TMINE

Question of the week: what shows have you given up on or given a second chance to this season?

21 April 2010 Rob Buckley 6 Comments

A year or so ago, back when this was meme of the week, I asked the question:

Which TV shows have you stopped watching recently and why?

It feels like the time to ask the question again. I’ve ditched CSI, CSI:Miami and 10 Things I Hate About You on the general grounds they were wasting my time and not entertaining me. But how about you? Ditched FlashForward yet? Abandoned Heroes this season?

Alternatively, if you prefer, answer the flipside question:

Which TV shows have you given a second chance to, and were you glad or annoyed that you did?

I gave Spartacus: Blood and Sand a second chance and was surprisingly pleased. I nearly gave up on 24 but held on until it started to get good again. I tried Ashes to Ashes again and wasn’t impressed at all, so I’ve given it up again. If you gave up on Stargate Universe you should probably give that a second chance, by the way, and Heroes this season was really a whole lot better than Volume 3 (if not brilliant).

But how about you?

As always, leave a comment with your answer or a link to your answer on your own blog.

Wednesday’s “retiring Vulcan” news

21 April 2010 Rob Buckley 2 Comments

Film

British TV

French TV

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).

Question of the week: to remake or not to remake?

15 April 2010 Rob Buckley 4 Comments

So you have a successful format. Maybe it’s a book that’s sold well, a movie that people really liked or a TV show that’s popular. Wouldn’t it be good if people in other countries could enjoy it, too? Wouldn’t it be great if movie watchers who don’t read books could get to enjoy your story anyway? And if enough time has passed, maybe that old version of your TV show or movie is starting to look a little dated and a whole new generation would like to see it updated.

But will it ever be as good or should the original stay as it is?

This week’s question then is:

Should your book/TV show/movie be remade?

UK show Life on Mars has already been remade in the US and is being remade in Spain and other countries. Clash of the Titans has just been remade. The Harry Potter books have been turned into variable-quality movies. Canadian TV show Being Erica is about to be remade in Britain. And Survivors, a British updating of a 1970s TV show, has been cancelled after two series.

In most of these cases the remakes have been terrible. Sure, there’s the occasional Battlestar Galactica that’s better than the original. But do you think the hit rate is so low that people should simply be encouraged to come up with new ideas? Or do remakes help to keep ideas culturally relevant for new generations?

As always, leave a comment with your answer or a link to your answer on your own blog.

TMINE

Let this be your last mousemat

5 April 2010 Rob Buckley 2 Comments

So this is my current desktop wallpaper:

Botticelli's The Birth of Venus

Beautiful, isn’t it? I love the fact the nymph in the top-left hand corner looks like Kristen Stewart (except she’s smiling – that’s the obvious giveaway).

So should I get it as a mousemat as well? I’m only asking because this is the obvious rival:

Captain Kirk

Tricky decision, isn’t it?