A complete archive of The Medium is Not Enough’s reviews of TV programmes since 2005
It’s about time for a Random Carusometer, I think. This time, it’s the turn of Eli Stone, which only scored a three on The Carusometer for its third-episode verdict. It’s done a bit better this time.
Continue reading “The Random Episode Carusometer: Eli Stone”
Well, folks, I did say there was going to be a chance I did episode by episode reviews of Ashes to Ashes and here I am, not doing a review of the fifth episode of Ashes to Ashes. Sorry, I had to go pick my wife up from the station midway through and I haven’t watched the end of it yet.
More to the point, I’ve had every chance to but I haven’t. I haven’t felt motivated. Last night’s seemed quite well written, like the writer (who also wrote last week’s) knew what he was doing. I just didn’t really enjoy it, right up until the moment I turned off the telly.
I’m trying to work out what the problem is with Ashes to Ashes. Why is it just not very interesting?
It’s odd the way a writer’s career can leave a permanent imprint on their style. Take Russell T Davies. Not a trace of soap opera in his style, is there?
Oh wait…
Joseph Lidster is already quite a well known Who writer. He’s done a number of Big Finish plays, as well as Torchwood fan fics original licensed novels.
Take a look at the average Big Finish play – Doctor or assistant bumps into random mortal at some point and starts blurbing their life story and deepest feelings to them.
Lo-and-behold, Joe Lidster’s first Torchwood episode turned out to be pretty much a Big Finish play in disguise.
The thing about the writers’ strike is that shows are ending before their naturally allotted time.
Sometimes, the show runners prepared for it and the series ended on a relative high (for example, Heroes).
Sometimes, the show runners were unprepared for it and the series just stopped (for example, Las Vegas, Bionic Woman), although that usually coincided with the series being cancelled (cf Las Vegas, Bionic Woman).
And sometimes the show runners were prepared for it and the show tried to go out on a high, but failed. I’m thinking of Terminator – The Sarah Connor Chronicles here.
Continue reading “Season finale: Terminator – The Sarah Connor Chronicles”
How’d that happen? I wasn’t intending to do episode by episode reviews of Ashes to Ashes, but here I am, reviewing it. Probably won’t happen next week, but who knows?
New theory, boys and girls. Forget Life on Mars. This isn’t Life on Mars in the 80s. This isn’t an attempt to look at changes in policing over the last couple of decades as I thought yesterday – or if it is, it’s a bad one. This is an attempt to do an episode by episode pastiche of individual crime shows of the 80s.
Life on Mars only had The Sweeney (and maybe Special Branch) to have a go at, and was all about changes in procedure and attitude. Ashes to Ashes is all about a TV-addicted woman who wants to be in an 80s detective show, probably Moonlighting.
Help me with this theory since it’s on slightly shaky ground. These are the shows I think Ashes to Ashes has been sending up so far
Episode 1: The A-Team, Miami Vice or at the outside Riptide
Episode 2: Anyone?
Episode 3: Prime Suspect I (which was 1991 admittedly)
Episode 4: Edge of Darkness
I’ve come to this conclusion because last night’s episode was the biggest homage to Edge of Darkness that the world has yet seen.
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