sons-ofanarchyseason4: June 2010

"Happy Birthday Bitches"

One of the highlights of the last few episodes of the 4th season of 30 Rock for me were the cutaway scenes featuring the ‘cancelled’ NBC show-within-a show Bitch Hunter, starring Will Ferrell as Shane Hunter, the titular hunter of the show.

On the two occasions clips of Bitch Hunter aired I was nearly in tears with laughter. Could anyone other than Will Ferrell have been so loud, over-the-top and brilliant for this joke!?

I’m begging NBC, Ferrell, Tina Fey or someone behind 30 Rock to bring the Bitch Hunter back next season or even better to give him his own genuine spin-off.

Don’t agree? Watch these two clips after the jump and tell me you wouldn’t watch this show if it were to get commissioned…

"Put the Mimosas down... Bitch!"

"Word to Johnny Drama"

Eminem will appear in the season finale of the seventh season of Entourage – a show he references on his new album Recovery, which in spite of not really blowing me away at first has grown on me rapidly.

Obviously a fan of the show, Eminem is quite a booking for a show famed for its guest appearances. He will appear in the finale alongside one of his former rivals: Christina Aguilera.

Unlike, Christina, Eminem won’t be performing on the show, but will rather be throwing a bash to celebrate Recovery going platinum. Although the album was only released last week I think we can all agree platinum status by September, when the finale will air in the States, is a foregone conclusion.

Show creator Doug Ellin revealed that Em might have a bit of beef with Vince Chase (Adrian Grenier) during his appearance on the show which should be interesting. Although he’ll be playing himself, the man also known as Slim Shady is no stranger to acting having previously starred in the movie 8 Mile.

As a big fan of both Entourage and Eminem, I’m looking forward to his appearance on the show – we all know he can handle comedy well, as his run in with Sacha Baron Cohen’s Bruno at last year's MTV Movie Awards proved.

Just on the subject of Entourage, I’ve been disappointed to learn that ITV2, who have broadcast the show in the UK since it began, haven’t acquired the rights to season 7. So when, or even if, UK viewers will get to see Eminem’s cameo on the show is up in the air at present.

I’m personally getting sick to the back teeth of UK broadcasters doing this with US shows. First we had Sky1 ditching Rescue Me after three seasons, then Five with Breaking Bad and Californication after just two and now ITV2 have followed suit after six seasons with Entourage.

All we need now is Bravo to ditch Sons of Anarchy at the end of season 2 and there’ll be nothing worth watching left on TV.

Served Up on a Blatter

It’s a pretty safe bet that almost every breathing English human being out there suffered through ninety minutes of their country being schooled by the Germans on Sunday.

Before you dismiss this as just another blog post lamenting the England team’s sorry excuse for a performance, I’m not here to critique England’s woefully inept display in any way, shape or form; there are countless others out there who have done that with more insight than I ever could.

But given the fact that TV or not TV is all about the audio-visual world it seemed prudent for me to discuss the major talking point coming out of Sunday’s debacle aside from the utter capitulation of a nation: the debate over video technology in football.

Mere minutes before this incident, the other half and I had been debating who would be scapegoated by the fans, media and players for England’s defeat and just before half time we had our answer…

I immediately had visions of the front page of The Sun the next day trying to incite a third world war over how “we was robbed” by crooked officiating. As well as providing a get out of jail free card though that has surprisingly not really been used by the English media and fans, this incident (coupled with the offside decision in the Mexico-Argentina game later that day) has reopened the can of worms that is the video/goal line technology in Football debate.

It was decided earlier in the year by FIFA that, in spite of growing calls for its introduction into the game, video technology would not be introduced in any way any time soon.

The result has been that the world’s greatest sporting event – an event viewed the world over by millions upon millions of people – has been reduced to a shambles by a lack of innovation.

I can’t think of another sport where incidents like this can happen and not be rectified – could you imagine this happening in a US sport, like the NFL or NBA? The answer is no, because it just simply wouldn’t. We have the technology and they use it to keep the game from descending into farce as the game of football did on Sunday.

Make no mistake, the two incidents in question would have made no difference whatsoever to the outcome of either game – England and Mexico would have both still been comprehensively outclassed, but what should have been a showcase of sublime footballing skill and ingenuity rather left everyone with a rather unpleasant aftertaste.

The furore Sunday’s events have caused has finally convinced Sepp Blatter and his band of dinosaurs that technology is needed in football to prevent it becoming a laughing stock.

To play devil’s advocate though, how they start to revolutionise the sport is another matter altogether. I can’t help but feel that Blatter has probably remained stubborn on this issue to this point because he knows just how massive an overhaul this would be and how difficult it will be to get it right.

Emotions are definitely ruling heads at this point, and as much as I agree that goal line video is needed, if Blatter has indeed been scared off technology’s introduction in the past due to the logistical nightmare bringing it in will cause, then he should have remained strong and not bowed to the pressure.

Where exactly do you start with this? Who gets the benefit of the technology first? Which countries? Which leagues within each country?

The most important question of all though is who the hell pays for it all?

It might be easy for a Chelsea or a Manchester City to install video technology but what about a Rushden & Diamonds or a Dagenham & Redbridge?

If the clubs don’t pay, then do FIFA or the national body of each country foot the bill?

Whoever is expected to foot the bill to bring in video technology, you can guarantee that the people who end up stumping up the cash for it will be the fans.

I personally think goal line technology is a must now, and Blatter et al need to come up with a way of making that happen sooner rather than later. Will it be easy? Hell no, and how they go about it I have no clue – but hey, that’s why I’m not President of FIFA.

This is a house of cards though and if goal line tech comes in to football where do you draw the line? The Mexico-Argentina controversy was over an offside decision – do you then allow video technology to judge incidents of that nature as well?

What about fouls? Throw-ins? Goal kicks?

There are very few honest footballers and with the pressure to win so immense these days, they will appeal every little contentious decision that they possibly can to try and gain an advantage, fair or unfair.

By caving under the rightful pressure to finally consider the introduction of a technology that was needed in the game well over a decade ago and not limiting the debate to just that area, Blatter may now have dug himself a hole that he can’t get out of…

…And ultimately football could end up suffering rather than benefiting from modern technology changing the face of the sport.Frank Lampard’s ‘goal that never was’ managed to make a Uruguayan linesman a more reviled figure to the English than Hitler, kind of ironic really given that we were playing Germany.

True Blood S03E04 - 9 Crimes "Promo"

Genial capítulo de True Blood. Temporada más que interesante. Correctísimos todos los personajes, pero Eric lo está bordando.

Parece ser que la semana que viene no hay capítulo. A esperar...

Athena: Goddess of War

Primera foto promocional de Athena. Previsto el estreno para finales de este año. Spin-off de IRIS, pero seguro que con la misma calidad de ésta. Esperando el trailer.

Inception "Tv-Trailers"

Desde mi humilde punto de vista, el tema cinéfilo está demasiado flojo. No hay ninguna película que destaque. No hay estrenos explosivos, no hay buenas historias, no hay nada que digas, vaya peliculaza! Pero bueno, sólo creo que hay una candidata firme para película del año, y creo también que mucha gente está esperando su estreno. Pasen y vean...

Movie from the Visual Effects Team Members of BattleStar Galactica

Una de las muchas cosas por las que destacó Battlestar Galactica fueron sus efectos. Dejo un video hecho por los miembros de BSG donde muestran su trabajo.

