I'm in the middle of watching the first half of Caprica pilot, and it is pretty darn good. I would liken it to Terminator 3, without going into it too much. But if that is the standard they are going to set for the series, I have to watch it.
Breaking Bad kicked it up a gear in the last episode too - the confrontation between Walt and Hank over Walt Jr. was really strong stuff.
I leave you for five minutes and you both start talking football…
SPOILERS FOR SEASON FINALES OF THE SHIELD, HEROES, T:SCC AND DAMAGES
Looking at recent season finales, I couldn't be bothered to wait for Five to show the Shield especially as I was annoyed that despite having shown each episode twice a week since the start of the season, they opted not to show the penultimate one (and by that I mean the actual penultimate one) twice so I missed it and had to resort to other means.
Back to the penultimate issue, I watched the final episode which Five were billing as a two-parter, online. Was a bit concerned that it's running time sans adverts was 1 hour, 18 mins but they show ads every five minutes in the US right? Seems that the Five two parter was actually just a single extended episode in the US. The two partner shown here was padded out as noted here.
Anyway, the end in some ways disappointed me. I know that Vic has been symbolically caged in a sterile office environment and has lost his kids but I wanted real punishment. An Oz-Style shanking in prison would have been nice.
I did like that the Handsome Marshall was played by Clark Johnson, who also got to direct the last episode. Neat symmetry there.
Turning to Heroes. I wonder why I bother. It's just rubbish. Sylar is now Nathan. Shark is now jumping. Where will the idiocies of the writers end? They should give Noah Bennett and Parkman a spin off show, with the occasional Peter guest appearance and be done with it. I'd watch that.
I was disappointed but unsurprised that T:SCC was axed. During the middle of the season I had no clue what was going on. There was some mention of drones and I assumed they meant a whole cast of Shirley Mansons was due to appear. It did pick up at the end and I thought that with the film coming out (saw a review the other day which was v poor) the publicity would be good for the show.
Damages was also disappointing. Obviously Patty was not going to get caught by the Feds (is that a song?) but still, the ending was poor.
Anyway, Medium which I love, was axed by NBC and then resurrected the next day by CBS. Yay!
Other new stuff here and here.
Also read somewhere that Criminal Justice will be back on the BBC with a new cast, which includes Maxine Peake.
I shall be watching the Dollhouse repeat today but only because I hear Reed Diamond appears at the end of the season. I quite like him.
And just to be on-topic – yet another Guardian journo interviews David Simon. I'm beginning to think that in the same way as they have a science correspondent and a media team they have a room somewhere filed with Wire geeks just tapping away at their keyboards all day, fawning all over Simon and co.
I read that Treme will not begin filming until early 2010.
I kind of wish I had struck with Grey's Anatomy. I saw the pilot, hated the Grey woman and gave up. Having seen the odd episode here and there, it's actually quite funny. I'm sure it's not meant to be, or even meant to be as soapy as it comes across but I can see why people like it. Still hate the Grey woman though. She is, to use a word from my teenage years, a sap.
Now to the ER finale. Dipped in and out this season. Watched the Clooney ep mostly for Benton and Carter. Ross and Hathaway looked as smug as ever. I used to hate Supernurse Hathaway.
snarkygirl: SPOILERS FOR SEASON FINALES OF THE SHIELD, HEROES, T:SCC AND DAMAGES Looking at recent season finales, I couldn't be bothered to wait for Five to show the Shield especially as I was annoyed that despite having shown each episode twice a week since the start of the season, they opted not to show the penultimate one (and by that I mean the actual penultimate one) twice so I missed it and had to resort to other means. Back to the penultimate issue, I watched the final episode which Five were billing as a two-parter, online. Was a bit concerned that it's running time sans adverts was 1 hour, 18 mins but they show ads every five minutes in the US right? Seems that the Five two parter was actually just a single extended episode in the US. The two partner shown here was padded out as noted here. Anyway, the end in some ways disappointed me. I know that Vic has been symbolically caged in a sterile office environment and has lost his kids but I wanted real punishment. An Oz-Style shanking in prison would have been nice. I did like that the Handsome Marshall was played by Clark Johnson, who also got to direct the last episode. Neat symmetry there. Damages was also disappointing. Obviously Patty was not going to get caught by the Feds (is that a song?) but still, the ending was poor. Anyway, Medium which I love, was axed by NBC and then resurrected the next day by CBS. Yay! Now to the ER finale. Dipped in and out this season. Watched the Clooney ep mostly for Benton and Carter. Ross and Hathaway looked as smug as ever. I used to hate Supernurse Hathaway.
