FlashForward S01E19 - Course Correction "Promo"
Cada vez estoy más enganchado a FF. Ya no le busco fallos y solo me siento a disfrutarla.
Live Every Week Like it's Shark Week - The Wit & Wisdom of Tracy Jordan
To celebrate the glorious return of 30 Rock to UK TV screens for a 4th season I decided it was time for TV or not TV to honour the genius of possibly the greatest comic character on TV right now.Tracy Morgan is nothing short of brilliant just being himself, but as 30 Rock’s delusional, unhinged Tracy Jordan (essentially a caricature of himself) he takes bizarre, non-sequitars to a whole new plain.
Rightly, Tina Fey and Alec Baldwin receive massive plaudits for 30 Rock, but somewhat surprisingly, Morgan and the character of Jordan are often overlooked when the praise is doled out. I can’t begin to stress how wrong that is because every time Tracy is on screen you know that the laughs are going to come quicker than Michael Jackson at the Home Alone premiere.
Tracy Jordan is renowned for his brilliant and always insane one liners on the show, but just which of this manic genius’ zingers are his best? Below are ten of my favourite from the show’s first three seasons.
I’ve seen some similar online entries that try and explain/justify why these lines are so awesome, but I’m not going to do that, because quite frankly if you need why these are funny explaining, you really shouldn’t be reading this blog.
Enjoy:
10. “Black people, don't vote! Just don't do it! In the time that it takes you to vote, you could play three games of pool. Three! Now that's fresh!”
9. “I wished for you to get better. I was gonna wish for breakfast in bed with Robocop while an elephant paints us.”
8. “…Have you ever been to Knuckle Beach? It’s a different world! A world where Orange Soda is an acceptable substitute for breast milk.”
7. “Affirmative action was designed to keep women and minorities in competition with each other to distract us while white dudes inject AIDS into our chicken nuggets.”
6. (To Jerry Seinfeld) “…Me and this dude used to do stand up together. Remember that night we had the three-way with Elayne Boosler?”
Seinfeld: (deadpans) “I don’t think that was me.”
5. “…I believe that vampires are the world's greatest golfers but their curse is they never get a chance to prove it…”
4. "Friendship and trust in the entourage is the most important thing. Like that HBO show… John Adams."
3. “I need a loan to finance my Thomas Jefferson movie. It’s gonna be at least $30 million with all the Claymation sex scenes in it.”
2. "I watched Boston Legal 9 times before I realized it wasn't a new Star Trek."
1. “I was supposed to be in that movie Rush Hour, but 2 weeks into shooting, I was replaced… by Jackie Chan”
30 Rock Season 4 is airing Mondays @ 10pm and 10.30pm on Comedy Central.
Other Musings:
- I was pleasantly surprised to stumble upon the fact that Bravo are airing White Collar on these shores last week.
As I hunted for Sons of Anarchy’s air date (Wednesdays @ 10pm) I saw that Bravo had picked up White Collar, a show that I very much liked the look of when I was Stateside last year. It says a lot for how TV channels in the UK promote
their shows that had I not been searching for something else I would have been oblivious to the fact that a show that I very much wanted to see had been nabbed by one of our channels.I won’t get into the sorry state of British TV again though, but what I will say is that White Collar proved my instincts were right – this should be a fine addition to the weekly TV schedules – kind of Number5 meets Catch Me if You Can with wit and charm in abundance.
Coupled with Sons (White Collar goes out Wednesdays @ 9pm) Bravo has possibly the greatest two hours of TV of the week on its hands.
- Speaking of Sons of Anarchy, Wednesday's season opener had the potential to be an anti-climax after nearly a year's wait for the show to return, but it didn't let me down one little bit.
I'd read about the rape scene at the end of the episode, and whilst prepared for it although it wasn't as graphic as I expected it still seriously disturbed me and stuck with me for a while after the show finished.
- It was nice to see Five scaremongering for all it was worth on Wednesday night. No sooner had the flight ban because of that pesky volcanic ash been lifted and Five were there with a scare tactics documentary about a previous bout of volcanic ash that had caused planes problems mid-air.
Good to see this shameless network attempting to cash in on the misery of thousands of Brits. And let’s not forget all their friends and family sat at home worrying about how, and even if, their loved ones would get home, it was so nice of Five to put something on that night that could take their minds off the chaos going on around the world… Oh wait…
- Thursday evening saw the second live Election Debate go out, this time on Sky News, who didn’t see fit to turn off their impossibly annoying news ticker at any point during the debate.
I think I covered the debate to death last week so I won’t dwell on this week’s effort too much, but it was definitely a lot feistier this time around and Brown & Cameron now obvioulsy sense Clegg as a real threat following the reaction he got after the previous debate.
Whatever you think about politics, and a lot of people obviously find it boring as shit - given that half the viewers from the previous week deserted the broadcast this week (to be fair that could have more to do with the channel it aired on) you can’t deny that these debates have definitely spiced things up a bit and I for one can’t wait for Thursday’s final debate, if for no other reason than to laugh at some of the great Twitter updates from the likes of Armando Iannucci, Charlie Brooker and Will Smith (no, not that one.)
- Recently I’ve been somewhat critical of Channel 4’s Horse Racing coverage, but after spending five days watching At the Races’ coverage of the Punchestown Festival I’ll never complain about C4 ever again.
The digital channel’s coverage from Ireland was nothing short of dreadful – missing key incidents, God awful camera angles, splitting the screen on big races with inconsequential races from other tracks and not paying attention to the pagentary at the start of races are just a few of my gripes from last week.
I get the fact that ATR are trying to effectively bring a bookies shop into your home for the laptop generation of gamblers, but when they have the rights to a big Festival such as Punchestown you’d think they’d treat it with slightly more respect than they do the average week day meeting from any number of courses in the UK, especially given the advances in red button technology and online broadcasting.
Their broadcasting decisions really were baffling and made them look even more small time than their lack of big track coverage already does. Punshestown is one of the channel’s big selling points and they treated it like an afterthought.
- On a happier Horse Racing note, this Saturday the 2010 Flat Season gets under way in earnest with the first Classic: The 2000 Guineas.
At the end of last year’s Flat Season I watched a Horse called St. Nicholas Abbey give a performance that still gives me a boner when I watch it in the Racing Post Trophy and like many people I immediatley declared we’d seen the winner of the 2010 Derby.
Fast forward 6 months and St. Nic is heading the market for Saturday’s Guineas at ridiculously short odds and I’m on board. I honestly can’t see anything even getting close to him.
The only concern would be if a more unexposed Horse has developed into a World beater over the Winter but from what I’ve seen thus far this season from his rivals on Saturday, if St. Nic has developed even a little bit more since we last saw him, then Newmarket could see a cake walk come 3.05 on Saturday afternoon.
24 Day 8 Death Counter:
Hour 17
NB. Samir Mehran technically died during this hour at the hands of Novakovich’s assassin. His death however was included last week and wrongly attributed to Jack Bauer, which will be reflected in this week’s update.
Old Man in office – stabbed by Novakovich’s assassin.
Renee Walker – shot and killed by Novakovich’s assassin.
Episode Death Total = 2 (Samir’s death was included last week)
Cumulative Season Death Total = 81
(Ongoing) Jack Bauer Kills (JBK) Total = 21
Personaje Sexy Femenino Tv favorito (Lista 1)
Esta encuesta ya la hice hace tiempo, pero ahora es mucho más extensa, hay respuestas para dar y vender, por lo que va a ser en varias entregas, 6 en total, donde haremos la gran final con los resultados de éstas. Hay para escoger y seguro que faltan, creo que habrá más de un problema, xD. A ver que tal sale y...1 voto por día.
Persons Unknown - Season 1
Estreno 7 Junio. Ya la tengo marcada en el calendario. Por lo menos tenemos historias nuevas y originales, y no del típico detective con compañera que resuelve casos porque es el mejor detective del mundo.
