January

is looking good. 


January will be (PMA - possible copyright Linford Christie) the excellent start to the new year I am hoping for. 2010 has been a pretty crappy year for me, televisually and personally, so I'm more than happy to wave goodbye to it. I've been waiting for 2011 to start for a few weeks now and as I count the days off I become more excited about what next month has to offer. A couple of highlights follow:


9th - Episodes begins.

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As I have previously mentioned, I am quite looking forward to this. Saying that, the trailer looks less good than it did when it only existed in my imagination. The premise seems sound. The frustration felt when British shows are destroyed re-made for a US audience is certainly a cash innable concept. Understandably, all the marketing focuses on LeBlanc. Yet it's a shame to not even mention the presence of Mangan and Greig, as I would imagine BBC America means that a lot of viewers have heard of them. 
I suspect that it will be either very good, or very awful. My current PMA is attaching all hope to the former. 

16th - The fifth and final season of Big Love begins. You would think, given my (and Chloe Sevigny's) scathing thoughts about season 4 (though I wasn't forced to apologise as no-one gives a shit about what I think) that I would not be bothered about this season. But I really want it to be good. I have such a crush on this show, or the show that it used to be, the promise that it had - the characters, the writing, the actors involved.


But I am worried. One season is not a lot. And there are a fucklot of open ended story lines floating around the Big Love universe. Will we see them all resolved to our satisfaction? Will a lot of them be forgotten in the haste of wrapping things up neatly? I have this horrible nagging worry that they will get to episode 7 and decide to start some random new plot instead of satisfying our curiosity about the things that we actually want to know about. Like Lois and Frank, or the Greens. I want to know what Heather has been up to and I want to finally put the ridiculous Ana story away for good. I want to see more Alby. I want the show to have the proper ending that it deserves and I hope that they get things back on track, as they could have done last season right up until the political campaign. Also, I want to know what on earth they were thinking when they made up this atrocious poster? Bill has some sort of serial killer look on his face and Chloe looks, at best, constipated. 


There are other things to look forward to. Fringe returns on the 21st, we shall be seeing more of Alan Cumming in the upcoming episodes of The Good Wife and I am really hoping, with all my fingers and toes crossed, that Glee is planning on getting off it's cliched arse and producing some good television again. 

Let 2011 begin!

A Year in Review. Almost.

Every year I think about doing a little bloggy type run down of the top 5/10 good/shit things that have happened in tv/film/pantomime over the previous months. Of course, I am a right lazy fucker so never end up doing any such thing. I'd rather be eating leftover Christmas biscuits, frankly. Plus, this desire usually centres around the thoughts I have floating around my head about certain shows...so I'll manage about 2 categories before I run out of ideas or remember that I don't actually watch every show going.

This year, I started thinking about it again. Because I don't learn. So I thought I might give it a go. In a lazy, half arsed kind of way. I mean, we don't need another few pages of top 10's. They are everywhere. Who can be bothered to sit down and pen another run down of 2010? So here goes _drumroll_ the 2010 top 1's!!

Most Disappointing Show
1. The Walking Dead.

Big hopes. Big. Reality: stupid, stupid, stupid. It could have been so good, and the overall premise is so good that I will even allow it another chance when season 2 airs next year. But this does not mean that all is forgiven. This season had huge plot holes that stretched far beyond the acceptable boundaries of suspension of disbelief. The lack of decent female characters was appalling, rivalled only by the whitest Atlanta ever seen on television. The idiocy of the survivor group - driving around in a five vehicle convoy whilst talking about your lack of fuel. The fake gang moron-athon that wasted an entire episode. The foreshadowing was terrible - when you find yourself in a boat with your older sister, when you've never had any real screen time to think of before.....well, here's a hint: you're going to get eaten. And die really. very. slowly. I don't think I've ever wanted a collection of cast members to get killed off so badly. I'm hoping that season 2 begins with Rick, Glenn and Daryl leaving the rest of the group (I would discuss them, but most of them are so dull I cannot remember their names) and finding some more intelligent life forms to hang around with.

And their ends my round up of the year. I would say that disappointment is the overall feeling of the 2010 television year. This years Big Love was the worst ever and has almost ruined the show for me. I placed my hopes in three new September pilots, all of which turned out to be utter dross. Not just bad, in a Private Practice way, just unwatchable. Boardwalk Empire had all the moves, it looked right, it sounded right. It had all the right pieces in all the right places, but it just fell flat. It was boring. Not bad, just rather uninspiring. Maybe it was all the money. Glee did not live up to the promise of season 1. True Blood was lacklustre, despite the joy of Russell Edgington. I suspect that more naked Eric might solve that issue.

Of course, it wasn't all bad - Fringe was truly excellent this year. I wanted to see it every week and there wasn't a part of it that was not enjoyable. There were some great British shows - Whites, Rev, Mongrels and Sherlock showing excellent first series. Peep Show returned for an impressive seventh outing. I discovered old shows that I had never seen. I finally got around to watching all Felicity episodes. I found Breaking Bad.

Well, this list making has been exhausting! No wonder I never bother to do it.

P.S.

Merry Christmas.


And all that.

The British are Coming. Or Going. Or Something.

Whilst assessing the new crop of shows airing in January, it becomes apparent that there is a rather large British element to the proceedings. Three straight re-makes and a slew of actors trying their hand over the pond make for an invasion, it seems.


Shameless and Skins begin in January and seem destined to fail. Skins...well, anyone who has watched the original can see how the US version cannot possibly compare. Even the original couldn't keep up with itself, such was the greatness of series 1. The sex, the nudity, the debauchery. Won't it all be rather....well, clean? Which brings us neatly to Shameless. The thing about Shameless is that it's dirty. And not in a Skins way. In an unwashed, actually really dirty way. And the promo shots I have seen for the US version, starting on the 9th January appear to be devoid of all dirt. Of course, William H. Macy is fantastic. But it just doesn't look right. They must be going for a different feeling altogether, because Shameless is about the underclass, council estates and the photos look like Brothers and Sisters with (god forbid) more alcohol.


It's an oft touted phrase that Americans cannot handle the grit and drama that British drama has to offer. I don't think this is true, over recent years the American output has become increasingly dark (and brilliant). It just seems like such a shame to take so many UK shows and re-make them into diluted versions, removing all the appealing ingredients that made you want to re-make it in the first place.

I am quite excited about Episodes, a BBC2 comedy, airing both Here and There in the new year. Maybe we can shake off the re-make fail by making a show about re-making British Shows for the US viewers. Except this time we get to see the marvellous Tamsin Greig and Stephen Mangan. It will be interesting to see where this goes. I'm longing for a new comedy. Whites has kept me entertained for a few weeks and of course, us UK viewers are currently enjoying the colossal funny of Peep Show (not re-makeable, btw) but this is soon to end - alas our shows are very short. Fingers crossed for a fantastic January on the tellybox.