Yep. I've changed the title. It's my journal, I can do that. But more importantly, and more relevantly, this section is evolving. Moving on from my “Watching TV” section, this is now going to be a quick rundown of the new shows I'm watching, to see which if any have proved themselves worthy of being “Series linked”, in other words, marked for future recording so that I don't miss any episodes. My usual practice is to find something I think I may like, or that I've been recommended, record a bunch of episodes then go back later and check them out. If I don't like the show by the second or third episode, or if I find it's been cancelled and has no resolution, then I'll most likely delete them. My Sky Box is a Terabyte model --- yeah, that's right: 1000 gigs of space! ---- but even at that, you have to be careful of filling up too much space with programmes that are in the end going to be deleted.
So here are the ones I've tried recently. Many have turned out to be instant candidates for the “delete” key, but one or two have made it into “Series link” territory...
This definitely hasn't! I decided I was tired of seeing this at the top of my recorded programmes every time I pressed the A-Z button (which is about always), and that it was time to make a decision: watch it, and either keep it or delete it forever. The only thing about this show really that led me to recording it was the novelty of seeing William Shatner in a comedy --- I mean, in a show that was
supposed to be a comedy! I thought it might be okay, but after the first episode I was dubious, by the third I was nonplussed and as it went on I found myself listing its pros and cons.
Pros: Shatner; John Mahoney (Frasier) guest starring in one episode
Cons: Not funny; terrible, two-dimensional supporting cast; predictable; annoying; not funny; cancelled.
Okay, so I mentioned “not funny” twice, but it really is worth saying again. And again. This show is not funny. The whole premise is a lie: it's supposed to be revolve around the funny things Shatner, as the dad, says, but he doesn't really say anything, other than use military phrases to refer to most situations, call his son girl names and use any excuse to shoe-horn a prostitute reference in (though he uses another word). He's an annoying old curmudgeon who comes across as stuck in his ways, unwiling to change and pathologically unable to take the blame for anything, including getting a guy fired --- twice!
Sorry, Bill: I loved you as Kirk, but you've had more than a fair chance here, and there's just no way I'm suffering through any more of this. Plus, you've been cancelled, so there's no chance for you to get better. Not that you were ever going to, from what I saw. Yeah, I know it's corner and very very predictable, but I'm going to say it anyway. Ready? Here I go: Beam me up!
Verdict:
Now THIS I like! Smart, good drama, lots of twists with interesting characters. Mostly. Now heading into its second season in the USA, I'm still catching up with season one, but I love the way this show goes. For any who haven't seen it, it's the tale of a man who was framed for a crime he didn't commit (yeah I know, original!) and whose daughter gets out of juvy after he dies. She then sets about taking revenge on everyone who was involved in the conspiracy that ended up sending her father to jail. Kind of a feeling of “Dangeous liaisons” or if you prefer “Cruel intentions” about it, but it's much more than that. I particularly like the opening quote, which is "If you plan to take revenge, first dig two graves". Very profound, and as the show has gone on it's become obvious that the lead character's quest for vengeance is going to cost her dearly. The high-flyers living in the Hamptons are a little hard to take --- like something out of one of those glossy American soaps of the eighties --- but if you don't take it too seriously it's good fun. It's certainly sucked me in.
Verdict:
I avoided this for a long time, thinking it probably wasn't any good. Just wasn't interested. Then one night as I was moving from one recorded programme to another, or something, I happened to catch a snippet of it on the telly. I had to admit, I liked what I saw, so hit “record” and then watched back later the about half of the show I got. I was impressed enough to record the full show the next time it was on, and am now becoming a fan.
Sort of a “Scrubs” or “Spaced” for the computer set, a comedy for and by geeks, “The IT crowd” focusses on three people who work in the IT department of a local firm, two guys and a girl. The guys are indeed geeks, and know everything there is to know about computers, whereas the girl, their boss, knows nothing about them at all and more or less fakes her way through the job, leaving all the actual work and decisions to the guys while still believing she is in charge. Add in a boss who thinks he's God's gift to women, and you have a pretty damn fine show. It's not excellent, it'll probably never be seen as a classic, but it's a great way to pass half an hour.
Here's an example of the kind of geek humour that's in it.
Verdict:
This has really hit the right note with me. I was always a big fan of folklore, mythology, fairy tales and so on, even moreso when they're given an updated, modern twist: think the likes of “Brimstone” (what?) or episodes of “The Twilight Zone” like “Ye gods!” The idea of transplanting old world ideas into the modern world can, if done well, be very effective. I had hoped that “Grimm” wasn't going to fall into the old traps here, and for the most part it hasn't. Not really surprising, as it's helmed by ex-”Angel” writer David Greenwalt, so you know the material is going to get the respect it deserves, while still having a healthy and appropriate sense of humour, and not take itself too seriously, which would definitely be a mistake.
Yeah, it has fallen a little into the old “monster-of-the-week” sequence, but even so it's very enjoyable, and the shining star in it for me is “Prison Break”'s Silas Weir Mitchell in the role of Monroe, the “big bad wolf” who is trying to go straight. I do wonder though how many different characters they can work with --- of what I've seen so far, we've had an ogre, three (little) pigs, three (not so little) bears, and, er, a bee-man (pretty sure the Grimms never wrote about one of those, but however...) --- and I know the Grimm Brothers wrote hundreds of fairy tales, but still. I'd also like to see more of an overall plot arc, though that may have started in the latest episode I watched.
Oh yeah: the premise. For any who don't know, the title character is a cop who it turns out is the last in a long line of Grimm family members, who can see people who are, well, not quite people. They have a sense for detecting when these creatures show themselves, usually when the creatures are agitated in some way, and they then hunt them. Well, not always. But sometimes. If they break the law. It's complicated, but quite a lot of fun.
Verdict: