Stuff I Watched: Bored To Death

April 6, 2011 3 Comments

The launch of Sky Atlantic was one of the most exciting televisual events for years.  All of HBO’s content on one channel, along with the best of Sky’s other US imports?  What wasn’t to love about it?  OK, so many people objected to Murdoch’s monopoly, but from a programming perspective, it was all gold.

The reality, for me, hasn’t lived up to the expectations.  I gave up on a number of shows after one or two episodes, out of boredom (Blue Bloods, Big Love, How to Make it in America). I made it up to episode 4 of Boardwalk Empire only because I was convinced it would suddenly get better.  It didn’t.  It’s one of the most crushing disappointments in recent TV history.  Some stuff I love, but I’ve seen before and enough times not to watch again (Battlestar Galactica, Curb Your Enthusiasm).  There’s another batch of shows that I’d like to watch, but they’ve not shown them from the first season (24, Weeds, Entourage).  The only programmes I’ve been watching are The Sopranos – which is amazing, but I’ve seen them all before – and Treme.  It has to be said that Treme is excellent – the cast, script and style are all up to the standard you would expect from the creators of The Wire – but it is still a slight disappointment because I don’t yet love it (very harsh, but true).

An opening title for Bored to Death

Image via Wikipedia

Thankfully, I’ve just added a show to the list, the excellent Bored To Death (Mondays, 22:20), possibly the saviour of the channel.

OK, that last comment was total hyperbole, but I’m trying to make an exciting post here, so bear with me.

Bored To Death is a bit of an odd-fish, but in a good way, like a surprise chippy tea, rather than a haddock left to rot in an air vent.  It’s ostensibly an off-beat detective show; frustrated, borderline alcoholic writer, Jonathan Ames (a parallel universe version of show creator, writer Jonathan Ames) turns private investigator after his girlfriend leaves him.  So far, so like a million other gimmicky detective shows.  What sets this apart is two-fold.  Firstly, it has the atmosphere of a really cool, indie-flick.  The fictional Jonathan is even played by cool, indie-flick actor Jason Schwartzman.  The second thing that separates it from the pack is that it’s really funny.  With the overall “indie” vibe of the series – replete with quirky sidekicks ably played by Ted Danson and Zach  ”I wonder what that’s worth as Scrabble” Galifianakis – it could get away with only being marginally funny and generating knowing titters from clever character interaction.  It doesn’t; it’s hilarious.  Each episode is only a half-hour long, and it’s effectively just an unusual sitcom.

So, I’ve probably over-hyped it now and ruined it for you all, but give it a try anyway.  There have only been two episodes screened, so far, and you can probably catch the second on a repeat. Sometimes, repeats are your friend.

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A Week of Sherby57: 11th Apr – 17th Apr 2010

April 19, 2010 Leave a Comment

Lovely posts, lovely man.  Enjoy:

Sunday 11th

The Book of The Blog – Have I mentioned that I’ve released a book version of The World of Sherby57 called The Best of The World of Sherby57: Volume 1?  Oh, I’ve mentioned it several times, have I?  Well forgive me, your Lordship.  Anyway, this is another post advertising my wonderful book.

Monday 12th

Sherby57’s Mind Expanders – 1 – There’s a lot of flabby minds these days, so I thought I’d have a crack at getting your thoughts in shape.  This is a very tricky brainteaser, so don’t feel bad if you don’t get it straight away.  The solution will be published this week.

Tuesday 13th

Hunting Turnips – A Poem – It’s a poem about how it feels to hunt turnips for fun.  Admit it, we’ve all done it.

Wednesday 14th

Doctor Sherby57 on TV – A round up of the week’s TV, including: a St Helens-based sci-fi drama, a wig-based game show and a documentary about toes.

Thursday 15th

Leo and Linda’s Lion Luxury – A Story – Yet more bonkers romance.  It really is my forte.  This week sees two mis-matched people find love in the beautiful city of Wolfsteinsten.

Saturday 17th

The Sherby57 Exercise Plan – My new fitness regime has worked wonders for me and it seems only fair that I share my secrets with you.  Get prepared to buy a whole new wardrobe.

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A Week of Sherby57: 4th Apr – 10th Apr

April 12, 2010 Leave a Comment

It’s another week’s posts from the blog that has a book.  Did I mention that there was a book of The World of Sherby57?  Oh, I did.  Never mind, I just thought I’d check.