Heroes...Volumen 6?
Esto es lo que sabemos hasta ahora de Heroes:
NBC still has a couple major titles on the bubble for renewal -- namely "Chuck" and "Heroes" -- but sources indicate both will probably return, with "Heroes" likely receiving a 13-episode "final season" order.
"It is all yet to be debated," Bromstad said. "Both of those shows make sense with the new shows we'll be bringing on."
Apparently NBC says they want both Chuck and Heroes back but nothing confirmed.
Yo creo que necesitaría una temporada para despedirla, ya que el final del Vol 5 no me disgustó.
FlashForward S01E18 - GoodBye Yellow Brick Road "Promo"
Esto se pone interesante, marcamos la fecha 2016 y damos la bienvenida a nuestro Doctor más chalado, James Callis se une al reparto de FF. 5 capítulos restantes para el final y para su posible continuidad.
True Blood - Mini Episodes "Promo"
6 Mini episodios para ir calentando para la 3ª temporada. Bautizados como “A Drop of True Blood”, la miniserie constará de seis episodios y prometen “More blood y More story”, a partir del 2 de Mayo hasta el comienzo de la nueva temporada. Serán imagenes nuevas que no se verán en la 3ª.
Con ganas de nueva sangre fresca, porque soy un fiel seguidor de esta saga.
Lost S06E14 - The Candidate "Promo"
He llegado a la conclusión que tenemos que olvidar las respuestas, creo que solo eran para atraer fans, y ver lo que significa esta 6ª temmporada por ella misma sola. Creo que esta 6ª va a aparte de las anteriores. La cosa se está poniendo interesante, igualmente que la de los flashsideways donde se ve claramente que se juntarán todos para volver to the Island.
Parón de 1 semana y nos vemos con el Candidato de Jacob.
24 S08E19 "Promo"
Otro capitulazo de 24, y ya van unos cuantos en esta temporada, floja para muchos. No se necesita acción si te ponen capítulos como el 19. Tener a Jack Bauer descontrolado con la ayuda de 0 gente, incluida la no ayuda de Chloe, puede ser muy grande y en estos 6 últimos capítulos puede pasar de todo. Creo que 24 se despedirá a lo grande, como tiene que ser para una serie perfecta como pienso que es.
Did You Know that Nick Clegg is from Sheffield...?
Last Thursday saw history made in UK politics as we took a leaf out of our Trans-Atlantic brethren’s book and held the first televised election debate between the three main party leaders.In the blue corner: Conservative leader David Cameron, in the yellow corner: Liberal Democrats leader Nick Clegg and in the, judging by his tie, pink corner: Labour leader Gordon Brown.
Who would win over the British public, who would fail spectacularly and who, if anyone, would make a Joe Biden-esque gaffe? These were just some of the questions posed by the media leading up to Thursday night’s event.
It’s taken me a little longer than anticipated but here is my reaction to what I saw live on Thursday night:
Some shitty 1970’s graphics began the show succeeding in making an historic event that, much like Ron Burgundy, is “kind of a big deal” look cheap and small time less than a minute in – as always ITV: way to go.
On the plus side though, at least Fearne Cotton wasn’t hosting and there was no ‘Debate Extra’ after the show on ITV2 with Ben Shepherd.
As things began I thought Cameron looked the most nervous, but given that he is often billed as being this charismatic orator, effectively Brown’s antithesis, he had the most to lose really.
Nick Clegg on the other hand looked positively excited and why would he not? He had by far the most to gain from this. If he did well it would boost the chances of a party that in all honesty was only there to make up the numbers; and if he stunk up the joint then so what? Nothing lost.
As proceedings began I got the feeling this was being rigged in an American Idol/X Factor kind of way with the producer’s favourite getting to go on last and leave the lasting impression, and the also-rans trotted out first to be easily forgotten, so hence Clegg got to present his opening gambit first, followed by Brown and lastly Cameron.
There was nothing too controversial in those opening statements, so Alastair Stewart quickly ushered in the first question, covering the emotive subject of immigration.
Immigration up first, who picked the running order – The Daily Mail…?
It was about this time I noticed that Gordon Brown looked dead, not metaphorically - he literally looked like a corpse. I don’t know if it was the make-up or the lack therefore of, or whether that’s just how he looks, but the camera is definitely not this man’s friend.
I’d tuned into the debate after watching an episode of True Blood and Brown honestly looked like he would have been more at home there. Whoever was responsible for sending Brown out there with that ‘just out of the coffin’ look, wearing a pink tie no less needs firing; like our embattled PM isn’t finding it hard enough to win over the public without scaring children pre-watershed.
Brown’s corpse like exterior though fits in well with his cold and abrupt personality. Within minutes of the main body of the debate kicking off I had all three leaders pegged: Brown has the warmth of a Polar Bear scrotum, Cameron is like a teacher who wants to be mates with his pupils – friendly, but in a really creepy way, and then there’s poor Nick Clegg: he’s like that girl you like but you know you can never get.
Things all began far too civil and organised, I was expecting arguing, name-calling and PMQ’s style heckling but sadly we had none of that.
My first chuckle came at Gordon Brown’s immigration ideas, which were something along the lines of, and I’m only paraphrasing slightly here:
“We’re a tolerant country… but immigrants can fuck off”
Then we had Cameron doing his best Tinie Tempah impression with his obscure city visits: “I was in Plymouth”. Yes, but have you have ever been to Scunthorpe Mr. Cameron? And more importantly, do you have so many clothes you have to keep some at your Aunt’s house?
Emphasis was placed on stricter border controls during this portion of the debate, but surely we already have those: getting through airport security now is one check short of a rectal exam.
I was absolutely loving the leaders’ anecdotes about who they’d been speaking to on their baby-kissing tours – “I was in… with…”
It made me wonder how many of these were genuine and how many had just been made-up, perhaps they drew them out of a hat backstage: “I was in… oh, a Thai Massage Parlour, with… ooh, Avram Grant… actually maybe I should draw again…”
In spite of the fact he only spoke in sound bites for this first section of the debate I could tell Clegg was off to a good start, and to be fair to the guy: he needed to speak in sound bites, because after these debates everyone will go back to complete ambivalence to the Lib Dems, so why not make the most of his 15 minutes.
Next we moved on to Law & Order thanks to a question from a woman from my home town of Burnley.
In the question, the woman managed to reinforce the majority of the rest of the country’s view of Burnley, which is that if you were to give England an enema you’d stick the hose in Burnley. The highest burglary rate in the country, thanks for that love.
I quite enjoyed the fact that she also managed to reinforce the uneducated stereotype as well by reading her two sentence question of a cue card.
All three of the leaders were referring back to the questioners by their first names, which I enjoyed. I can just imagine the press officer backstage thinking that would make them come across better- well it didn’t, it felt coordinated and false and made all three of them look even smarmier, which in Cameron’s case is quite an achievement.
Nick Clegg was really winning me over by this point and had mentioned that he was from Sheffield, which being the ignorant fool that I am: I was unaware of. If I found out Clegg was a Wednesday fan I may just kiss him – I bet he’s a Piggy though.
The main point to take note of up until this juncture was how utterly oblivious to Clegg, Brown & Cameron were. The big two were far more concerned with attacking each other – I bet that won’t be the case this Thursday…
It was about this time that Cameron coined the phrase “College of crime”, which is an Adam Sandler movie waiting to happen.
I was yelling at the TV though when he was telling that story about the man who’d had his flat robbed 5 times and had asked: “why can’t this stop?” I have a retort for that poor man: “why don’t you move, dickhead?” How many burglaries does it take before you decide maybe this isn’t the property for you…?
Amid some bizarre camera angles and movements at this point, I was convinced one of the sudden jolts was one of the cameramen nodding off; Gordon Brown came out with a couple of zingers.
