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philosoraptor42When I went to see Whedon's "Much Ado About Nothing", one trailer stood out. It's a trailer for the "Alan Partridge" movie. Now I don't know how well this is going to do. Alan Partridge isn't a character who has been on tv for a while and I'm pretty sure he's not well known in America.
Alan Patridge is perhaps the most well-loved character to be created by the legendary comedian Steve Coogan. I don't know what films of his people would be most likely to have seen. "24 Hour Party People"? (I've never seen that one.) "A Cock And Bull Story"? (That one's pretty obscure.) "The Parole Officer." (Even if you have seen that one, it's really not Coogan at his best.) Perhaps the best examples to point out are "In The Loop" where he is the guy who owns the collapsing wall. I felt he was in danger of stealing the show there, even with just a tiny role. Another high profile example is "Tropic Thunder" where he is the director (named "Damien Cockburn") who, um, disappears early on in the movie. (Personally not really a big "Tropic Thunder" fan to be honest.)
I remembered seeing adverts on tv promoting "Knowing Me Knowing You with Alan Patridge" back in 1994 and unfortunately I didn't realise it was a comedy at the time. It's misleading that it initially appears to be a typical chat show and it takes a short while to recognise that the whole thing is a complete send-up. The host is self-centred and consistently massaging his own ego and in spite of seemingly promoting a politically correct show, constantly reveals casual bigotry, misogyny and general ignorance. His guests either hate him, discover that they hate him during the show or like him for the wrong reasons.
I've since caught up on this initial appearance of the character "Alan Partridge" including the excellent 'Christmas Special' (entitled "Knowing Me Knowing Yule with Alan Patridge"). The final conclusion of the Christmas special is shown as a flashback at the beginning of the first series of "I'm Alan Patridge" with a BBC executive (played by the awesome David Schneider) insisting "you shall never work in television again!" So how can there be any more shows? Because Alan moves to radio! Working on Radio Norwich (for non-UKers, that's a pretty mundane area btw) we spend very little time seeing how ridiculous he is as a radio broadcaster, spending a lot more time watching Alan Partridge have meetings and try to salvage his fledgling career. It's been a long time, but I remember absolutely loving the first series of "I'm Alan Patridge" in 1997, though I'm not certain whether I saw the second series which apparently aired in 2002.
Now the Alan Patridge movie seems to show him still working in radio. Unsurprisingly he decides to backstab one of his co-workers to get him made redundant, but he then becomes a hostage in an armed siege. Alan Partridge is a delightful combination of horrible, egotistical and stupid. As an audience we love to watch him make a fool of himself and suffer for it. This looks like it'll be hilarious...
(video link)
TV Shows Update:
I don't talk much about tv shows because I generally wait until they reach DVD before I watch them. So here are my comments on all the shows I've enjoyed in the past few years:
Game Of Thrones
I've finished the first two seasons and I kinda love it. A bit weirded out by the sex bits, but I don't think you need to focus on that so much. Clearly Peter Dinklage, Charles Dance and whatshername, the girl character, *googles* Arya Stark, are the most awesome parts of it. I tried reading the first book before watching the first series and couldn't get into it at all. I am better with faces than names and after the initial part of the book where every character I've been introduced to promptly dies, the author then gives me a bunch of names to remember without describing what any of those characters are like. I then struggled to work out who was who and got wholly frustrated. Yeah, I didn't really give it much of a chance, but even my mum whose a big reader seemed thankful to have been introduced to some of the main characters in the initial tv episodes before she dove into the book series. I loved Neil Marshall's episode "Blackwater"
Party Down
My main reason for checking this out was because I heard it had a reference to "Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter" before the book was written. And it's true. In the version they describe in the relevant episode Edgar Allen Poe and Abraham Lincoln both hunt vampires together. Essentially the series is about washed-up actors and writers who work in catering to make some money. I gained additional enjoyment when watching "Wreck-It Ralph" as a result of gaining familiarity with her in "Party Down". She's great.
Girls
So far I've only seen season 1, but it's pretty cool. Interestingly Lena Dunham has a short cameo in Ti West's horror-comedy "The Innkeepers". It might as well be Hannah from "Girls" though she's essentially just known as "that annoying girl who works at the coffee shop" in the movie. (Actually she's also credited as "911 voice operator" in Ti West's other movie "The House Of The Devil".) Lena Dunham both wrote and stars in the series "Girls" and while she's pretty, she has a refreshingly normal figure for a protagonist that young on American television. Pretty much every character in Girls has massive flaws, including the central protagonist and that's part of why the series is so enjoyable. Nearly episode seems to feature Hannah having awful sex with her weird boyfriend - which is um, unique. This is equal parts drama and comedy, but the comedy is funny enough to make those moments worth the wait - and in a good episode, you really won't be waiting long.