Sunday 4th

Post From The Past – April 2009 – It’s the final part of the story of why I went missing for three months.  It wouldn’t take a genius to work out that I was totally bored of doing it by this stage.

Monday 5th

Angry Table: The Musical – A Poem – A poem about the perils of writing a musical about an angry table.  No, I don’t know where it came from either.

Tuesday 6th

Easter Gravy – Yet another fabulous episode of The Gravy Boat Podcast.  This one features a ‘bible story’.  There is a chance that I made it up.

Wednesday 7th

Sherby57 on TV on Ice – A quick look at the week’s TV, featuring the hit drama, Tweet Town Blue.  If you like textspeak then this is for you.

Thursday 8th

The Man Done Some Stuff 3: Man in New York – The return of the world’s most romantically comedic series of romcoms.  This time the man is a different man, but the original man is still in it.  I know that sounds a bit confusing but it will all make sense if you just read it.  It’s also set in New York so it’s very cosmopolitan.

Friday 9th

Visit Wolfsteinsten – If you’re thinking about getting away for the weekend then I suggest you give this post a read.  Wolfsteinsten is a little known destination, but it’s well worth a visit.

Saturday 10th

Martha’s Bangers – A Story – The week ends with a beautiful romance story of the highest order.  And it’s set in a truck stop.  What more could you ask for?  Look out for a special guest appearance by Geoffrey Dunstable.  Yes, THAT Geoffrey Dunstable.

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Stuff I Watched: 2nd Dec – 5th Dec 2009

December 6, 2009 2 Comments

In Treatment: Sky Arts 1 (Recorded 2nd Dec Watched 2nd Dec)

So, it’s the 43rd episode in 9 weeks and we’ve arrived at the season finale.  In a perfect bookend to how the series began, we finally saw Paul telling Laura how he felt about her.

There were only 3 episodes this week and the previous two had rounded off the Sophie and Jake & Amy plots.  The Sophie episode was especially strong, as always, and we got to meet her villainous father, who, by the the end of the episode, ended up as human as everybody else.  Mia Wasikowska has been the stand-out star of the season and is going on to bigger, if not better, things.  The conclusion for Jake & Amy was much less satisfying, but, given the nature of their relationship, this made it all the more believable.

This all begged the question: what sort of ending would Paul get?

Fittingly, he got the messiest conclusion of all.  As I’ve said before, it’s never entirely been made clear quite why Paul has fell so head over heels for Laura.  Worse, than that, it’s not really ever rung true.  We started the episode with the good doctor telling Kate, his wife, that he was going out to see Laura.  Just like that.  Was this a cowardly way of ending his own marriage without actually saying it?  We then proceeded to a scene in Laura’s house which was agonisingly awkward.  Frankly, it’s hard to know what to make of it all.  Paul declared his love for Laura – even though it makes no sense, and was unconvincing – she didn’t believe him – so she leads him to her bedroom and strips off – we then fade to black.

When we fade back up we’re at Gina’s, and Paul confesses that he didn’t do anything with Laura as he had a panic attack.  Gabriel Byrne’s acting was superb here as Paul completely unravelled before our eyes.  Considering that he has guided many of his patients to some kind of self-knowledge, it was incredible to see him with no grasp of his own feelings and actions.  It became clear that the ambiguous nature of his feelings for Laura were certainly intentional.

Just as Dr Weston appears to be on the brink, Gina reaches her conclusion.  He needs more therapy.

Memories of Matsuko: Film4 (R 17th Nov W 3rd Dec)

This was another mental film from Japan, which had the same director as Kamikaze Girls, and had the same exciting visual style.  The plot revolved around a young man who slowly learns about his murdered aunt’s troubled life, through a series of flashbacks.

Like all the best Japanese films, I had no idea what it was all about.  Scenes flicked wantonly between twee fantastical sequences, that used animation and musical numbers, and disturbing domestic violence, squalor and sexual degradation. Yes, it’s as weird a mix as it sounds.  A prison sequence transformed into a pop video was particularly weird.

Was it any good?  Well it certainly kept my attention – it was simultaneously ridiculous yet moving; brutal yet sickly sweet.  The ending was the most saccharine, overly sentimental thing I’ve ever seen on screen – and yet it was totally fitting to the movie.

