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What have you been watching this week (w/e April 2)?

2 April 2011 Rob Buckley 4 Comments

Ron Swanson

My usual recommendations for maximum viewing pleasure are: Archer, Being Human (US), The Daily Show, The Killing, Shameless (US) and Stargate Universe. Watch them (and keep an eye on The Stage‘s TV Today Square Eyes feature as well) or you’ll be missing out on the good stuff.

This week, after only three seasons, I’ve given the much-hyped Parks and Recreation a try. Starring Amy Poehler and Rob Lowe, this was supposed to be NBC’s sleeper comedy – the one for people who want to feel smug towards people who watch Community and think they’ve discovered the best niche comedy nobody’s watching.

However, with the exception of Ron, the wonderfully moustached real man character, this was probably the unfunniest thing I’ve seen in quite a while. Even Good Dog was considerably better. It might be because it’s episode eight and no one’s putting their best foot forward, but Portlandia does almost everything in it but better and you’d be hard pressed to find an actual joke. Ron was good though. Can anyone tell me what I’m missing?

“What have you been watching this week?” is your chance to recommend to friends and fellow blog readers the TV that they might be missing or should avoid – and for me to do mini-reviews of everything I’ve watched this week. Since we live in the fabulous world of Internet catch-up services like the iPlayer and Hulu, why not tell your fellow readers what you’ve seen so they can see the good stuff they might have missed?

Tuesday’s “Alias Miss Marple” news

29 March 2011 Rob Buckley 2 Comments

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What have you been watching this week (w/e March 25)?

25 March 2011 Rob Buckley 7 Comments

White Van Man

It’s been a little while since the last one, but it’s time for "What have you been watching this week?", your chance to recommend to friends and fellow blog readers the TV that they might be missing or should avoid – and for me to do mini-reviews of everything I’ve watched this week. Since we live in the fabulous world of Internet catch-up services like the iPlayer and Hulu, why not tell your fellow readers what you’ve seen so they can see the good stuff they might have missed?

My usual recommendations for maximum viewing pleasure are: Archer, Being Human (US), Community, The Daily Show, House, The Killing, Modern Family, Shameless (US), Stargate Universe and 30 Rock. Watch them (and keep an eye on The Stage‘s TV Today Square Eyes feature as well) or you’ll be missing out on the good stuff.

  • Chuck – an okay episode this week, but it’s still miles away from entertaining. I keep saying this but I might be giving up on it soon.
  • House – rewatched a season one episode the other day, and again, here’s a show that’s forgotten what made it so good in the first place. It needs to recover its edge. It’s still above average TV, but it’s a shadow of its former misanthropic self.
  • Shameless (US) – has slowly been becoming must-see TV, despite William H Macey’s slightly implausible performer as Frank. Emmy Rossum is fantastic though.
  • White Van Man – BBC3’s sitcom starring Will Mellor. I say ‘sitcom’ but it’s not actually funny. I tuned in this week because our Joanna Page was on it as a Star Trek-obsessed single mum and web designer and while she did raise the comedy level considerably, everything else about it was horrid. The cast – with the exception of the slightly bland Georgia Moffet – are fine. It’s the script, which just isn’t funny. Poor.

UPDATE: Many thanks to Chloe for pointing out that the new series of Engrenages (Spiral) starts on BBC4 next Saturday! Tune in, everyone!

But what have you been watching?

Question of the week: what do you think of TV at the moment?

16 March 2011 Rob Buckley 19 Comments

So I’m going to assume that you all watch TV still, this being completely the wrong blog to come to you if you’re not. But how are you finding TV at the moment?

I’m finding it harder and harder to summon up enthusiasm for current TV programmes. This isn’t nostalgia for the “good old days”, since the vast majority of old TV shows were rubbish – that’s why I try to give you the cream of the crop. It’s just I’m not enjoying TV as much as I did a few years ago, and I’m not sure why.

Now US cable TV is largely getting better and better all the time, even while mainstream US TV is getting worse and worse – this year’s season has been packed with some indescribably bad turkeys, with no real break-out show on any network. The mid-season replacements haven’t done anything to improve the situation either, with just Shameless, Portlandia and the US version of Being Human catching my interest this season (all cable shows). A few have distinctly come off the boil (Royal Pains, 30 Rock, Burn Notice, Southland, House, Stargate Universe and Chuck, to name but a few, the latter of which is starting to resemble old episodes of Relic Hunter in quality). That just leaves the likes of Community, Archer and Modern Family to really maintain my interest at the moment.

British TV is proving similarly unappealing. While there’s no doubt some great stuff out there, it lasts for all of three episodes before disappearing and every time I tune in to watch something new, it turns out to suck. Being Human (no spoilers please, I’m two episodes behind) has been dreadful this season, Outcasts was painful. I haven’t managed to get through Mad Dogs or Bedlam. I’m still stuck on episode two of The Killing, which is actually really good TV, and they’re up to episode 16 at the moment.

It’s reached the point where reading The Age of Innocence and watching movies is proving more interesting than TV. Now this might be a temporary blip, since there are some appealing pilots on the horizon. But am I getting old or are you finding TV similarly unappealing at the moment?

As always, leave a comment with your answer or a link to your answer on your own blog