The shows are back!!

What a season for television this will be!! I already don't have enough time to watch movies, but with all of my favourite TV shows returning, I am bound to have even less!

Currently viewing:

My viewing of this show only occurs because my girlfriend watches it and I am in the room. I think it has way outstayed its welcome and unless it comes up with something pretty extraordinary this is going to be a very repetitive season.

I really hope the new series gets back to Red John after pretty much ignoring him for all but the last episode of the last season!

This is going to be an extremely interesting season of Dexter. The first episode is off to a good start too!!

Same old... same old, but I would rather watch this than Law & Order.

I do so love Big Bang Theory and I don't really care that the day has changed, just glad to have it back on the schedule!

On the "To Watch" list:

Now if only I could find the time!!

Back to the Square Box

Well, I have been a bit slack with my TV viewing habits of late...and I am about 1 or 2 episodes behind in my viewing....however I thought I would update what I have chosen to watch in the current TV line up. I haven't exactly added any new shows to the line up, but then there has been anything that has attracted me to view it this season...

Getting better with each season, Dexter is still one of my favorite series, everything about it is a guilty pleasure and the addition of John Lithgow as the new "bad guy" is casting at its best!

Always good for a quick laugh, The Big Bang Theory hasn't outstayed its welcome as much as I thought it might. Testament to good writing, good acting (with perfectly cast roles) and the obvious fun that is had during the creation of the show.

Although on a Sweeps break, the return of Dollhouse had me sit up and take notice. The first four episodes were finally what I was expecting to see in the first season, and awesome powerhouse of a show with potential on so many levels and areas of the human psyche. Now that Echo has become less of the lead, we are given much more to work with and it really has helped the show out!

The Mentalist is far more about the characters than the show....in what essentially is just a light hearted Law & Order show with far less believable plot points, I am hoping that the Red John story line is going to pick up again soon as that was what interested me in the first place, but alas he is nowhere to be seen thus far....

What is it with shows making light of death these days? Castle is another buddy cop drama similar to The Mentalist above, but instead of a "people reader" we have an author. I wonder why it has suddenly become the norm to have female detectives with jokey male "partners".


Back for its 14th Season, Top Gear is back to normal with the usual far out antics and super car madness. Nice to see the Aussies get some representation with Eric Bana as the star in a reasonably priced car and the news involving the recall of prams in the U.S is priceless....

TV is all the go.....Weekly Round-up

This week I spent my time in front of the magic glowing box watching the usual series and some oddities.


Penn & Teller were up first with their Bullshit episode on Organic Foods. I really like this type of episode that doesn't actually debunk the idea, just the reasons people choose to justify their decisions.


This followed on with the latest Eureka episode in which Carter has to find who is stealing nuclear based power cells.


I am not really sure if I will continue with Warehouse 13. The concept seems flawed and I am not really identifying with the characters as much as I would hope. I may stick with it as none of my other series are starting till September...so we shall see.


Of course the latest episode of Top Gear was in there as well...not quite sure why there were dinosaurs though? but a new episode tonight will keep me occupied :D


I have also started watching Season 8 of C.S.I just for something new....wasn't a fan of the Without A Trace crossover though....never really got the point of these kind of things?

I have also been revisiting all of the Studio Ghibli films recently, but I am working on a post for that so stay tuned....also reviews of Coraline (3D) and Bruno are on their way...

Weekly Round-up

Well another week is almost over, although I have watched a few things of interest this week including the new Studio Ghibli film Ponyo on the Cliff.

It wasn't quite what I was expecting, but I still enjoyed it. It felt as though it was building up to something and then just glossed over it quickly. The animation was excellent as usual and character expression still amazes me in the Ghibli films. The subtitles on the DVD left a little to be desired with some whole sequences of dialog missing a translation (thankfully my 3 years of Japanese did something to at least help me understand what was going on) I will be interested to see how Pixar dub the film though...

I note the U.S poster art above is similar to Finding Nemo....so we know the audience they are targeting.

I have been going through a magic phase at the moment, most likely due to the return of Penn & Teller's Bullshit. I got hold of their DVD Off the Deep End, and whilst is was quite entertaining I still prefer their stage show based performances, the card trick on the beach was my personal favorite. The new season of Bullshit has certainly been interesting though with the last episode dealing with Video Games and whether or not violent games insight violence in the players of them. Their usual wit and common sense prevail as usual and I am looking forward to tonight's episode.

Well, Harper's Island had its big season finale last weekend too....the less said the better, suffice to say I did not enjoy it. They had 13 episodes to sort this out and make it play and this is all they could come up with?! It was nice to have a show where basically the entire cast ends up dead, but the motive and driving force behind them was just stupid.

Eureka is also back on the air waves and I must admit I enjoyed the latest episode....even if the town (in fact the whole world) was in jeopardy again!! I still have faith that at least one episode won't involve the entire destruction of the town/world/etc lets hope it doesn't let me down.

