TV reviews

A complete archive of The Medium is Not Enough’s reviews of TV programmes since 2005

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Third-episode verdict: Archer

22 January 2010 Rob Buckley 5 Comments

In the US: Thursdays, 10pm, FX.
In the UK: Fiver. Starts Thursday February 25th

Well, the first episode was brilliant and the rest of it? Well it’s just brilliant, too. You’re virtually guaranteed two laugh out loud moments per minute with this thing. I nearly snorted cereal out my nose this morning, I was laughing so hard. That’s an image you might not want to have and Archer is great for those.

Carusometer rating: 0
Rob’s prediction: Should run and run. It’s superb.

US TV

Review: 24 – 8×1-8×4

19 January 2010 Rob Buckley 2 Comments

24

In the US: Mondays, 9/8c, Fox. Started Sunday 17th January 2010
In the UK: Starts Sunday January 24 2010 on Sky 1/Sky 1 HD

Well, we’re eight seasons in and, seriously, what do you expect me to tell you that you don’t already know about 24? In this new season/’day’, Jack Bauer comes across some epically scary terror plot in typical US intelligence fashion – 24 hours before it’s due to happen – he runs around a lot, in real time. He shoots lots of people, usually Muslims (if it’s an even numbered season, Europeans if it’s an odd-numbered season). He says damn it a lot, and he tortures lots of people, all in the event of necessity. And you end up with a weekly adrenaline addiction.

What? You think they’re going to change the formula now? Oh wait, they have, just the teensiest tiniest bit.

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US TV

Review: Heroes 4×15 – Pass/Fail

19 January 2010 Rob Buckley 2 Comments

Heroes 4x15 - Pass/Fail

In the US: Monday 18th January 2010, 9pm, NBC
In the UK: April/May, BBC2. Probably

One of the accusations that used to be – and still is – made at Heroes is that no one ever dies. It doesn’t take.

Now, as the last two volumes have shown, that ain’t really true any more – if someone appears to die, the producers make sure there’ll be a clue in the episode that said person will be coming back, or said person will be back before the end of the episode. Otherwise, they really are dead.

That doesn’t mean they can’t come back in another form, though – and so it is with Pass/Fail, where a huge wodge of long-dead characters came back in a reasonably good, if fan-ficcy episode. I won’t tell you how until after the jump. Spoilers ahoy.

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US TV

Review: Chuck 3×1-3×3

14 January 2010 Rob Buckley 3 Comments

Chuck 3x1-3x3

In the US: Sunday 10th & Monday 11th January 2010, NBC
In the UK: On Virgin 1 some time during the dawning of the Age of Aquarius probably

Well blow me. No Chuck for ages and then suddenly three come along at once. I’m sure there’s a joke to be made there. Hmm…

But it’s back all the same, following a brief brush with cancellation that was only averted thanks to a certain sandwich franchise stepping up to the plate and offering NBC loads of money for a bit of product placement – oh, and if the producers were willing to cut the budget a bit. You know, lose a few characters…

Now if you watched the end of the second season, you’ll know that changes were planned for the show anyway – which, for a show that hardly ever strays away from its formula and always resets everything back to the status quo/the nicest possible option, was a bit brave.

Well, let me tell you, if you were worried that things were going to stay exactly the same, you’d only have been half-right, because although there’s been an awful lot of resetting going on, there’s been a whole lot of changes as well.

Spoilers and more after the jump.

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