US TV

Review: Supernatural 2.1

Supernatural

In the US: Thursdays, 9/8c, The CW

In the UK: ITV2 is currently showing season 1. No word on season 2.

Characters re-cast: 0

Major characters gotten rid of: 1

Major new characters: 1 (maybe)

Format change percentage: 25%

Surprisingly bleak moments: Several

The pretty boy ghosthunters are back. After chasing after the demon that killed their mum, while simultaneously looking for their dad (who’s looking for the demon that killed their mum) for a whole season, they finally caught up with both only for it all to go a bit pear-shaped.

When last we left them, they were all involved in a nasty car wreck that looked a tad fatal. Have they all survived the summer break?

Not exactly…

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US TV

Review: CSI 7.2

The Dolls House

Okay, I’ve already reviewed the season opener to CSI, but seeing as that was a two-parter, I thought I’d just add in a bit more non-spoiling detail.

With CSI up against soapy old Grey’s Anatomy in the US on Thursdays, there’s a fair old amount of soap turning up in CSI to match. Catherine’s being put through the wringer for this two-parter, but the general aim of the season is to show the effects of investigating crime on all the CSIs (what a good idea for a show. Why don’t we call it Touching Evil? Oh wait…).

There’s also an unsolved crime that I suspect will return during the rest of the season. One of the more disturbing things about this two-parter is the “doll’s house” crime, in which a crime scene is lovingly recreated in an exact model left at the scene itself. Since even the blood pattern in the doll’s house is the same (and it’s made with the victim’s blood), we know we’ve got an absolute nutbag here.

I can’t help but feeling there’s something similar to the serial killer in the first season at work here, but since that was intellectually fascinating storyline, I’m none too fussed by that.

All the same, some intriguing things at work that should make season 7 of CSI a very interesting one. My only worry is they might push everything into realm of highly, highly implausible if they’re not careful.

PS Episode two has a highly upsetting ending. Brace yourself.

UK TV

Third-episode verdict: That Mitchell and Webb Look

Mitchell and Webb

In the UK: Thursdays, 9.30pm, BBC2. Repeated Tuesdays, 10.30pm, BBC3.

Well there’s surprising. A funny sketch show on BBC2. I wasn’t expecting that. I thought those days were long gone. Certainly, I wasn’t expecting it from Mitchell and Webb, whose Peep Show everyone keeps going on about but which I only found slightly amusing.

But this I actually look forward to each week. I’ve set the PVR and everything!

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US TV

Preview: Union Jackass

Union Jackass

In the US: January on Fox, maybe. See later though.

In the UK: Depends on when/if they show it in the US

So here’s novelty. Al Murray, top UK comic, gets to make his own sitcom pilot in the US. But get this: he’s allowed to do the same character – a racist, sexist, homophobic, jingoistic pub landlord who hates Americans – that he’s done in the UK.

What do you think the chances of that working are?

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