Michael’s Telly Blog

Gonna rename “Dude …?” to “Michael’s Telly Blog” or maybe “Bored Shitless” – I bet you can do votes with this thing …. bugger it – cba.

So, new seasons and new series are upon us, and about time too! Luckily we’ve had SyFy keeping us sane with such staples as Eureka (off till December now, poo) and Warehouse 13 (Eddie and Joanne get a load of stick, but Scags saves it for me, get my geek on, etc.) and not forgetting newcomer, Haven. Gotta say, I really love Haven, which usually means it’ll get canned, so I hate it, hate it, hate it!

 

This week kicked off with a new season of House. Was an odd episode, but given the last episode, it was either going to be Bobby stepping out of the shower, or a whole season examining a relationship. Guess the writers are too young to remember what a great get out of jail card Dallas offered I’ll leave Two and a Half Men alone – I only download it for my son… honest!

Just caught a few new series’ though – Hawaii Five-O was kinda fun, kinda silly, but at least they managed to avoid Dog the Bounty Hunter whilst shooting it so, they did OK. The Event, looks good, kinda weird, but we like weird so, we’ll wait and see. Chase was great – nice to see Kelli Giddish again – hope making Past Life didn’t totally screw her career up – I liked it, but no-one else AT ALL did, so ….? Lone Star looks good too – be nice to see how it develops. Also caught the pilot of a show called Terriers – started earlier this month, so I’ll need to check for any other episodes – was quite funny, not too over the top – lots of clichés though, ex-cop & ex-alcoholic, immature men, ex-wife. Open verdict till I see more. Not big on US comedy shows, as the phrase itself seems to be an oxymoron, but there have been notable exceptions. Mike and Molly may well be one of them – though King of Queens was thought to have consumed every fat joke possible, some have been resurrected, possibly recycled, possibly via a pooper-scooper. Not that bad really, better than most – so I’ll run with it, see how it pans out.

I’ve not looked at the schedules for any more upcoming new series, it’s on my to-do list, but two shows returned tonight and I’m about to watch them – NCIS and NCIS:Los Angeles – so I’ll sign off now, and report later – maybe I’ll have read the upcoming schedule by then too…. or not.

It’s all coming to an end

By which I mean TV shows.

Just watched the season Finale of CSI: Miami – another season, another cliff-hanger. To be honest, it’s lacking in originality. Last season on CSI:NY they had the drive-by on the bar which the entire team was inside of. I can’t recall exactly but I’m sure it’s happened more than once on Miami too. C’mon – we all read TV Rage/Futon Critic/TV Guide et al – by now we know if a show is returning or not, and it’s hardly likely to come back with just Eric and Horatio is it?

And this morning finds me mourning the passing of an old friend. Yes, 24 has finally finished after 8 glorious seasons (or days). I was surprised they didn’t kill Bauer off – I suppose Fox is thinking Films, just as they did with The X-Files.

You won’t find me mourning the ending of Lost though – ‘cos I don’t watch the piece of shit – but I believe that’s another show that’s ended it’s run (far outliving my expectations).

Last week saw the season finale of one of my favourite shows, Fringe, with a real treat in store for season three. I was also dismayed by news that 2 new medical shows which started this year will not be returning: Miami Medical (for
UK viewers think Casualty on crack!) and Trauma (Casualty on crack driving a helicopter). Trauma was good, well, kinda OK – watchable, but very samey. Miami Medical, however, will be missed. It’s got some great characters, fast paced and lots of shouting “Stat!”, just what every medical drama needs. I wish it could have stayed around but it’s viewing figures have been dropping lower and lower each week. I suppose they’re lining up another reality show or a sitcom about a cat to replace it. Or maybe a loop of a coin on the end of a chain spinning with the voice-over saying “Look” Shiny!!” Anything to keep the US audience watching.

Still, it’s not all doom and gloom. The end of the season means the start of mid-season shows Lie To Me and Leverage – both top quality shows which I’ve been looking forward too for a long time. Lie To Me is especially good, just because Tim Roth is in it – genius casting. Oh and USA network are having another season of White Collar – quite an interesting departure from the usual FBI drama.

So tonight both flavours of NCIS finish. Both the veteran and it’s sibling are scheduled to return (thanks CBS). Wednesday sees the season finales of both Criminal Minds and CSI:NY, both of which are coming back too, only Criminal Minds is expecting! Yes the show being (crappily) called Criminal Minds 2 has been green-lighted – it is due to star Forrest Whittaker, who was in a previous episode of Criminal Minds with his high-tech team, tracking down a serial kidnapper/murderer. I’m quite looking forward to that.

And finally, FlasForward will end on Thursday … for good! ABC – what the f..? Apparently cancelled after the final episode was shot, so there’s little chance of any real tying up of the storyline.

OK, I'll direct you here for a full update of the status of TV. Looking at the list it seems ITV have cancelled The Bill – I’ve not watched it since June and Carver (before he got fat and booze ridden) so no loss for me, I was just surprised it was still running after 26 series. They probably had it tucked away on ITV3 or 4 :P I only watch 2 shows on ITV – Lewis and Midsomer Murders (though with John Nettles set to leave Midsomer, I don’t know if I’ll still be watching).

I just looked at how much I’ve just written, and realised I watch too much TV. Bah, impossible. There’s no such thing

Oh Joy! It’s NCIS Day!

When you’re stuck at home due to illness/disability, as I am, the small things in life get you excited. Having just pushed my 12 year old son out the door too school, I check my TV Rage listings to see what was on last night, and fire up my newsreader to snaffle them from usenet. Illegal? Prolly. Necessary? Oh yes!
And oh what a treat! NCIS, NCIS:LA, Southland and the much-waited-for return of FlashForward (though I note with dismay it’s only a special, not a proper episode. Prolly a catch-up since it’s been off since before Christmas).
<---- Look! It’s Ziva!!!
So, Whilst I wait for NewsbinPro to do it’s thing, I thought I’d update this to brag about it :)
Can’t be too smug though – I have to go out later to Harwood for my ‘script and some food, since the cupboard is pretty bare indeed.

Boring

Well, bored I suppose. No one reads this bloody thing anyway, but I am bored. Stayed up all day (with the odd power nap) in an attempt to turn my day around – got to be at Hope Hospital on Monday morning to see the MS specialist, so desperately need to get the sleep all day browse all night thing sorted. As luck woul have it, It’s almost midnight and I can’t sleep, exhausted as I am. I’ve watched all my telly stuff from the week (24, CSI x3 flavours, NCIS x 2 flavours, House, Criminal Minds, White Collar, Human Target & Southland), plus the documentary stuff like Ghost Hunters and MonsterQuest. I’ve filled time playing various Hidden Object games – about the only gaming I can do with one hand. I’ve surfed, tweeted and blogged, read email, replied, caught up with my RSS subscriptions, fed the cat, fed the hamster, showed the hamster to the cat, got bollocked. I’m bored.

This is my cat,

and this is the hamster.
See. Bored. ttfn