Am I having a crabby week, I wonder to myself?

Criminal Minds 3.1: Every year, I try this, just to see why everyone's watching it. Every year, I still fail to comprehend why anyone would bother to surrender an hour to it, let alone an hour each week. It's formulaic, tries to be smart while simultaneously being really dumb, and it has appalling acting. This episode was no different, although I have to admit the way they wrote out Mandy Patinkin was quite gutsy. Might watch it next week just to see what Joe Mantegna's like as his replacement.

Flight of the Conchords 1.1: It's been hyped to hell, so I thought I'd tune in and see what the hype was all about. It's mildly amusing and the idea of including songs in it was slightly novel, but it's really just The Office with New Zealand singer-slackers. Again, I might watch this next week, to see if it gets better. Does it anyone? And does anyone else like it?

Shark 2.1: Despite being the worst of the new legal shows last year, it's the only one that's survived. But again, it's so formulaic, I don't understand why. It's the kind of show that bears no resemblance to reality, and explores every cliché in the book and then some. We have new characters introduced in the tried and tested manner (show them to be a bit of a maverick, set up a false conflict, then have everyone came round together and be friends by the end), and we have format changes to ensure that dramatic events have no effect. Plus James Woods is almost friendly, so the show's lost any of the House-ian charm it might have aspired to.

Highlander: The Source: If anyone ever threatens to show this to you, stab out your own eyes so you'll never have to. Absolutely appalling. Makes Highlander 2 look like a work of art. A few trace vestiges of good ideas in there, but so badly executed they're swamped out of existence.

Bionic Woman: I've already reviewed the pilot. This revamped version was quite a bit better, so it might be worth sticking with. Most of the flaws are still there, though.

Oh well.

Over the weekend, I should be posting reviews of the season openers for Smallville, My Name is Earl and CSI, as well as the first episodes of Dirty, Sexy Money, Big Shots and Whistleblowers. I've seen them, it's just a question of finding the time...

UPDATE: Criminal Minds copped out! Plus still no Joe Mantegna. Don't tell me I'm going to have to watch another episode.

In the US: Thursdays, 8/7c, The CW
In the UK: On E4 and ITV2 at undertermined points in the future

Characters re-cast: 0
Major characters gotten rid of: Ooh, that would be telling
Major new characters: 1
Format change percentage: 0%
Number of superheros present: 3

Magic reset button? Where are you magic reset button?

What do you mean there isn't one? That's not right. This is Smallville. Every season ends with a massive cliffhanger, in which all the major characters are enperiled, Clark's secret is revealed to everyone, etc. Then by the end of the first episode of the next season, everything's back to normal again.

Actually, there is a mini reset button. After all, at least two characters died at the end of last season, so we couldn't just leave them like that. You know: dead n'all. But apart from the necessary resurrections, not everything went back to the exact same place it was at the end of season six. Now that's amazing.

Continue reading "Review: Smallville 7.1"

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In the US: Thursdays, 8/7c, NBC
In the UK: Channel 4, some time in the year 2357 at this rate

Characters re-cast: 0
Major characters gotten rid of: 0
Major new characters: A prison full
Format change percentage: 25%
Number of shanks made: 1

Ooh, this is tricky. How to review this without giving the game away for UK viewers, who are still trundling through season two.

Can't. Sorry. Don't read further than this point if you've not seen the finale for season two.

Continue reading "Review: My Name is Earl 3.1"

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In the US: Thursdays, 9pm et/pt, CBS
Characters re-cast: 0
Major characters gotten rid of: Ooh, that would be telling
Major new characters: 0
Format change percentage: 90% (for one episode only)
Number of contracts up: 1

CSI starts its eight season somewhat atypically - with an episode pretty much devoid of forensic science. Instead, it starts with the hunt for Sara Sidle, last seen trapped under a car thanks to the strange obsessions of the Miniature Killer (that's not a tiny murderer, BTW). Where she is and whether she's alive are the two mysteries that need clearing up.

Shows that have female characters kidnapped to increase tension are always treading a tricky path. Will they be weakening the characters by making them victims? Or will they fail to suggest any kind of peril by making the character too strong?

CSI manages to deal with this thorny problem reasonably well. Although it does go through most of the dramatic tricks you'd expect of an episode like this - the false discovery, etc - it still manages to leave Sara looking relatively strong during her ordeal while simultaneously creating a throbbing sense of menace, claustrophobia and desperation.

Continue reading "Review: CSI 8.1"

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In the US: Fridays, 10pm et/pt, CBS
In the UK: One of the ITVs at a point determined by some stochastic process

Characters re-cast: 0
Major characters gotten rid of: -1
Major new characters: 0
Format change percentage: 0%
Beards grown: 2

What a difference a decent director and script make. As I have remarked before, Numb3rs is often quite a formulaic show. When it's good, it's very good; but most of the time, it's just average - not utterly dumb, just mundane and unsurprising.

This season opener carries on directly, in terms of plot rather than chronologically, from the third season's finale, in which Dylon Bruno's hardcore ex-army FBI agent was revealed to be an agent for the Chinese. It was surprisingly surprising for Numb3rs, not least because it was written by the usually rubbish Ken Sanzel.

Although it soon becomes clear that yes, a magic reset button will probably reverse that one innovation the show has produced, the episode does have two even more surprising surprises: firstly, Ken Sanzel can write really good scripts - he's even getting the hang of this maths thing to the extent that it's actually relevant, rather than slammed in with a crowbar; secondly, exec producer Tony Scott, who's been sitting on his hands doing not much to earn that title for three seasons, has finally gotten off his backside to direct this episode, the first time he's directed an episode of a television show.

In true Tony Scott style, he's brought along one of his favourite actors, Val Kilmer, who's busily resurrecting his acting career after a long time in the wilderness. Before even a minute's gone by, it's clear that whatever you think of Scott as a film director with his somewhat bombastic style, as a television director he's really first rate. Taken together, the script and direction turn this Numb3rs episode in something pretty good.

Continue reading "Review: Numb3rs 4.1"

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Just got an email from The Peter Serafinowicz Show's PR.

Episode 1 of The Peter Serafinowicz Show is being premiered on myspace, on the Thursdays are Funny profile page www.myspace.com/bbc2comedy from Monday 1st October. It will be shown online in three parts, but with a few sketches held back so as not to spoil the show on Thursday!

The myspace profile has some Vivienne Vyle clips also as well as a few extra Peter Serafinowicz clips.

So there you go. Tune in to the show online from tomorrow, because it looks more than a little bit promising.

Eerie Sapphire and Steel-y picture, hey?

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