Stuff I Watched: 30th Sept – 2nd Oct 2009

In what may possibly become a regular new feature, I’m going to take a look at some of the television shows that I’ve been watching in the last few days. Given that I struggle to keep up with all the shows that I record on Sky Plus, I also include the date that the programme was recorded, so you know which episode I’m talking about.

Life: ITV3 (Rec 23rd Sept -Watched 30th Sept)

In this episode, Reese is still not around and Charlie is being partnered by Bobby, who is not quite as attractive. I was somewhat baffled last week as to why she was being sidelined (see here), but now I’m assuming that Sarah Shahi was pregnant when these episodes were being filmed, as, in the few scenes she is in, she is always filmed from the chest up, or sat behind a desk. I should probably be a detective myself with that sort of deduction. Pregnant or not, she still looks amazing.

Demetri Martin: Person: E4 (R 23rd Sept – W 30th Sept)

This is a recording of a live show of the stand up comedian which E4 showed as a pre-cursor to his regular series, Important Things with Demetri Martin, which I’d already seen. I really struggled with this, and somehow, I just don’t think he works in front of a live audience, although I’m not entirely sure why it is that I think that. He somehow doesn’t seem like a performer, so it made me feel quite uncomfortable to watch and I gave up after 10 minutes. Curiously, for someone who loves stand up, I never seem to be able to watch recorded live shows from US comedians.

True Blood: FX (R 25th Sept – W 30th Sept)

This was the penultimate episode of season one, and, eleven episodes in, it remains a mystery. I still don’t know what the show is or what it is about. That said, this wasn’t a bad episode, and they finally move things forward with the whole serial killer sub-plot; sadly, this involved lots of Sookie and Sam doing boring stuff. The most interesting part of the programme is to do with the vampires, and annoyingly we only get about 30 seconds of this in the first 40 minutes and instead we get Jason and Amy (yawn). Finally, we get a scene with Bill and Jessica, the girl who he was forced to turn in to a vampire last week. This whole sequence was easily the best scene in the series so far, and provided a tantalising glimpse of what could have been. Before we know it though, we’re back to a boring Tara scene.

The episode was probably better than the last paragraph would lead you to believe, I just find the programme so frustrating. I really don’t know what to make of all the Sam and Sookie stuff, especially when Bill returned. It’s like they just did it all for a bit of soap opera style tension. And I was open-mouthed at the plot with Tara and the ‘social worker’ – someone with such an obvious hidden agenda that the only way they can salvage any credibility is if they have a twist of her just being a really nice lady.

I completely missed the plot twist with the faxed photo at the end, until it was explained to me. I guess it shows how much I’ve been paying attention. I’ll try and do a season review once I’ve seen the last episode.

Charlie Brooker’s Gameswipe: BBC4 (R 29th Sept – W 30th Sept)

This jumped its place in the queue just because it’s a new Charlie Brooker programme. I was really excited to watch this, even though I’m not in to gaming. If you’re a TV fan and you’ve never watched his series, Screenwipe, then you owe it to yourself to go hunt it down.

It’s probably about time that gaming got a bit of proper coverage on TV and there’s no one better to provide it than Mr Brooker. The bits explaining the different genres was perhaps a bit over-egged, but, because it’s CB, it was still incredibly entertaining and very funny. The segments with Dara O’Briain and Graham Linehan were also excellent and it is impressive to get such quality contributors. Although, it did prompt the question as to whether the Irish are particularly enamoured of video games.

Ink! Alter Egos Exposed: Sky Arts 1 (Rec 28th Sept – W 1st Oct)

I commented after watching the first episode of this and we’re now on episode 4, Social Relevance. I’m still not sure what I’m learning from this series or what new insights I’m gaining, but it’s nice to listen to comic book people talking about their work. But that comes from thirty years of being a comic book geek. I’d be very interested to know what non-comic book readers think of the series and if it changed any of their preconceptions.

Chuck: Virgin1 (R 29th Sept -W 1st Oct)

This episode was titled ‘Chuck vs the Predator’; sadly there were no alien hunters involved. After the excellent conclusion to last week’s episode, this was a slightly mixed bag. On the positive side, the Fulcrum/Orion plot moved forward, and continued on from last week’s revelations. We even had a glimpse behind the scenes at Fulcrum and finally got a feeling on how big a threat they are to national security. All this is helping to give the series a much needed focus. On the other hand, the stupid Buy More sub-plot was stupider than ever, and it seemed completely incongruous with the rest of the show. Oh well, swings and roundabouts I guess!

Design for Life: BBC2 (R 28th Sept -W 2nd Oct)

This is the kind of show that the BBC does really well; what could seem like a bit of cheap reality TV is actually completely fascinating. The idea behind the show is that 12 English design students compete to win a 6-month placement to work with Philippe Starck, in Paris. It’s a real coup to get Starck involved as he is perhaps the most famous product designer in the world, and, luckily for TV purposes, something of an oddball. It’s kind of like an esoteric, gallic version of The Apprentice.

In this, the third episode 3, the eight remaining students were given yet another incomprehensible challenge by hard taskmaster, Starck. As the students deliberately receive no guidance, it’s only on day 6 of 7 that they all realise that they had all misunderstood the brief. This led to lots of scenes of Starck looking simultaneously disappointed and bewildered. In the end, he wanted to send them all home but couldn’t because it would have meant ending the series; they all stayed. Compelling viewing.

Spiral: BBC4 (R 27th Sept – W 2nd Oct)

We’ll stay in France for the final programme of the post, and another another excellent episode of Spiral. I had previously questioned whether I’d be enjoying this as much if it was in English, but I’ve come to the conclusion that I definitely would. It’s just a bonus that because it has subtitles it’s the one show a week where I have to pay full attention.

It’s now episode 3 and all the plot threads are nicely weaving together. This season, so far, belongs to Joséphine Karlsson (Audrey Fleurot), the dodgy lawyer. We see her both acting unscrupulously and calculatingly with her clients, and also spiralling out of control in her personal life and dealings with the shady Mr Szabo. You just know it’s not going to end well.

Elsewhere, I feel compelled to petition Canal+ to create a spin-off Judge Roban series; he’s like a French Columbo.