Miranda
Okay, enough of the American stuff. While we are on the subject of less conventional body types in female protagonists, it seems like perfect time to talk about Miranda Hart. I first saw her in the tv series "Hyperdrive", a sci-fi comedy series which slightly recaptured the magic that "Red Dwarf" now appears to have thoroughly lost. (For me, "Red Dwarf" only has six series worth mentioning. Ending ironically with the words "To Be Continued...") In "Hyperdrive" Miranda's character was a stickler for the rules and in one episode tries to spark up an old romance with a childhood friend from the Camp for Young Agnostics she used to go to.
Alongside Sarah Hadland who used to regularly feature in "Mitchell and Webb" sketches, Miranda (in the tv series) runs a joke shop which she paid for with her life savings. Miranda is a character who gets flustered by social expectations and just wants to enjoy herself without the pressures of life getting in the way. She is an extremely tall and quite large woman and so many of the jokes are connected with her insecurity about her appearance and the way she is regularly put down because she doesn't conform to classic beauty standards. Some people hate this series, but it's just so sweet and endearing that I don't understand how they can feel that way. Each to their own I guess.
I've onlys seen series one of "Miranda" so far, but I actually first found out about it through the Christmas specials.
Outnumbered
A show with real children allowed to be random in a very naturalistic way. It's quite remarkable how well it's done. Essentially it's about a set of generally awful children who ask awkward questions. The younger boy in particular is known for being boistrous and troublesome. And yet, in spite of being about horrible children it remains endearing. Perhaps the best element in this is Claire Skinner (who some may recognise from the Doctor Who Christmas special before last: "The Doctor, The Widow and The Wardrobe") who plays the mum of the family. She's a fantastic actress and I think it is her performance that best serves to hold the show together. There've been four series of this and all of them have been great.
To get an idea of what this show is about, this video of the girl Karen's spiritual journey is probably a good indicator. There's actually another rather cool episode where a priest is asked, if Jesus came across someone evil like Darth Vader, whether Jesus would "zap him".
Doctor Who
Naturally I've been following Doctor Who. Who hasn't? I think the best of the new series is still Series Five where Matt Smith first turned up. I think there's definitely been an increased consistency in the quality since Steven Moffat (creator of the "Coupling" series) took over as showrunner. I know he's not been fantastically popular with everyone, but I think he has a better idea of what appealed in Classic Doctor Who.
The Wire
Back to American shows. A show that just got better and better as the seasons went on. I think Season Four was probably the best (the one about schools). There's some very thorough world-building involved in the series and the first season drags a little as a result, but it all feels worth it in the long run. Unfortunately I was rather less impressed by the first season of Treme and stopped watching it after that. Apparently Treme is from the same people, but while The Wire introduced me to a world I was completely unfamiliar with and had the drama to keep my interest, Treme seems to have real trouble hooking me in. Often I have no idea why characters do anything and the plot feels extremely slow paced. The Wire had political intrigue whether amongst police, politicians or gang members, cunning police investigations, deaths, and interesting characters. That's why it's possibly the best American tv show of the past 10 years.
Breaking Bad
I've only seen the first season of this so far. I've been waiting for the later seasons on my rental list for quite a while now. But the first season is a great balance of serious storytelling and bizarre fun. The whole premise of a chemistry teacher who decides to cook meth to ensure that he provides for his family before he is killed by cancer, is beautifully ridiculous and highly entertaining as a result.
Gravity Falls
Kristen Schall from "Flight Of The Conchords" (which is also awesome) plays the amazing character of "Mabel", a highly excitable girl who has a colossal sense of fun and refuses to let her mood be brought down by anything sensible or anyone mean. Mabel lives with her brother Dipper at their shameless money-grabbing Uncle's tourist-trap shack. While Uncle Stan parts tourists with their money with fake "wonders", Dipper discovers that the surrounding area is filled with weird and creepy creatures and objects. The humour is pretty highly developed for a children's cartoon and I don't feel like the audience is talked down to at all. The chracter of Dipper feels reminiscent of Dib from the cartoon "Invader Zim" which had a similar kind of absurdity with a dark edge.
Arrested Development
Yes, I know this is actually pretty old but we only really got around to seeing it this year. We watched all three seasons in quick succession and loved it. I'm sad to hear that apparently the new fourth season hasn't been up to the same standard.
