Believe the hype! Lost really is a great show. I know, I was skeptical as well, but we devoured the entire first season as quickly as possible, and now find ourselves impatiently waiting for people to return season two to the video store.
I don't want to give too much away, not that anything is concluded by the end of season one, but you will just have to trust me and watch because we can't wait to discuss the numbers, the Others, the Hatch, and Sawyer hotness.
George Smiley, from several beloved miniseries and movies based on John LaCarre's novels, is a favorite character in our home. A Murder of Quality is a murder mystery which is accessible and light compared to the dark, tangled spy intrigue Smiley usually finds himself embroiled in.
Of course there is still murder, the murder of teacher at a boy's school to be exact, and Smiley has been called in as a favor to a former intelligence officer and friend.
Denholm Elliott does a good job as Smiley (especially since he has to follow in the incredibly tough footsteps of Alec Guinness), and a very young and adorable Christian Bale also appears.
Summer is for reruns and nothing is more rerun than CSI. Well, ok, Law and Order would probably win, but trust me, after years of watching L&O (because it was the only thing on all the time), CSI is better.
I know that supposedly everyone and their mother already watches it, so why am I recommending it? Because most people I know don't watch and I promise those people it is good, entertaining, easy, lazy TV viewing. But I do not recommend CSI Miami I repeat, I do Not recommend CSI Miami.
We've been watching X Files reruns lately and my God! When this show was good it was really, really, really good. Of course, I am not speaking of all the three million parters and I don't even consider Doggett at all, but the one offs about monsters – there is no better tv.
Foxy Mulder is the last word in sarcastic, moody, and quirky funny leading men, and who doesn't love a little Scully skepticism?
My only qualm is that a lot of the best ones are rarely in syndication, I may just have to run out and rent a few to get my fix.
Perhaps the hardest sell to a non-dorks is Neverwhere, a BBC production of the Neil Gaiman book. It is terribly dated than even more than its age as far as overall look and effects quality and with its sometimes amateurish acting and directing is extremely nerdy.
Just take the character pictured – the The Marquis De Carabas, a flamboyant mercenary of “London Below” who must help a girl against rhyming assassins. “London Below” is where the action takes place, a fantastical and rather gothy alternate universe underneath London.
If this all sounds a bit too much, I thought so at first too. In fact I was scoffing at the low quality and nearly turned it off, it was almost too nerdy even for me, but I gave it a chance and am really glad I did, because it is imaginative and one great ride once you give in to it.
A perfect companion piece to this week's movie pick. Watch I'm Alan Partridge first to get more inside jokes in the movie. You've seen Steve Coogan here before (in the brilliant Paul and Pauline Calf's Video Diaries) and this series is just as stupendous and even better when it hits.
Coogan plays a washed up tv talk host/ current early morning dj who is living as the only guest in a motel as he tries to get his life and career back together.
The character is complex, pathetic, and downright hilarious. Guest appearances are great (look for the Day Today/Brass Eye's Chris Morris) and the supporting cast are wonderful.
The Coogan catalogue is worth buying PAL format equipment for. The best episode is Basic Alan, I've watched it numerous times and still laugh.
Sci-fi finally acquires a genuinely original, extremely funny series, and what do they do? They practically hide it. Darkplace originally aired on the BBC where it deservedly gained a cult following. I was a devoted fan after viewing only one episode.
Garth Marenghi's Darkplace revolves around Garth Marenghi, a cheesy horror novelist of the 80s and 90s who produced a cheap and badly done horror tv show in the 80's which is only being viewed now. The acting is abysmally excellent, the editing is off, the writing is goofy, the special effects are cheap, bloody and gory and over all it is hilarious.
Yes, it is a faux bad show, but the look and feel are so dead-on that it could fool you if it didn't go over the top. And when it goes over the top, it really goes over the top (aka people explode etc…), which has some laugh out loud where you can hardly breath results. Please watch it!!!!
I don't want it to get canceled because sci-fi spent all their money on Eureka ads. And if my opinion can't sway you watch this video.
To say The Thick of It is like a British Office, only about government might be fairly accurate, but it seems unfair to the creators, espcially Armando Iannucci, whose fabulously waggish show The Day Today feature faux-verite segments that predate the Office and seemed to have been an inspiration for Ricky Gervais.
It may take a couple viewings to get into the show, the accents are thick and the government set up is slightly different from our own, except for the fact that it is crookedly run by people who don't seem to know what they are doing.
I would love to see an American version, perhaps about Albany's mess, but in today's political climate, I will not be holding my breath. A brilliant comedy that deserves a following.
It is fair to say that PeeWee's Playhouse is the best children's program period. Never has there been a world created on television so over the top fantastic and totally engrossing.
I loved the Penny segment, and the King of Cartoons, and Miss Yvonne, and the animated food in the fridge. I love all of it, really.
My whole family would watch and I am pretty sure there are some Pterri, Chairy, and PeeWee dolls lying about our house still.
With the show's abrupt end at the hand of Mr. Reubens and an unforgiving society, I am glad to say it started reairing on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim on July 10.
Ahead of its time in every way, the show even gave Laurence Fishburne a chance before the Matrix.
Now, I was not a head banger growing up, I dated some, feared some, and would bang my head in what must have looked like the most misguided and awkward display at a junior high dance I can imagine – except of course for getting a boner during the slow dances.
That said, I would still tentatively watch Headbanger's Ball now and then and be completely secretly mesmerized by Rachtman's interviews with big names in metal at the time while being openly obsessed with 120 Minutes.
A new Ball was revived a decade later, but, I don't know, maybe I'm too old, but I can't manage to care about the new breed of rocker, Slipknot and Mudvayne don't work for me.
Also as a side note: Other metal-themed shows The Osbournes and Super Group deserve a nod. Both are worth checking out for outrageous behavior (see this week's hunk).