Year: 2010

News

Tuesday’s mega SJA news

20 April 2010 Rob Buckley 3 Comments

Katy Manning and Elisabeth Sladen in The Sarah Jane Adventures

Doctor Who

  • Russell T Davies to write two-part Sarah Jane Adventures featuring Matt Smith and Katy Manning (Jo Grant)
  • First ep of new series sets record for BBC America
  • First ep of new series sets record for iPlayer

Film

British TV

  • Trailer and press pack for Luther

US TV

What have you been watching this week (w/e April 16)

16 April 2010 Rob Buckley 5 Comments

Here’s what I watched

  • Ashes to Ashes: Better written than episode one, and Alex was more sparky, but Shazzer fills me with almost season 1-Drake hatred: grow a spine, love. The lack of Alex saying “Hanging, this is no way to run an operation. Shazzer will end up in trouble if we do this. This is how we should do it,” was poor, too, since it was a golden opportunity to have 1980s attitudes to sting operations examined. But it definitely had its moments, mostly around Alex’s investigation of Sam’s death.
  • House: A very good episode that changed format successfully, with Cutty becoming House. Nice to see Jennifer Morrison back, too. Some good revelations and I loved the pairings. Nice direction by Hugh Laurie, too.
  • Lost: Brilliant as always, with so many unexpected twists, it was ridiculous. And yes, everyone loves Hugo.
  • Modern Family: I’ve caught up with them a bit, now. Funny, and I didn’t think the iPad ep was too egregious. Didn’t see this week’s though.
  • Rome: Picked up again after a bleak first half, but now I’m noticing that rather than simply insert things into history, they’re entirely messing around with it this season. Still, at least Cicero and Brutus’s deaths were more noble than their actual deaths.
  • Spartacus: Blood and Sand: Fun. It’s definitely found its feet. I do think everyone should have died horribly already though.
  • Stargate Universe: Really good, this week. More people should be watching.
  • Supernatural: Both last week’s and this week’s were a bit so-so. Enjoyable, but so-so
  • 24: Well, who saw that coming (ho, ho)? I did. it’s managing to maintain the tension, though this week’s was possibly the most stupid set of events in 24 history: (SPOILERS) Chloe running CTU? She has the social skills of a serial killer. You need a manager for these things! And a woman appointed the leader of a hardline Islamic country? I don’t think so. Still, nice to see President Logan around.

But what did you watch?

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).

Classic TV

Weird old title sequences: Manimal (1983)

16 April 2010 Rob Buckley 8 Comments

Manimal

There was a time when you couldn’t move on US TV for TV shows from the house of Glen A Larson. The Six Million Dollar Man, Battlestar Galactica, Knight Rider, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, Magnum PI: all his. He did have a few failures, though: Automan, The Highwayman and Nightman were all his and they didn’t do too well.

His biggest failure was Manimal, which lasted all of eight episodes before being hacked to death. In the majority of Larson’s TV shows, there was an element of fantasy and Manimal probably had the biggest element of fantasy: the wealthy Jonathan Chase (Simon MacCorkindale, now on Holby City) is actually a shape-shifter who can turn himself into any animal of his choice, and uses this ability to help fight crime.

Usually very slowly. Cue the weird old title sequence.

Continue reading “Weird old title sequences: Manimal (1983)”

Sitting Tennant

Friday’s Sitting Tennant (week 15, 2010)

16 April 2010 Rob Buckley 1 Comment

Erin C's Sitting Tennant

Rachel's Sitting Tennant

Rullsenberg's Sitting Tennant

Sister Chastity's Sitting Tennant

Toby's Sitting Tennant

Allow yourself to drift off in the company of David Tennant.

  1. Rullsenberg, Erin C: 95
  2. Sister Chastity, Toby: 85
  3. Sabine: 60
  4. Rachel: 50
  5. Karen: 35
  6. Dawn: 5

Don’t forget Monday’s caption competition. It could save the world.

Got a picture of David Tennant sitting, lying down or in some indeterminate state in between? Then leave a link to it below or email me and if it’s judged suitable, it will appear in the “Sitting Tennant” gallery. Don’t forget to include your name in the filename so I don’t get mixed up about who sent it to me.

The best pic in the stash each week will appear on Monday and get ten points; the runners up will appear on Friday (one per person who sends one in) and get five points.

You can also enter the witty and amusing captions league table by commenting on Monday’s Sitting Tennant photo, the best caption getting 10 points, everyone who contributes getting five points.