Blogger Indonesia dukung internet aman, sehat & manfaat

Hari ini aku ikutan Kontes SEO dengan Topik "MANFAAT DAN TIPS BERINTERNET SEHAT DAN AMAN BERMAIN JEJARING SOSIAL/ SOCIAL NETWORK" yang diadakan oleh BEM FASILKOM UMB, Walaupun coba-coba tapi aku harus bisa...? kenapa, karena dari dulu suka BERINTERNET. secara garis besar Masyarakat indonesia pada umumnya belum mengerti betul tentang MANFAAT dari INTERNET tersebut, Karena Pada Umumnya Selalu menganggap " negatif " kata INTERNET tersebut, Sebetulnya ada Banyak Sekali MANFAAT yang bisa kita ambil dari INTERNET diantaranya adalah 1. Memperoleh Informasi/ Berita, 2. Mencari Lowongan Pekerjaan, 3. Mencari Rezeki, 4. Berkomunikasi via JEJARING SOSIAL ( facebook, yahoo ), 5. Mencari Jodoh ( Maybe Yes Maybe No :D ), Dari ke- 5 Point tersebut banyak sekali bukan MANFAAT dari INTERNET itu ?, ini ada sedikit TIPS bagi yang para pengguna INTERNET, 1. gunakanlah INTERNET sebagai tempat mencari Informasi/ berita, 2. Jadikanlah INTERNET sebagai sarana Hiburan, 3. Jadikanlah INTERNET sebagai media Komunikasi yang SEHAT, dari MANFAAT dan TIPS diatas masih saja ada beberapa kasus yang sempat heboh "JEJARING SOSIAL" sebut saja face*book, beberapa pekan lalu sempat heboh penjualan wanita yang dipergadangkan via SITUS JEJARING SOSIAL itukan membuat nama Dunia INTERNET menjadi negatif di mata masyarakat, sempat juga terdengar kabar kalau JEJARING SOSIAL tidak boleh diakses lagi. Para orang tua yang sempat resah oleh kabar itu menyarankan cara AMAN agar putra/ puterinya untuk tidak berkunjung ke warnet ( menggunakan JASA INTERNET ). Lalu bagaimana dengan nasib para INTERNETER yang ingin menggunakan jasa situs JEJARING SOSIAL ? salahkah mereka ?, tapi semua itu kembali kepada pribadi masing-masing, bagaimana cara menyikapinya...TIPS AMAN dari saya bagi para pengguna JEJARING SOSIAL "face*book" adalah pergunakan sebaik mungkin/seperlunya, sekian curhatan saya, Mudah-mudahan dunia INTERNET tidak menjadi buruk oleh tingkah laku oknum yang tidak bertanggung jawab, jadikanlah diri anda sebagai orang yang SEHAT dalam moral maupun SEHAT dalam BERINTERNET dalam situs JEJARING SOSIAL, AMIN.

RED "Trailer Movie"

True Blood S03E03 - It Hurts Me Too "Promo"

No entiendo ni una crítica que ronda acerca de True Blood. No se le podría aplicar aquella famosa frase de Lost: "Deja de buscarle cosas a la serie y disfrútala".

Battlestar Galactica - The Final Days (Part 1)

¿Por qué es una de las grandes? ver el video...

Toy Story 3: no hay otra Pixar

Me levanto y leo que Toy Story 3 en un fin de semana ha recaudado 109 millones de dólares (88 millones de euros). 1 fin de semanaaaa!!! WTF! Son los reyes, los mejores, unos currantes como ninguno, que cada año te la clavan. El mejor 3D, eso es PIXAR.

World in Slow Motion

The World Cup was never going to live up to the hype was it?

But I doubt too many people thought that after one complete round the tournament would be this lacklustre.

Apart from a near-master class from the Germans the other night when they ripped apart Australia and a thoroughly entertaining game last night which saw top seeds Brazil make very hard work of the North Koreans (who to be fair probably played out of their skins to avoid the firing squad when they get home) the games I’ve seen have been utterly dreadful.

The group stages of the competition never quite carry as much excitement as later rounds do, but the overbearing hype prior to the tournament kicking off last Friday seems to have made people forget that fact.

That said, it doesn’t change the fact that this World Cup, thus far, is in desperate need of a shot of adrenalin from somewhere.

Vuvuzelas might be the pantomime villain of the tournament so far in many quarters, but in the UK I would say that the real villain of the piece is the heinous TV coverage we’ve been subjected to so far.

I can only hope that our hosts, pundits and commentators are phoning it in at the moment due to the group stages being more of a war of attrition than a fight to the death; because if this is how the coverage is going to be, even when the games actually pick up, then we are in for a very long Summer.

I won’t dwell too much on James Corden’s World Cup Live, which ITV promoted almost as much as the equally dire Celebrity Juice, but suffice to say that I thought I’d give it a chance one night and managed roughly two minutes before I had to turn it off.

