TMINE

Question of the week: what’s your favourite Christmas comedy?

9 December 2009 Rob Buckley 5 Comments

Advent continues and so do the Christmas questions. This week, as per Jane’s suggestion last week:

What’s your favourite Christmas comedy?

This can include comedy movies (although we did movies last week), so let’s focus on Christmas specials and Christmas episodes of shows. So you could have The Next Doctor or The Feast of Steven if you like Doctor Who, for example, and there are plenty of Only Fools and Horses specials to be getting on with too.

What’s yours?

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

What have you been watching this week? (w/e December 4)

4 December 2009 Rob Buckley 3 Comments

I’m finally catching up after my time away

  • Dexter – Not sure about Sunday’s ep. It felt like it ignored the usual ground rules of Dexter and expected us to swallow a whole load of things that just weren’t plausible. For example, doesn’t Dexter have voicemail? Why would he have given his number to Arthur?
  • Misfits – I haven’t seen last night’s episode yet, but the first three have been very good. I think I actually prefer it to Being Human now – the characters feel a little more real, if you know what I mean.
  • Gavin & Stacey – the rap was a bit painful and watching Sheridan Smith and James Corden doing it as brother and sister got a bit creepy at times. Overall, though, I liked it – it didn’t feel like they were retreading old material more continuing previous themes. Also lost track of the number of times Stacey would do/say something and I thought to myself “That sounds very familiar.” That’s well-observed comedy for you.
  • Cast Offs – been catching up with this since I’m writing an article on it. I probably wouldn’t have watched it normally (six disabled characters are put on an island by Channel 4 and we get flashbacks to their lives) and Channel 4 are burning it off as quickly as they can. But I’m quite enjoying it. It’s very different from the usual TV dramas out there. Slowly paced and it’s obviously mostly intended to be educational, but it’s actually pretty good.
  • The Thick Of It – caught up with the last two episodes. Not as fun as the previous two series, primarily because you can’t help feel sorry for everyone, rather than laugh at them. But good moments in both.
  • Paradox – It has dialogue that makes your ears bleed with its awfulness. It has characters that are beyond stupid. People do moronic things for no good reason (eg We must never tell the disbelieving cop whose life we have just saved that his life was at risk. In fact, let’s not do the very very easy things when harder is much better). But it’s oddly compelling – kind of what FlashForward should have been in some ways. My theory (and probably everyone’s theory): sinister mad scientist bloke is sending the messages from the future back to himself.
  • The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret: One of Channel 4’s comedy pilots (available to view on YouTube). I tittered a little, although usually from the performances rather than the script, which was a bit poor. Miraculously, though, since David Cross (Arrested Development) was the co-writer/star, they managed to get cameos from Spike Jonze, Will Arnett and Kristen Schaal. Also featured Russell Tovey. Will Arnett had the best moment though.

What have you been watching though?

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).

What have you been watching this week? (w/e November 27)

27 November 2009 Rob Buckley 6 Comments

I’ve mostly been in Israel this week, and since my charger got lost with the luggage, didn’t dare watch anything on my iPhone. So I’ve not been watching much. However…

  • Dexter – Ooh, excellent twists and big developments. The best season since the first one? I think so.
  • Stargate Universe – Didn’t carry straight on from last week’s, which was nice. Really turning out quite nice, although the grimness is making BSG look like Community at the moment.
  • Supernatural – Sad and actually quite scary.
  • Misfits – I’m up to episode two now and that was surprisingly poignant. Good work E4.
  • Gavin & Stacey – would have liked to have done a full review, but time presses. All I’ll say is it’s lush, and it’s good to see our Joanna getting some good lines

What have you been watching though?

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).

What have you been watching this week (w/e November 20)

20 November 2009 Rob Buckley 5 Comments

So, other than Doctor Who, what have you been watching this week? As per usual, I’ve reviewed most of what I’ve seen, but of the regulars:

  • Community – Very funny and took the show in odd directions. However, last night’s seemed to ignore that direction. Which is odd, but they’ve mixed up episodes before now
  • 30 Rock – Is it bad that the new Canadian guy seemed more interesting than everyone else on the show?
  • Dexter – Ooh, some interesting twists and glad to see Rita having some fun for a change
  • Stargate Universe – Very good and unexpected. I don’t know if there was a magic reset button at the end or not (tonight’s ep will reveal that), but even if it wasn’t, it was a good way to end the ep, crediting the audience with some intelligence. They seem to be going in the direction of “you know all the crap things that can happen when you’re exploring? Well we’re going to show you them all.”
  • The Thick of It – Another good one. The opposition are starting to seem more interesting than the government though.

Still got this week’s CSI, Cougar Town, Modern Family and Supernatural to watch. But I’ve decided I’m never going to watch this series of The Sarah Jane Adventures so I’ve deleted them from my line-up.

The Prisoner
Big almost watch of the week was the AMC/remake The Prisoner. First, a confession – when I was young, I loved the original so much I joined the appreciation society. So I might be biased. But this was excruciatingly dull. It was beautifully shot, but the direction was in no way involving, it was literal when it shouldn’t have been, made sure it rammed home the face that some things might not be real, and was just hopeless in every way. It was also so edited in such a way that whenever there was a moment that needed explaining, they tried to do it with music and a montage – it was like a rock video version of The Prisoner at times.

Episode 2 was a brief uptick, and I did appreciate the little head-nods to the original show (the map, the taxis, Rover, the abbreviated episode titles, the blazer, as well as a few plot elements), but episode 3 got so dull, so soon, I abandoned all hope and gave up. I’ve since found out what the ending was, and I’m very, very glad I gave up, because that sounded rubbish.

What have you been watching though?

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).

What have you been watching this week (w/e November 13)

13 November 2009 Rob Buckley 11 Comments

Looking forward to Doctor Who on Sunday? Thought so. But what have you been watching this week? Collision, maybe? I almost watched, but the thought of committing myself to five nights of ITV1 put fear in my heart. And what did y’all think of Misfits? Not bad, huh?

Of the regulars:

  • Community – Last week’s was the first this season that wasn’t that funny, but it did move things on dramatically, so I’m not so worried
  • 30 Rock – Forgettable
  • Dexter – Okay
  • Stargate Universe – First one I thought was a genuine mess this season. Interesting, but a mess. Good twist at the end though.
  • The Thick of It – Liked this one a whole lot more than the previous weeks’. Good to see Malcolm actually has bite as well as bark, too
  • Supernatural – Last week’s episode was the funniest thing on TV all week. This week’s (still watching) is feeling a bit forced in comparison, but it’s okay

V was a bit rubbish, and resolutely trod in the original series’ footsteps but in a far less interesting way this week. I also watched a dull old CSI: NY episode (Point of No Return) in which the Greek woman said two lines of Greek for no good reason other than to rub in the fact she was Greek. She’d have said more if there were a good reason, I suspect.

We’ve also started watching the latest season of Curb Your Enthusiasm. Always late to the party us. Quite enjoying it, but it does seem like a less tightly paced Seinfeld to me. Lovely wife loves it though.

What have you been watching though?

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).