TV round up

I have to squee at you dear reader, please take a seat. I have to squee because I've got a new show which ticks my boxes and that doesn't happen as often as it should do.

Forbrydelsen.

Or The Killing if you prefer. How did I miss this first time round? Dear old BBC Four didn't really trail it and I'd heard the hype but didn't want to come into something half way through and was going to rent it from love film but Auntie saw fit to give this show a repeat showing. 20 tense episodes over four weeks.  I currently am one episode behind as its hard to make time enough to sit down and watch on a daily basis but its so good my chap and I caught up at the weekend and we can happily watch two episodes when we get behind.

So what's so good about this show? I know a lot of people get put off something if they have to watch it with subtitles, but not this puppy. Denmark seems familiar but different; we've had a lot of rain recently and the colouring of the show matches it perfectly. A lot of US shows are very colourful and sunny, this is bleak looking but there's beauty in the bleakness.

The protagonist is Sarah Lund, she wears chunky jumpers and in that respect alone, she's a woman after my own heart.  She's dedicated to her job so much so, she can't leave even though she has a young teenaged son and a Swedish boyfriend who looks like Richard Gere.  She's also very good at her job, she has principles and she isn't an alcoholic and she doesn't have any of the more usual foibles which detectives all seem to have in modern mysteries.  Her grumpy replacement Meyer is irked by Lund's continued presence and her boss doesn't want her to leave.  Meyer and Lund don't really get on, he's somewhat slap dash but his heart is in the right place even when he goes for the easy option.

Add to the mix the family of the murdered girl the Birk Larsen's their reaction to their daughter's death played beautifully and truthfully. 

There's also a political Layer Troels Hartmann campaigning to become mayor, he has his advisor and lover Rie and Morten his campaign manager.  His party are backstabbing and his opponents seem to be capable of stooping to ever more scary depths.

The story is utterly compelling, littered with red herrings and twists, just when you think you've got a handle on things and a working theory, new information comes to light and your prime suspect is now innocent.

I'm loving the tenseness of the show its operating on so many levels and seemingly effortless while it does so.

I can't wait to see how it does.

I'm also rejoicing because Doctor Who is back.

Let's Kill Hitler was a romp wasn't it? Many questions answered, and a fair few more asked. Thank you Steven Moffat, this was excellent when a Good Man Goes to War felt to me to be all set up with not enough satisfaction.  I love that the title was a joke and Rory Williams is a complete BAMF.

I can't really discuss much about the show without spoilers but I will say, "you are authorised;  your existence will continue" made us guffaw along with "you may experienc a tingling feeling then death."

The Borgia is my current catnip.  Its sumptuously shot and Jeremy Irons is second only to Alan Rickman in voice and making me go kind of gooey.  He is quite simply acting the socks off anyone else in shot with an extreme close up and an eyebrow quirk.  The show itself is ridiculous in the way that the Tudors is and in that respect most enjoyable but I'm not expecting nor even wanting historical accuracy. And what's more I don't care I'm having fun watching it and that's all that matters.

I'm also watching the third season of Warehouse 13 which is now being shown in the UK on SyFy.  The show goes from strength to strength, I love the quirkiness of it and the steam punk elements which make this show great for family viewing.  The cast is a great ensemble and its always reasonable viewing.  Its never going to change the world but who said every tv show had to?

What I've been watching

A number of things actually, my chap and I have worked our way steadily through Treme which is a superbly crafted piece of television. The pacing of the show is glacial but it certainly rewards those of us who stuck with it.  Some TV can be mainlined you need to watch many episodes to get your fill, Treme doesn't work like that.  I found that one episode is enough, it is almost as though the show is so dense and rich that you have to give your brain time to digest what it has seen. I've not seen a show that's made me want to stop and think so much since the first time of watching Battlestar Galactica, though Game of Thrones has its moments.