Archer
Bringing back Jessica Walter to essentially play the same self-centred mother character she played in "Arrested Development", Archer is about a completely undisciplined playboy spy. Things get out of hand a lot, the humour is very risque, and it's really great fun. Another actress who is brought in from "Arrested Development" is Judy Greet who played the secretary in "Arrested Development". She's playing a secretary in "Archer" too, albeit one with a regularly voiced desire to be strangled. She's possibly the most bizarre character in this extremely strange series. I've seen three seasons now and at this stage she appears to have her own ocelot, so that's just a small hint at how weird things get.
Big Bang Theory
Big Bang Theory is about four university academics who are obsessed with geeky things like superheroes, computer games and sci-fi tv series. One of them gets obsessed with the girl next door, who is pretty much out of his league and thankfully the series quickly becomes more about the girl next door being more accustomed to geekiness and becoming, against the odds in some respects, friends with the group as a whole. I've seen five seasons of this and I must admit that in season four it seems to have lost a fair bit of its quality. It's stil fun though. Judy Greer (mentioned above) has been a guest, as has Riki Lindhome, who recently appeared in Joss Whedon's "Much Ado About Nothing" adaptation as the bastard Don Jon's girlfriend (the character of "Conrade"). In early seasons, another welcome guest star was Sara Gilbert (who played Darlene on "Roseanne").
The IT Crowd
Chris O'Dowd (who also appeared in "Girls") is very funny and Richard Ayoade is a comedic genius. Katherine Parkinson is particularly impressive and I love the way her voice changes when she gets angry. IT Crowd is similar to Big Bang Theory in that it's about a non-geek who becomes embroiled into the world of two geeks, but that's where the comparison ends. Katherine Parkinson's character Jen is genuinely the audience's window into the geeky world of the two IT technicians. We begin the first show with her claiming to have experience with IT and suddenly being made Relations Manager for the IT department. However, while Richard Ayoade's character, Moss, is so technically minded as to be almost socially inept, Chris O'Dowd's chracter, Roy, still likes to think of himself as cool. The way the three of them interact is great. All four series are great though things don't get REALLY good until they replace Chris Morris with Matt Berry in the second series,
Burn Notice
Am now part way through season five. Michael Western is now such an awesome character and I still have no idea what the actor is called. A little annoyed when anyone refers to Fiona's background in the IRA. Normally it's no problem because she just wants to solve problems by blowing everything up and shooting people if necessary and it's clear that she has a darker past behind her. But whenever there's a more explicit reference to her IRA past it gets problematic since the show's writers clearly seem to think that there's "good" IRA and "bad" IRA as opposed to just a generally horrible situation for everyone involved. (Watch the movie "Shadow Dancer" for a better idea of what the IRA is like.) And of course, "Burn Notice" also features the ever-awesome Bruce Campbell as an ex-Navy Seal. The inclusion of Michael Western's mother in the show felt annoying in the first season, but the way she's used in this series has just got more and more interesting as the show has gone on. The big selling point about Burn Notice is not because it's about a spy. He does very little actual spying. It's because it's about an ex-spy making use of his skills locally rather than doing missions around the world. In this new setting Michael Western is essentially a confidence trickster, only he helps people rather than stealing from them. The show has an ex-spy consultant who helps to provide plenty of random ideas, like using newspaper to make your car bullet proof (no seriously) or choosing the cheapest mobile phone you can find in order to make a listening device (good mobile phones are better at picking up the voice of the person making the call rather than surrounding background noise). This show is just so much fun. Season two was a bit slow, but asides from that it's just been getting better and better.
The Thick Of It
Recently we had series four and while I don't think it was as good as the previous three series, I have loved every bit of this crazy political satire with ultra-sweary politicians failing to get anything done. My initial encounter with the series was through the movie "In The Loop". Having not seen the series first, I didn't really understand the humour as well as I might have, though I still enjoyed it. The whole four series are essentially about exploring the character of Malcolm Tucker who, in trying to handle the political PR, winds up being this generation's foul-mouthed equivalent of the similarly cynical Sir Humphrey from "Yes Minister".
Veep
The showrunner for "The Thick Of It", Armando Iannucci, has managed to do the same thing again with the Vice President of the US in the show "Veep". It's really funny, but when the first season came to an end I was just dying to see more. It just comes to an end so suddenly and I just really really want to know what happens next!
Joe Ahearne's various tv series....
Ultraviolet - Re-imagining vampires for the modern era with Jack Davenport, Susannah Harker and Idris Elba. Vampires not only leave no reflection but they do not appear on CCTV footage. Rather more annoyingly for them, they cannot make phone calls either. At least, not without the help of a computer or human assistant to read out their words for them. Their voices cannot be transmitted down phone lines, just as their appearance cannot be captured by a mirror. There's some really interesting ideas here.
