TV reviews

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

Competitions

Preview: Misfits 1×1

9 November 2009 Rob Buckley 17 Comments

Misfits

In the UK: Thursdays, 10pm, E4. Starts November 12

Stick around lads and lasses because this is a very special preview. Not only is there going to be a competition at the end of this, there’s also going to be the very first “not great quality” The Medium is Not Enough podcast involving me (and my not very dulcet tones), some other journalists and the creator of E4’s Misfits Howard Overman.

Anyway, there are two things British TV traditionally does very badly. One is youth shows. Usually, they’re embarrassing – witness more or less anything on BBC1, BBC2 and, ironically enough, especially BBC3 that’s aimed at “young people”. Okay, there’s E4’s Skins, but that’s a rare diamond in the rough of British TV.

The second is superhero shows. No Heroics, Phoo Action, My Hero: oh dear, oh dear, and can I just add, oh dear?

What’s this though? Light at the end of the tunnel?

Now, from E4, comes Misfits, in which ASBO kids on community service get struck by lightning and end up with super powers. It’s funny, clever and far more adult than a whole load of shows I could mention. Trailers now, review, competition and podcast after the jump.

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US TV

Review: Battlestar Galactica – The Plan

6 November 2009 Rob Buckley Post a comment

Battlestar Galactica

In the US/UK: Sometime in 2010
Available from Amazon.co.uk on BluRay import

The Cylons were created by man. They evolved. They rebelled. They look and feel human. Some are programmed to think they are human. There are many copies. And they have a plan.

Unfortunately for them, it’s rubbish, and they can’t make up their minds about what to do. At least, that’s what Battlestar Galactica: The Plan appears to suggest. A final “milk it for all it’s worth” effort before it becomes impossible to get the actors in the same place, it’s more like a director’s commentary than a worthwhile addition to a TV classic’s range.

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US TV

Review: V 1×1

5 November 2009 Rob Buckley 9 Comments

V

In the US: Tuesdays (for four weeks, resuming in 2010), 8/7c , ABC
In the UK: SyFy, 2010

Way back in the 80s, aliens came among us, some time during the Los Angeles Olympics, in fact. They looked like us, they pretended to be our friends.

But they turned out to be very dangerous lizard Nazis.

Let that be a warning to you.

Anyway, the mini-series that demonstrated just how you shouldn’t trust any group that wears identical uniforms and has a youth league turned out to be the most popular US mini-series in history. It naturally spawned a full series, which wasn’t very good. To be fair, neither was the mini-series. Bloody “star child”.

Never fear though, because ABC has remade the show and is going to be blasting it at you in small chunks. It stars Elizabeth Mitchell of Lost as an FBI agent, and follows what happens as alien spaceships descend over cities around the world, only to reveal ‘the visitors’, a bunch of nice looking aliens who offer universal healthcare in exchange for water.

But it turns out that maybe those nice visitors aren’t as nice as they first seem.

Here’s the first nine minutes for your enjoyment, or if you prefer, a three-minute trailer.

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UK TV

Season finale: Engrenages (Spiral) 2×8

3 November 2009 Natalia Romanova 5 Comments

Engrenages (season 2)

In the UK: Sunday 1st November 2009, 10pm, BBC4. Available on the iPlayer

Well, it’s over now. Time for a collective snivel by viewers of quality TV in Britain. Please, Sir, can we have some more? Etc, etc.

Let’s face facts, season two of Spiral aka Engrenages has just finished on BBC4. So let’s look over the final episode and the season as a whole, because until season three pops along, this is all we’re getting.

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