He was laughing it up and bee-bopping and scatting all over the place, I doubt he’ll be laughing when he gets turfed out of number 10, but you’ve got to hand it to him, his: “you can’t airbrush your policies even if you do airbrush your posters” line to Cameron was inspired. I just wonder how long he’d been sitting on it waiting to use it.
Next up was expenses and it was nice to see someone else having to read the question off a card to remember 2 sentences, proving its not just people from Burnley who are morons.
Cameron emphasised his delusional side at this juncture with the phrase “value for money”. If there was ever a phrase that was irrelevant to politics then that was it. The only people worse value for money than politicians are premiership footballers.
I noticed the little countdown monitors they had at the foot of the stage during this portion of the debate and although I’m assuming they were there to let whomever was speaking know how much time was left, it got me thinking how much more interesting the debate would have been had each of them received an electric shock if they ran over.
Or even better, if they’d been played off by music like at awards shows if they went long. Actually the whole evening could have been spiced up slightly by just having the three of them fight to the death instead – I bet that would have bumped up viewing figures by at least a million… But if they wanted those Britain’s Got Talent numbers, they at least needed a dancing dog.Brown constantly saying he agreed with Clegg was slightly disturbing and made me wonder what he was up to – at least Clegg seemed to find the PM’s ass-kissing amusing rather than flattering.
As each contestant, sorry, leader scribbled away at their notes I realised this was a missed opportunity, they could have had a little table-cam like they do in Texas Hold ‘Em so we could see what they were writing. I bet at some point when Brown was talking that either Clegg or Cameron wrote ‘Brown is a twat’… probably Cameron.
Speaking of Gordon Brown, I’d never really noticed his eye before Thursday night. Once I did though, I couldn’t not look at it when he was on camera, and by the end of the night it was really starting to freak me out.
Has there ever been a less photogenic leader than Gordon Brown?
As we moved onto education they actually trotted out a high school student who didn’t even look old enough to vote to ask the question.
He used the phrase “under taught and over examined” in his question – under taught was right: the dude could barley speak.
As the audience looked on with what I can only describe as utter disdain, Cameron stepped up the war imagery by using the phrase “front line” for about the fifteenth time.
Brown then spat out this pearl: “every school needs to be a good school” – you want to come to Burnley mate; because we had good schools, then you closed them all and opened new ones which are all now just about in special measures.
I kept waiting for the inevitable ad break but it never came, I’m surprised ITV didn’t go bankrupt.
As a “Quango” was mentioned for the fifth or sixth time I began to get bored – why didn’t Stewart make them define what that was? Am I to assume that the public are expected to know? Because I studied politics and even I couldn’t remember what it stands for… It’s no wonder people aren’t interested.
Nick Clegg was really flying by this point but I just couldn’t get past the fact that Brown was rocking a pink tie. Seriously who told him to wear that!?
As talk moved on to the dreaded deficit, Brown revealed himself to be a Seinfeld fan by using the expression “double dip recession” a couple of times. It’s a shame Brown is actually more incompetent than that other famous double dipper George Costanza though.
In case you missed the debate, let me sum up very basically what came out of about twenty minutes on the deficit: the economy is fucked and none of them have any idea what to do about it so they’re just going to try and baffle you with numbers.
Actually that’s not true, Brown has an idea: “let’s spend our way out of debt!” and was it just me or did Cameron actually refer to Mothercare as a “big business” at one point? Microsoft, Apple, Santander – big businesses. Mothercare: not so much.
Moving on to the military gave all three of our subjects the chance to play the patriotic card and suck up to the troops.
Clegg then revealed that he wants to scrap our missile defence system, which I’ve got to admit was his first major misstep of the night for me. His argument for this was that we don’t need it anymore, we’ll see if he still feels that way when one of the psychos who run North Korea or Iran finally decide to fire on us.
Did anyone else cringe when Brown brought up writing to the parents of dead soldiers? Ixnay on the itingwray Gord. It did make me wonder though if rather than a pen for his notes, Brown had his patented big crayon.
What city are you from again Clegg I think I forgot for a second…? Oh that’s right…
The more he mentioned that he was from Sheffield, the more I started to doubt it – being Northern doesn’t make you a man of the people Nick – just look across the stage.
90 minutes without some sort of snack break was too long for these schmucks, I imagine the majority of people were bored by this point and were starting to flick over to Pineapple Dance Studios.
Brown gave me another laugh with this line: “the Taliban changed tactics”. He said it as if they weren’t playing fair - it’s the Taliban what does he fucking expect. Imagine during Vietnam if Kennedy or Johnson had said “the VC don’t fight fair”, although to be fair Ford probably did say something along those lines.
Health care was up next and I’m glad the three leaders all at least pretended to understand the question, because I couldn’t tell a word the woman asking it said – “wisions”? At least she didn’t need a cue card to remember it though.
About this point, there was a very nice lingering camera shot of the most interesting part of David Cameron’s body: the back of his head.
Burnley got a second mention during the health care discussion, thankfully not emphasising what a dump it is second time around, just that the A & E department has been closed.
I think this is the most mentions Burnley has had on national TV since the race riots.
I don’t remember hearing about Clegg being here though, as per his story, so that’s how important he was considered before this debate. I had to laugh at his revisionist geography mind you: Blackburn 25 miles away? Maybe if you go via Bolton Cleggy.
Apparently members of the SNP and Plaid Cymru were angry at being excluded from this debate which is fair enough really, where were the other parties? I would’ve loved to have seen Griffin up there with his melted face getting booed every time he spoke.
Grimmest stat of the night alert: the UK has a “worse cancer death rate than Bulgaria”. Fuck me, that’s depressing.
Old people? What a bizarre topic to end on.
As the guy from Accrington slurred his way through the last question I remembered the debate was being broadcast from Manchester, which kind of explained why a quarter of the questions had been read out by people from East Lancashire, something that had struck me as kind of odd for a national debate.
Seriously, old people? Is this really that big of an issue? Surely the other stuff is more in need of consensus.
The audience looked so bored by this point – I bet they’d have enjoyed it more had it been filmed in 3-D. Imagine Cameron leering over you in 3 frightening dimensions.
What other way could they end, this being ITV and all – than with a Jerry
Springer final thought.So I guess we now know what Clegg had been scribbling down all night – everyone’s names. Nice work though.
At least Brown’s realistic - if X Factor had been on no one would have been watching… Diana Vickers for Prime Minister!
A million digital spy readers just got a boner reading that comment - did you know that every time some says the words Diana & Vickers a digital spy reader ejaculates?
Even in his closing argument Brown was going after Cameron. He really needs to spend less time worrying about Cameron and more time worrying about the colossal mess of the country he’s made.
Cameron was featured in the pimp spot again but a big well done to ITV for over-running, because as I was watching on a slight delay my fucking Sky+ cut out in the middle of Cameron’s final thought.
All in all, a very interesting night’s viewing. It did get a bit sleepy in parts but even if it only convinces a handful of extra people to vote then it will have been worth it, sadly though I feel it may actually have the opposite effect.
The overall winner has to be Nick Clegg and while I’m not quite yet jumping on the Clegg bandwagon, if he continues to perform like that in these debates it could at least add a third horse to the race.
The scariest statistic to come out of the aftermath of the debate though?
Just under 10 million tuned in to watch, yet roughly twice that figure watched The X Factor and Britain’s Got Talent finals last year.
Says it all really doesn’t it?
The next Leaders’ Debate airs on Sky News this Thursday @ 8pm
Other Musings:
- I caught a teaser trailer for the return of the undisputed greatest show on TV: Sons of Anarchy this week.
We might be almost 6 months behind the U.S., but the wait will undoubtedly be worth it – kudos to Bravo for sticking with this awesome show and giving it at least some slight cross-channel promotion.
But how annoying is it when you have waited this long for a show to return and the teaser merely states ‘coming soon’?
