The Almighty Johnsons

US TV

What did you watch last week? Including Being Human (US), House, Portlandia and The Almighty Johnsons

5 March 2012 Rob Buckley 3 Comments

Elisha Cuthbert on Happy Endings

It’s “What did you watch last week?”, my chance to tell you what I watched last week that I haven’t already reviewed and your chance to recommend things to everyone else (and me) in case we’ve missed them.

First, the usual recommendations: Archer, Being Human (US), Cougar Town, The Daily Show, House, Happy Endings, Modern Family, Portlandia, Ringer, Shameless (US), Southland, Spartacus, Suburgatory, 30 Rock and Top Gear.

  • The Almighty Johnsons: Seems to be finding its feet and the goddesses are starting to get a look in. Still not exceptional but a fun hour or so.
  • America’s Next Top Model: Strange to see all the Brits from Britain’s Next Top Model coming over to compete – and being nice to each other.
  • Archer: Yet to have a duff episode this season, although the return of Barry the cyborg isn’t especially welcome.
  • Being Human (US): Have been so uninterested in the UK version that I’ve dropped that altogether, particularly since the US one seems to be doing such a good job with its second season. Although the Sally stuff feels lightweight, the vampire and werewolf intrigue is infinitely superior to the UK storylines and we seem to have skipped the thankless fundamentalist scientist storyline as well. Which is a bonus
  • Braquo: Finally finished the whole of the first season. It continued in its usual vein of a bunch of cops doing some massively stupid things for no good reason other than to cover up the last load of massively stupid things it did. But when it did ultraviolence it was very good and the surprising ending just about justified the whole show.
  • Happy Endings: A surprising Colin Hanks cameo. What is more surprising though is just how good a comic actress Elisha Cuthbert is. Good to see her getting to be funny after all these years of… not being funny.
  • House: Billy Connolly!
  • Portlandia: Johnny Marr on a bike!
  • Ringer: The craziness continues and Ioan is a bad seed!
  • Southland: Slightly disappointing conclusion to last week’s cliffhanger, but a great episode all the same.
  • Suburgatory: Possibly the funniest dream sequence ever

“What did you watch this week?” is your chance to recommend to friends and fellow blog readers the TV and films that they might be missing or should avoid – and for me to do mini-reviews of everything I’ve watched. 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?

UK TV

FFS, TV companies – learn to spell!

5 March 2012 Rob Buckley 7 Comments

So I’m watching an episode of The Almighty Johnsons on SyFy last week, when what pops up at the end:

The Almighty Johnsons Epsiode

Do you want a sneak peek of next week’s ‘epsiode’ (sic)? No, me neither.

Anyway, I assume that’s a one-off. But I’m watching Kung Fu on CBS Action not half an hour later and what do I see?

Kung Fu Episdoe

Yes, there’s going to be a new ‘episdode’ (sic) tonight.

Episode: it’s not a hard word to spell. It’s the kind of word that you’d think TV networks would have to be able to spell correctly on frequent occasions, it being quite vital to their business. So why can’t they spell it correctly?

US TV

What did you watch this week (w/e February 24)?

27 February 2012 Rob Buckley 5 Comments

It’s "What did you watch this week?", my chance to tell you what I watched this week that I haven’t already reviewed and your chance to recommend things to everyone else (and me) in case we’ve missed them.

First, the usual recommendations: Archer, Being Human (US), Cougar Town, The Daily Show, House,  Happy Endings, Modern Family, Portlandia, Ringer, Royal Pains, Shameless (US), Southland, Spartacus, Suburgatory and 30 Rock. Do watch them (if you can and they happen to be on TV this week). The Almighty Johnsons is still in my view pile and there are a couple of other things that I’m going to be reviewing in the next day or so, including Those Who Kill (aka Den Som Dræber) and Justice League: Doom

  • Caerdydd: Slowly catching up on this about a year (or two) since we recorded it. Not as good as the previous series, but still great fun.
  • Modern Family: Very sweet
  • Ringer: Nice guest cameo by Misha Collins from Supernatural, and thankfully the whole thing was as ludicruous as always.
  • Royal Pains: Ah, the never-ending slow progress of the plot. And for a finale episode, incredibly badly written – bad dialogue, obviously plotting and no real draw for the next series and that might work in a lazy summer show, but in winter, you need to be a whole lot sharper.
  • 30 Rock: Great cameos by Jim Carrey and Andie MacDowell. But very strange.
  • Southland: I could see the cliffhanger coming a mile off, but still great work. Whoever does the trailers for TNT needs to be shot, since they give away the resolution to the cliffhanger.
  • Spartacus: Back on track now, with a very well paced and plotted episode, although the crunch moment (ho, ho) was an obvious twist. Good to see the return of Gannicus, too. Pondering Spartacus, it amazes me that it’s so popular. Although there’s the obvious, nudity, swearing and massive violence, complete with bloody entrails, we’re talking about a historical story, set in a foreign country, with no Americans (obviously) in the cast, people talking in pseudo-Shakespearian language, gay men front and centre, full frontal male nudity and the whole thing largely filmed and staged like theatre. It breaks all the rules, but yet people love it. Isn’t cable great?

