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What have you been watching this week (w/e October 30)

A bit of an odd collection of viewing treats this week:

  • Mad Men – Haven’t watched this week’s yet.
  • Community – Duff first half, but it pulled it together for the second half. Loved Avid’s TV self-awareness that made him hide away this episode, because he’d been getting too much screen time in the previous episodes.
  • 30 Rock – had its moments. Not as good as Community though.
  • Dexter – so many twists! Great ending.
  • Stargate Universe – still liking it. Still. Not loving it. But liking it. There were some beautiful bits of CGI in this week’s ep, Robert Carlyle was acting for all his worth, and the music was great – very Vangelis/Blade Runner.
  • The Thick of It – more political, less funny that previous episodes. And is Malcolm toning down on his swearing now it’s Rebecca Front in charge?
  • Ghosts in the Machine – Very good little documentary on BBC4 about ghost stories on TV. I’ve seen pretty much everything featured on it, surprisingly, and I thought they gave the Ghost Stories for Christmas too little time – I’d have loved to have seen more focus given to Andrew Davies’s adaptation of The Signalman as well the later stories that weren’t based on MR James stories. But good to see The Omega Factor getting a head nod. Still, for anyone who hadn’t see The Stone Tape et al, bit of a spoiler-fest since they gave all the endings away.
  • Dollhouse – Yes, I know I’ve given up on it, but I was told by Jonathan that last week’s was excellent, so I thought I’d watch it. It was certainly a whole lot better than previous week’s – except for any bit with Eliza Dushku in it – and it’s nice to see Vincent Ventrega still getting work. But I’m not loving it either.

Otherwise, the backlog’s growing.

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).

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Monday’s “NBC sees sense” news

The new A-Team

Doctor Who

Film

Theatre

British TV

US TV

What have you been watching this week (w/e October 23)

A bit of an odd collection of viewing treats this week:

  • Mad Men – A very nice episode again. Can’t say much without revealing spoilers, but the “I’ve forgotten it” moment was very familiar, and I’m liking what’s going on with Don
  • House – Nothing too extraordinary this week, but good to see the producers sticking by their guns with the format changes
  • Modern Family – a good few titters this week, mostly involving Cameron
  • Community – still the funniest thing on TV by miles now. Lovely wife’s started watching and she’s loving it too
  • Dexter – you could see where it was all going right from the beginning, but still shocking nonetheless
  • Cougar Town – okay. Not great
  • Question Time – ha, ha, ha. What an exciting collection of stupid people and people who can’t construct arguments on both sides. And when did Jack Straw become such a waffler? I haven’t watched in a while, but when did they get rid of audience votes? And when did the audiences get so small (or was that purely for this edition?)
  • Stargate Universe – still liking it. Robert Carlyle’s really good, and they had the whole thing on the ship more or less, so no gating at this point, thank God.
  • Masterchef: The Professionals – I was only watching this out of one eye, since it’s more lovely wife’s choice of viewing. But correct me if I’m wrong, but doesn’t Greg Wallace merely say “Great flavours” to every dish or copy whatever the professional chef judge says? The man might as well be replaced by a giant set of ditto marks.

I really can’t be arsed to watch The Sarah Jane Adventures until David Tennant is on, so I’ve built up a backlog there. It may be Doctor Who, but it’s still a kids’ show. Being Erica we’re lagging on again; ditto, Curb Your Enthusiasm. I’ve given up on The Middle and Trauma.

Don’t forget everyone: Joanna Page is on the Jonathan Ross show tonight.

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).

US TV

Review: 30 Rock 4×1

Jenna sings about tennis

In the US: Thursdays, 9.30/8.30c, NBC
In the UK: Comedy Central at some point

Season three of 30 Rock felt a little off. It wasn’t quite the show it used to be, which is a shame, because by season two, it had become the funniest show on TV.

The problem was a reliance on plot. Yes, on plot. 30 Rock at its funniest is based on silliness and standalone episodes, rather than season-long plots. Watch the pilot episode and you’ll recall that the dullest bit was the middle third that tried to establish plot and drama. Problematically, season three of 30 Rock had way too many unfunny story arcs.

Going into season four, the question is have Tina Fey and co noticed this, dropped the plots and gone for the funny?

Almost.

Continue reading “Review: 30 Rock 4×1”