Apparitions - Joe Ahearne is an atheist himself, but he has done a lot of research and amazingly manages to put the audience in a position where they support the exorcist. The storylines are rarely predictable and you almost feel sorry for the demons in one episode. Once again Joe Ahearne manages to create a show which takes a well-worn scenario and move it in a whole new direction.
The Secret Of Crickely Hall - This is the latest from Joe Ahearne and is actually an adaptation of a novel rather than being completely original. Unlike the other two this is a three-part mini-series, not a full series with six episodes. This time it's ghosts (and I cannot stand ghost stories normally) and somehow I thought it was great! Maisie Williams, who plays Arya Stark in "Game of Thrones" plays one of the children and Tom Ellis, who is Miranda Hart's love interest in "Miranda" plays the sceptical dad. The first episode takes a while to get going, but episodes two and three are brilliant. There's also David Warner who is utterly brilliant in everything. Oooh and Bill Milner from "Son Of Rambow"!
The gist is that when a child goes missing the rest of the family are horribly upset and so, on the anniversary of their son's disappearance, they decide to go away to a random place in the countryside. It turns out that it used to be an old orphanage and it's haunted. Okay, so time to leave, right? Except that the mother becomes convinced that the ghosts know where her son is. (That's not as odd as it sounds, but it'd take a long time to explain why.)
A lot of this show takes place in the past and essentially the ghost storyline is a way to tie the events of the past with the modern day setting where most of those involved are old or long-dead. There's an element of mystery to the story, working out how the events in the past have led to the ghostly presence in modern day and precisely what happened when the children died. There was enough plot to focus on so as not to have to worry about the bizarreness of ghost stories in general. There's a really involved story here and some great characterisation. I don't think this was better than Apparitions or Ultraviolet, but it's a great addition to Joe Ahearne's repetoire.
Misfits
I've seen up to the fourth series and, asides from a few clever ideas, I think I'd rather have missed series four. A lot of the characters have gone by series four. As a result Rory (played by Joe Gilgun) who'd done such a good job of filling the void left when Nathan (played by Robert Sheehan) left at the end of series two, ends up being the only thing that holds series four together. The new characters simply aren't interesting enough, there's a lack of decent continuity with the previous series, and the comedy isn't really as funny overall. Series four starts off with Curtis (played by Nathan Stewart-Jarrett) still on board, but I wish he'd just disappeared since he is killed off so ridiculously unceremoniously and, for me, Cutis' death marks the death of the show. It's really sad.
Still the first three series are brilliant and I have to give Joe Gilgun proper kudos for keeping the series alive when the actor playing one of the most popular characters decided he wanted to move on. The character of Nathan is admittedly a pretty remarkable part of the series, making him so hard to replace, because he actually starts off as the most unbearable character. He is annoying and such a horrible human being and yet as the first series progressed, I found I became more attuned to him and he became absolutely hilarious and the main draw of the series. Since most of the characters in this show are young offenders doing community service, it would be unrealistic not to have some of the characters being utterly obnoxious, but the way Nathan manages to be the main draw is quite inspired.
Misfits isn't about superheroes. The idea of superpowers being more like a curse is particularly important here. Heck, one character's power is that anyone she argues with loses their hair and in the first episode it turns out that uncontrollable rage isn't anything like as sweet as the "Hulk Smash!" scenarios in the Marvel universe. (A bit more like rage virus from "28 Days Later" really...) I've seen a few people complaining about the power that Alisha (played by Antonia Thomas) is lumbered with, but to be frank getting a lame power is pretty normal in this universe.
The Addams Family
Yes, the old black and white series from the 60s. Watched the whole first season and it is just as good as I remembered it being when I was young and was obsessed from having seen the movie. Heck, it's possibly even better. Sure, the laughter track doesn't always coincide with the funniest bits, but there's just such a wonderful and endearing sense of fun to the whole thing. Classic!
Community
First three seasons are brilliant. This is an absolutely amazing series. Unfortunately I gave up on season four after the first three episodes. Bringing in Matt Lucas seemed like a particularly bad plan in the third episode. The jokes generally felt rushed and lacking the timing and direction that made them work so well before, but Matt Lucas' lines seemed to lack any humour at all. I hear that the original showrunner is returning, so perhaps the show will be back on track in season five.
Community is about six students at a community college who are part of a study group together and who are involved in wacky antics for various reasons. There seem to be absolutely no limits to what can happen in the show and the entire college has been overrun in a massive painball battle at least twice. There are a lot of self-referential jokes due to the character of Abed who actually seems to know that he's in a tv show.
