Firstly, I can't believe no one noticed I copied and pasted the intro last week from an old entry. In Israel again? Losing my luggage again? Surely not.
Anyway, that aside, secondly, this is the last "What have you been watching this week?" before Christmas, so let's make it special, hey? Give the present of your TV recommendations to your friends.
Dexter – I should have done a "Season finale" review by now, but I haven't. Slave-drivers at work won't let me blog. Curse them. Fortunately, I'm still not sure what I think, so I can prevaricate so more. It was bold, it was interesting, it resolved things. I just don't know whether – or whether I didn't – like it. I just don't know.
Community – A return to form for the Christmas episode, which has to have been one of the best Christmas episodes of any show I've seen. And I really didn't recognise Anthony Michael Hall throughout the entire episode.
Misfits – Hopefully a series finale review coming soon. But that was a cracker of an ending.
Gavin & Stacey – Not very funny this week. More about the pathos, but the ceremony at the end redeemed it in the comedy stakes.
The Thick Of It – Another relatively sad one, but a good return to form by the end. Loved the fact that Tom Hollander has arrived as the mirror-Malcolm.
Paradox – Possibly the least stupid episode so far, but also probably the least interesting. Is there some sort of correlation going on?
Men of a Certain Age – Time and work meant I didn't manage to do that review I promised. It got better by the end of the first episode, but it feels like a whiny bunch of moaners. I didn't like Ray Romano moaning about his not-bad life on Everybody Loves Raymond. I still don't. Scott Bakula's great though.
30 Rock – Not bad. That's about as much as I remember.
Better off Ted – I thought I'd give this a go soon it got good word of mouth over the summer. I've watched two episodes now and they've been what I would describe as "gentle comedy". There are a few nice moments per episode and I still love Andrea Anders from Joey/The Class, but it's too divorced from reality to be truly engrossing.
Cougar Town – Caught up with the backlog. Still nothing sensational about it, but it's a solid half hour with a guaranteed laugh or two each episode and the characters are now all sympathetic and likable.
My Ugly Best Friend – Obviously pure evil from the outset and now I've seen it, I can confirm it really is pure evil. I'm also less than convinced those two women were friends.
CSI: Dark and a little bit silly. Interesting to see how they're bringing in the recurring villain this season
What have you been watching though?
As always, no spoilers unless you're going to use the <spoiler> </spoiler> tags, please. If you've reviewed something on your blog, you can put a link to it here rather than repeat yourself (although too many links and you might get killed by the spam filter).
I like Julie Benz: she's very blondetalented. Here she is with Joel McHale of Community, discussing the season finale of Dexter and how the acting world works.
She funny.
Actually, funnier than McHale for some reason. Anyway, need I say DO NOT WATCH IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THE SEASON FINALE OF DEXTER? I just did anyway.
If for some reason accursed embedded video doesn't work, you can view it here.
Dexter – Not sure about Sunday's ep. It felt like it ignored the usual ground rules of Dexter and expected us to swallow a whole load of things that just weren't plausible. For example, doesn't Dexter have voicemail? Why would he have given his number to Arthur?
Misfits – I haven't seen last night's episode yet, but the first three have been very good. I think I actually prefer it to Being Human now – the characters feel a little more real, if you know what I mean.
Gavin & Stacey – the rap was a bit painful and watching Sheridan Smith and James Corden doing it as brother and sister got a bit creepy at times. Overall, though, I liked it – it didn't feel like they were retreading old material more continuing previous themes. Also lost track of the number of times Stacey would do/say something and I thought to myself "That sounds very familiar." That's well-observed comedy for you.
Cast Offs – been catching up with this since I'm writing an article on it. I probably wouldn't have watched it normally (six disabled characters are put on an island by Channel 4 and we get flashbacks to their lives) and Channel 4 are burning it off as quickly as they can. But I'm quite enjoying it. It's very different from the usual TV dramas out there. Slowly paced and it's obviously mostly intended to be educational, but it's actually pretty good.
The Thick Of It – caught up with the last two episodes. Not as fun as the previous two series, primarily because you can't help feel sorry for everyone, rather than laugh at them. But good moments in both.
Paradox – It has dialogue that makes your ears bleed with its awfulness. It has characters that are beyond stupid. People do moronic things for no good reason (eg We must never tell the disbelieving cop whose life we have just saved that his life was at risk. In fact, let's not do the very very easy things when harder is much better). But it's oddly compelling – kind of what FlashForward should have been in some ways. My theory (and probably everyone's theory): sinister mad scientist bloke is sending the messages from the future back to himself.