How fucking soon!? I can’t even find out online when they are going to air it. It just strikes me as dumb: someone might have seen the same teaser I saw and thought “I’ll watch that”, but if they can’t make a note of when it’s on then they’ll likely just forget about it.
And that frustrates me, because everyone should see this brilliant piece of television.
24 Day 8 Death Counter:
Hour 16
- Jim + another red shirt CTU guard – shot by Dana Walsh as she tried to make her escape.
- x2 of Samir’s men – taken out by Cole Ortiz and a CTU sniper
- x1 of Samir’s men – shot and killed by Jack Bauer (JBK)
- Female terrorist – shot by Renee Walker.
- x2 of Samir’s men – shot and killed by Jack Bauer (JBK x2)
- Samir Mehran – shot by Jack Bauer (JBK)
- President Hassan – throat slit previously by Samir Mehran (I knew something bad was going to happen, it was too early on in the season for a happy resolution – it was still pretty shocking though)
Episode Death Total = 10
Cumulative Season Death Total = 79
(Ongoing) Jack Bauer Kills (JBK) Total = 22
TV Moment of the Week:
- Comes from 30 Rock’s glorious return for a fourth season on Comedy Central, and who else could it have been than the unparalleled genius that is Tracy Jordan…
“A book hasn't caused me this much trouble since Where's Waldo went to that barber pole factory…”
In the spirit of which, check in next week for a Tracy Jordan special as I countdown ten of his best ever lines from the show.
FlashForward S01E17 - The Garden Of Forking Paths "Promo"
Con ganas de ver como acaba esta temporada, que según los actores nos soprenderá. Debo ser de los únicos que la sigue, me entretiene y los capítulos se me hacen cortos, peores cosas se han hecho.
Con Lindelof y Cuse
Estoy segurísimo que esa luz solar que tapa los protagonistas de los que estan centrados los últimos capítulos de Lost está más que preparado. No se diferencian muy bien el 13, 14 y 15. Arriba podemos observar un papel con el tiempo cronológico y en la pizarra se peuden ver los nombres de los personajes de esta 6ª temporada. Gran foto, si señor!
Damages S03E13 - Season Finale "Promo"
Se acaba Damages y con una temporada de sobresaliente. La trama ha sido llevada de manera ejemplar, los personjes lo han bordado y los engaños han sido de lo mejor. No sabemos si tendremos series finale o season finale. Lo que si sabemos es que tiene muy mala pinta que continúe, pero bueno, unas se van y otras pueden renovar como V, que cosas más injustas.
National Treasure
Saturday saw history being made: at the fifteenth attempt the greatest National Hunt jockey of all time, AP McCoy, finally won the World’s greatest steeplechase – The Grand National.As you have probably gathered from my past musings and rants about Horse Racing, over the past few years I have developed an, at times, unhealthy obsession with the sport; The Grand National therefore has become almost like my FA Cup final.
So on Saturday, I awoke with the excitement of a child at Christmas and headed straight out, my hair still looking like I’d been zapped with a cattle prod, to get a Racing Post and bed in for one of the greatest sporting and TV spectacles there is.
The BBC’s coverage of the whole day, while not perfect, really embarrassed Channel 4’s recent lazy attempts at Racing coverage. As grateful as I am that C4 bring regular coverage to us (something the BBC does not do) I am growing increasingly concerned that their virtual monopoly on mainstream Racing coverage is causing them to grow lackadaisical.
But that’s another story for another time.
The BBC’s coverage on Saturday was brilliant, catering not just to the millions of casual viewers who will have tuned in Saturday and won’t tune in again for another 365 days, but also to genuine fans of the sport.
There was great archival footage from races past, lovely features on those involved in the race and some nice interviews and guests.
The production, from the camera angles to the commentary had that big day feel to it; and all things combined, the BBC (who I’m by no means a huge fan of) helped to really elevate the epic feel of Saturday afternoon.
The supporting card had some great races on it – I had a nice win in the first on the very impressive Peddlers Cross. The Walsh/Nicholls juggernaut showed no signs of stopping as Tataniano hosed up in the second and Champion Hurdle 2nd Khyber Kim went one better in the third, a hurdles race that proved that Zaynar could be the Horse to finally challenge Big Buck’s in the staying hurdle stakes next season.
Sadly that third race also featured a crushing fall from Celestial Halo, the mount of that man Ruby Walsh. It was a terrible looking fall and I was amazed to see the horse jump straight back up from it. Unfortunately the jockey wasn’t so lucky, and the man that was due to ride Grand National favourite Big Fella Thanks suffered a broken arm and was stretchered off the course.
It was a shame to see Ruby not able to take his ride in the big race, but he’ll be back and better than ever in no time.
On to the National then, and as I helped my other half pick a couple of bets for the race on Friday night – I broke down some of the ‘stories’ that there were in the race to her: Dream Alliance’s fairytale story that could soon be a Hollywood film, Nina Carberry’s quest to become the first female jockey to win the race, Mon Mome bidding to secure the first back to back successes in the race since the mighty Red Rum… and Tony McCoy looking to finally break his National duck on his fifteenth attempt…
My fancy for the race had carried over from last year in the shape of Black Apalachi.
Running the field ragged last year while cruising round, Black Apalachi had, unfortunately for me (who had tipped the Horse to anyone who would listen) unseated jockey Denis O’Reagan at Becher’s Brook on the second circuit.
As the race began Saturday and some of the lesser Horses crashed out early on, I got a nasty sense of de javu as Black Apalachi jumped his way into a comfortable lead.
It was all looking good as Becher’s loomed up for the second time, clearing it without a hiccup this year I actually started to think he could win it and then I heard two words from the commentator that made me realise the writing was on the wall: “Tony McCoy”.
Those ominous yellow and green hoops could be seen creeping into the picture as the leading pack headed for home, even a mistake at the 26th couldn’t slow McCoy’s mount Don’t Push It down.
So it came down to Black Apalachi, Don’t Push It, Hello Bud and the favourite, now ridden by Barry Geraghty, Big Fella Thanks. Black Apalachi wasn’t going to roll over and die though and although I was already resigned to either McCoy or Geraghty picking him off at any minute, with every stag like leap Black Apalachi looked every bit the winner.
Brushing through the 28th looked like his undoing as the other three all made up ground, but O’Reagan rousted him along and he regained his place in front. Hello Bud soon looked beaten and Big Fella Thanks seemed to suddenly go backwards leaving McCoy and me to do battle once again.
The number of times Tony McCoy has been the bane of my existence doesn’t even bear thinking about and he once again swooped in to snatch my joy away as he managed to push his Horse that little bit harder and go on to win by a few lengths in the end.
That mistake three out could well have been the difference between first and second for Black Apalachi, but deep down I think this was always going to be McCoy’s day with the Grand National gods finally smiling down on him.
It took me a couple of minutes to get over the sour taste of second but I soon came round to being happy for McCoy, as he gave a magnificently humble and emotional interview after the race.
He thoroughly deserved this win and continues to be a fantastic ambassador for this sport, it’s impossible not to like him, even when he’s screwing you out of money.
This was probably the greatest renewal of the Grand National I’ve had the pleasure of watching (and I’ve had the winner twice in the previous four years) and it was just a fantastic day in general.
A few of the other highlights included:
A brilliant interview with legendary trainer Ginger McCain, who was absolutely hilarious. He managed to swear on live TV on a lunchtime broadcast, call his son a pillock and basically call modern jockeys soft. But it was all done tongue in cheek from a man who lived and breathed this sport – it is characters like McCain that make Horse Racing so very special.
Richard Pitman also managed another great interview on Saturday afternoon, but this one was great for different reasons entirely to the McCain one. His interview of ex-wife Jenny was a master class in discomfort but still relayed some wonderful anecdotes.