Alan Patridge is perhaps the most well-loved character to be created by the legendary comedian Steve Coogan. I don't know what films of his people would be most likely to have seen. "24 Hour Party People"? (I've never seen that one.) "A Cock And Bull Story"? (That one's pretty obscure.) "The Parole Officer." (Even if you have seen that one, it's really not Coogan at his best.) Perhaps the best examples to point out are "In The Loop" where he is the guy who owns the collapsing wall. I felt he was in danger of stealing the show there, even with just a tiny role. Another high profile example is "Tropic Thunder" where he is the director (named "Damien Cockburn") who, um, disappears early on in the movie. (Personally not really a big "Tropic Thunder" fan to be honest.)
I remembered seeing adverts on tv promoting "Knowing Me Knowing You with Alan Patridge" back in 1994 and unfortunately I didn't realise it was a comedy at the time. It's misleading that it initially appears to be a typical chat show and it takes a short while to recognise that the whole thing is a complete send-up. The host is self-centred and consistently massaging his own ego and in spite of seemingly promoting a politically correct show, constantly reveals casual bigotry, misogyny and general ignorance. His guests either hate him, discover that they hate him during the show or like him for the wrong reasons.
I've since caught up on this initial appearance of the character "Alan Partridge" including the excellent 'Christmas Special' (entitled "Knowing Me Knowing Yule with Alan Patridge"). The final conclusion of the Christmas special is shown as a flashback at the beginning of the first series of "I'm Alan Patridge" with a BBC executive (played by the awesome David Schneider) insisting "you shall never work in television again!" So how can there be any more shows? Because Alan moves to radio! Working on Radio Norwich (for non-UKers, that's a pretty mundane area btw) we spend very little time seeing how ridiculous he is as a radio broadcaster, spending a lot more time watching Alan Partridge have meetings and try to salvage his fledgling career. It's been a long time, but I remember absolutely loving the first series of "I'm Alan Patridge" in 1997, though I'm not certain whether I saw the second series which apparently aired in 2002.
Now the Alan Patridge movie seems to show him still working in radio. Unsurprisingly he decides to backstab one of his co-workers to get him made redundant, but he then becomes a hostage in an armed siege. Alan Partridge is a delightful combination of horrible, egotistical and stupid. As an audience we love to watch him make a fool of himself and suffer for it. This looks like it'll be hilarious...
(video link)
TV Shows Update:
I don't talk much about tv shows because I generally wait until they reach DVD before I watch them. So here are my comments on all the shows I've enjoyed in the past few years:
Game Of Thrones
I've finished the first two seasons and I kinda love it. A bit weirded out by the sex bits, but I don't think you need to focus on that so much. Clearly Peter Dinklage, Charles Dance and whatshername, the girl character, *googles* Arya Stark, are the most awesome parts of it. I tried reading the first book before watching the first series and couldn't get into it at all. I am better with faces than names and after the initial part of the book where every character I've been introduced to promptly dies, the author then gives me a bunch of names to remember without describing what any of those characters are like. I then struggled to work out who was who and got wholly frustrated. Yeah, I didn't really give it much of a chance, but even my mum whose a big reader seemed thankful to have been introduced to some of the main characters in the initial tv episodes before she dove into the book series. I loved Neil Marshall's episode "Blackwater"
Party Down
My main reason for checking this out was because I heard it had a reference to "Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter" before the book was written. And it's true. In the version they describe in the relevant episode Edgar Allen Poe and Abraham Lincoln both hunt vampires together. Essentially the series is about washed-up actors and writers who work in catering to make some money. I gained additional enjoyment when watching "Wreck-It Ralph" as a result of gaining familiarity with her in "Party Down". She's great.
Girls
So far I've only seen season 1, but it's pretty cool. Interestingly Lena Dunham has a short cameo in Ti West's horror-comedy "The Innkeepers". It might as well be Hannah from "Girls" though she's essentially just known as "that annoying girl who works at the coffee shop" in the movie. (Actually she's also credited as "911 voice operator" in Ti West's other movie "The House Of The Devil".) Lena Dunham both wrote and stars in the series "Girls" and while she's pretty, she has a refreshingly normal figure for a protagonist that young on American television. Pretty much every character in Girls has massive flaws, including the central protagonist and that's part of why the series is so enjoyable. Nearly episode seems to feature Hannah having awful sex with her weird boyfriend - which is um, unique. This is equal parts drama and comedy, but the comedy is funny enough to make those moments worth the wait - and in a good episode, you really won't be waiting long.