Was it any good?  You’d have to judge for yourself.

Black Book: More4 (R 20th Nov W 4th Dec)

You come to expect European-made World War 2 dramas to be fascinating, incredibly worthy and slightly depressing affairs.  Black Book was directed by Paul Verhoeven though, so this was a good, old-fashioned roller coaster ride of a thriller.  It is also the most successful Dutch film ever.

It’s starts in 1944 and follows the woes of  Rachel, a Jew who is being hidden in a farmhouse.  Through a series of tragic events her cover is blown, her family are viciously murdered and she finds her self part of the Dutch resistance.  Things only get worse as she is forced to infiltrate the local Nazis by sleeping with one of the ranking officers.  Things certainly don’t get any easier for her, but I won’t say any more in case I spoil it.  Suffice to say, it twists and turns right to the end.

It annoys me that nobody seems capable of making a 90 minute movie any more.  Luckily, although this was nearly two and a half hours long, the time flew by.  It’s not very often that you can say that.

Apart from being an exciting, well made film, what elevates this above the average thriller are the shades of grey in the characters.  There is virtually no one who is entirely good or entirely bad, and this helps you to keep guessing until the end.

This World: Stalin’s Back: BBC2 (R 2nd Dec W 5th Dec)

A fascinating documentary from journalist John Sweeney about the rehabilitation of Stalin’s reputation in Russia.  Sweeney travelled to Georgia where he followed a Stalin look-a-like around a market, where he was virtually mobbed by well-wishers.  It wasn’t just the outreaches of the old empire that felt this way and even prime minister Putin himself believes in ‘positive history’, which could be easily translated to ‘propaganda’.  This  has led, amongst other things, to an incredibly inaccurate history text book for schools, where Stalin’s crimes have been completely omitted.  Sweeney grilled the author on some of the missing facts and his best defence was to mumble and look embarrassed.

Stalin is possibly the worst mass murderer in history and yet, frighteningly, he still has lots of support throughout the old Soviet Union.  There is even a Stalin museum that sells lots of tat with his face on it.  It almost seems funny until you imagine a similar shop in Germany selling Hitler mugs.

Live at the Apollo: BBC HD (R 4th Dec W 5th Dec)

I’ll start by stating that I’m not one of these people who hate comedians who become successful and\or do observational material.  With that understood, I feel the need to ask the following quetion: does Michael McIntyre really need to be on Live at the Apollo again?

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Stuff I Watched: 16th Nov – 21st Nov 2009

November 22, 2009 5 Comments

The Queen in 3D: Channel 4 (Recorded 16th Nov Watched 16th Nov)

I wouldn’t usually watch anything about the ‘royals’ if you paid me but this was an opportunity to use my Chuck 3D glasses again.

I started off being quite enthusiastic about the programme; it’s always interesting to see colour footage of life in the 1950s and earlier so it’s quite remarkable to see it in 3D.  Some of the scenes were incredibly effective and the ‘royal’ stuff wasn’t as interesting as the footage of ordinary people.

The problem was that the novelty wore off after about 10 minutes and then you’re just sat there watching boring clips.  It certainly made me question the current trend for 3D films in the cinema.

Top Gear: BBC HD (R 15th Nov W 17th Nov)

It’s the return of Top Gear (now in HD), the programme that evokes more conflicting emotions than any other programme that I watch.  On the negative side, the presenters are annoying, it’s too pleased with itself, there’s too much fakery and most of Clarkson’s views are reprehensible.  On the other hand it has a sense of adventure and wonder that you really don’t find anywhere else and it’s more beautifully shot than any Hollywood film.  Annoying but watchable.

Curb Your Enthusiasm: iTunes (Downloaded 17th Nov W 17th Nov)

I was distraught, last week, when I missed episode 5 of Curb but I decided to take Jed Unpopcult’s advice and download it from iTunes (as much as it hurt for me to pay for it).  And boy, was I ever glad that I did.  After last week’s somewhat disappointing episode Larry & co were right back on top form.  There really were too many funny bits to mention – but if I told you that the plot revolved around Larry dating a woman in a wheelchair, you might start to get the idea.  Highlights included: asking about a Chinese child’s proficiency with chopsticks, Larry attempting to kiss Denise in her wheelchair, Leon asking if Larry “brought it”, hiding the blackberry under the towel and Rosie O’Donnell being as pig-headed as Larry.