We're following it up by embarking on The Wire.  This is my second attempt at watching the wire, I tried to follow it on the BBC when they showed it late night every night on BBC2, this did not end well. This time I'm going to do it right and not be tired when I'm watching, I'm also going to be unplugged as I know its a show that will demand my concentration.

In the meantime we're watching Episodes which we are loving and is something that we've been able to mainline. I never thought I would say this but I'm loving Matt Le Blanc, he's playing a version of himself which seems to us to be completely plausible.  It also stars Stephen Mangan and Tamsin Grieg and it is a very funny show.  I'm a bit of a sucker for shows which are meta like this one.

I've also  literally inhaled the whole of season 2 of Nurse Jackie, its one of those shows that has got me on the edge of my seat, I love how the viewer roots for Jackie, even when she's one of those dubious protagonists that seem to be incredibly fashionable right now.  That isn't meant to be disparaging, Nurse Jackie is original and very funny and the drama derives from the situations that Jackie get's into with a great supporting cast.

I'll have to book another day off so that I can do the same with series 3.

Over the weekend we had a house guest and she's reignited my love affair with Sherlock and Studio 60 on the sunset strip.  Rewatching Sherlock is a joy because it is so sexy and put together so perfectly. The art direction and the casting and the writing especially on A Study in Pink and The Great Game is just perfection. Studio 60 also has one of the best pilot episodes I've ever seen, I love the writing and the banter in that show and I still feel raw that the show got cancelled after only one season.

~Updates

Well let me see...

I've been a bit absent of late, blame it on the tonsilitis and the fact that work has been insane. If you've been reading then you'll know I've done a couple of book reviews recently but if you're more interested in what I've been reading the whole list from the last 18 months is here.  There is even a tab for you to give me some suggestions on what I should be reading in the future.

Creatively I've bitten a bullet and I've signed up to do a short course in October on creative writing.

The upside to the tonsilitis was that I caught up on a few bits and pieces. Firstly I mainlined season one of Nurse Jackie, it is one excellent show and I have enjoyed watching it muchly. I like that it is short and I love the level of insight into Jackie's character. I also adore the supporting cast with much love going to Merrit Weaver as Zoey and Stephen Wallem as Thor.

I've also been watching the BBC adaptations of the Jackson Brodie series of novels: Case Histories, When Will There be Good News and One Good Turn. All brilliantly adapted and starring Jason (Lucius Malfoy) Isaacs.  It has been Sunday night telly, but its been good sunday night telly.

We're catching up with Treme which is a great piece of television but not the easiest watch in the world.

Spartacus: Blood and Sand has also been part of the mix, have to admit a few weeks ago one of the episodes went too far for me. It went too far and I was actually tempted to drop it but after giving it a rest and letting it settle I've gone back and actually since that one off the scale gruesome episode, the rest have been much better experiences.

Haven is another series we're trying and yay. Love. It has elements of some shows I loved in the past. American Gothic and the X files and its a weird and fun little show.

I was less impressed with Bored to death, the central character is, if I'm honest a bit of a douche. The concept is good and it was beginning to improve so I'll probably stick with it.

I am mourning in my heart for the end of the first season of A Game of Thrones, I love this show so much I broke my book buying ban in a huge and not cheap way. I kind of want spring 2012 to be sooner please so that there will be more.  The show is too good. If you haven't seen it I urge you to give it a go, it is a very rewarding watch.

There is a little squee in my heart True Blood has returned and so has Dexter one of these shows I've waited paitently to be be on FX the other I haven't.

I'll try and do more regular posts. And to vary them a little bit more than I have been.

TV update

I'm behind in TV far far behind.

I've got episodes of Boardwalk empire, Treme, Blue Bloods, Six Feet under, Single Father, The Accused, Outcasts piling up around me. Its not that I'm not watching things, we're really yomping through things that we get from love film but I'm finding it hard to balance the time in order to keep up with things that are being broadcast.

Deep breath.