Miranda
Okay, enough of the American stuff. While we are on the subject of less conventional body types in female protagonists, it seems like perfect time to talk about Miranda Hart. I first saw her in the tv series "Hyperdrive", a sci-fi comedy series which slightly recaptured the magic that "Red Dwarf" now appears to have thoroughly lost. (For me, "Red Dwarf" only has six series worth mentioning. Ending ironically with the words "To Be Continued...") In "Hyperdrive" Miranda's character was a stickler for the rules and in one episode tries to spark up an old romance with a childhood friend from the Camp for Young Agnostics she used to go to.
Alongside Sarah Hadland who used to regularly feature in "Mitchell and Webb" sketches, Miranda (in the tv series) runs a joke shop which she paid for with her life savings. Miranda is a character who gets flustered by social expectations and just wants to enjoy herself without the pressures of life getting in the way. She is an extremely tall and quite large woman and so many of the jokes are connected with her insecurity about her appearance and the way she is regularly put down because she doesn't conform to classic beauty standards. Some people hate this series, but it's just so sweet and endearing that I don't understand how they can feel that way. Each to their own I guess.
I've onlys seen series one of "Miranda" so far, but I actually first found out about it through the Christmas specials.
Outnumbered
A show with real children allowed to be random in a very naturalistic way. It's quite remarkable how well it's done. Essentially it's about a set of generally awful children who ask awkward questions. The younger boy in particular is known for being boistrous and troublesome. And yet, in spite of being about horrible children it remains endearing. Perhaps the best element in this is Claire Skinner (who some may recognise from the Doctor Who Christmas special before last: "The Doctor, The Widow and The Wardrobe") who plays the mum of the family. She's a fantastic actress and I think it is her performance that best serves to hold the show together. There've been four series of this and all of them have been great.
To get an idea of what this show is about, this video of the girl Karen's spiritual journey is probably a good indicator. There's actually another rather cool episode where a priest is asked, if Jesus came across someone evil like Darth Vader, whether Jesus would "zap him".
Doctor Who
Naturally I've been following Doctor Who. Who hasn't? I think the best of the new series is still Series Five where Matt Smith first turned up. I think there's definitely been an increased consistency in the quality since Steven Moffat (creator of the "Coupling" series) took over as showrunner. I know he's not been fantastically popular with everyone, but I think he has a better idea of what appealed in Classic Doctor Who.
The Wire
Back to American shows. A show that just got better and better as the seasons went on. I think Season Four was probably the best (the one about schools). There's some very thorough world-building involved in the series and the first season drags a little as a result, but it all feels worth it in the long run. Unfortunately I was rather less impressed by the first season of Treme and stopped watching it after that. Apparently Treme is from the same people, but while The Wire introduced me to a world I was completely unfamiliar with and had the drama to keep my interest, Treme seems to have real trouble hooking me in. Often I have no idea why characters do anything and the plot feels extremely slow paced. The Wire had political intrigue whether amongst police, politicians or gang members, cunning police investigations, deaths, and interesting characters. That's why it's possibly the best American tv show of the past 10 years.
Breaking Bad
I've only seen the first season of this so far. I've been waiting for the later seasons on my rental list for quite a while now. But the first season is a great balance of serious storytelling and bizarre fun. The whole premise of a chemistry teacher who decides to cook meth to ensure that he provides for his family before he is killed by cancer, is beautifully ridiculous and highly entertaining as a result.
Gravity Falls
Kristen Schall from "Flight Of The Conchords" (which is also awesome) plays the amazing character of "Mabel", a highly excitable girl who has a colossal sense of fun and refuses to let her mood be brought down by anything sensible or anyone mean. Mabel lives with her brother Dipper at their shameless money-grabbing Uncle's tourist-trap shack. While Uncle Stan parts tourists with their money with fake "wonders", Dipper discovers that the surrounding area is filled with weird and creepy creatures and objects. The humour is pretty highly developed for a children's cartoon and I don't feel like the audience is talked down to at all. The chracter of Dipper feels reminiscent of Dib from the cartoon "Invader Zim" which had a similar kind of absurdity with a dark edge.
Arrested Development
Yes, I know this is actually pretty old but we only really got around to seeing it this year. We watched all three seasons in quick succession and loved it. I'm sad to hear that apparently the new fourth season hasn't been up to the same standard.