There haven’t been many programmes ever that have made me laugh so much.  If you’re not watching it then I want a written note from your mother as to why not.

Misfits: E4 (R 12th Nov W 19th Nov)

Misfits has, inevitably, been described as ‘Skins meets Heroes’ and this made me question whether I was actually going to bother watching it.  As much as the description put me off, there was no was that I was going to miss a British superhero programme.

Five, typically annoying, teens are struck by lightning while on community service and find that they have gained superpowers.  I have quite a low threshold for watching anything featuring ‘realistic’ teens, so the first ten minutes or so were a bit of a chore.  Things picked up, though, as the story gained momentum and it was really successfully done.  It’s rare that we get these high-concept sci-fi shows in the UK but when we do they often have a unique flavour.

Having the powers relate to the characters’ personalities wasn’t the subtlest touch (the shy one turns invisible etc) but by the end of the episode we did start to see them as real human beings.  I’ll definitely be tuning in for the second episode.

Stargate Universe: Sky One (R 17th Nov W 21st Nov)

I’ve been pretty underwhelmed by this series from the start but I stuck with it because it seemed like something might happen.  Well, it only took about 5 minutes of this episode before I decided that nothing was ever going to happen.  It felt like a relief to finally give up on it.

Kamikaze Girls: Film4 (R 13th Nov W 21st Nov)

I’ve got a habit of recording any foreign-language film that I spot because I’m a bit of a snob and they don’t tend to repeat them; you’ve got to watch them when you can.  The problem is that I’ve really got to be in the mood to watch a movie and when they’re sub-titled you really have to concentrate, so I’ve ended up with lots of unwatched films.  I’ve found myself deleting a few recently but I made an effort to watch this.

Kamikaze Girls could be described as a Japanese Amelie; it’s a quirky film that features an attractive female stuck in her own magical realism world.  This being a Japanese film, though, means that it has its own strangeness that makes it nothing like Amelie.  The plot, such as it is, revolves around two teenage girls who form an unlikely friendship – Momoko, who like to wear frilly ‘lolita’ dresses and Ichigo, a slightly psychotic biker chick.  In some ways nothing much else happens, but that would be really selling it short, and it kept my interest to the end.  There is a great scene towards the end when Momoko finally flips when trying to defend Ichigo against a biker gang that’s actually very funny.

I’d like to add that the reason that I liked the film had nothing to do with the main character being gorgeous and prancing round in ‘lolita’ outfits.  Honest.

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Stuff I Watched: 7th Nov – 14th Nov 2009

November 15, 2009 1 Comment

The more observant amongst you will have noticed that, as well as only having written about two TV shows in a week, the post title covers the 14th and I watched the last programme on the 12th.  This is intentional, as it is a symbolic end to a bad TV week.  I keep asking myself whether it has it been a slow week for TV or was it just a week in which I just didn’t want to write about it.  I’d managed to write about the two programmes, below, by Thursday, and then on Friday morning I had to delete loads of recorded programmes because there was no sound.  To say that I was annoyed is an understatement.  I’m a big fan of Sky HD, but you become so reliant on it that when it goes wrong it becomes a tragedy (I’m being hyperbolic).

Anyway, thanks to the wonders of endless repeats, I’ve managed to re-record most of the programmes that I deleted.  The one notable omission was Curb Your Enthusiam, which was, typically, the programme I wanted to watch the most and the one that had no repeats.  Thanks for that Channel 4, you misers.

Spiral: BBC4 (Recorded 1st Nov Watched 7th Nov)

It was the final episode of the French police drama and Samy went undercover with the Larbis to Spain, in the hopes of exposing their drug deal.  Meanwhile a suspended Laure successfully blackmailed evil Josephine in to dropping the charges against her.  C’est bon.

Everything was going a little too well for our Gallic police chums and it clearly wasn’t going to last.  Before too long, Samy was uncovered as an undercover cop and it’s fair to say that he was in quite a bit of trouble.  There was palpable sense of urgency as they tried to find out where he was, and, to that end, it was good to see that police brutality is still alive and viciously kicking in France.  Just as all looked to be lost, they found Samy and then…that was it.  The ending crashed down like a guillotine.