I need a to-do list and a list of what's on the Sky plus box I need to watch…

And because it's been a while since I wrote anything about a show I'm watching let me give my reaction to Outcasts.  I'm more or less caught up with this one.  I've seen the first four episodes and I'm yet to connect with it. 

My completely biased opinions are thus:

I really enjoyed the first episode, plenty of Jamie, who was a bit nuts and a little bit scary but utterly compelling and despite everything I liked his character, rather a lot. And what do they do with him?

Well that would be a spoiler but it isn't good and I'm sure the people on Carpathia heard my wail of NOOOOOOOOOOO.  I understand that from an actor's point of view Jamie Bamber didn't want to end up getting typecast as just a sci fi guy and turning up in another post apocalyptical drama.  Because let's be honest Outcasts is never going to live up to the awesomeness that is BSG.

The characters who are left are not likeable. Hermione Norris' character makes me want to maim rigid skinny blond women, the president is dubious beyond belief. There are the internal cops - Cass who is kind of dumb and the feisty woman who maybe a woman, but she's not all that.  Ivanova from Bab 5 and Starbuck and Admiral Caine, hell even Kat would kick her skinny behind. Then there's Eric Mabius from Ugly Betty whose like Gaius Baltar in negative, where Baltar is English sounding and corrupt. Julius Berger is American and corrupt. He's even cultivating his own quasi religious cult following. Plus to rub salt into the wounds he looks like Jamie Bamber enough for me to get excited and then get depressed again because it isn't him.

I can't see that the characters are rounded enough, and its not that they aren't all shades of grey they are all dubious, they seem fixed in their little boxes and I can't see any development happening.  The drama just isn't good enough, the plot isn't strong enough.

Conversely, I re-watched the first episode of Six Feet Under recently and it still feels as amazing as it did when I saw it for the first time. Ok I can't compare directly, it being a straighter drama. But the character plotting in that show was just dizzyingly good. It sucked me right back in completely.

The other thing I want to talk about is Being Human which does Vampires Werewolves and Ghosts with a decidedly British feel. Now onto it's third series and just over halfway through it’s a wonderful show which raises questions  about what it means to be human especially when you are other. It's at times stark with blackness and other times hilarious often seconds apart.

I need more time.

Upgrading.

My Blokey and I have been debating recently about upgrading to a flatscreen HD telly and last weekend we decided to make a go of it.  We ordered a Toshiba from Amazon and a Phillips Blu Ray player and they both arrived today.

I am currently testing the system by watching Doctor Who Series 5 and earlier casino Royale.

Me likey, me likey a lot.

Just think, come easter When Who returns for a sixth series, I'll be able to watch in HD and swoon.  The other thing I'm  squeeful about is the fact my charm bracelet has been a little lonely, mainly because I only had two charms, The TARDIS that work got me and the stopwatch that my blokey got me.  In the sale I bought a pistol charm and a little red converse boot just like what the tenth doctor used to wear :D

Trubie through and through.

As you may have guessed I've got a number of obsessions. One of my longest standing fascinations has to be vampires. I was corrupted at a young age and I've kind of adored them ever since. From the artsy Francis Ford Copola's Bram Stoker's Dracula to Joss Whedon's Buffy in all it's pop-cultured glory.  I've dipped my toe into the vampire diaries and will watch at some point but really my heart has been captured by the wonderfully trashy True Blood.

True Blood as I'm sure you're aware is an adaptation of the Southern Vampire Mysteries by Charlaine Harris and they've both become my unhealthy obsession.  I've talked about the books at length on my journall but its telly and films that rule here so the series it is.  First off you have to remember the series is based on the books and in some respects Alan Ball and his creative team play fast and loose with some of the plot elements that happen in the novels. For instance we see a physical manifestation of what Sookie is a lot earlier on in the tv series than we do in the novels. Characters change and are merged and whilst the books are great candy I actually think creatively the show has a lot to offer and adds dimensions of meaning which might not have been quite so prevalent in the novels.