Well - The Shield ending I thought was good in that Shane had backed himself into a corner he couldn't get out of, and he was sacrificing Mara and Jackson and his baby's life, so he thought he may as well do it on his own terms, and end their suffering. The relationship between Claudette and Dutch was satisfying, even though her resignation to her disease was sad. Ronnie taking the fall was brilliant - loved the line from Dutch - "The last 3 years". I think the ending for Vic may not give us a sense of closure, but for me it works, as he goes from rebelling against one system, to being locked into another system, but there's no way that rabid dog is going to be tamed yet.
Damages presumably did it to open up a new foil for Glenn Close, 'cos I hope Ellen doesn't come back.
ER was decent this season - but in terms of the returning cast members the best ones were Carter, Benton, Mark Greene and Romano - I would have liked to have had more of role from Weaver, but you can't have everything. As for the newbies - Morris, and Banfield were the only ones I cared about.
Just watched the Prison Break TV movie - now, that closed the story well, and they got to do the women's thing they wanted to do as a spin-off after all.
g, came back yesterday from a fishing, golfing and drinking holiday in Spain (well more Catalan country), and can't get used to the pace here compared to Ginestar. Over there its all tranquil in a small village - siesta from 1 -3 (shops shut 1-5) announcements from the town hall come through megaphone speakers with 5 minutes of fanfare, then a lady announces 'Attencion' and some incomprehensible Catalan comes out, and then another fanfare for 5 minutes.
Weird "fact" of the day (and by fact I mean something I read on a website and then googled and looked up on wikipedia and amazon to check accuracy, because of course if all three agree, it must be true):
Richard Belzer was ghostwriter for Mo Mowlam's book Momentum: The Struggle for Peace, Politics and the People.
Hmmm, I cannot imagine it.
Sort of watched the ER finale. Carter's wife is annoying beyond words. Lewis and Weaver looked fantastic. I wanted to cry every time Benton hugged Carter. And I still love Carter. Clooney might have been the heartthrob of the show but even when he wasn't there (and I wasn't watching anymore) Carter was the heart of the show. And I agree that of the recent additions, I liked Morris and also Pratt.
snarkygirl: Weird "fact" of the day (and by fact I mean something I read on a website and then googled and looked up on wikipedia and amazon to check accuracy, because of course if all three agree, it must be true): Richard Belzer was ghostwriter for Mo Mowlam's book Momentum: The Struggle for Peace, Politics and the People. Hmmm, I cannot imagine it.
Daft thinking Mr Conspiracy theorist was involved in good old mo's booik, but what can't speak can't lie - unless it is run by Piers Morgan.
snarkygirl: Sort of watched the ER finale. Carter's wife is annoying beyond words. Lewis and Weaver looked fantastic. I wanted to cry every time Benton hugged Carter. And I still love Carter. Clooney might have been the heartthrob of the show but even when he wasn't there (and I wasn't watching anymore) Carter was the heart of the show. And I agree that of the recent additions, I liked Morris and also Pratt.
I was attracted to Neela, but then that dissipated after the number of proposed suitors she had - Ray, Gates, Dubenko, Brenner, it got to the point I didn't like her, although for all her persistence to keep her local accent, she never used ' mi' duck' once.
g, I am keen to see what has happened in the Closer between Gabriel and Daniels. The fate of provenza - will we ever get his first name?
Spooks has me hooked at the moment, which I find quite odd. I remember watching the first season way back when (well, actually, I think I saw the second season first, so I missed the whole head in chip fryer Lisa Faulkner thing when it happened initially.
Anyway, Gold or Watch or whatever noun or verb this station used to call it self repeated the first two season recently, and now I have found myself unable to stop watching it. I actually think Tom was a great leader, and understood that Danny and Zoe were quite new and therefore believably naive, and I understood the simmering sexual tension between them all. And I love Jenny Agutter anyway, and thought Hugh Laurie and Tim McInnerny really enjoyed playing bad/good guys.
I remember thinking that Tom was like a plank, and he still did have a creepy smile, but I also seemed to get him much more in the first two seasons. The whole decommisioning thing in Season Three was frankly a stupid way to write someone out of the show, but it got them all in a helicopter so I guess the visuals were good.
