Thursday’s pick up news

Awards

  • The results of the National Television Awards

Film

Theatre

British TV

US TV

What have you been watching this week? (w/e December 18)

Firstly, I can’t believe no one noticed I copied and pasted the intro last week from an old entry. In Israel again? Losing my luggage again? Surely not.

Anyway, that aside, secondly, this is the last “What have you been watching this week?” before Christmas, so let’s make it special, hey? Give the present of your TV recommendations to your friends.

  • Dexter – I should have done a “Season finale” review by now, but I haven’t. Slave-drivers at work won’t let me blog. Curse them. Fortunately, I’m still not sure what I think, so I can prevaricate so more. It was bold, it was interesting, it resolved things. I just don’t know whether – or whether I didn’t – like it. I just don’t know.
  • Community – A return to form for the Christmas episode, which has to have been one of the best Christmas episodes of any show I’ve seen. And I really didn’t recognise Anthony Michael Hall throughout the entire episode.
  • Misfits – Hopefully a series finale review coming soon. But that was a cracker of an ending.
  • Gavin & Stacey – Not very funny this week. More about the pathos, but the ceremony at the end redeemed it in the comedy stakes.
  • The Thick Of It – Another relatively sad one, but a good return to form by the end. Loved the fact that Tom Hollander has arrived as the mirror-Malcolm.
  • Paradox – Possibly the least stupid episode so far, but also probably the least interesting. Is there some sort of correlation going on?
  • Men of a Certain Age – Time and work meant I didn’t manage to do that review I promised. It got better by the end of the first episode, but it feels like a whiny bunch of moaners. I didn’t like Ray Romano moaning about his not-bad life on Everybody Loves Raymond. I still don’t. Scott Bakula’s great though.
  • 30 Rock – Not bad. That’s about as much as I remember.
  • Better off Ted – I thought I’d give this a go soon it got good word of mouth over the summer. I’ve watched two episodes now and they’ve been what I would describe as “gentle comedy”. There are a few nice moments per episode and I still love Andrea Anders from Joey/The Class, but it’s too divorced from reality to be truly engrossing.
  • Cougar Town – Caught up with the backlog. Still nothing sensational about it, but it’s a solid half hour with a guaranteed laugh or two each episode and the characters are now all sympathetic and likable.
  • My Ugly Best Friend – Obviously pure evil from the outset and now I’ve seen it, I can confirm it really is pure evil. I’m also less than convinced those two women were friends.
  • CSI: Dark and a little bit silly. Interesting to see how they’re bringing in the recurring villain this season

What have you been watching though?

As always, no spoilers unless you’re going to use the <spoiler> </spoiler> tags, please. If you’ve reviewed something on your blog, you can put a link to it here rather than repeat yourself (although too many links and you might get killed by the spam filter).

Wednesday’s going out again news

Doctor Who

  • An interview with Steven Moffat [audio, spoiler]

Film

  • 300 prequel to be called Xerxes
  • David O Russell to direct, Natalie Portman to produce and star in Pride and Prejudice and Zombies
  • The Brood to be remade

Theatre

British TV

US TV

What have you been watching this week (w/e November 20)

So, other than Doctor Who, what have you been watching this week? As per usual, I’ve reviewed most of what I’ve seen, but of the regulars:

  • Community – Very funny and took the show in odd directions. However, last night’s seemed to ignore that direction. Which is odd, but they’ve mixed up episodes before now
  • 30 Rock – Is it bad that the new Canadian guy seemed more interesting than everyone else on the show?
  • Dexter – Ooh, some interesting twists and glad to see Rita having some fun for a change
  • Stargate Universe – Very good and unexpected. I don’t know if there was a magic reset button at the end or not (tonight’s ep will reveal that), but even if it wasn’t, it was a good way to end the ep, crediting the audience with some intelligence. They seem to be going in the direction of “you know all the crap things that can happen when you’re exploring? Well we’re going to show you them all.”
  • The Thick of It – Another good one. The opposition are starting to seem more interesting than the government though.

Still got this week’s CSI, Cougar Town, Modern Family and Supernatural to watch. But I’ve decided I’m never going to watch this series of The Sarah Jane Adventures so I’ve deleted them from my line-up.

The Prisoner
Big almost watch of the week was the AMC/remake The Prisoner. First, a confession – when I was young, I loved the original so much I joined the appreciation society. So I might be biased. But this was excruciatingly dull. It was beautifully shot, but the direction was in no way involving, it was literal when it shouldn’t have been, made sure it rammed home the face that some things might not be real, and was just hopeless in every way. It was also so edited in such a way that whenever there was a moment that needed explaining, they tried to do it with music and a montage – it was like a rock video version of The Prisoner at times.

Episode 2 was a brief uptick, and I did appreciate the little head-nods to the original show (the map, the taxis, Rover, the abbreviated episode titles, the blazer, as well as a few plot elements), but episode 3 got so dull, so soon, I abandoned all hope and gave up. I’ve since found out what the ending was, and I’m very, very glad I gave up, because that sounded rubbish.

What have you been watching though?

As always, no spoilers unless you’re going to use the <spoiler> </spoiler> tags, please. If you’ve reviewed something on your blog, you can put a link to it here rather than repeat yourself (although too many links and you might get killed by the spam filter).