James Corden is not a presenter – didn’t we learn that after the BRIT Awards debacle last year? He is though the most over-exposed man in Great Britain – James, seriously mate, sometimes less is more – which is a shame because he seems like a genuinely nice guy, he just isn’t that funny and is certainly not capable of carrying his own chat show.

Corden may have actually achieved the impossible with this show, in making Johnny Vaughan’s effort from a couple of tournaments back seem like and episode of Parkinson by comparison. With guests like Abbey Clancy and Pixie Lott though, Corden never really stood a chance did he?

In terms of the actual coverage from the two channels, the BBC is certainly my preferred broadcaster, but they are by no means perfect.

I completely understand that the World Cup is all about diversity but some of the foreign pundits both channels have really seem to struggle with the English language, and having expert analysis is kind of a waste if you can’t understand what they are saying don’t you think?

Half the pundits, especially the likes of Edgar Davids, look like they would rather be anywhere else other than sat in a studio with Adrian ‘the gargoyle’ Chiles, and I know it’s wrong but I can’t help feel that half of them are only there to fill some sort of quota.

Speaking of Chiles – is this guy really worth £6 million? He looks bored to death half the time and helps build the excitement prior to the match about as much as a prostate exam would.

ITV cutting to adverts at every given opportunity doesn’t help their coverage either, neither does the fact that Clive Tyldesley is a complete and utter tit.

The BBC are marginally better than ITV in terms of host and pundits, but with the likes of Mark Bright and Lawrenson on their commentating roster – comparing the two channels commentators is like comparing herpes to crabs.

That said, why the BBC persist in throwing to Gabby Logan in the England camp during their coverage of every game is beyond me – I just want to hear about the two teams that are playing, I don’t care what Fabio Capello had for his tea or if Wayne Rooney just took a 30 second piss.

Every time I see Logan in the jungle I hope a Lion is going to leap out and eat her.

The BBC also seem to think that rubbing it in that they’re out there and we aren’t is going to endear them to us. Lineker, I don’t care if your studio rotates, nice to see my licence fee is going to a good cause though.

It may not read like it, but I do love the World Cup. I’m not as fanatical a football fan as I once was but something about the World Cup always gets me.

Four years doesn’t sound like a long time but it seems many a moon ago that Italy lifted that trophy back in 2006, so in spite of the gash coverage we all have to suffer through, let’s try and appreciate just what an amazing event this is and enjoy it while we can.

IRIS...esto es promocionar

¿Cómo debe ser tener a toda Corea del Sur a tus pies? Joder! es que son unos cracks y se lo merecen. Estas cosas sólo las pueden hacer en Corea o Japón. El video siguiente es sobre la promoción en Japón.

Espera eterna para saber algo de Athena, Iris: The Movie y Iris 2.

Battlestar Galactica Online

Esperando que empiece la batalla.

True Blood S03E02 - Beautifully Broken "Promo"

True Blood genial como siempre, pero sigo pensando que las historias de Tara cansan un poco.

The Fall Guide

With Lost and 24 now having come to an end and Heroes and FlashForward being unceremoniously axed from schedules, there is a huge gap in the market for a network US show to break through on this side of the pond and really capture the imagination of casual viewers.

There are great shows out there: Sons of Anarchy, Breaking Bad and Rescue Me to name but three, yet these shows, tragically, haven’t cracked the ‘mainstream’ in the UK like shows from the big networks tend to.

With that in mind, as the networks in the States recently revealed some of the shows that would make up their fall schedules the question is: are there any new shows due to hit screens from the big networks (NBC, ABC, FOX, CBS, The CW) that can pick up the mantle of the aforementioned fallen shows?

Here we pick out five shows set to debut later this year in the US that just might be the next big thing:

- The Event - It certainly looks as though NBC have the strongest hand going in to the 2010 fall season and their crown jewel would appear to be conspiracy thriller The Event.

With a plot reading more like a big budget Hollywood thriller, The Event definitely has potential to fill the void Lost left in posing its audience an unparalleled plethora of questions.

The late, great John Ritter’s son Jason Ritter takes the lead as Sean Walker a man whose investigations into his wife’s mysterious disappearance lead him to uncover the biggest conspiracy in American history, which amongst other things involves an assassination plot against the President (played by Blair Underwood).