Elsewhere this great quip from the legend that is Richard Dunwoody had me in stitches – (Re: the Horse ‘Flintoff’) “He looks a little switched off… a bit like his owner…”
Speaking of Flintoff, if you ever needed an example of the stupidity of the Great British public then Saturday was it. In a ridiculously overlong interview Clare Balding conducted with Peter Kay, Balding asked Kay who he was backing in the National, Kay responded Flintoff and alluded to the fact he’d had some sort of inside information.
Within minutes the price of the Horse plummeted and it ended up going off one of the best backed horses in the race. Shame it ran to form and was last nearly all the way round until pulling up on the second circuit.
I honestly believe Peter Kay could go on TV and tell people to light themselves on fire and they would. Utter lunacy.
Kay was about as unfunny as usual during his interview – even referring to the jockeys as “Borrowers” at one point – because they’re small, get it? In fact I’m sure I’ve heard him use that crack before, well this is Peter Kay I suppose, his entire routine is about ten years out of date.
Up to Saturday the Aintree Festival had been a parade of peroxide, perma-tanned Scouse flesh which thankfully was kept to a minimum on Saturday but why Racing broadcasts feel the need to play up to the stereotype of the opposing spectrums of hen/stag dos and moneybags yuppies is beyond me.
So a few minor quibbles with a fantastic TV and sporting event, which ultimately belonged to Tony McCoy. If he can’t get a Sports Personality of the Year nomination this year then there’s no hope for a Racing personality ever getting the nod.
Check the archives for last year’s 'The Real McCoy' article for more on that travesty.
One final point of interest on Saturday’s Grand National and Tony McCoy – as the champ left Aintree he was on the phone to his Mum and Dad back in Ireland, no doubt beaming with pride when he was pulled by cops for using his mobile at the wheel.
I know it’s an awful stereotype but it doesn’t make it any less true – surely there was worse crime occurring in Liverpool on a Saturday evening than one of Britain’s greatest sportsmen using his phone while driving in the aftermath of probably his greatest ever achievement.
Maybe those cops had backed Black Apalachi too…
Another Musing:
- Last Monday night Fox aired back to back episodes of 24 in the States, yet for some inane reason Sky1 have limited us to the regular airing one episode per week meaning we are now two weeks behind the Americans.
In this day and age it’s hard enough to avoid spoilers, but when we are only a few days behind a la Lost it can be achieved but there is no earthly way now that a show of this nature which fans know is now in its twilight can be avoided online.
Sky1 better have something up their sleeve to catch UK viewers up before the finale airs in the States in a few weeks time… but I wouldn’t back on it. After all this is the same channel that seems to have just removed Modern Family completely from its schedule in favour of Pineapple fucking Dance Studios.
Speaking of 24…
24 Day 8 Death Counter:
Hour 15
- Tarin Faroush – committed suicide by driving his 4x4 off the roof of a multi level car park.
Episode Death Total = 1
Cumulative Season Death Total = 69
(Ongoing) Jack Bauer Kills (JBK) Total = 18
Check in next week as I cast an eye over the first televised election debate.
Lost S06E13 - The Last Recruit "Promo"
Creo que la verdadera temporada 6ª de Lost comenzó la semana pasada, y el capítulo de esta semana lo ha confirmado, igualmente que la promo del siguiente. Del 1 al 10 me han parecido relleno de temporada, sé que han ido explicando todo para llegar hasta ahora, pero estos dos últimos capítulo me han puesto otra vez en el camino de Lost.
¿Y quién no va a querer a Hugo? aunque Desmond es de lo mejor que ha pasado por la serie. Empieza la recta final de Lost.
Pero no todo ha sido de mi agrado, me refiero a lo de Ilana, ¿tanto royo para esto? o sabremos más de ella próximamente? esperemos que sí. Porque digo yo, ¿cómo te entrenas para proteger a un candidato?
¿Y quién no va a querer a Hugo? aunque Desmond es de lo mejor que ha pasado por la serie. Empieza la recta final de Lost.
Pero no todo ha sido de mi agrado, me refiero a lo de Ilana, ¿tanto royo para esto? o sabremos más de ella próximamente? esperemos que sí. Porque digo yo, ¿cómo te entrenas para proteger a un candidato?
24 S08E18 "Promo"
Es la única serie que puede hacer lo que hace, porque lo hace a la perfección, y me refiero al final del capítulo 8x17. Esto es 24 señores. Bauer's Revenge: Mode On. Tic, Tac.
24....Tic Tac
24 de Mayo tengo marcadísimo el adiós de 24, la mejor serie de acción de todos los tiempos, con uno de los mejores personajes televisivos que jamás he visto, que cerrará sus puertas tras 8 temporadas a un alto nivel y con lo que mejor sabe hacer, entrenerte durante 24 episodios. Tic...Tac, Mr Bauer.
Treme - Season 1 "Promo"
Mañana estreno, leeremos comentarios y decidiremos su visionado. Primero hay que acabar todo lo atrasado para meterse con algo nuevo, que no por mucho mirar se disfruta más.
FlashForward S01E16 - The Garden of Forking Paths "Promo"
Me sigue entreteniendo, he visto cosas peores, y acabaré la temporada, porque por lo menos tiene giros de guión que otras no tienen.
Lost - Mejores episodios
Love Bites - Sinking my Teeth in to True Blood
The second season of Southern vampire yarn True Blood is currently in full swing on FX in the UK and season 3 is just around the corner for HBO viewers in the States. With that in mind now seemed like the perfect time for me to sink my teeth (geddit?) into a show that although I initially sang the praises of I’ve been somewhat quiet on since.True Blood caught me by surprise if I’m honest – given the current pop culture fascination with vampires I expected this to be another soppy cheese-fest with moody looking vampires kissing each other a la Twilight. So imagine my surprise when, due to the hype from across the pond, I tuned into the first episode and discovered a dark, twisted, dirty and razor sharp show that pushes the envelope and offers a new twist on the standard vampire tales we are used to.
As good as season 1 was though, thus far, season 2 is on track to be even better.
Why? Well, unlike some shows that jump ahead months or even years between seasons, True Blood picked up season 2 immediately where season 1 ended and there was no quick resolution to the cliff-hanger and then a time jump. The story continued chronologically from where it left off which meant there was no introducing new viewers to the characters no setting up new characters – just straight into juicy storylines and it worked very well indeed.
We already know these characters and how they think and act, so now after a season consisting of a rather large amount of exposition and foreshadowing we are cracking on to some big story arcs and it makes for one hell of a show.
The main thing that had me excited for season 2 before it even began was the promise of Vampire sheriff Eric Northam getting more involved in things which meant more of the brilliant and ice-cool Alexander Skarsgard.
And on this front, I’ve not been disappointed – Eric has featured prominently in every episode thus far and the prospect of getting some back-story and further insight into this great character has me eagerly anticipating each new episode.
Elsewhere, Bill has really grown on me this season – has he always had a sense of humour and have I just missed it or is this a new direction for season 2? Because so far Bill has come out with some cracking one liners and witticisms and it has really warmed me up to him as the major male star of the show. Although anything would have been better than him just growling “Sookie” in a Southern drawl as he seemed to spend most of season 1 doing.I’m also enjoying the stuff with Jason at the cult, sorry, church. Although I am struggling to get past the church leader who is supposed to be some sort of revolutionary anti-vampire leader, but I can’t shake him as Amanda Bynes’ geeky boyfriend in the dire What I Like About You.
Speaking of which, another casting choice that always makes me laugh is whenever Eric’s bodyguard/associate Chow makes an appearance, given that he’s played by Coach Ken Tanaka off Glee who I can’t forgive for his Accafellas performance of I Wanna Sex You Up.
The eclectic casting works well for the show though, given that it’s set in a town full of weird and wonderful characters.
Also having a good season are Bill’s new progeny Jessica who is nowhere near as annoying as I expected and Chris Bauer (Frank Sobotka off The Wire) as drunken Detective Andy Bellefleur.
