House was produced in 1986 by Central for the NBC network. Introduced by David Frost, it departed from the sketch-based format in favour of an overall storyline involving the upcoming (at that time) Presidential election. The plot involved a conspiracy to replace Ronald Reagan with a double (actually actor Dustin Hoffman in disguise). This plan was hatched by the Famous Corporation, a cabal of the ultra-rich headed by Johnny Carson's foil Ed McMahon (in the show, Carson was his ineffectual left-hand man) who met in a secret cavern hollowed out behind the facade of Mount Rushmore. Eventually, their plot foiled, the famous corporation activated their escape pod - Abraham Lincoln's nose - and left Earth for another planet, but (in a homage to the beginning of the Star Wars movies) were destroyed during a collision with 'a nonsensical prologue in gigantic lettering'. The show was not very successful with its target audience, possibly because its humour was still very British and it was so irreverent about Ronald Reagan at a time when he was enormously popular with the American public. It did, however, receive great praise from critics and it was followed by several more television specials: The Ronnie & Nancy Show (also satirising the Reagans), The 1987 Movie Awards (sending up the Academy Awards), Bumbledown: The Life and Times of Ronald Reagan (a quasi-documentary about the President), and The Sound of Maggie (satirising Thatcher and parodying several musicals such as Oliver!, West Side Story and many others).
Are there any other interesting aspects about this article?
A: The show was not very successful with its target audience, possibly because its humour was still very British and it was so irreverent about Ronald Reagan
Some context: Jin Akanishi (Chi Xi Ren , Akanishi Jin, born July 4, 1984) is a Japanese musician, singer, songwriter and actor. He has been active since 1998, first as one of the two lead vocalists of the popular J-pop boy-band KAT-TUN. Since the group's official debut in 2006, they have achieved 14 consecutive number ones (including studio albums) on the Oricon charts. In 2009, Akanishi started his solo career, and since then has released two studio albums (Japonicana, #JustJin), and two mini albums (Test Drive, Mi Amor).
Akanishi made his debut as an actor in 1999 in a cameo appearance in the second episode of NTV's romance comedy, P.P.O.I., and also had small roles in TV Asahi's Best Friend, Omae no yukichi ga naiteiru and in NHK series, Haregi, Koko Ichiban. He also started appearing in musicals from 2000 taking on supporting roles in Millennium Shock (2000), Show Geki Shock (2001-2002), Dream Boy (2004) and Dream Boys (2006). Akanishi returned to the small screen in 2005 in the second season of the award-winning and popular NTV school drama, Gokusen, starring opposite Yukie Nakama and former bandmate Kazuya Kamenashi. The show won "Best Drama" at the 44th Television Drama Academy Awards and ended its run with an average viewership rating of 27.8%. He also had a supporting role in NTV's romance series, Anego, the same year. In 2007, Akanishi starred in his first lead role in Yukan Club, a school comedy series, with ex-bandmate Junnosuke Taguchi and was voted "Best Actor" at the 11th Nikkan Sports Drama Grand Prix. He made his debut as a voice actor in 2008 for the Japanese dub of Speed Racer, providing the voice for protagonist Speed played by Emile Hirsch. In 2009, Akanishi was cast as the lead actor in the movie Bandage directed by Takeshi Kobayashi and released on January 16, 2010. This marked his debut on the big screen. In 2013, he made his Hollywood debut with the film 47 Ronin which also had Keanu Reeves in the lead role. Akanishi played the role of Chikara Oishi, the samurai leader's son, played by Hiroyuki Sanada and a close friend to Reeves' character, Kai. The film's director, Carl Rinsch, said he was "impressed by Akanishi's English abilities and motivation". Thus, he turned out to be the second Johnny & Associates artist within the agency after Ninomiya Kazunari in Letters From Iwo Jima to star in a Hollywood movie and the third overall to work with an American director.
When did Jin start films?
A:
1999