It was all well executed, as usual, but the ending was a total anti-climax.  We didn’t even see Josephine get her comeuppance and she didn’t make an appearance in the second half of the episode.  This was strange as she’d almost been the focal point for the entire series, and it left a few too many unanswered questions.  And then we get to poor Pierre who had even less to do than Ginger Josie.   I can’t help but feel that the writers dropped the ball.

I’m still looking forward to season 3 though.  Let’s hope it’s not another 3 year wait.

In Treatment: Sky Arts 1 (R 9th Nov W 12th Nov)

I wrote a few days ago that I didn’t think that Laura seemed very lovable, but, after watching this episode, I was left wondering if the problem is actually that it’s never seemed like Paul was actually in love with her.

It’s the beginning of Week 6 on In Treatment and they started with a weird feeling episode.  Now that she’s no longer his patient, Paul finally tells Laura how he  feels about her.  It was strange because this is a huge thing for Paul to do, considering the effect it could have on his career, yet he seemed as detached and clinical as ever.  I’m not sure that it felt like he was in love with her even with it all out in the open.  It left me a little confused as to what was going on.

I’m not too bothered by it, though.  The series has built up enough trust in me that I’ll go with it even when I’m not entirely convinced.

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Stuff I Watched: 29th Oct – 3rd Nov 2009

November 7, 2009 4 Comments

It’s been a bit of a slow TV watching week, this week, and I’m struggling to keep up with my Sky planner.  This post only covers programmes up to the 3rd, but that’s because I haven’t watched anything worth writing about in the last 4 days.  I just thought I’d tell you that, in case you were wondering.  I know you weren’t wondering, so I shouldn’t really have bothered.

Russell Howard’s Good News Extra: BBC3 (Recorded 24th Oct Watched 29th Oct)

Isn’t annoying when the BBC broadcast an extended edition of a show that you already watched a few days ago, but you feel like you have to watch it anyway because otherwise you’d feel cheated out of the extra material?  Or is that just me being worryingly obsessive?  Luckily (for me), all the extra material was at the end, so I was able to whizz right through it.

I thought that the ‘extra’ stuff would just be clips, jokes and out-takes that didn’t quite make the original cut, but it actually consisted of a 15-minute stand up set by Steve Hall (We Are Klang).  It was a bit weird as it was completely unrelated to the half hour that preceded it, but it I have to congratulate the programme-makers for sneaking some more stand up on  to television.

In future, Mr BBC, just show the longer version and save me some time.

The Thick of It: BBC HD (R 24th Oct W 31st Oct)

The very welcome return of the anti-West Wing, The Thick of It.  It’s incredibly fast paced, cutting and very funny, plus it features the best swearing on TV.  Rebecca Front plays new instated minister Nicola Murray, a politician who was so far out of the political reckoning that she seems to be the only person not scared of Malcolm Tucker.  It’s a very intelligent satire and I’m not remotely qualified to comment on it any further.  In fact, I’ve probably broken a few laws by saying as much as I already have.  Just watch it.

Ghosts in the Machine: BBC4 (R 27th Oct W 1st Nov)

A typically interesting BBC4 documentary that took a look back at the history of ghosts on British TV.  The reason that I mention it is that there was a long look at Ghostwatch, a 1992 one-off drama that should have been laughable and yet was one of the scariest things I’ve ever seen on television.  It was a fake TV ghost hunt featuring Michael Parkinson, Craig Charles and Sarah Greene (all playing themselves),  investigating the strange occurrences in a typical suburban home, before things start to go very, very wrong.  It shouldn’t be scary because a) you know it’s fake and b) it looks fake, but it plays some subconscious trick on you that makes you think it’s real anyway.  All I know is that the thought of Mr Pipes creeps me out to this day.

Sadly, this documentary places the genesis of shows like Most Haunted with Ghostwatch and so it wasn’t entirely a good thing.  I own it on DVD (it’s never been repeated on British TV), so I might have to give it another watch.  In the day time, of course.

FlashForward: Channel 5 (R 26th Oct W 2nd Nov)

I got 17 minutes in to this episode (whichever episode it was), before finally giving up for good.  The programme had an intriguing premise, but its execution was awful.   I realised that I didn’t care about any of it in the slightest, so I did the sensible thing and deleted it.  Just the simple act of deletion gave me more pleasure than all the episodes that I had watched, combined.

