The average number of children per family in the United Kingdom is 2. In the United States it's 3.1.
I mention this purely because of the above picture. Seriously, that's one pair of grandparents, their children and most of their grandchildren and partners - at least in the US show Parenthood. Really, some kind of Chinese-style child-reduction policy is needed here because, at the very least, keeping track of all these characters is way too difficult. Look, NBC have even had to create this family tree for us to deal with all the characters in Parenthood, and they're not all on it. There are more than this:
Parenthood, as you may recall, was an 80s comedy about the 'Buckman' family that looked at the trials and tribulations of being a parent. Apparently, being a parent isn't easy - who knew? Oh wait - everyone. That's the correct answer. Everyone knows.
This TV series, exec produced by the movie's original producers Ron Howard and Brian Grazer, is an at-best loose adaptation of that movie, with the Buckmans having become the Bravermans, and comedy having become misery.
I'm not going to lie to you - it's not fun and it's not great, but RGBE denizen Monica Potter in it, so it might worth a look-in.
Here's a trailer, but you'll notice that Maura Tierney is in it. She's been replaced by Lauren Graham off Gilmore Girls, as you can see from the behind-the-scenes featurette beneath it, and the teenage girl's been recast/hair-dyed as well. But you get the idea.
CBS cancelsWithout A Trace, Worst Week, renews Numb3rs, cancels Eleventh Hour, renews How I Met Your Mother, Gary Unmarried, Rules of Engagement and Old Christine
The CW dropsPrivileged, Reaper, Everybody Hates Chris, picks up Melrose Place 2.0, Beautiful Life and Vampire Diaries, but not the Gossip Girl spin-off
NBC cancelsMy Name is Earl and Medium; CBS picks up Medium and cancels The Unit
Time is precious. There's simply too much TV for any one person to watch. But sooner or later we all find some favourite shows that we're prepared to sacrifice our time on, because we enjoy them – or because we have to review them and get paid for our sacrifice.
But no matter how good some shows start off, they often go to pot after a while or we find we simply don't have the time to watch them any more.
So meme of the week is a quick question: which TV shows have you stopped watching recently and why?
I've just decided after five seasons that enough is enough and I'm not bothering with the mindless repetition, thin characterisation and rubbish plots of Numb3rs any more, except if they have a good guest star. Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles is on the back burner now, despite having terminators in it, since its silliness, derivativeness and pretension were getting up my nose. And I'm seriously considering giving CSI the chop, simply because I'm not invested in the characters any more.
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.
Read more on John Barrowman on QVC