The only thing for me that is letting season 2 down so far is the extensive time that is being spent focusing on Marianne and her dealings with Sam and Tara et al.
As much as I like Michelle Forbes, every time they throw to a scene with this character my hand hovers dangerously close to the fast forward button. I’m sure as we go on that there will be more clues as to her intentions etc. but at the moment I don’t really have any reason to care about what she has planned for the Bon Temps residents.
If this leads to something meaningful for Sam and/or Tara (who especially has been kind of just there since all the stuff with her Mum got put on the back burner) then I will be happy, but if this is just some sort of dumb sub-plot then it could leave a very sour taste when brilliant established characters like Lafayette seem to be being edged out to the peripheries somewhat.
Don’t get me wrong though, that is only a minor gripe on what thus far has been a resounding success of a season for True Blood’s sophomore year.
The show seems to making great strides in establishing itself as one of the must see shows on TV right now irrespective of its rather ‘in’ right now subject matter. This show is so much more than a vampire love story and anyone who compares it to Twilight really needs some sort of psyche evaluation. If Twilight took a cocktail of Viagra, Speed and Southern Comfort it wouldn’t even come close to being as hot, sweaty and twisted as True Blood.
Factor in all the juicy segregation subtext and the racism, if that’s the right word, issue of humans and vampires, and you have a show that’s not only cool, captivating and fresh but also very, very relevant.
A great cast (a staple of any HBO show), wonderfully observed characters and a warped sense of dark humour make this one of the quirkiest mainstream shows currently airing.
True Blood has achieved popularity on both sides of the Atlantic, although its success on these shores has to be attributed to the current vampire craze that is sweeping the globe, because under normal circumstances I find it hard to believe that a show such as this would gain such a strong following with UK audiences.
There’ll be people out there who conversely are put off by the fact that True Blood is billed, often quite wrongly, as being a show about vampires; and that’s a crying shame because you also have shape-shifters, telepaths and maenads, as well as gay drug dealers, shell-shocked war veterans and a whole host of some seriously creepy townsfolk.
I understand that in advertising shows often have to be pigeon-holed, but more often than not it hurts the show more than helps it. True Blood has suffered that fate and right now while hormonal tweens who don’t know any better continue to eat up that Twilight horse shit, it is working in this show’s favour. But I just hope that when the next flavour of the week comes along and those only watching for the subject matter desert the show that the real fans can get behind the show enough to keep it on the air until it has run its course, which right now seems an awful long way off, because at the moment True Blood has never been hotter.
True Blood – Season 2 airs Fridays @ 10pm on FX in the UK. Season 3 will being shortly on HBO in the US.
Other Musings:
- Jonathan Creek returned to our screens over the Easter weekend for one of those increasingly rare but always welcome one-off specials.
I won’t get into the plot which was as ridiculously implausible and convoluted as ever but for the most part this was 90+ minutes of the BBC at its best.
Creek has always been that rare breed of gothic storytelling with a great British sense of humour underlying it and with Alan Davies in the title role the show has always dealt out the laughs in equal doses with the intrigue and scares.
This special suffered slightly from feeling like it had been heavily cut to get an hour and a half’s running time and I still don’t particularly like Sheridan Smith as Jonathan’s new ‘partner’ but that said: nothing would please me more than to see the show return for a full season.
For now though I’ll make do with these randomly scheduled but always delicious specials of what I like to call “the best episode of Scooby Doo ever.”
- No air date has been announced for this country yet, but I’m chomping at the bit to get a viewing of FX’s new show Justified.
This network is on fire right now, with the likes of Rescue Me and Sons of Anarchy and I have very high hopes for this Timothy Olyphant starrer that gives me Sons vibes and has had rave reviews for its short run Stateside so far.
- The writers of Lost must be avid TV or nor TV readers because no sooner had I complained about the lack of Desmond on Lost, everyone’s favourite Scotsman made his (not so) triumphant return.
What Widmore wants with his potential son-in-law is anyone’s guess but a series that has been nothing short of brilliant this season can how only get even better with Desmond Hume back in the mix.
- This Saturday it is the World’s greatest Horse race The Grand National.
Now any regular readers will know that my Horse Racing tipping skills leave a lot to be desired (which is probably why I didn’t get that job with Timeform…) Although to be fair, if you’d followed my tips during Cheltenham you may have actually made a profit as I threw up a couple of good each way shouts.
Irrespective of my lack of tipping flair, as has become tradition I wanted to give a couple of tips for the big race, but when you consider last year’s 100-1 winner you’d probably have a better shot of picking a winner by sticking a pin in your Racing Post.
I’m sticking with Black Apalachi this year, he almost did me so proud last year, really stretching the field and looking every bit the winner until he unseated on the second circuit.
Under more weight this year and with his trainer openly saying that last year was probably his year to win it, his chance may have fallen with his jockey last year, but loyal to the end I’m sticking with him.
Elsewhere, there are plenty more runners I like the look of this year: former winner and last year’s runner up Comply or Die jumped like a dream during his prep race at Cheltenham and should go well again.
Snowy Morning is another Horse with race form and I fancy him to run a big race along with another race stalwart: Cloudy Lane who is a great each way shout at about 50-1.
Others to look out for are: Black Apalachi’s stable companion Vic Venturi and the lightly weighted pair The Package and Irish Raptor – who should go well providing he doesn’t fall.
But all that said, knowing my luck, something at 500-1 will probably go and win!
TV Moment of the Week:
From Friday’s Daily Show –
Jon Stewart: (RE: John Oliver feeling homesick) Is there anything I can do make you feel more at home?
John Oliver: Can I drunkenly head butt you until I shatter your nose?
Genius.
24 Day 8 Death Counter:
Hour 14
- Nabeel – shot during the gunfight with General Brucker’s commandos
- x2 Secret Service Agents – shot during the gunfight with General Brucker’s commandos
- President Hassan’s other Security Detail member - shot during the gunfight with General Brucker’s commandos
- x2 Secret Service Agents - shot during the gunfight with General Brucker’s commandos
- x2 Brucker’s commandos – shot by Secret Service Agent Molly O’Connor
- x2 Secret Service Agents - shot during the gunfight with General Brucker’s commandos
- Molly O’Connor – [assumed] although her death wasn’t shown on screen it is assumed that O’Connor met her fate at the hands of the commandos as well, given the fact she headed straight towards them in the tunnel and the commandos soon caught up to Jack, Hassan et al seemingly unharmed.
- x6 Brucker’s commandos – (JBK) shot and killed by Jack Bauer during the gunfight
- x1 Brucker’s commandos – shot and killed by President Hassan
Episode Death Total = 18
Cumulative Season Death Total = 68
(Ongoing) Jack Bauer Kills (JBK) Total = 18
Damages S03E12 - You Were His Little Monkey "Promo"
Es que los guionistas de Damages son unos cracks! Parece una temporada lenta pero con esta serie me lo paso genial, porque está todo tan bien montado, y te engañan tan fácilmente que da gusto. Aunque todo parece que la temporada que viene no podremos seguir con ella, la cancelación está en la cuerda floja si no se llega a una cuerco con DirecTv.
24 S08E17 "Promo"
Cuando el reloj no suena, a parte de 1 cosa, también se refiere a capitulazo, y así ha sido esta ración doble de 24. Ahora no tenemos ni idea de como continuará la historia pero seguro que lo hará como hasta ahora.
LOST S06E12 - Everybody Loves Hugo "Promo"
Por fin un capítulo bueno de Lost, el primero para mí, donde se dicen algunas cosas. Han tenido que venir Faraday con sus paranoias y Desmond con sus desmayos para contar unas cuantas cositas y claras.
Parece que la bomba hizo su efecto y Juliet tenía razón, funcionó y se cambio el futuro de los losties. Ahora veremos que quiere contarles Desmond y si los volveremos a ver de retorno a la Isla. Y se agradece, me suena raro decirlo, que no salgan ni Jacob, ni AntiJacob, porque estos capítulos son esencia Lost.