Did Heston Change Little Chef?: Channel 4 (R 28th Oct W 3rd Oct)

It’s always satisfying to watch follow up editions of documentaries and reality shows, so you can see what actually happened once the TV crew had gone home.   There is also the added bonus that there are lots of ‘reminders’ of what happened originally, so you can fast forward through chunks of them (if you’ve got a good enough memory to remember what had happened).

The original series followed superstar chef, Heston Blumenthal, and his attempts to revamp the tired Little Chef chain.  This resulted in a modernised flagship store in Popham and a promise that the model would be rolled out if it proved to be a success.  On his return, Blumenthal found the Little Chef management team to be as incompetent as ever, completely ignoring his advice and then making excuses as to why they’re actually right.  There was a promise that ingredients wouldn’t be downgraded in quality, but a brief search through the pantry revealed bisto and oven chips.  After some persistent badgering, however, the message did finally seem to get through and two additional restaurants were modernised.

From his ‘wacky’ style of cuisine, you might be forgiven if you presumed that Blumenthal was completely up his own arse, but he’s actually a very down to earth guy and he did a really good job here.

Chuck: Virgin 1 (R 3rd Nov W 3rd Nov)

It’s quite unusual for me to watch a programme on the same day that I recorded it, so that’s probably a good indicator on how much I wanted to watch this.  It was the final episode of season 2 and they went for the classic comic book plot of ‘wedding interrupted by bad guys’.  Last week’s episode was not only excellent, but also seemed to provide a fitting end to the season, so they were going to have to really up the ante to provide a decent finale.  I’m glad to say that they did.  Many bloggers would give you a plot outline and details on what happened in the episode, but you’ve either seen the episode and know what happened, or you haven’t seen it and I don’t want to spoil it for you.  They’re my excuses and I’m sticking to them.

There have been times during this season when I thought that the series may have been losing its way, but the concluding few episodes really pulled everything together – they were able to combine emotion, comedy and action in a way that’s rarely seen.  I’d accidentally read a spoiler for the end of the episode (and I won’t say what happened in case you haven’t seen it yet), but it was still an awesome, crowd pleasing moment, with the cherry on top of Casey’s hilarious reactions to Chuck.

It’s just a shame that we’ll now probably have a long wait until season 3.

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Stuff I Watched: 15th Oct – 19th Oct 2009

October 21, 2009 7 Comments

Football Behind Bars: Sky One (Recorded 12th Oct Watched 15th Oct)

This was the final episode of a six-part, Sky One documentary series, presented by Ian Wright, about young offenders playing football.  It was bound to be awful, wasn’t it?  Well, you’d be forgiven for thinking so, but it was actually rather well done.

It followed Ian Wright’s attempts to set up a football academy in a young offenders institute, in an attempt to help them learn some life skills, and hopefully make it possible for them not to re-offend.  It would have been easy for the programme makers to either overly sensationalise the criminal pasts of the inmates, and\or give a rose-tinted view of the outcomes of the scheme; to their credit, they did neither.  Nonetheless, the academy clearly had a positive impact on those involved, and it was good to see a ‘celebrity’ trying to make a genuine difference.

Curb Your Enthusiam: More 4 (R 15th Oct W 16th Oct)

I was actually genuinely exciting for the return of Curb, and couldn’t wait to see this first episode.  We’re now in to season 7 and it shouldn’t still be funny as it’s essentially the same every episode. Somehow, though, it’s still hilarious.  If you’ve never seen an episode, then I seriously recommend that you do.  Larry David is my hero (the fictional one and the real one).

Eastbound and Down: FX (R 12th Oct W 17th Oct)

I didn’t like the first episode, but I went in to this one trying to like it.  The first few minutes saw a weird Will Ferrell cameo, which could have made things a but more watchable.  It didn’t, I lasted five minutes before deleting it.  I have this nagging feeling that everyone’s going to be raving about this in a few months time and it’s going to make me sad inside.