Archer
Bringing back Jessica Walter to essentially play the same self-centred mother character she played in "Arrested Development", Archer is about a completely undisciplined playboy spy. Things get out of hand a lot, the humour is very risque, and it's really great fun. Another actress who is brought in from "Arrested Development" is Judy Greet who played the secretary in "Arrested Development". She's playing a secretary in "Archer" too, albeit one with a regularly voiced desire to be strangled. She's possibly the most bizarre character in this extremely strange series. I've seen three seasons now and at this stage she appears to have her own ocelot, so that's just a small hint at how weird things get.
Big Bang Theory
Big Bang Theory is about four university academics who are obsessed with geeky things like superheroes, computer games and sci-fi tv series. One of them gets obsessed with the girl next door, who is pretty much out of his league and thankfully the series quickly becomes more about the girl next door being more accustomed to geekiness and becoming, against the odds in some respects, friends with the group as a whole. I've seen five seasons of this and I must admit that in season four it seems to have lost a fair bit of its quality. It's stil fun though. Judy Greer (mentioned above) has been a guest, as has Riki Lindhome, who recently appeared in Joss Whedon's "Much Ado About Nothing" adaptation as the bastard Don Jon's girlfriend (the character of "Conrade"). In early seasons, another welcome guest star was Sara Gilbert (who played Darlene on "Roseanne").
The IT Crowd
Chris O'Dowd (who also appeared in "Girls") is very funny and Richard Ayoade is a comedic genius. Katherine Parkinson is particularly impressive and I love the way her voice changes when she gets angry. IT Crowd is similar to Big Bang Theory in that it's about a non-geek who becomes embroiled into the world of two geeks, but that's where the comparison ends. Katherine Parkinson's character Jen is genuinely the audience's window into the geeky world of the two IT technicians. We begin the first show with her claiming to have experience with IT and suddenly being made Relations Manager for the IT department. However, while Richard Ayoade's character, Moss, is so technically minded as to be almost socially inept, Chris O'Dowd's chracter, Roy, still likes to think of himself as cool. The way the three of them interact is great. All four series are great though things don't get REALLY good until they replace Chris Morris with Matt Berry in the second series,
Burn Notice
Am now part way through season five. Michael Western is now such an awesome character and I still have no idea what the actor is called. A little annoyed when anyone refers to Fiona's background in the IRA. Normally it's no problem because she just wants to solve problems by blowing everything up and shooting people if necessary and it's clear that she has a darker past behind her. But whenever there's a more explicit reference to her IRA past it gets problematic since the show's writers clearly seem to think that there's "good" IRA and "bad" IRA as opposed to just a generally horrible situation for everyone involved. (Watch the movie "Shadow Dancer" for a better idea of what the IRA is like.) And of course, "Burn Notice" also features the ever-awesome Bruce Campbell as an ex-Navy Seal. The inclusion of Michael Western's mother in the show felt annoying in the first season, but the way she's used in this series has just got more and more interesting as the show has gone on. The big selling point about Burn Notice is not because it's about a spy. He does very little actual spying. It's because it's about an ex-spy making use of his skills locally rather than doing missions around the world. In this new setting Michael Western is essentially a confidence trickster, only he helps people rather than stealing from them. The show has an ex-spy consultant who helps to provide plenty of random ideas, like using newspaper to make your car bullet proof (no seriously) or choosing the cheapest mobile phone you can find in order to make a listening device (good mobile phones are better at picking up the voice of the person making the call rather than surrounding background noise). This show is just so much fun. Season two was a bit slow, but asides from that it's just been getting better and better.
The Thick Of It
Recently we had series four and while I don't think it was as good as the previous three series, I have loved every bit of this crazy political satire with ultra-sweary politicians failing to get anything done. My initial encounter with the series was through the movie "In The Loop". Having not seen the series first, I didn't really understand the humour as well as I might have, though I still enjoyed it. The whole four series are essentially about exploring the character of Malcolm Tucker who, in trying to handle the political PR, winds up being this generation's foul-mouthed equivalent of the similarly cynical Sir Humphrey from "Yes Minister".
Veep
The showrunner for "The Thick Of It", Armando Iannucci, has managed to do the same thing again with the Vice President of the US in the show "Veep". It's really funny, but when the first season came to an end I was just dying to see more. It just comes to an end so suddenly and I just really really want to know what happens next!
Joe Ahearne's various tv series....
Ultraviolet - Re-imagining vampires for the modern era with Jack Davenport, Susannah Harker and Idris Elba. Vampires not only leave no reflection but they do not appear on CCTV footage. Rather more annoyingly for them, they cannot make phone calls either. At least, not without the help of a computer or human assistant to read out their words for them. Their voices cannot be transmitted down phone lines, just as their appearance cannot be captured by a mirror. There's some really interesting ideas here.