IRIS
Me he movido de continente, dar un aire nuevo al tema seriéfilo, y creo que he dado en el clavo con esta serie. IRIS, serie made in Corea, declarada como la serie más cara de esta república con un presupuesto de 20 millones.
Se podría decir que es una 24 a la coreana, acción, humor, buena música, buenas interpretaciones (elenco estelar coreano), bonitos paisajes y localizaciones (Europa, Usa, Corea o Japón), intriga, suspense y lo mejor sería los cliffhanger de cada capítulo que te dejan con ganas de más. Capítulos de 1 hora que para nada se hacen largos y con un total de 20, con una película por estrenar, una 2ª temporada prevista para el 2011 y un Spin-Off de ésta.
Solamente he visto 10/20 capítulos y ya la tengo en mi lista de series preferidas, porque no todo es USA amigos. Creo que este será el comienzo de un nuevo mundo seriéfilo por descubrir.
Actualización: Vista la 1ª temporada tengo que decir que el nivel de adicción de esta serie es muy alto. Recomendación total, para pasar unas muy buenas 20 horas, donde en nada tiene que reprochar a las millonarias series americanas. Creo que se va a mi top 10 de series, ya que, con un argumento sencillo, bien realizado y intepretado, sin cromas, ni efectos, rodado mejor dicho a la vieja usanza, y encima serie de este tipo con drama, se agradece, te hace pasar unos buenos momentos y te mentiene en vilo durante cada capítulo. Seguro que tiene fallos, pero para qué buscarlos sino para de entretenerte. Con el WTF del último episodio (con el del 4º irás servido) está todo dicho. Nos vemos en la Season 2 pero antes pasaremos por IRIS: The Movie y Athena: The Goddess of War.
Nota: 10/10
Este drama es la historia de unos agentes especiales que dedican su vida entera a la misión de impedir una segunda guerra de Corea en el marco de esta dinámica regional. A través de un entrenamiento agotador, han llegado a no temer a la muerte y no sentir ninguna culpa por la muerte. Se mueven mediante ordenes y van a todas con el solo fin de completar su misión.
The Second (and Final) Annual Bill Buchanan Memorial 24 Mid-Season Review
I awoke Saturday morning to discover that the long rumoured cancellation of 24 had finally been confirmed by Fox’s trigger happy execs.Now unlike some shows that Fox seems to almost joyously cancel, the timing does actually seem right for Jack Bauer to finally hang up his Jack Sack; after all, before this season began it was widely considered by many to be the last anyway.
The plan for this week was always to do a mid-season review, given that we have now just passed the half way mark in the UK, but the news of 24’s official end has made this post seem all the more apt.
I don’t want to dwell too much on 24’s cancellation, but I can’t not touch on it at all.
I never thought I would get to a point where hearing about this show’s cancellation would be greeted by ambivalence but that is what happened, I was almost relieved; I was genuinely more upset when Shasta McNasty got shitcanned.
Very few television shows maintain utter brilliance for the entirety of their run, and 24 was no exception; the show has seen a steady decline in quality over its last few seasons and it pains me to say it but it has gotten to a point where it has become a shadow of its former self.
The decline in quality hasn’t been as obvious as say, a Prison Break and to the casual viewer, 24 probably still seems like one of the most white-knuckle, high octane thrill rides (and all those other clichés) on TV; but to the diehard fans, the magic of those first few brilliant years has now long gone.
I’ll get on to this current eighth season, which will hopefully end the show on the high it deserves to go out on, in a minute, but first I just want to make one thing perfectly clear…
24 has been my favourite TV show now for the best part of a decade and no other show has brought me more joy, and at times, I’ll admit: frustration, than this cultural phenomenon. And looking back at the TV or not TV archives, no show has provided me with more material, good and bad, for this blog either!
So thanks for the memories 24, it’s been one hell of a ride. Let’s just hope that this eighth and now final season of the show can give Jack et al the magnificent send-off they richly deserve…
…But about that…
Season 8 was always going to be fighting a losing battle with me over the shocking decision not to have Tony Almeida as part of it (although, I still hold out hope this could be a ruse and he will eventually return) but all personal bias and feelings aside, thus far, apart from a few classic moments and performances season 8 has been somewhat of a disappointment.It genuinely feels like the writers have run out of ideas, this year we seem to have had just about every plot line from seasons past recycled – mole at CTU, EMP going off, nuclear materials on US soil, evil Russians, evil middle Eastern terrorists, presidential assassination plot… the list goes on.
There hasn’t really been much of a change in my thoughts since the piece I posted after just four episodes, but as of episode 13 I’ll categorise the good, the bad and the ugly of season 8:
Freddie Prinze Jnr. has been such a surprise as Cole, I never in a million years thought I’d buy this guy as a bad ass but he’s been a pretty convincing partner to Jack thus far and I was pleased to see him get away from the stupid Dana subplot (more on that later), although he will inevitably be dragged back in eventually.
Hastings has also grown on me over the course of the season thus far, but his character seems to have been done in various guises a million times before: the by the books CTU chief who starts the day as an asshole but eventually comes round to Jack’s way of thinking and before you know it is breaking every rule and protocol in the book.
I also like Arlo as a peripheral character, much as I enjoyed Sean Hillinger last season (before he was revealed as the mole and then vanished without an explanation) as that wise-ass geek that always seems to occupy CTU (or the FBI) – We miss you Milo…
The rest of the new characters though: I’m struggling to warm up to, even now over half way in.
As for the old guard: well Jack is just Jack and has been as awesome as always; now I might have slagged off Chloe in my previous post but she has since turned me back around and I’m glad she’s still involved – she’s become almost as 24 as Jack by now.
Seeing her with gun in hand evoked (good) memories of seasons past and her care and concern for Jack is always a touching reminder of their somewhat bizarre friendship.
Renee though, I was never a fan of and I still can’t bring myself to root for her, I don’t know what it is, maybe it’s just me, because other fans of the show seem to like her, but I just can’t bring myself to care. I was pleased when she disappeared for the last few episodes but now she is back and they are seemingly intent on turning her into the female Jack Bauer, so she’s no doubt still to play a big role in the remainder of the season.
Other good points so far this season have been Callum Keith Rennie’s brilliant guest arc as deranged Russian mobster Vladimir Laitanan, which was the undoubted highlight thus far.
Jack’s ridiculous superhuman moment of pulling a knife out of his own torso and throwing it into a bad guy’s throat also sticks in the memory.
And Anil Kapoor’s hair and accent are just about two of the weirdest things I’ve ever seen/heard… but in a good way.
I also liked the albeit brief development of poor little Agent Owen who went from looking like he had about one episode in him to proving himself to be a nice little supporting character who on more than one occasion showed some surprising balls… Okay, those balls eventually got him killed but at least he died a hero rather than a coward.
But the bad, sadly, at this point has far out-weighed the good, the majority of which is down to anything involving the Cougar in the room Dana Walsh (or whatever her name is).
24 has always required the viewer to suspend disbelief pretty much completely – the real time concept that they seemed keen to adhere to during the first season has since been almost completely abandoned – see Jack getting from Queens to Manhattan in the space of about 2 minutes if you need evidence.
But what they have asked of us this year with this Dana storyline is just too much. Are we honestly supposed to believe that this woman wouldn’t have been vetted within an inch of her life before she was given this job?
Given CTU’s history of moles and double agents you would think it would be almost impossible to get a job with them if you’re history didn’t check out; but it genuinely seems that there screening process is (channelling my inner Arnie here) “when can you start…?”
Every season it seems there is a bad guy within CTU and yes I appreciate it adds to the tension and the drama but it needs to be believable – in these remaining 11 episodes they have to address how Dana managed to fabricate this life and how the hell this girl from Hicksville managed to get ties to the IRK, otherwise it’s just sloppy writing. A show like this needs to be watertight in terms of plot holes but there have been more gaping holes in this season than Briana Loves Jenna.