And in movies:

  • Real Steel: Rocky with robots and Hugh Jackman. Surprisingly fun and not awful, although Evangeline Lilly is very much lost in a somewhat tedious "deadbeat father and son work out their differences by building and training a boxing robot" story that has no room for women unless they’re dead or wearing Gucci cocktail dress with cut-outs. But some great robot boxing, including a final homage to Ali’s rope-a-dope trick against Foreman. Wonder if they’ll turn ‘Zeus’ into a lean, mean fat-reducing machine.

"What did you watch this week?" is your chance to recommend to friends and fellow blog readers the TV and films that they might be missing or should avoid – and for me to do mini-reviews of everything I’ve watched. 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?

The CarusometerA Carusometer rating of 3

Third-episode verdict: The Almighty Johnsons (SyFy)

20 February 2012 Rob Buckley 15 Comments

In the UK: Thursdays, 10pm, SyFy
In New Zealand: Already aired. Season two coming soon

I have to say this is a borderline one for me. It’s a nice, amiable show in which a bunch of semi-dickish brothers turn out to be Nordic gods. The youngest is Odin and he has to go on a quest to find Frig, his wife, so that they can all become full gods; if he doesn’t, they’ll all die and so will big chunks of the population of New Zealand. Opposing him/them are a bunch of goddesses who want to run the world and don’t want a bunch of almighty Johnsons to be running it instead of them.

Cue the metaphorical and literal battle of the sexes.

And it’s all right. The first episode was fine. The second episode was a bit better, had a little more depth and fleshed out the other brothers and the supporting characters. The third rounded off the plot and let us get to know the goddesses a little better, too.

But it’s not much better than all right. It’s kind of fun. It doesn’t have a great attitude towards women, although the men fare little better. There’s a lot of pseudo-myth floating around but not really being capitalised upon. There’s the occasional fight scene, which isn’t bad.

So it’s okay. I’m tempted to drop it, but it’s amiable and different enough from other shows that I’m going to stick with it, despite its 3 on the Carusometer. Your mileage may vary.

Carusometer rating: 3
Rob’s prediction: Well, it’s already on season two in New Zealand, so it’s clearly got a future.

What did you watch this week (w/e February 10)?

13 February 2012 Rob Buckley 1 Comment

(Yet again), belated time for “What did you watch this week?”, my chance to tell you what I watched this week that I haven’t already reviewed and your chance to recommend things to everyone else (and me) in case we’ve missed them.

First, the usual recommendations: Archer, Being Human (US), The Daily Show, House, Modern Family, Happy Endings, Portlandia, Ringer, Royal Pains, Shameless (US), Southland, Spartacus, Suburgatory and 30 Rock. Do watch them (if you can and they happen to be on TV this week).

And here are a few thoughts on the regulars and other shows:

  • Shameless (US): Great to see (spoiler)Steve back, since he’d left something of a narrative gap.
  • House: The first decent episode of the season so far
  • Happy Endings: The One With All The Friends References In It
  • Spartacus: Episode two was a definite improvement over episode one, but it’s still not yet firing on all cylinders.
  • 30 Rock: The best season since the second one, I reckon.
  • Ringer: Nice to see Ioan Gruffudd given something to do apart from simper all episode. And the trouble with Juliet(te?) is that the actress is so terrible, it’s hard to tell if the character is a bad actress, too.
  • The Almighty Johnsons: Not quite as fun or as action-packed as the first episode, but still promising and most of the brothers get a little depth in episode two. Not sure what’s happening with the women or even if they’re goddesses now.

But has anyone been watching Being Human (UK) and Bomb Girls over in Canada, by any chance?

And in movies:

  • Red Balloon: Surprisingly effective and affecting French movie about a boy who makes friends with a balloon. Is the balloon a metaphor for Jesus? A pet? Does it matter? It’s just lovely:

“What did you watch this week?” is your chance to recommend to friends and fellow blog readers the TV and films that they might be missing or should avoid – and for me to do mini-reviews of everything I’ve watched. 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?