Fess up. With so much rain pouring down, you must have been watching TV at some point. But what did you watch and was it any good?
I've a bit of a backlog, but I've been watching a few things, some of which I've now reviewed. I've yet to watch Jerry Bruckheimer's Dark Blue but I'm sure I'll get round to it later today – ditto Burn Notice and episode two of 10 Things I Hate About You. I've also got the start of the fourth season of LA Ink in the queue for lovely wife, since she loves Kat von D, but I'll probably skip that.
Royal Pains from last night was pretty good – good development for all the characters and some good interplay between them. Episode 2 of Warehouse 13 was a lot better than episode one, but still left a few things to be desired. Hung seemed to jump off into pastures new, away from gender politics per se, in favour of general economic issues. I have a suspicion it's going to end up unclassifiable at this rate.
Dragons' Den was back on top form, and surprisingly funny and laid back. And Top Gear wasn't bad at all, as per usual.
What about yourselves?
As always, no spoilers unless you're going to use the <spoiler> </spoiler> tags, please
July 17, 2009 | Reply
Watched this week:
'Nurse Jackie'
"Tiny Bubbles" may be the best episode, any genre, for the year. We'll see. Powerhouse of an ending but then the guest character was a combination of both my parents, so that's probably why it hit me so hard. Still what a trio of actresses: Judith Ivey, Swoosie Kurtz, and my college era crush, Blythe Danner......
'Eureka' returned
Wish-list: a crossover with 'Warehouse 13'. Seems a given to me.
'Harper's Island' two-hour finale
Yeah, I know it wasn't that great, and usually I avoid this kind of subject matter in the movies. But I made a pretty good guess as to the identity of the other killer and wanted to see how it all played out. Even when my suspect was dispatched, I kept Agatha Christie in mind and thought it was a fake-out. Their big reveal at least made sense and they did play fair with the audience throughout. I was just too stubborn to accept it because it was too obvious.
'Kings'
Must be getting close to a series finale? I think it may wrap up; perhaps with a few plot threads hanging, but I'll be steamed if they try to leave us with a cliff-hanger ending when the ratings don't call for a second season.
"The Usual Suspects": 'Primeval', 'Entourage', 'Z Rock', 'Better Off Ted', 'The Closer', and 'Merlin' (with a nice performance by Julian Rhind-Tutt, whom I wanted to see as the Doctor).
I'm also continuing my vintage TV - 1 episode per day - kick via http://www.tv4u.com/vintage.asp (Not sure if you can access that over there.)
This week so far:
'Captain Midnight'
'Sky King'
'Scarlet Pimpernel' with Troughton as the co-star
'The Buster Keaton Show'
'The Adventures of Fu Manchu'
Plus the pilot episode of 'The Time Tunnel' for my daily blog feature for tomorrow....
A local PBS station has brought back 'Kingdom', starting from the beginning so that I can catch up on what I mssed the last time round. I'm a big fan of these quirky little towns in TV, so Market Shipborough is fitting right in! And I'm a big fan of Stephen Fry.
Combined with that there was an old episode of 'The Return of Sherlock Holmes' with Charles Gray as Mycroft Holmes (The Bruce Partington Plans). It's the type of story that might work well with Moffit's updating on the original for next year, starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman.
Speaking of Cumberbatch, I stayed for one more 'Miss Marple', and again because of the guest cast - Sylvia Syms, Shirley Henderson, Steve Pemberton (who was also in the second episode of 'Kingdom' shown this week), Anna Chancellor (a fave from 'fortysomething'), Russell Tovey as a young constable, and Cumberbatch as a former detective. But still not into the new Marple herself. She's a dead spot on screen....
Now it's off to watch 'Royal Pains', 'Burn Notice', and 'The Listener' (which, as Rob reported, has been cancelled by NBC over here but which lives on in Canada).
And Wednesday's Letterman with Macca. I was out on Broadway to "see" his rooftop (awning top?) concert that night. My sightlines were blocked, but I was still treated to a great sounding show. And besides, it's all available online to see anyway (hopefully for you folks as well).....
July 17, 2009 | Reply
I haven't been watching television, just sitting and waiting for you to put up this week's Sitting Tennant. It's 5.49 on Friday. Sigh.
Actually, I watched Ultraviolet on DVD. The second half of the series was particularly good, by which I mean dark and nasty, and I enjoyed the unsympathetic characterisation and the constant wrongfooting very much. Shame the girlfriend character can't remotely begin to act. And where is that Idris Elba now, eh?
Speaking of alumni of The Wire I also watched Freefall which was astonishingly entertaining for a film that didn't have a single surprise in it from start to finish. Aiden Gillen is not getting any less sexy with age. Plus I caught a few seconds of Clarke Peters on Holby City as I was putting on a DVD. Now that's a sorry fate for a great actor.
July 17, 2009 | Reply
I have been mainly watching my children peform in leaver's shows and avoiding lightning strikes in high places (-:
However, I did catch most of Freefall. I thought the acting was top notch, if the storyline utterly predictable. Dominic Cooper was wonderfully unpleasant, and the easily forseeable plight of his friends was nonetheless heartbreaking. And I liked the Rosamund Pike/Aiden Gillen dynamic.
Also (am I allowed to admit this here?) caught the last ten minutes of New Tricks which I love unashamedly. It's not just that my schoolgirl crush on Dennis Waterman, though diminished remains tinged with fondness, but I particularly love Alun Armstrong. And I think it's great to have a show where all the leads are older.
Saw the first episode I've seen so far of Psychoville and loved it.
That's about it...