What I love about the show is it is designed in the old fashioned notion of a pot boiler novel. The episodes end in a climax that begs you to devour the next episode immediately if possible.  Now, when watching this show as transmitted that means it isn't possible and I spend my week waiting for my next hit.  Which is how I'm getting by on season 3. Seasons one and two I was able to watch in gluttonous sessions where I was able to watch half a season in one sitting the show is as addictive as V (which is vampire blood as a drug).  The best thing about the show is that it is also very very funny. Admittedly it uses black humour and there's a lot of graphic sex which won't be to everyone's taste.

Squeeing about Sondheim

In the UK there are a season of classical concerts called the proms. The idea was conceived in the 1890s for the then newly built Royal Albert Hall to host a season of concerts at an affordable price so that people who couldn't ordinarily afford to come to a classical concert would be able to. That tradition continues a good one hundred and fifteen years later. Prices for seats start at £7 and if you stand they are only £5.  The proms have become an institution and each year they showcase a lot of music and the BBC broadcasts as much of it as it can between BBC2  BBC Four and the radio stations.  Last night's was a celebration of Stephen Sondheim.

Stephen Sondheim is a composer and he writes musicals, however, his musicals are a very different beast to the music of Rodgers and Hammerstein or Andrew Lloyd Webber for that matter.  His music is what some people like to call challenging and some of it isn't all that easy to listen to, he's discordant, rhythmically unpredictable, playful with music and lyrics but then he writes wonderful songs that kind of burrow into your head and heart.

Happily if you're in the UK you can catch up with this gem for the next seven days. It even involves the ORGAN.

Sondheim Prom - Iplayer

Keep an eye out for Bryn Terfyl being an amazing Sweeney Todd. He frightens the pants off me. And Dame Judi Dench showing everyone how to sing Send in the Clowns. Plus Daniel Evans and Jenna Russell doing selections from Sunday in the Park with George... I could go on and on and on.

Keep Buggering On.

What to do...

Well rehearsals are now broken up for the summer and that means there is time to catch up on the TV that I've missed or postponed in the last few weeks because I've been too damned tired to watch most of it. So with that in mind we've already made a bit of a start on things with Breaking Bad. It's an incredible show to watch alternating between something that is very very bleak and being laugh out loud funny if you have a sick and twisted sense of humour.

In addition to that: we series linked the Silence which was shown on the BBC a couple of weeks ago, we're determined also to catch up on Misfits series one too as we were caught out by a technological malfunction when we first tried to watch it.

The big news is tonight though: Sherlock. Written by Mark Gatiss and Steven Moffat its a modern day retelling of Arthur Conan Doyle's stories and quite simply put I cannot wait. Two of my favourite writers colaborating on something delicious.

There's plenty to be getting on with especially when you look to the shelf and find that my copy of Mad Men seasons one and two have arrived and I'm chomping at the bit to get to grips with Don Draper et al.

I'm also fitting in True Blood as and when as my other half turns his nose up at this. I'm still watching the West Wing when I can as whilst the other half enjoys it, he enjoys an episode now and again whilst I like to inhale discs of it.  My rewatch of American Gothic is progressing slowly too but I kind of want to savour it. I love the character Selina Kyle as much as I ever did.

You learn something new everyday

It might be a cliche, but it is one for a reason.

I recently did a meme on TV programmes past and present and one of the questions was what was your first TV obsession. Thinking long and hard I had to discard Buffy The Vampire Slayer for that honour and Xena Warrior Princess and I dug further back in my mind and realised that in 1995 American Gothic was my first real obsession with a TV show. I taped every single episode of that show and I watched and re-watched until the tapes wore out. At 16 for me, this show was dark, impossibly sexy and I think for the first time I was actively watching a show, looking for clues making up theories with my friends at school and just plain obsessing about the show. It used symbolism and religion as metaphors and I loved it.

Fast Forward fifteen years and I'm now thirty-one and that tv meme I'd taken part in had given me an itch, the only way I was going to get any relief would be to rewatch the show. So I tracked it down: American Gothic (at amazon) and tonight whilst my chap was at a committee meeting I rewatched the first episode.

