It’s “What have you been watching this week?”, your chance to recommend to friends and fellow blog readers the TV that they might be missing or should avoid – and for me to do mini-reviews of everything I’ve watched this week. Since we live in the fabulous world of Internet catch-up services like the iPlayer and Hulu, why not tell your fellow readers what you’ve seen so they can see the good stuff they might have missed?
Regular recommendations; Cougar Town, House, Modern Family, Royal Pains, Southland, 30 Rock and Top Gear
This week’s backlog: Archer; Community; Episodes; Outcasts; and Royal Navy Caribbean Patrol. One day, I’ll get round to The Killing as well. Stupid BBC4 and it’s two episodes a week stunt scheduling.
After the jump, mini-reviews of last week’s Archer and Community as well as this week’s Being Human, Being Human (US), Chuck, Shameless, Smallville and Spartacus: Gods of the Arena.
Archer (FX)
More offensive than the first week’s, thankfully. Very silly, very enjoyable.
Being Human (iPlayer)
Bit of a week one, with Mitchell wandering around in his own sub-plot while everyone else deals with the zombie. Made up for by the last couple of minutes though.
Being Human (US)
Slightly a retread of the British material again, with Josh getting training from another werewolf, as per season one of Being Human (UK), US Nina making her first appearance, Sally discovering her ex is with her best friend now and Aidan getting all jiggy with Rebecca, the female vampire he turned. Where it’s differing is in Josh’s werewolf mentor, who’s not just a one-episode wonder and appears to have distinct vampire issues. It’s all getting a bit Twilight, but it’s still holding its own.
Chuck (Hulu)
My wife turned to me while we were watching this and said, “How is this show still going?” It’s basically run out of ideas now and is just moving until someone puts a bullet through its head. Having John Laroquette back was good, but the show has stopped being entertaining or innovative on a large scale now.
Community (Hulu)
Dungeons and Dragons! Possibly the best ever episode. While Pearce was perhaps slightly out of character, this was clever, had depth and Annie’s seduction routine was laugh out loud funny. People must watch this show. I’ll get all of you watching if it’s the last thing I do.
Shameless
Progressively getting funnier. William H Macy’s Frank is still the weakest link though.
Smallville (The CW)
Yey! Chloe’s back. An obvious ‘homage’ to The Matrix, it actually worked quite well in an escapist way and having Black Canary back now SGU is dead is an added bonus. Martha’s back tonight!
Spartacus: Gods of the Arena (Starz online)
Still proving quite hard to convince myself to watch this week, just because I know my retinas will get scarred by what I see. Overlooking the usual full-frontal nudity, threesomes, bloodshed, rape, et al, a well-plotted piece and the introduction of a new character proved to be quite a master stroke.