Apparitions - Joe Ahearne is an atheist himself, but he has done a lot of research and amazingly manages to put the audience in a position where they support the exorcist. The storylines are rarely predictable and you almost feel sorry for the demons in one episode. Once again Joe Ahearne manages to create a show which takes a well-worn scenario and move it in a whole new direction.
The Secret Of Crickely Hall - This is the latest from Joe Ahearne and is actually an adaptation of a novel rather than being completely original. Unlike the other two this is a three-part mini-series, not a full series with six episodes. This time it's ghosts (and I cannot stand ghost stories normally) and somehow I thought it was great! Maisie Williams, who plays Arya Stark in "Game of Thrones" plays one of the children and Tom Ellis, who is Miranda Hart's love interest in "Miranda" plays the sceptical dad. The first episode takes a while to get going, but episodes two and three are brilliant. There's also David Warner who is utterly brilliant in everything. Oooh and Bill Milner from "Son Of Rambow"!
The gist is that when a child goes missing the rest of the family are horribly upset and so, on the anniversary of their son's disappearance, they decide to go away to a random place in the countryside. It turns out that it used to be an old orphanage and it's haunted. Okay, so time to leave, right? Except that the mother becomes convinced that the ghosts know where her son is. (That's not as odd as it sounds, but it'd take a long time to explain why.)
A lot of this show takes place in the past and essentially the ghost storyline is a way to tie the events of the past with the modern day setting where most of those involved are old or long-dead. There's an element of mystery to the story, working out how the events in the past have led to the ghostly presence in modern day and precisely what happened when the children died. There was enough plot to focus on so as not to have to worry about the bizarreness of ghost stories in general. There's a really involved story here and some great characterisation. I don't think this was better than Apparitions or Ultraviolet, but it's a great addition to Joe Ahearne's repetoire.
Misfits
I've seen up to the fourth series and, asides from a few clever ideas, I think I'd rather have missed series four. A lot of the characters have gone by series four. As a result Rory (played by Joe Gilgun) who'd done such a good job of filling the void left when Nathan (played by Robert Sheehan) left at the end of series two, ends up being the only thing that holds series four together. The new characters simply aren't interesting enough, there's a lack of decent continuity with the previous series, and the comedy isn't really as funny overall. Series four starts off with Curtis (played by Nathan Stewart-Jarrett) still on board, but I wish he'd just disappeared since he is killed off so ridiculously unceremoniously and, for me, Cutis' death marks the death of the show. It's really sad.
Still the first three series are brilliant and I have to give Joe Gilgun proper kudos for keeping the series alive when the actor playing one of the most popular characters decided he wanted to move on. The character of Nathan is admittedly a pretty remarkable part of the series, making him so hard to replace, because he actually starts off as the most unbearable character. He is annoying and such a horrible human being and yet as the first series progressed, I found I became more attuned to him and he became absolutely hilarious and the main draw of the series. Since most of the characters in this show are young offenders doing community service, it would be unrealistic not to have some of the characters being utterly obnoxious, but the way Nathan manages to be the main draw is quite inspired.
Misfits isn't about superheroes. The idea of superpowers being more like a curse is particularly important here. Heck, one character's power is that anyone she argues with loses their hair and in the first episode it turns out that uncontrollable rage isn't anything like as sweet as the "Hulk Smash!" scenarios in the Marvel universe. (A bit more like rage virus from "28 Days Later" really...) I've seen a few people complaining about the power that Alisha (played by Antonia Thomas) is lumbered with, but to be frank getting a lame power is pretty normal in this universe.
The Addams Family
Yes, the old black and white series from the 60s. Watched the whole first season and it is just as good as I remembered it being when I was young and was obsessed from having seen the movie. Heck, it's possibly even better. Sure, the laughter track doesn't always coincide with the funniest bits, but there's just such a wonderful and endearing sense of fun to the whole thing. Classic!
Community
First three seasons are brilliant. This is an absolutely amazing series. Unfortunately I gave up on season four after the first three episodes. Bringing in Matt Lucas seemed like a particularly bad plan in the third episode. The jokes generally felt rushed and lacking the timing and direction that made them work so well before, but Matt Lucas' lines seemed to lack any humour at all. I hear that the original showrunner is returning, so perhaps the show will be back on track in season five.
Community is about six students at a community college who are part of a study group together and who are involved in wacky antics for various reasons. There seem to be absolutely no limits to what can happen in the show and the entire college has been overrun in a massive painball battle at least twice. There are a lot of self-referential jokes due to the character of Abed who actually seems to know that he's in a tv show.
