What did you watch this week (w/e February 10)?

(Yet again), belated time for “What did you watch this week?”, my chance to tell you what I watched this week that I haven’t already reviewed and your chance to recommend things to everyone else (and me) in case we’ve missed them.

First, the usual recommendations: Archer, Being Human (US), The Daily Show, House, Modern Family, Happy Endings, Portlandia, Ringer, Royal Pains, Shameless (US), Southland, Spartacus, Suburgatory and 30 Rock. Do watch them (if you can and they happen to be on TV this week).

And here are a few thoughts on the regulars and other shows:

  • Shameless (US): Great to see (spoiler)Steve back, since he’d left something of a narrative gap.
  • House: The first decent episode of the season so far
  • Happy Endings: The One With All The Friends References In It
  • Spartacus: Episode two was a definite improvement over episode one, but it’s still not yet firing on all cylinders.
  • 30 Rock: The best season since the second one, I reckon.
  • Ringer: Nice to see Ioan Gruffudd given something to do apart from simper all episode. And the trouble with Juliet(te?) is that the actress is so terrible, it’s hard to tell if the character is a bad actress, too.
  • The Almighty Johnsons: Not quite as fun or as action-packed as the first episode, but still promising and most of the brothers get a little depth in episode two. Not sure what’s happening with the women or even if they’re goddesses now.

But has anyone been watching Being Human (UK) and Bomb Girls over in Canada, by any chance?

And in movies:

  • Red Balloon: Surprisingly effective and affecting French movie about a boy who makes friends with a balloon. Is the balloon a metaphor for Jesus? A pet? Does it matter? It’s just lovely:

“What did you watch this week?” is your chance to recommend to friends and fellow blog readers the TV and films that they might be missing or should avoid – and for me to do mini-reviews of everything I’ve watched. 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?

Author

  • Rob Buckley

    I’m Rob Buckley, a journalist who writes for UK media magazines that most people have never heard of although you might have heard me on the podcast Lockdown Land or Radio 5 Live’s Saturday Edition or Afternoon Edition. I’ve edited Dreamwatch, Sprocket and Cambridge Film Festival Daily; been technical editor for TV producers magazine Televisual; reviewed films for the short-lived newspaper Cambridge Insider; written features for the even shorter-lived newspaper Soho Independent; and was regularly sarcastic about television on the blink-and-you-missed-it “web site for urban hedonists” The Tribe. Since going freelance, I've contributed to the likes of Broadcast, Total Content + Media, Action TV, Off The Telly, Action Network, TV Scoop and The Custard TV.