TMINE

Question of the week: is the medium enough?

24 February 2010 Rob Buckley 10 Comments

This week, gentle reader, I ask you the following question:

Despite the title of this ‘ere blog, is the medium enough? Are you satisfied merely to watch a TV programme or do you need more?

In this exciting age of "360° commissioning", in which mobile phone content, podcasts, YouTube channels, books, DVD extras, games and more aren’t just add-ons but designed as part of the production company pitch to networks, is a lot of time being wasted? Do you not care to follow your favourite characters on Twitter? Is that Facebook page never going to be friended? Do you simply want to sit back, relax and watch the tele?

Or have you been going to the Heroes web site for the graphic novels, games and webisodes? Did you download the TARDIS mobisodes? Have you already ordered all the Being Human original novels?

And does your answer depend on whether a show has finished or not? Is the Buffy comic vital reading now? Are the Big Finish Doctor Who, Dark Shadows and Stargate SG-1 plays on subscription in your house, because that’s the only way to get more new content these days?

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

What did you watch on TV last week (w/e February 21)

22 February 2010 Rob Buckley 18 Comments

Another new idea – people tend to watch TV over the weekend so let’s talk about what everyone’s been watching on a Monday instead of a Friday. And since 24 and Lost are only a week out, moving to a Monday means you can talk about both shows, whether you’re in the US or the UK.

The Winter Olympics and lack of Heroes meant there wasn’t much new US TV week this week, but anyway:

  • Archer: Some more great moments as per usual. 
  • Being Erica: Watched the end of season two at last. Overall, while they experimented a lot more this season, Erica’s character arc felt less satisfying and the whole thing almost reset Erica’s situation back to the start of episode 1 (that’s time travel for you). Ethan’s emasculation this season didn’t endear the show to us either, since at least he was a decent love interest for her last year.  
  • Being Human: Don’t really remember last week’s very much (that’s how good my memory is), but this week’s was scary in a different kind of way from usual (Mitchell). Not quite sure why Annie has flipped from wanting "door tuition" (you know what I mean) a few episodes ago to her current frame of mind, but Mitchell’s arc has been great. Some odd directorial decisions mind.
  • Burn Notice: Not bad. The Chris Vance stuff is so much tag-on at the moment though.
  • The Deep End: Up to episode four, which was half dreadful, half fun. The romance between Australian guy and blonde girl is a little bit Sweet Valley High, but it’s charming in its way; everything else, particularly the legal side, is like having a nail hammered into your head by someone thinking they’re being zany. 
  • Leverage: A good ending to the season, overall, but the lack of Gina Bellman for much of the season has been a problem for character arcs, and most of the characters have been treading water. Basically, not as good as season one.
  • Life Unexpected: A reasonable ep, but nothing spectacular, other than "Lux learns a lesson about responsibility". 
  • Lost: Were those answers we just got? Or fake answers? Either way, a great Locke-focused episode. Nice that disability isn’t regarded as an unhappy ending for him in the flash-sideways. And best name for alternative Locke I’ve heard so far: "The Locke-ness monster".  
  • 24: Someone kill Dana now. But at least half an episode of decent moments, with Jack doing a cross between Mel Gibson in Lethal Weapon and the guy in Metal Gear Solid. Still needs more excitement though.

But what did you watch? See if you can cast your memories back to last week, anyway.

UPDATE: I forgot to mention the following two new HBO shows that started up and which I can’t be arsed to give full reviews to:

  • The Ricky Gervais Show: Heard The Guardian‘s Ricky Gervais/Stephen Merchant/Karl Pilkington podcasts? Thought they’d be better if they were all animated, with Ricky Gervais looking like Fred Flintsone? Then a) you’re a nutter b) you’d be wrong.
  • How To Make It In America: Supposed to be a comedy about working class New Yorkers trying to hit the big time through whatever pie-in-the-sky business scheme they have (selling fake leather jackets, borrowing money off a violent cousin, selling black-and-white photos). Actually about as funny as reading stats about recessionary economics. Does have a few funny moments and okay as a drama, I guess, but not involving at all. Still, if you ever wondered what happened to Shassyn Sossamon (sp?) from A Knight’s Tale, now you know.