In other TV news, a few new weekly shows have been keeping my interest, I have just got the latest Warehouse 13 episode, Psychoville still gets a look in every Thursday and of course Top Gear on Sunday nights is still a must.

Otherwise...not much else to report for this week.

Weekly TV Round-up

Well, with being sick and very little else to do, I watched quite a bit of TV, or I should say, I watched quite a number of TV shows on DVD.

I do enjoy Eureka, but I must say that the whole imminent destruction of town/main character etc is starting to wear me down. If you can't come up with story ideas that don't rely on last second bouts of genius then what is the point...every episode a main character is going to die from the latest whatever, or the whole town is going to explode because of that underground thing that nobody knew about in a town that supposedly has the smartest minds??? I mean honestly. Anyways, I have finished Season 3 and I am still looking forward to the new episodes next month so....what can you do...

Okay, honestly. I didn't really know where this was going and now I sure as hell can't figure it out and it only has 2 episodes left to explain it all...I'm holding my breath, but something tells me it probably won't be worth it....

This was a rather interesting Canadian series. I note that it has a 2nd season listed, but I am not sure if I liked it enough to seek it out. The pacing was really odd, slow and melodic, but not boring. I couldn't relate to any of the characters so maybe that distanced me. The idea is certainly interesting, but I don't think it pulls off what it is attempting to do as well as it could have. We basically follow a homicide detective with a colourful past that he has kept hidden from his wife and family. They move to a new house that sees the past stirred up, throw into the mix that his neighbor; an old school friend, is a serial killer and as I said, it makes for an interesting idea.


Finally....after a 6 month wait! Top Gear is back and in good form too. Loved the race from London to Scotland, Michael Schumacher is The Stig (or is he) and we still get the same camaraderie from the boys! Great fun all round. Can't wait till tonights episode!

I also finally managed to finish The Adventures of Brisco County Jnr. I never really knew what to make of this show. It is obviously camp and a tad corny, but I must admit I found it addictively entertaining, despite many cringing moments. Bruce Campbell was awesome as always and the rest of the cast suited their roles well. Some of the plots left a little to be desired, but this show is a great example of how the TV scene has changed....this first season has 26 episodes!!!! Nowadays shows are lucky to even get 12 for their first season....sad really.

well, as you can tell I am back writing again. I did watch quite a lot of movies during my week long illness and I will be reviewing some of them in the next few days. I hope you will bear with me as I am still not 100%, but I am doing my best to get back on the band wagon!

Futurama Returns to TV

I know I am a little late with this news, but I decided to post it anyway!

Futurama is coming back to episodic form in 2010!!

I Can't wait.... and you can read more here

TV...TV & TV on DVD

This week I have spent much of my time watching Eureka on DVD, I stopped watching midway through season 2 and then forgot about the show altogether, but now I am re-watching them all in anticipation of not only the season 3 DVD release on the 30th, but new Season 4 (although really the 2nd half of Season 3) episodes starting on July 10th!! The show is quite entertaining and does have quite a number well thought out episodes. Not being a scientist I am unsure of how accurate all of the "science speak" is, but I find it easy enough to follow for the most part.

I have also checked out Richard Hammond's short but sweet series for the National Geographic channel entitled Engineering Connections. In it, Hammond takes us through the design and implementation stages of 4 major engineering feats and explains where the technology originated from.

The first episode focuses on the Airbus A380 and how the technology to keep this thing in the air relates to an eagle in flight, a Mongolian bow (as in bow & arrow) and a 19th century rocket.

Next up is Taipei 101, one of the world's tallest and most sophisticated buildings. Hammond shares how the building and construction share commonality with bird cages, bamboo, car brakes and yachts.

Hammond then travels to Hawaii to visit the Keck Observatory, home to the world's largest telescope and an amazing mirrored lens array that shares technology derived from a sand blaster, a spy plane and a theramin.

Last and by no means least we have the Troll A Gas Platform, the largest structure ever moved by man. It has a connection to a 19th century French gardener, a 16th century German mayor, an American motoring engineer.

Overall I felt that the series did feel a little high school oriented and I found Hammond's constant repition of the places or objects name to be very annoying, but the series did still have quite a bit to offer and was certainly as entertaining as it was educational.

Weekly TV Round-up

Season 1 Episode 6: Sploosh
Well now I am beginning to get into this....after a week off (and left on a cliff hanger) things have started to get interesting. People now know that their lives are in danger, the few red herrings that have been setup are being abolished and we the violence has been stepped up a notch. It does still have some soap opera-esque elements to it, and I am a little intrigued how it is going to provide 7 more episodes of entertainment, but at least they have my attention again. (and it is about the only series I was watching that hasn't finished yet!)