Also in the cast are the brilliant Zeljko Ivanek and Scott Patterson of Saw fame.

As you can imagine with a show of this nature, plot details remain tightly under wraps, but The Event, if you’ll excuse this dreadful pun, definitely looks set to be the TV event of the autumn.

- The Cape – Another new show that sounds as though it would be more at home on the big screen, The Cape is further proof that TV is continuing to rival film for high concept and production values these days.

The Cape is essentially a superhero tale, but is more Darkman than Superman. Vince Faraday is a cop with a wife and son who is suddenly framed for a series of murders and then left for dead.

As you can probably guess, he doesn’t die and with the help of a mysterious circus ringleader (what is about circuses and superhero TV shows?) he obtains special abilities and decides to try and clear his name and bring down those who wronged him, under the guise of superhero The Cape.

The cast is eclectic with 24 vet James Frain (R.I.P. Paul Raines) playing the main villain, Keith David cropping up as The Cape’s circus based mentor, geek hottie Summer Glau cast as, yep you guessed it, a geek and Vinnie Jones playing a guy called ‘Scales’ who has, again: you guessed it, scales all over his body.

The Cape is definitely shaping up to look like it could be a natural successor to Heroes and originating from the same network, NBC must be hoping that The Cape can equal the critical and financial success of Heroes’ early days. With Vinnie Jones as a lizard man how can this not succeed…?

- No Ordinary Family – Another superhero based show, this time with ABC trying to get in on the act. No Ordinary Family might sound like a live action version of The Incredibles, but I would say the casting definitely points to a darkly comic tone.

The main selling point for me is Michael Chiklis back in a TV leading role after the end of one of my favourite shows of the last decade The Shield came to an end. Chiklis plays the Father in a family who all develop superpowers after their plane crashes in the Amazon.

Dexter’s Julie Benz plays his wife and Tate Donovan and Autumn Reeser, both formerly of The O.C. also have roles as characters outside of the titular family. I’m also pleased to see Romany Malco in the cast as Chiklis’ character’s best friend – I always enjoy his performances and he will no doubt be the light relief.

The idea might be derivative to say the least but a very nice cast makes this one of the more intriguing offerings in the new fall schedule.

- Chase – Produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, but don’t let that put you off, Chase is from the pen of former Lost writer Jennifer Johnson.

The show will follow the exploits of a female US marshal and her team as they chase down bad guys. Kelli Giddish, who I’m not too familiar with, takes the lead in this third show from NBC to make the list.

It is her team that I am more intrigued by: with Cole Hauser, who can be slightly wooden but I do like as an actor and Amaury (Sucre off Prison Break) Nolasco forming part of it, along with Desperate Housewives mimbo Jesse Metcalfe.

Chase could either be very, very stupid and not even see out the season (likely) or it could just be good looking and big budget enough to catch on in a Las Vegas kind of way (unlikely, but hopefully).

Either way, you can almost guarantee an explosion an episode.

- Ride Along – If No Ordinary Family has me excited because of Michael Chiklis then Ride Along has me practically ejaculating because it is created by Shawn Ryan – the genius behind The Shield.

Worryingly, Ride Along will air on FOX, which almost guarantees cancellation but hopefully the good faith Ryan must get from The Shield will give Ride Along a fair crack at establishing itself as potentially one of the grittier shows on network television.

Following both cops and politicians in Chicago, Ride Along may suffer from inevitable comparisons to The Wire, but there will never be another Wire or even another Shield for that matter. We can only hope that Ride Along can fill the void there is on TV at the moment for a tough cop show.

Jason Clarke, Jennifer Beals, Delroy Lindo and Billy Lush of The Black Donnellys and Generation Kill are some of the more prominent cast members in the one show on this list I can imagine myself becoming a big fan of.

So there you have five new shows from the Fall schedules Stateside which we will inevitably get at some point in the UK, which if any do you think will make a big splash on this side of the Atlantic?

Tenerife a ritmo galactico

What the FRACK!!! Bear McCreary viene a España y sólo viene a Tenerife. FRAK! FRAK!

