Good lost TV and bad lost TV. By "lost", of course, I mean "easily available to millions worldwide on YouTube." First: Benji the dog + aliens + 80s music that sounds like John Carpenter + Hasselhoff Hair = this, which was an actual TV show.

Benji, Zax, and the Alien Prince. (via Coudal.)

The Dissolve explains:

There are many episodes on YouTube. I don't believe the show really exists. I think someone made the first five minutes out of old 80s footage, knowing no one would be able to watch any more.

The opening credits are worth watching. Obligatory Dark Tyrant who's on the verge of galactic conquest, and dispatches Team Rocket to go find the kid. No doubt there's an online petition somewhere to bring them all to DVD, because some people loved it when they were 11. The evil tyrant, by the way, is named Zanu, which might raise some eyebrows.

PYTHON NEWS My brain hurts - from joy! RadioTimes:

Good news. But it's still a sin that Rutland Weekend Television isn't available in a clean DVD version. It's really the lost season of "Python," and shows how much of the show was due to Eric Idle's sensibilities. Apparently he doesn't want it re-released, because it "reminds him of an unhappy time in his life." Too bad.

Machine-wrapped with butter? Machine wrapped with butter.

CIAO The Spectator has a sad and disheartening piece on the fate of Italy. The wounds are entirely self-inflicted. It begins:

Read on; it seems that those were the only people fired from a job in Italy in the last 10 years. Also, the piece contains the line "Regardless of who is in charge in Italy, it is nearly always all mouth and no trousers," which would appear to be the British version of "all hat and no cattle." You learn something every day.