Zoe leaving was a bit daft too, although her ultimate fate was quite satisfying, but not quite as satisfying as Danny's death, which ranks right up there in screen deaths as dramatic, and heartbraking, and perfectly played by all concerned. Ruth's reaction to it was brilliant too, and just right.
The only sad part is that was the last we saw of Sam - strangely, she's in the episode early on, but then is offscreen sedated after Danny's death and never seen again. Her only scenes were a little flitation with Zaf that was maybe planned to go somewhere but didn't. Which reminds me that in comparison, Zaf's death was one of the least satisfying end of a major character I've seen. The guy was great for two seasons, and then he gets killed of screen with a whimper - how can they get Danny so right, and Zaf so wrong.
Anyway, its now becoming the Adam Carter show, so I am less enthused, and his wife is annoying and doomed, so I not sure I will be as addicted to season 4 as I was to the first 3, but those first three seasons are pretty good, actually.Ruth may be the only thing worth watching from now on in.
And I didn't know that Tom is now married to the Yank he was seeing, and they have a company called TransAtlantic Security or something. Wiki is your friend!
Paul, who notes that I have full seasons of Brotherhood (s3), True Blood, Breaking Bad (S1 +2), Numb3rs, Reaper, Friday Night Lights (S1-3), Damages (s2) and Burn Notice to watch. I have no idea where to start, so I watch Spooks. Crazy!
Has anyone watched Sons of Anarchy? It is actually pretty good. Based loosely on Hamlet, with kickass soundtrack, pretty good cast and similar to the Shield (it was written by a writer of the Shield). Can't wait for season 2.
You can add Sons of Anarchy to my list actually, as I have it all somewhere.
I am beginning to realise that I just don't have enough time, and at the moment, I seem addicted to the Apprentice. I am even watching the Yankee one now. The first season of that is interesting in how different the contestants are to the ones in the UK. Firstly, they talk about being Billionnaires (Not even Millionnaires for these guys!), while in the UK, its £100k a year.
Then, they are all buff, gorgeous looking supermodel types with hard bodies and cocky personas that make me want to punch each and every one of them. And the women seem to have understood that the only way to sell anything is to flaunt their bodies, so they all where next to nothing and sell themselves rather than anything else. Sex sells, naturally, but Donald Trump seems to lap it up and love it, which just about sums him up. Sugar would have called them out on it by now, and it wouldn't impress him one bit. Trump comes across as a lecherous old rich guy getting a harem of good looking women to go out there and hustle for him.
I know its bad for me, but I think this is the one reality thing that I can't escape from.
Paul, slightly ashamed of himself. For info, I have seem Drag me to Hell (Evil Dead Light) and Terminator Salvation (good, but not violent enough for adults, and not fun enough for the kids - why a 12A!).
Found this:
http://www.pajiba.com/guides/the-most-heartbreaking-television-episodes.php
I'd have to say
Hill Street Blues - Phil esterhaus' passing
Homicide: Life on the Street - Crosetti and Pembleton's honor (sic) guard.
Homcicide again - and the garbarek's saying goodbye to their braindead son.
West Wing - Josh's breakdown after the assassination attempt and Leo helping him to deal with it.
probably more but I can't think of any at the mo.
Oz reunion on the Closer - Beecher and Schillinger, surprised neither of them shanked the other one.
Watched North Square on 4OD, wish they coudl bring it back - I mean, Peter Moffat's written 2 criminal justice's (one that has gone down a storm critically - the other which will no doubt), why couldn't he bring it back for the BBC?
Has Spiral series 2 aired on BBC4 yet, does anybody know?
Hmm so stuff of interest:
Our favourite Eton alumni actor makes chessy adverts. Since when was Pride and Prejudice steamy? I've read that actual book as opposed to drooling over Colin Firth in wet breeches (not that I consider him in any way droolsome) and it's just not there.
Saw the first two episodes of Dollhouse. I did not watch Buffy which I sometimes regret. I saw some of Tru Calling and decided Eliza Dushku (?) was pretty but never going to bother the Oscar committee. Dollhouse only highlights her poor, poor acting skills. Summer Glau does blank slate very well. Dushku is rubbish in comparison.