The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret: One of Channel 4's comedy pilots (available to view on YouTube). I tittered a little, although usually from the performances rather than the script, which was a bit poor. Miraculously, though, since David Cross (Arrested Development) was the co-writer/star, they managed to get cameos from Spike Jonze, Will Arnett and Kristen Schaal. Also featured Russell Tovey. Will Arnett had the best moment though.
What have you been watching though?
As always, no spoilers unless you're going to use the <spoiler> </spoiler> tags, please. If you've reviewed something on your blog, you can put a link to it here rather than repeat yourself (although too many links and you might get killed by the spam filter).
So, other than Doctor Who, what have you been watching this week? As per usual, I've reviewed most of what I've seen, but of the regulars:
Community – Very funny and took the show in odd directions. However, last night's seemed to ignore that direction. Which is odd, but they've mixed up episodes before now
30 Rock – Is it bad that the new Canadian guy seemed more interesting than everyone else on the show?
Dexter – Ooh, some interesting twists and glad to see Rita having some fun for a change
Stargate Universe – Very good and unexpected. I don't know if there was a magic reset button at the end or not (tonight's ep will reveal that), but even if it wasn't, it was a good way to end the ep, crediting the audience with some intelligence. They seem to be going in the direction of "you know all the crap things that can happen when you're exploring? Well we're going to show you them all."
The Thick of It – Another good one. The opposition are starting to seem more interesting than the government though.
Still got this week's CSI, Cougar Town, Modern Family and Supernatural to watch. But I've decided I'm never going to watch this series of The Sarah Jane Adventures so I've deleted them from my line-up.
The Prisoner Big almost watch of the week was the AMC/remake The Prisoner. First, a confession – when I was young, I loved the original so much I joined the appreciation society. So I might be biased. But this was excruciatingly dull. It was beautifully shot, but the direction was in no way involving, it was literal when it shouldn't have been, made sure it rammed home the face that some things might not be real, and was just hopeless in every way. It was also so edited in such a way that whenever there was a moment that needed explaining, they tried to do it with music and a montage – it was like a rock video version of The Prisoner at times.
Episode 2 was a brief uptick, and I did appreciate the little head-nods to the original show (the map, the taxis, Rover, the abbreviated episode titles, the blazer, as well as a few plot elements), but episode 3 got so dull, so soon, I abandoned all hope and gave up. I've since found out what the ending was, and I'm very, very glad I gave up, because that sounded rubbish.
What have you been watching though?
As always, no spoilers unless you're going to use the <spoiler> </spoiler> tags, please. If you've reviewed something on your blog, you can put a link to it here rather than repeat yourself (although too many links and you might get killed by the spam filter).
In the US: Sundays, 9pm ET/PT, Showtime. Starts September 27th
Dexter is of course America's favourite serial killer. Trained by his adoptive police officer father to channel his homicidal instincts for 'good', Dexter only kills bad people.
However, as pleasing as that might have seemed, the third season of Dexter didn't appeal to as many fans, as politician Jimmy Smits' plan to befriend Dexter, learn his secrets and then go off killing his own enemies failed to interest viewers as much as the previous seasons' stories did. To some (not me), it all felt a bit flabby, a bit drawn out, a bit tired.
With Dexter marrying and having a baby at the end of season three, many worried that the show might be jumping the shark or at the very least that season four was going to have a stupider or less captivating plot.
Worry ye not. Episode 1 of season four looks to be a cracker, with John Lithgow turning up as the new, mental serial killer in town. If only he didn't spend so much of it naked. We just don't have to see that kind of thing on tele, do we?
About the blog
This is a UK media blog with daily news, views, exclusive reviews and good conversation. There's a bit of a bias towards the latest and greatest US TV, but we also cover British TV ranging from new Doctor Who to old Z Cars, Property Ladder to Big Brother, and BBC4 to S4C – yes, this blog is firmly part of the conspiracy to promote all things Welsh where possible, particularly Caerdydd.
Add in film, theatre, art, books, events and media journalism and you've (hopefully) got one of the best places on the web for media lovers. Oh yes, and there's The Carusometer, the ultimate guide to quality TV.
About me
I'm Rob Buckley, a freelance journalist who writes for UK media magazines that most people have never heard of. I've edited Dreamwatch, Sprocket and Cambridge Film Festival Daily; been technical editor for trade magazine Televisual; reviewed films for the short-lived newspaper Cambridge Insider; written features for the even shorter-lived newspaper Soho Independent; and contributed sarcastic articles about television to the blink-and-you-missed-it "web site for urban hedonists" The Tribe. I'm freelance now and have contributed to the likes of Broadcast, Total Content + Media, Action TV, Off The Telly and TV Scoop. Have pity on me.
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