As the opening credits rolled and the twangly guitar music played it felt like coming home to something I hadn't experienced in a while.  But then I noticed the producer David Eick. And I recognised the name because I'm a huge huge fan of Battlestar Galactica. It gave me a fluttery tummy feeling because he's now involved in three of my favourite shows. Rewatching the first episode was kind of strange, partly because I'd forgotten so much, but also somethings had etched themselves on my brain. Also I love Sarah Paulson, I remember thinking her an awesome actress in this back in 95 and I loved her as Harriet Hayes in Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip. Some of the things in the show have dated badly, others not so scary.

So then the credits and I find out that Sam Raimi was executive producer as was Robert Tapert who both were responsible for Xena Warrior Princess amongst a lot of other things that have really made me squee over the years. When I first watched the show I hadn't been interested in who was writing and producing, but these days very much more so. It really tickled me pink to see people I've grown to have respect for from other later projects really managed to get their claws into me when I was young and impressionable. Also a taste for shows which either the networks don't like or general audiences don't.

I'm not sure there's much else of a point to this other than me geeking out but I wanted to share it with people because it sure as hell made me smile this evening.

Keep Buggering On

What I'm currently watching

There will be both a  time and a place for TV shows which are no longer airing but this post is to introduce you to what I'm currently watching.  What you need to know about my viewing habits, I'm a gorger, I love so save up shows and then watch them in a bum numbing marathon session when allowed, however, I'm not in sole control of our tv and sky plus box so we have to negotiate and my tastes are moderated somewhat. Due to work commitments and rehearsals its rare for me to be able to sit down and watch something as it airs. Another problem is I like a lot of US imports and to try and keep up with those requires patience and time. This list is probably going to be incomplete while I work out what I'm currently watching and what's airing right now. Trouble is we're in the bleak time in the UK. We've just come out of 4 weeks of World Cup coverage with added Wimbledon and the schedules have been empty. This will remain content light until mid September when the run up to Christmas means that we get decent telly again.

OK enough rambling shows that I'm watching currently and by that I mean shows which might not be airing this week but will be returning for new series as far as I know.

• Doctor Who
• The Big Bang Theory
• Breaking Bad
• Dexter
• Nurse Jackie
• Warehouse 13
• Caprica
• Torchwood
• Law & Order | UK
• Glee
• Being Human
• True Blood
• Merlin
• Psychoville
• V

And I think that's about it. You can see I'm biased towards the fantasy and the science fiction, but as long as the stories are good then you'll keep me as an audience member.

I've also just ordered Mad Men seasons 1 and 2 because it's an incredible show.

I've not ranked any of the shows, I've just listed them in the order in which they occurred to me. I like my shows with a hint of darkness in them and a lot of them do have that. One of the things I hope to do with this blog over the weeks and hopefully months to come is to be able to explain what I like about shows past and present and to give you my perspective on a few things.

Keep Buggering On.

My blog manifesto

Well hello, glad that you've managed to drop by.  This is going to be my blog for talking about TV, Film and Musical Theatre. I'm an enthusiastic consumer of all three and I'm going to try and talk about my loves in an entirely coherent and hopefully entertaining way.

Right I'd better come out of the closest, I'm a fangirl, albeit not a rabid one. I'm not necessarily comfortable within fandoms because of the bad kind of insanity that lurks within them. I've seen what happens when rabid fangirls get mad and if I'm honest I really don't want to be a part of it.

What you will find here is honest opinion on the TV, films and theatre that I'm watching.  If you're (un)lucky you'll get to hear how the musical theatre group I'm a member of is getting on too. What I'm hoping to talk about are my favourite shows, films and productions past and present.  That and the fact that I'm heading to Dragon*Con this year. I warn you know I will become unbearable about this fact.

I think that's enough for now.

Keep buggering on.