May contain spoilers!
Heroes
Heroes is back! I had a fear that this would be somewhat like the second season of Lost, where more and more plot elements were going to be added until it was all an addled mess that wanders around and goes nowhere; up until this week’s episode, that fear wasn’t too far from being proven true.
But this week, they bought it back, and threw in a cute little twist to boot. I likey. There was no sign of the Alejandro-Maya-Sylar plot thread, which was a relief (can a character get more annoying than Maya or a plot thread more predictable than theirs?), but it inevitably means an extended sequence next episode.
On the other hand, one of Lost‘s plus points – its ability to kill off major characters just as you got to liking them, thereby simultaneously exasperating and reinvigorating for your interest – is a little lacking, to my inexpert opinion.
Top Gear
My god, it just gets better and better. This week found our intrepid trio driving across Botswana in second hand £1500 two-wheel-drive cars, a challenge most would only contemplate in serious 4-wheel-drives.
They turned up with cars I would suggest would be much cheaper than £1500, given what showed up for a similar Porsche challenge, but let’s not let that get in the way of a stupendously funny episode.
If you’re not watching Top Gear, what are you doing with your Sundays?! (ok, Mondays by the time it gets to Australia) Get to it.
30 Rock
I picked this up on a whim after seeing a little sample back in the first season, and I reckon I’ll be sticking with it for a bit. It’s not exactly predicable or by the numbers, but it sits firmly in the American-New York Sitcom genre.
Guest appearances weekly make it lively, Tina Fey is a talent (cute to boot!) and Alec Baldwin is straight out of his role in Will and Grace, the campness toned down a little for a little more general asshole-ness. It’s awesome!
Secret Diary of a London Call Girl
I never followed the Intimate Adventures blog, but I had heard about it – and when I heard Billie Piper (yes, the former pop singer, but did you see that series or two of Doctor Who? She was kick-ass!) was playing the title character, I just had to watch. (alright alright, pipe down).
I’m… a little surprised at what these guys are more-than-ready to put on free-to-air broadcast-TV week-to-week – and it’s getting further into it by the looks of things. Sure, timeslot, mature European attitude, all that and a bag of chips, but I would struggle to imagine any of the Australian networks airing this, no matter what the timeslot. America? HBO would pretty much be your only bet.
It’s a well-written left of the middle show, and my only regret is that I hadn’t and am not reading it now. Having just cut back on my RSS feeds, I’m not subscribing too any more for a bit, and really, I think I would only imagine Billie Piper as Belle now.
It’s also a little disconcerting to see places I’m getting very familiar with in London show up in the TV show – sure, there’s the famous spots, but this will have, for example, Belle walking to catch a bus… about 2 minutes walk from my work, where I pass by almost daily on my way in. Ordinary world reflected through the half-silvered mirror of the TV.
Others? There’s always The Daily Show, though that is threatened with the American writers’ strike. And… well, not much else to be honest. Lost, Ugly Betty, House, and practically every show I used to watch have all fallen by the wayside for reason or another, and plus, it doesn’t help that I don’t have a TV :)
I was going to write something about Call Girl. The show started out a bit as “ooh look at me, I’m so scandalous” but it’s since because more interesting now that the best mate knows.
After so many years of reading the blog, I kind of imagined Belle to be even more sophisticated than how Billie plays her. I feel like the pacing is a bit too quick and it sort of trivialises aspects.
Kudos to Billie for being brave enough to take on a role like this. Here’s hoping it shows her more dramatic side and doesn’t because some fatal career move into softcore.
The Top Gear season has so far been hilarious! Loved the driving across Africa episode.
In other news, I’ve been iTouched…
I love Top Gear, but they’re only giving us repeats on SBS on Saturdays in little old Australia :(
I tell you, the TV executives want me to youtube/torrent shows!
Jack – I think the pacing is pretty much what happens whenever a book or whatnot gets turned into a movie or TV series – different aspects are focused on, and the story is always sacrificed at the altar of the visual medium. For some, this works exceptionally well (Lord of the Rings being a case in point).
Z – what happened to your blog man?
kirsty: what, you don’t already? :P Channel 7 did well this year from all reports, bringing Heroes to Australia within a week of the US screening – that’s pretty brave of them though, as it means they’re more closely aligned with the American ratings season than the Australian one.
But yeah, SBS has no excuse.
I ran out of moola at the start of the year (when I first started working) so I haven’t been maintaining it.
I’ve noticed Channel 10’s also been aligning their TV to the USA’s prime times. It seems they’re finally getting it through their heads that TV isn’t the only place to get mind numbing entertainment…
Now that I’ve watched this week’s episode:
I wish they killed off the Petrellis at the end of season 1. Nathan and Peter are just boring and generically angsty.
Adam’s identity: saw it coming. But that’s because my brother clued me in and ruined the surprise. If I had really thought about it, I would have said that he’s too likable to just kill off like that but hindsight is 20/20.
Nathan had potential – he had the whole do-what-you-gotta-do-to-win vs moral-decision dilemma, but the angsty side he’s got in series 2 is a downer, yeah. Peter on the other hand has always annoyed me (“ohhh what do i do how do i dooooooo”, now “who am i what am i what’s going ooooooon”).
Adam’s identity – totally didn’t, though yeah, I was pretty sure he wouldn’t be killed. Still trying to figure out how the whole time thing happened.