I know that each time the writers put a mole inside CTU that they are doing their best to recapture the Nina twist of season 1 but that’s just never going to happen. The Nina double crossed worked so well because they had painstakingly built up our trust in her over the entire season – she didn’t just betray Jack and Tony… she betrayed all of us.
But now, we’re so desensitised by these moles at CTU it just doesn’t shock anymore; plus we already had no trust in Dana because we know her life is built on lies, so when it was revealed she was in league with the terrorists this past week it was more just a shrug of the shoulders than a jaw on the floor moment.
One thing I’ll give the Dana twist is that at least she’s a bad guy that’s at least been built up somewhat. This season’s bad guys have dropped like flies so far and each time they are replaced by the next on the conveyor belt, who you think is going to be the season’s big bad, they are unceremoniously killed/captured a couple of episodes later.
First we had Davros who would have made a good villain had he not been killed after four episodes – but this one was acceptable as the general rule since the four hour premieres were introduced has been that they are almost a self-contained story, with the real threat then emerging just after.
Then it looked as though Farhad was going to be the villain, which I have to admit I wasn’t thrilled about, but at least we had reason to hate him and knew what he wanted. Farhad’s dealings with the Bazhaevs had potential and any one of them could have gone on to be a good villain but no, they criminally wasted talented actors like Jurgen Prochnow and David Anders and have instead seemingly gone with generic terrorist number 1: Samir as the season’s main villain.
When Tarin predictably was revealed to be on the dark side I had hoped that he would take up a leadership position with the terrorists but he seems to be nothing more than Samir’s bitch and has had a couple of moments since switching allegiance that have convinced me that he will eventually flip back and gain some final reel redemption.
To save these last ten episodes they really need to bring in an ultimate villain with some charisma because Samir is about the least compelling bad guy the show has ever seen. Who is he? What does he want? Why is he doing this? Do we know a single thing about him? His introduction and transformation to main threat has been dreadful storytelling; we’ve had plenty of episodes since he assumed command of the villains to establish some sort of back-story and make us care, but thus far we’ve had nothing.
My personal hope is that President Hassan turns out to be behind all this, but I think that’s too much of a long shot now, so all we can hope is that they introduce someone else in the next couple of episodes, who at least has a modicum of charisma and seems like they might be a match for Jack Bauer.
Elsewhere, Hassan’s family continue to annoy the hell out of me – could his wife come across as any more of a cold-hearted bitch if she tried? I suppose if your husband had been screwing around with a US reporter who, in a matter of hours, he has now conveniently forgotten about, you’d be cold too – but still.
And his daughter is just about the most naïve character this show has ever seen, and let’s not forget that Kim went into Drama off Entourage’s fall out shelter in season 2.
Here’s hoping one, or ideally both, of these two will get smoked before the day is out.
There’s been a disappointing lack of White House action recently as well, although it usually serves as more of an unwelcome interruption to Bauer’s latest bout of badassery I would far rather see a White House subplot with established characters like President Taylor, Ethan and slimy new recruit Weiss than tedious B plots involving the likes of the Hassans and Dana/Jenny.
24 has eleven episodes left to turn this now final season into a memorable farewell for Jack Bauer, which given the fact that most of the episodes were probably filmed before the cancellation announcement was made I don’t have much hope for them achieving.
But even if 24’s swansong doesn’t quite hit those dizzying heights of season 1 – 4 and to a lesser extent 5 & 7 (6 just plain sucked) then we have almost ten years of great memories and moments to look back on.
We’ll miss you Jack…
Search #24, #Best24Moments & #Worst24Moments on twitter for a selection of both laugh out loud funny and emotional memories, thoughts and opinions that I’ve been contributing to on this unparalleled show’s storied history.
24’s 8th (and final) season airs Sundays @ 9pm on Sky 1 in the UK and Mondays on Fox in the US
Speaking of 24…
24 Day 8 Death CounterHour 13
x1 Terrorist – shot by Jack Bauer (JBK)
x1 Terrorist – shot by Cole Ortiz
Agent King – shot by terrorist
Agent Owen – shot by terrorist
x2 Terrorists – shot by Jack Bauer (JBK x2)
Ali – shot by Renee Walker
x1 Terrorist – shot by Renee Walker
Bill Prady – garrotted by Dana Walsh
Episode Death Total = 9
Cumulative Season Death Total = 50
(Ongoing) Jack Bauer Kills (JBK) Total = 12
Other Musings:
- This past week’s episode of Lost was just as great as the rest of this season has been. For my money this is the best show on TV at the moment, it’s going to be a real shame to see it end, but unlike 24 at least it will go out at its peak.
Some people have been calling Ab Aeterno one of the best episodes ever and I can’t argue with that; Nestor Carbonell was fucking awesome and acted everyone around him off the screen this week. That said though it was great seeing Titus Weliver back as The Man in Black as opposed to Terry O’Quinn playing him, because Weliver just might be the coolest actor ever.
My only gripe with Lost at the moment is where the hell is Desmond? I’m sure we’ll get some resolution for one of the best characters on the show but given that he’s listed as a main cast member he’s been severely lacking in presence since the season opener.
- House meanwhile is really starting to stink of desperation as viewers continue to desert the cantankerous M.D.
That’s two ‘special’ episodes we’ve had now in the space of about five – first we had the Wilson dedicated episode before the mid-season break and now Cuddy gets the same treatment.
Now although I stomached the Wilson episode because I like the character, this Cuddy episode was just plain crap. I really didn’t need to see an episode devoted to Cuddy, at all.
Even through association they’ve managed to ruin a potentially great character like Lucas and waste the talents of a great actor like Michael Weston, reducing him to nothing more than Cuddy’s bitch – she isn’t that hot.
David Shore and the crew need to quickly get back to what made this show such an international force in the first place: Gregory House. Yes, the supporting players are important but this is House’s show (as the title suggests) and the fans want to see the Machiavellian protagonist feature prominently not his lacklustre love interest.
- Praise needs to go out to Comedy Central for getting the fourth season of the majestic 30 Rock on to UK screens so soon after premiering the third season.
I know we’re still way behind the US, but in light of the speed it took to get previous seasons on UK screens: this is practically Mach 2; and this at least means I won’t have to shell out for a Region 1 DVD for season 4 just to be able to see it this decade.
Even though they insist on peddling gash like Dirty, Sexy, Funny and Grouchy Young Men, Comedy Central have proven here that they know how to use possibly the greatest comedy on television now they have it in their ranks – take note Channel Five, you twats.
- Before Cheltenham I sung the praises of Channel 4 Racing and their excellent coverage, but perhaps I spoke too soon because they managed to both frustrate and disappoint with their much-hyped coverage from Meydan of the richest race in Horse Racing: The Dubai World Cup at the weekend.
With the feature race going to a photo finish and no result yet announced, they inexplicably ended their coverage just as a cheer could be heard ringing out around the course – who won? Well unless you had access to Sky Sports or At the Races you would have had no way of knowing.
This was the worst piece of live sports broadcasting since ITV went to ads in extra time and missed the Everton goal in the FA Cup game against Plymouth last season.
I’m not blaming the Racing team because I’m sure if they could’ve they would’ve stayed with the coverage longer (another 30 seconds was all that was needed). This is no doubt Channel 4 ushering off the Racing coverage to make way for a Come Dine With Me REPEAT, not a new episode a fucking repeat, which they clearly desperately needed to show.
Props to The Media Blog though for picking up my drunken tweet on Saturday evening on this very topic:
And profanity was on display elsewhere: "Channel 4's coverage of the Dubai World Cup was fucking disgraceful."
Check out the full article featuring some more profane tweets on the subject here:
http://themediablog.typepad.com/the-media-blog/2010/03/dubai-world-cup-channel-4-come-dine-1923270310.html