"The phoenix or the egg. Which comes first?"
Yes, another entry so soon. I have a lot to say tonight innit.
1. Deadwood. Oh god, Deadwood. My distrust of HBO series (a lot of them tend to get vastly over praised by UK TV critics) meant that I put off watching this for quite a while and I'm kicking myself, because this is the most astonishing show. The only way I can best sum it up is "if Shakespeare wrote a sprawling Western saga", and it's not even a Western strictly speaking, it just happens to be set in 1876 in a lawless frontier town. The writing… christ, the writing. I could gush about the frankly stunning writing forever if I wanted to; it's just like absolutely nothing else. The Shakespearean comparisons are the only thing I can think of that does it justice, it's so mesmerising, clever and borderline theatrical. It also boasts one of the finest casts you could ever wish for: Ian McShane, Powers Boothe, Keith Carradine, Dayton Callie, Robin Weigert, Brad Dourif, Molly Parker, Timothy Olyphant, William Sanderson, Garret Dillahunt, Jim Beaver… Yeah. And the characters! Aaahhh gaaaawd, there's too much awesome, I can't even.
So. Combine the writing with an amazing cast all on the absolute top of their game playing incredible and iconic characters with movie-level production values and you've got television platinum. Deadwood is one the best things ever and I could happily watch in for the rest of my life if I wanted. If you can handle the glorious amount of swearing on display and occasional bouts of violence and sexual content, you're in for a show that is unimaginably epic more for the talking rather than the very infrequent action. It's hard to describe, but you'll understand when/if you watch it.
2. And HBO have officially greenlit a full series of A Game of Thrones! Woo! Which means that's another HBO series I'm going to love, unless it goes horrifically wrong somehow.
3. On shinyjenni's recommendation I checked out Leverage and am already dangerously hooked. The characters are basically composed entirely of Awesome, are vaguely eccentric and have utterly fabulous chemistry with each other - I love them all. Plus Christian Kane is in it with his fabulous, magical hair. It's the kind of you show you watch just to see the characters interacting and being awesome, with the jobs they take on each week being the icing on the cake. My only real complaint is the music, and I can easily overlook that. Of all the current "slightly shady people doing jobs/conning people" TV series that have infested the US recently (the USA Network seems to show nothing else), this is by far the best and certainly miles better than our own con-related smug-fest Hustle. Also, tons of geek references, including some smashing Doctor Who ones.
4. I really like the sound of this. I'm not a Medical Drama Person in the slightest, but the combination of Janeane Garofalo and John Wells (who usually makes pretty darn good telly) is something I'm not sure I can ignore.
5. I'm continuing to enjoy Goseiger. It's much less slick than Shinkenger, which I think must have guzzled up an awful lot of the Sentai budget at Toei Towers, but it's got real charm to it and I kind of love the characters already. I can't wait for episode three to be subbed. Moune!
6. Finally, I've been listening to an awful lot of Big Finish stuff lately. Alongside the Doctor Who range (of course) I've given The Companion Chronicles a go and absolutely loved The Mahogany Murderers in particular (I'm not the biggest Talons of Weng-Chiang fan to be honest, but I love Jago and Litefoot and spooky Victoriana). I'm currently halfway through Frostfire and digging that immensely, too - it's given me a new appreciation of Vicki, who I didn't really care for either way beforehand but has since compelled me to buy The Time Meddler for more One, Vicki and Steven goodness. I also finally listened to the much-loved Doctor Who and the Pirates and was really impressed, especially by episode three - I adore Jac Rayner's stuff (I'm so excited for her new one, The Suffering). Oh, and I feel I must strongly recommend The Nowhere Place which is a real hidden gem, basically Doctor Who meets Lovecraft and is bloody terrifying with it.
1. Deadwood. Oh god, Deadwood. My distrust of HBO series (a lot of them tend to get vastly over praised by UK TV critics) meant that I put off watching this for quite a while and I'm kicking myself, because this is the most astonishing show. The only way I can best sum it up is "if Shakespeare wrote a sprawling Western saga", and it's not even a Western strictly speaking, it just happens to be set in 1876 in a lawless frontier town. The writing… christ, the writing. I could gush about the frankly stunning writing forever if I wanted to; it's just like absolutely nothing else. The Shakespearean comparisons are the only thing I can think of that does it justice, it's so mesmerising, clever and borderline theatrical. It also boasts one of the finest casts you could ever wish for: Ian McShane, Powers Boothe, Keith Carradine, Dayton Callie, Robin Weigert, Brad Dourif, Molly Parker, Timothy Olyphant, William Sanderson, Garret Dillahunt, Jim Beaver… Yeah. And the characters! Aaahhh gaaaawd, there's too much awesome, I can't even.
So. Combine the writing with an amazing cast all on the absolute top of their game playing incredible and iconic characters with movie-level production values and you've got television platinum. Deadwood is one the best things ever and I could happily watch in for the rest of my life if I wanted. If you can handle the glorious amount of swearing on display and occasional bouts of violence and sexual content, you're in for a show that is unimaginably epic more for the talking rather than the very infrequent action. It's hard to describe, but you'll understand when/if you watch it.
2. And HBO have officially greenlit a full series of A Game of Thrones! Woo! Which means that's another HBO series I'm going to love, unless it goes horrifically wrong somehow.
3. On shinyjenni's recommendation I checked out Leverage and am already dangerously hooked. The characters are basically composed entirely of Awesome, are vaguely eccentric and have utterly fabulous chemistry with each other - I love them all. Plus Christian Kane is in it with his fabulous, magical hair. It's the kind of you show you watch just to see the characters interacting and being awesome, with the jobs they take on each week being the icing on the cake. My only real complaint is the music, and I can easily overlook that. Of all the current "slightly shady people doing jobs/conning people" TV series that have infested the US recently (the USA Network seems to show nothing else), this is by far the best and certainly miles better than our own con-related smug-fest Hustle. Also, tons of geek references, including some smashing Doctor Who ones.
4. I really like the sound of this. I'm not a Medical Drama Person in the slightest, but the combination of Janeane Garofalo and John Wells (who usually makes pretty darn good telly) is something I'm not sure I can ignore.
5. I'm continuing to enjoy Goseiger. It's much less slick than Shinkenger, which I think must have guzzled up an awful lot of the Sentai budget at Toei Towers, but it's got real charm to it and I kind of love the characters already. I can't wait for episode three to be subbed. Moune!
6. Finally, I've been listening to an awful lot of Big Finish stuff lately. Alongside the Doctor Who range (of course) I've given The Companion Chronicles a go and absolutely loved The Mahogany Murderers in particular (I'm not the biggest Talons of Weng-Chiang fan to be honest, but I love Jago and Litefoot and spooky Victoriana). I'm currently halfway through Frostfire and digging that immensely, too - it's given me a new appreciation of Vicki, who I didn't really care for either way beforehand but has since compelled me to buy The Time Meddler for more One, Vicki and Steven goodness. I also finally listened to the much-loved Doctor Who and the Pirates and was really impressed, especially by episode three - I adore Jac Rayner's stuff (I'm so excited for her new one, The Suffering). Oh, and I feel I must strongly recommend The Nowhere Place which is a real hidden gem, basically Doctor Who meets Lovecraft and is bloody terrifying with it.