Season 1 Episode 23: Red John's Footsteps
I always forgot to mention The Mentalist in my weekly round-ups and here we are on the last episode of the season. I was a little disappointed I must say. Red John hasn't been given much dedication in this season and this episode felt rushed and more of a mandatory plot device. It seems the producers realized that they had not dedicated enough episodes to their running story and thus this episode was contractually obliged. You will note that the end of this episode negates the reason for it to have existed at all...and leaves the flood gates open for season 2. oh well....they can't all be classics.

Weekly TV Round-up & Weeks End

Well this is a sorry state of affairs....Last week saw only 2 of my regular shows airing.... and one of those I wasn't even expecting!

Season 2: Episode 23: The Monopolar Expedition
So it would seem I was wrong last week in my assumption that the final episode of Big Bang Theory was afoot, as this episode quite obviously exists. It sees the group on an expedition to the Arctic circle and had some great moments. The DVD will be out in October so keep a look out for that.

Season 1 Episode 10: A Death in the Family
Also airing this past week was the final episode of Castle and I guess it was okay....I hate when shows start something new when they don't know if they will be given another series or not! Thankfully, we have now learnt that Castle will be returning for a second season. Just as well because presumably some of the new episodes will give the big reveal on Beckett's mother.

so it was a bit sad in TV land this week, there was no new Harper's Island and all the other shows I watch have either been canned or are now on season break so I am not sure what I will be doing with myself.

I have a review of Frost/Nixon that I am currently working on, having just watched the Blu-ray I am inclined to go and rent the box set of the original interviews for comparison, but as they go for about 11 hours I am not sure if I could stomach that.....

I have also just re-watched The Terminator and Terminator 2 in anticipation of the 4th installment next month...here is a trailer for the new film (in case you have been living under a rock)



In other blog news there will be a new Eat My Shorts segment on Thursday, I am still writing up the next Under-rated Trilogies segment as I still have to re-watch the third film so I have that to do some time this week too I guess...otherwise I will update things as I do them or see them ;)

Weekly TV Round-up

A sad week for my TV viewing as I say goodbye to 3 of my current favorites, I am hoping at least 2 of them will be coming back, but who knows...

Season 1 Episode 12: Omega
The last episode of Dollhouse had another nice reveal, sadly I can't say what I really want to for fear of spoiling it for those who haven't seen it, but I am certainly sad to see one of my favorite characters leaving. It was a fairly strong episode, but it still didn't feel quite right. I am going to be very interested in seeing the so-called 13th episode when the Blu-ray comes out in July though!! But for now at least, the wrap up of the season was quite acceptable.

Season 2 Episode 13:
And its all over red rover....the last Episode of Pushing Daisies. It was okay, although it did seem a bit rushed, I am sorry to see this world end so soon. Hopefully a movie will breate some extra life, but at least we have the comics until then.


Season 1 Episode 9: Little Girl Lost
A young child is kidnapped from her home and the FBI requests Det. Beckett. As it turns out, the lead agent in the case is her ex, so things get a little awkward. Another strong episode of Castle with some nice cameos too.

Season 2 Episode 22: The Classified Materials Turbulence.
Penny goes on a second date with one of Leonard's friends, much to Leonard's annoyance his friend asks for his advice about the date. Leonard tries to steer things the wrong way, only to have it back fire and work in a completely different way. Meanwhile Howard is trying to fix his latest creating a "space toilet" which may cause havoc on the International Space Station. Sadly this is the last episode of the season, but I am looking forward to it starting up again!

Season 1 Episode 5: Thwack!
FINALLY!! It has been six weeks of death and stupidity, but finally we have an unavoidable case of murder. Things should certainly start getting interesting from here on...

Weekly TV Round-up

Season 2 Episode 12: Water and Power
Second last Pushing Daisies episode and I did quite enjoy this one. It is good to see Emerson get his own episode and it helped to tie up a few loose ends, it was also nice to see Gina Torres as his estranged wife, it was certainly well timed as I have just watched a C.S.I episode with Alan Tudyk in it.

Season 2 Episode 22: Chuck VS. The Ring
So it looks like Chuck will be returning for a third season.....and if it doesn't lots of people will be pissed given the nature of this episode. It was a bit too Matrix like for me though....

Season 1 Episode 8: Ghosts
An interesting case, nothing new though, in fact I believe it is almost an exact rip-off of a Law & Order episode from years past.

Season 2 Episode 21: The Vegas Renormalization
Sheldon locks himself out of the apartment while Leonard and Co take a trip to Vegas. The premise alone is funny, but the boys (and Penny) are still going strong. Glad to see that this was picked up for 2 more seasons! A rarity given the current television climate.

Season 1 Episode 4: Bang!
Not really sure why I keep watching this....the idea is cool, but it is more "Days of Our Lives" than horror....

I have mainly been watching TV stuff all week....hence the lack of movie reviews. Trying to speed my way through C.S.I season 7, also got new Pushing Daisies and Dollhouse episodes to get through. Expect some awesome obscure title reviews soon though as I have some excellent new sources available for world cinema and cult titles. but more on that later :)