Caravans: A British Love Affair: BBC4 (R 17th Oct W 17th Oct)

I really don’t know what it was that made me watch this, but don’t judge me.  It wasn’t the most amazing documentary I’ve ever seen, but I mention it because I thought it was only fair to give a fair reflection of all the programmes that I watch.  And sometimes I just want to watch a documentary about caravans.  It’s all too easy to scoff at caravanners these days, but this documentary at least explained what a feeling of freedom that owning a caravan gave people in dull post-war Britain.

Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip: Channel 4 (R 12th Oct W 18th Oct)

It’s two or three years since this originally aired and I was ambivalent about it the first time around; it was well written and acted but I felt it was deeply flawed.  Since it was first shown, I’ve seen the whole of The West Wing, Aaron Sorkin’s previous show, so, when I saw this as a late night repeat, I thought I’d give it another go.  Would my opinion by any different a second time around?

No.  The script was still good and the Matthew Perry\Bradley Whitford double act was as likeable as ever, but, there were also a lot of buts.  I picked out lots of flaw, just in this pilot alone, but I’ll try and keep them as brief as possible.  I think you can lump many of the problems in to the category of ‘unconvincing’: I’m not convinced by Jordan McDeere, I’m not convinced that the ‘big 3′ stars of the show-within-a-show have any talent, and I’m not convinced that ‘Studio 60′ was ever a hit show.  Most embarrassing of all is when they try and show some of the comedy sketches – let’s just not talk about it.  It’s a very strange show that is both really good and excruciatingly bad in equal measure.  For that reason alone, I’ll probably watch them all.

Modern Family: Sky One (R 15th Oct W 19th Oct)

The latest highly acclaimed US comedy show arrives on Sky One, so of course I was watching.  It’s a mockumentary following the fortunes of three (yes, you guessed it) modern families.  I didn’t think it entirely worked; some of the jokes seemed a bit too obvious, and the ‘feel’ wasn’t quite right.  That said, it did make me laugh a few times, and it was only the pilot, so it can’t be all bad.  The main thing I took from the experience though was how much it made me want to watch Arrested Development again.

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Life, But Not As We Know It

October 1, 2009 3 Comments

I’ve been watching the US police drama, Life, on ITV3, probably the only programme I’ve ever watched on that channel.  We’re getting towards the end of the second, and final, season of the series, so I thought I’d offer a few thoughts.

Life is the story of Charlie Crews, a cop who was wrongly convicted of murder and imprisoned for 12 years.  After winning his appeal, he is released with a multi-million dollar settlement and a detective’s shield.  He and new partner (and recovering drug and alcohol addict), Dani Reese (Sarah Shahi), investigate homicides, whilst Crews pursues a personal crusade in to the conspiracy that framed him for murder.

It’s essentially a police procedural with a twist.  The central performance, by British actor Damian Lewis, is key to the show, and he gives Crews a distinctive personality, with his love of fresh fruit and his zen-like attitude to life.  Season 1 was certainly more quirky, with Crews being much more odd, and Reese having a much darker side.  They seemed to clean things up for season 2, presumably to boost ratings, significantly with Reese  wearing her hair down for work, when in the first season it was always up.  It sounds trivial, but it was a very telling note on the tone of the show.  That said, it’s remained different enough to keep me watching, as I don’t usually watch straight cop shows.

With the basics out of the way, let’s get down to the thing that obsesses me every time I watch it: Sarah Shahi’s face.  Now, I know that US TV is notorious for casting attractive people, but Shahi is so insanely beautiful that it dominates my viewing experience.  I’m not criticising her performance as she is very good in the role, but I just cannot accept that she could ever end up being a police officer looking that good.  Now that Life has been cancelled, I can only hope that she gets work soon, hopefully in a show about lingerie models.

p.s.

Between writing this post and publishing it I watched the episode Hit Me Baby.  Reese showed up at a crime scene with noticeably straightened hair and more glamorous make up.  She looked like she was going on a night out rather than investigating a murder (she did look very pretty though).  Perhaps the ratings were really flagging at this point, although, mysteriously,  she was only in the episode for about 2 minutes.

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New(ish) Comedy On TV

September 29, 2009 6 Comments

Over the last couple of weeks, I’ve started watching a few new comedy shows, so I thought I’d talk to you about them.  Conveniently, they are all on different nights of the week and so they format of the post has been conveniently set – thanks to the schedulers for making my life easier.

