TV reviews

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

US TV

Christmas tele

7 January 2008 Rob Buckley 4 Comments

An Electric Monk

Douglas Adams once wrote about an Electric Monk. The idea of the Electric Monk was that it was a labour saving device. As Adams put it, just as a dishwasher is there to wash dishes so that you don’t have to, and a video recorder is there to watch TV programmes so that you don’t have to, so the Electric Monk believes things for you, so that you don’t have to.

That was in the 80s, of course. Cross out video recorder and replace it with PVR and you have the 00s truism. Still no Electric Monks though. Curses. I really would like to believe ITV will get better one day – or at least have someone believe it for me.

Sitting on my PVR/Apple TV are the Christmas editions of Extras (I’m a third of the way through it and not enjoying it tremendously) and To the Manor Born (haven’t watched it but I’ve heard terrible things about it) to name but a couple, as well as a multitude of movies that I thought worth watching. I didn’t have to watch much of The Mothman Prophecies to realise it wasn’t, but I’ve still to make that determination on a number of things.

Plus I’m still glad to have Firefox, Quatermass and the Pit and Hawk the Slayer there, even if I’ll never watch them. That’s nostalgia for you.

In part the reason everything’s sitting there unwatched is because some mad fools bought me DVDs for Christmas/birthday, so I had too much to watch. It’s also because I’m not spending all of Christmas watching TV, even if it is the complete box set of Airwolf or Ulysses 31 (or, and don’t go too wild, Artemis 81. I do put some odd things on my Amazon wish list sometimes).

But I did watch a little. And even though it’s a good fortnight on, I thought I’d leave a couple of thoughts for posterity on Christmas with Gordon Ramsay, Heston Blumenthal’s Perfect Christmas Dinner and Doctor Who‘s Voyage of the Damned (other reviews are available and have been for a good long while now).

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UK TV

Review: Thunderbirds night

3 January 2008 Rob Buckley Post a comment

All About Thunderbirds

In the UK: Wednesday 2nd January, BBC4

BBC4 likes themes. It likes seasons. It like evenings. It likes repeats a lot. Sometimes, they’re good, such as the now-traditional yearly Ghost Stories seasons.

Sometimes, though, you have to ask yourself, “What’s the point?” Sure, somebody, somewhere liked Dance Britannia and is grateful that finally someone has seen the sense to put on a sort of social history thing about dancing. But even fans of Gerry Anderson – you know, the guy behind all those 60s puppets series like Joe 90 – must be wondering who exactly was supposed to have gained anything from BBC4’s ‘Thunderbirds night’.

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US TV

Preview: Swingtown

21 December 2007 Rob Buckley 3 Comments

Swingtown

In the US: CBS mid-season replacement. No fixed airdate yet

In the UK: Acquired by ITV1/ITV3. No fixed airdate yet

There’s an odd trend of late on US TV. No, not the hiring of British actors for just about every TV series (are we cheaper than Americans, I wonder?), although you’ll see that on display here, too (Jack Davenport!!!). I mean the recreating of modern times past to examine the change in social attitudes. Whether it’s just that everyone’s been watching Life on Mars or there’s something deeper at work, I don’t know. But what with Journeyman diving off into the 70s and 80s at a moment’s notice, Mad Men recreating the early 60s in minute detail, and now Swingtown trying to capture the magic (?) of the 1970s’ wife-swapping parties, it’s clear a certain amount of historical navel gazing is part of the US networks’ current plans for the world of entertainment.

There are a few problems with Swingtown, however, that separate it from the glorious Mad Men and the thoughtful Journeyman. Not the least of these is the fact it is all about wild, promiscuous sex and yet it’s very, very boring.

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US TV

Season finale: Dexter

20 December 2007 Rob Buckley Post a comment

The Dexter finale

Of all the books and of all the networks to adapt them, Darkly Dreaming Dexter and Showtime seemed the combination least likely to produce decent television. Darkly Dreaming Dexter is pretty rubbish, a piece of poorly written slasher fiction about a serial killer who improbably only kills other bad people. Showtime, in turn, was synonymous with nothing at all apart from not being HBO, the cable home of quality shows like The Wire.

Yet Dexter turned out to be one of the best shows of last year. Clever, well written, well directed, tense, unpredictable and with an incredible performance by Michael C Hall, it and other shows have now made HBO look like the also-rans and Showtime the home of quality, edgy TV.

So hopes were high for season two. Could the producers who had made this break-out hit strike again and maintain the quality after such a strong opening?

Initially, I was a little worried. The first two episodes of the second season were good, but not outstanding and the changes in format suggested that the second season could be something of a let-down.

Fortunately, it turned out to be even better.

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TV reviews

Season finale: Journeyman

20 December 2007 Rob Buckley 2 Comments

Journeyman season finale

I’ve been a little bit slack doing these Winter season finales. In my defence, there have only been a few so far and it’s often been quite hard to work out whether something’s properly finished or not. Bionic Woman‘s still with us and didn’t have a proper finale; Life‘s still with us but did have a proper finale.

Journeyman, however, subject to the great gods of NBC deciding otherwise, has passed on to TV heaven, although it has left this proper – and really rather good – finale behind.

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