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 blocked by the spam filter)

What have you been watching this week (w/e February 12)

12 February 2010 Rob Buckley 3 Comments

I haven’t watched this week’s episodes of Archer, 30 Rock, Community, or Modern Family yet, but:

  • Being Human: Mitchell’s stuff very good. Loved it, including the flashback to Herrick, but George’s storyline was loopy and what’s up with Annie? That’s not a storyline at all. I’m worried they can’t really think of anything for her now.
  • House: If you don’t love Cuddy already, you will by the end of this Cuddy-centric episode.
  • Chuck: Stupid in all sorts of ways, particularly the romances and the end scene, but reasonably diverting and I’m liking the continuing darkness that Chuck has gained this season.
  • Burn Notice: Excellent episode. Glad to see they’ve steered away from “client of the week” stuff in favour of proper spy stuff. Tim Matheson was epic and the twists were very clever. Still not convinced by Chris Vance’s accent or that the Chris Vance plot is in fact going anywhere decent.
  • Supernatural: The producers really have mastered the art of writing an episode so that it looks like a trivial, funny one, then twisting it into something far more important and interesting. A few duff moments, very gruesome, but really enjoyed it.
  • Leverage: Very enjoyable and the team chemistry seemed more like it used to be. Glad to see they’ve now jumped onto a story arc with good old Mark Sheppard again.
  • Archer: Still pretty funny, but losing it a little.
  • 24: Finally, some action! Didn’t last long though, but at least we have Jack front and centre this week.
  • Lost: Although you could see a lot of things that are actually poised to become answers being laid down, this felt a lot like a filler episode. The flash-sideways, complete with cameo by Ethan, was enjoyable, as was the sudden return of feral Claire at the end. But if they’re going to start raising more questions now, they’re going to need to start answering them soon, because this is answers season, okay? We don’t need any more mysteries. We have quite enough already.
  • Newswipe: Every week in every way, Newswipe is becoming more and more like Screenwipe, which is good, since when Brooker’s trying to educate us about the news, he’s only okay to good – when he’s pastiching, he’s great. Brilliant work by Adam Curtis as well.
  • Being Erica: Finally, after two months of having season two sit in the backlog, we started watching some more of season two, starting with episode five, which was dreadful. Fortunately, episode six – in which we went to 2019 and discovered Kai was from the future – was a whole lot better and the proper arrival of Dr Frank as a character for Dr Tom to interact with has definitely made the show more interesting. Even the publishing storylines are getting more interesting.
  • Life Unexpected: Talking of Being Erica, how odd. We appear to be on famous female guest star rotation duty here, since although Alex Breckenridge wasn’t in this week, Erin Karpluk has mysteriously added herself to the cast list as Cate and Ryan’s radio producer. As with 24‘s Nazneen Contractor (who starred in The Border), the rule appears to be “star in your own show in Canada, get a bit part in the US” but Karpluk managed to shine in her semi-Erica role all the same. The episode as a whole though was a lot closer in tone to the enjoyable pilot, although as someone recently pointed out, despite Lux being integral to the whole scenario, the show would be a whole lot better without her. She’s just so whiny and bitchy.

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 ge

Question of the week: what’s acceptable TV viewing?

10 February 2010 Rob Buckley 3 Comments

In honour of boundary-breaking Spartacus, this week’s question asks you, the gentle reader:

What’s acceptable TV viewing?

Is graphic violence okay? Full-frontal nudity of either gender? Sex? What kinds of sex? Swearing? Any particular words verboten? Should there be different rules for different times or different channels? Does sex, violence and bad language devalue the human soul? Is it demeaning to women – or men? Or should anything go since that’s what life’s like?

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