Monday: Home Time (BBC 2/BBC HD)

This is a brand new sitcom written by, and starring, Emma Fryer.  I’ve seen the first two episodes and episode 3 will have been on by the time you read this.  It’s the story of Gaynor (Fryer) who ran away to London at the age of 17 and then suddenly returns to Coventry after 12 years.  It has similarities to those ‘dark’ comedies that are knocking about – nobody is happy and all Gaynor’s friends are freaky and slightly scary.  Somehow though, it doesn’t feel too ‘dark’ and Fryer’s performance is realistically subdued.  The first episode took  a while to get going, but it’s pretty funny and worth a watch.

Tuesday: How Not To Live Your Life (BBC3/BBC HD)

The second series of Dan Clark’s sitcom started a couple of weeks ago and was a welcome return.  The premise is that Don Danbury (Clark) inherits a house from his grandmother and then proceeds to do as little as possible, ably abetted by his nan’s carer Eddie (David Armand), who just keeps turning up at the house for no particular reason.  Series one also featured Don’s lodger, Abby (Sinead Moynihan) and her boorish boyfriend Karl (Finlay Robertson); many of the plots revolved around Don’s inept attempts at wooing Abby.

There has been a cast re-jig for the new series and Abby and Karl have left to be replaced by Samantha (new lodger) and Don’s next door neighbour Mrs Treacher.  It was an excellent bit of casting to replace the gorgeous Moynihan with the even more gorgeous Laura Haddock.  I think that Haddock is more of a natural actor than her predecessor and so should provide a good foil for Don.

I really like this show for the simple reason that it makes me laugh. Old fashioned, I know.  Don is a classic sitcom archetype, the absolute dick who is lovable despite being completely unlovable.  It also features some clever fantasy sequences whenever Don has an awkward moment (quite often) and we get the ‘top 5 things not to say..’ in that situation.

Wednesday: 10 Things I Hate About You (Fiver)

A sitcom spin-off of a film made ten years ago doesn’t sound all that promising, but I read the following tweet from my good friends at Unpopcult:

Sitcom version of “10 Things I Hate About You” starts tonight 9pm on Fiver. US feedback surprisingly positive, might be worth a look.

This isn’t the kind of show that I would normally watch, but if you use the phrase, ‘feedback surprisingly positive’, then I feel almost compelled to give it a go.  It follows the same basic premise as the movie: there are two sisters in high school, the younger one wants to be popular, the older one doesn’t.  There’s some boys involved and that’s about it.  How much more do you want?  OK, the plot of the film was actually based on Shakespeare’s The Taming of The Shrew, so go read that if you want to know more.

I’ve only seen the first episode so far, but it seemed a quite likeable show. I’m just not entirely sure how funny it is, and that should kind of be a prerequisite for a comedy.  That said, I’ve certainly stuck with worse shows, so I’ll probably give it another chance.

Thursday: Important Things with Demetri Martin (E4)

I’ve heard of this show from the internet, although I can’t remember whether it was supposed to be good or not.  I do remember seeing Martin on a BBC special about 5 years ago and quite liking his quirky, nerdy stand up.  So, I gave the first episode of Interesting Things a go.  It’s a mixture of stand up, sketches and a few other weird little film bits.  It feels very much like a BBC show made by an American network.  I’m not sure exactly how funny it is; the humour is more quirky than laugh-out-loud funny, which is fine, but the over-enthusiastic studio audience spoil things.  That said, it’s different enough to keep me watching for now, and I’m happy to give the second episode a try.

Friday: Peep Show (Channel 4/HD)

We’re now two episodes in to the sixth series of Peep Show, and the news is that it’s still funny.  Hooray.  If you’ve not seen it before, then what on earth are you doing?  Go out and buy series 1-5 on DVD immediately! You can get them all in a box set on Amazon for £15.48, so you really have no excuse.

For those of you who haven’t seen it, it’s the story of Mark (a neurotic nerd) and his lodger and university friend Jeremy (wannabe musician and all round idiot).  Peep Show is shot in an unusual way as the action is often shown from the character’s POV.  We also hear Mark and Jeremy’s thoughts, which sounds bad on paper, but adds a whole new layer of comedy.  It’s good to see a ‘cult’ sitcom make it to six series, but I urge you all to watch as it should get much higher viewing figures than it does.

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