Anyway, as much as I've read that the sixth episode changes it all (I saw half of it and was not impressed) I should have realised just how rubbish it was when the theme music and credits started. Any show that feels the need to dress it's star in as few clothes as possible and do that "pulling her stockings up" crap, features long drawn out scenes of woman having the crap kicked out of them and being effectively sold to the highest bidder is just going to scream misogyny. Even the presence of Reed (and BSG's Helo) isn't enough. And To think they cancelled TSCC for this.
Clarke Peters will be guest starring in the genius that is Holby City.
Anyways, sad tv:
Bobby Ewing dying. I was a mere child and I cried a lot. I felt cheated when he was resurrected. I lost all faith in the truth telling abilities of tv after that...
Carter stabbing in ER, which I recently re-watched. Right from Lucy glancing over at him, with a look that tells you she has self-diagnosing her impending death to Romano being human to Benton's "Is he conscious?" line, which makes me want to weep just typing it.
Homicide's honour guard goes without saying.
garbarek: Has Spiral series 2 aired on BBC4 yet, does anybody know?
No idea. I missed the first few of the series 1 re-run so ended up giving it a complete miss.
on Sad TV, I agree with all the ones mentioned so far, inc the ER ep when Lucy dies. That was a stunner, as was the one when Gant met the A train and only his pager survived in tact.
I almost agree that the Six Feet Under finale was one of the most emotional, just not sure it was the saddest, as actually it was quite hopeful and beautiful, especially at the end of 50+ hours of TV.
D'Angelo on The Wire was also profoundly sad, at least to me, as was the kids killing Wallace. And Randy's appearance in Season 5 was just the most tragic thing, and so was what happened to Dukie.And Bubs in the hospital at the end of season 4 was, well, you know, tragic!
The Wire is full of sad moments relating to what might of been, and why things are the way they are, and how nothing really changes and its only getting worse. But its more melancholy than tears in your eyes sad.
Gary's death on thirtysomething killed me at the time, mainly because it was before all TV was spoiled to all hell, and I had no idea it was coming. Still sad today, but more surprising than anything else, really.
Billborough's death on Cracker still has an effect.
The Body ep of Buffy was awesome (reason enough for you to give that a go, Snarky - it really picked up its drama credentials as the seasons went on!).
I am sure there are more, but I would say that I'm a sucker for tearful reunions in mushy stuff, and the dog dying (for seemingly forever!) in Marley and Me was too much!
Paul, irritated by his cat, who decided to pee on his £2500 TV and ruin it! Grrr. Thank god for house insurance. And Grrr to Transformers 2, which was rubbish!
I can't believe I forgot Dukie's end. Bubs at his sister's dinner table also gets me a bit teary.
tomcierzo: Billborough's death on Cracker still has an effect.
"This is evidence, this is a dying man's statement..."
And I can't believe I forgot that. Again before the advent of spoilers.
tomcierzo: Paul, irritated by his cat, who decided to pee on his £2500 TV and ruin it! Grrr. Thank god for house insurance. And Grrr to Transformers 2, which was rubbish!
I never thought of you as a cat person. Bet the insurance claim form will be fun.
This is actually really good, professionally done by the looks of it
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FX1Du7d4gTU&feature=related
I've seen the Four Seasons in Four Minutes versions - I think they are even on the DVD's - although this is the first time I have seen the Five Seasons one, so good spot. Its very clever, its knowing, and it really shows that Rap is a fantastic medium for imparting information - it really is poetry for the masses. Not that I like Rap, but I really do admire the lyrical dexterity these guys have. When it means something, it is incredibly powerful. When its about guns and bitches and butts, I lose all interest, and they lose all credibility (at least in my 38 year old eyes).
Paul, finally posting on topic! Sshhheeeeeiiiiiiiiiiittttttttt!!!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VE6v-ZxlYlo&feature=PlayList&p=36933CF6E818347E&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=32
While I was looking around for David Simon stuff related to Treme I found this. Paul, you mentioned that you were a big fan of Real Time with Bill Maher, so I was wondering if you'd seen it. I thought it was pretty great.
I know David Simon has had discussions with writers like Chase etc but I would absolutely love him to do a two handed interview with Alan Bleasdale. I think they write from the same standpoint on things, but from different sides of the pond obviously. I'd love it if they worked together.
g, now off to look at the overtime stuff, and will probably post that in a bit.