El Viernes 9 de Julio a las 21:00h, en el auditorio de Tenerife, se celebra el festival internacional de Música de Cine, donde se homenajeará a John Williams. Bear McCreay es uno de los invitados junto con otros compositores.

Más información aquí.

Aquí dejo una pieza clave de la serie, y ni más ni menos que con la compañía de Kate Sackhoff:

¿Quién no daría por escuchar esto en directo?

Stargate Universe - Season 2 "Promo"

Larga espera para la season 2, Octubre, con incorporación estelar, sino ver la promo.

Detroit 187 - Season 1 "Promo"

True Blood - Jessica

Es que le tendrían que dar más protagonismo a Jessica. Geniales videos.

Karigurashi no Arrietty (The Borrowers) "Teaser"

Lo nuevo del Estudio Ghibli con la adaptación de la novela clásica The Borrowers. Por supuesto que estaremos atentos a su estreno.

Sons of Anarchy - Season 1 "Gag Reel"

Como no me había puesto con esta maravilla antes. La tenía aparcada en el HD, porque estaba seguro que viendo unos cuantos capítulos no podría parar, like Dexter. Y así ha sido, Ron Perlman es el rey, siempre me ha gustado este actor.

Pues ahora toca la Season 2 que caerá en nada. Pero antes un poco de tomas falsas.

30 Rock Competition

Win a 30 Rock Season 3 DVD Box Set!

To celebrate brand new and exclusive episodes of 30 Rock airing on Comedy Central in the UK, TV or not TV are teaming up with Comedy Central and the good people over at Online Fire, to offer one TV or not TV reader the chance to win a region 2 box set of 30 Rock season 3.

30 Rock has been hailed by Time Out as “beautifully written, consummately performed and sublimely silly” and is a multi-Emmy Award-winning show.

To enter this brilliant competition and see just why I, and thousands of others, have been raving about 30 Rock all you need to do is answer the simple question after the jump:

- In season 3 of 30 Rock, Tracy Jordan revealed that he was originally cast in the movie Rush Hour but which actor did he say replaced him?

A. Chris Tucker

B. Jackie Chan

C. Tom Wilkinson

Email your answer to tvornottv@live.co.uk with the subject header: '30 Rock Competition' along with your name and address. One winning entry will be drawn at random to receive this brilliant prize.

Competition open to UK residents only over the age of 18 only. Only entries received before midnight on 25th June will be entered into the draw.

If you aren't successful have no fear, you can still get your 30 Rock fix by tuning in for brand new and exclusive episodes of season 4 on Comedy Central.

A double bill airs Mondays from 10pm.

"Shut it Down" - 24 Finale Review

Over the last eight seasons Jack Bauer has gone through more changes than this site has in the last week; but when it came down to it he just couldn’t assassinate a President – no matter how evil the Russian premier might have been.

The last two hours of the eighth and final season of this incredible show were, as expected, fast-paced, thrilling and emotionally charged. The moral issues of Jack’s downward spiral aside, the last third of the season pretty much saved the whole season from being a complete bust.

From the moment Jack found Hassan with his trachea hanging out, the action has been pretty relentless and 24 has gone to some pretty dark places, even by its morally ambiguous standards. Jack’s quest for blood to avenge Renee’s murder has been thoroughly entertaining and has allowed the more casual fans of the show to get the bad-ass fix of Jack Bauer that he is often, wrongly, pigeon-holed as.

Yes, you wouldn’t want to mess with a man who has been pronounced dead twice, bitten out a man’s jugular and wielded a shotgun on a dog but Jack Bauer is far more complex than just some machine like agent who tortures people for fun.

So although the last 33% of season eight made for exhilarating viewing it definitely required you to switch your brain off for most of it. Renee herself was vehement in her disgust at Tony’s actions last season and whilst no one ‘innocent’ fell victim to Jack this time out, it would have been nice to see those parallels drawn at some point.

It is this hypocrisy from Jack that made his actions so out of character, as Jason Pillar remarked Jack had always “had a reason” for going against protocol in the past. Whilst Bauer did have a reason this time out, it was the first time it was personal and given whose honour he was defending and how he, himself had reacted to Tony last year it all kind of made your brain hurt if you dwelled on it too much.

I was quite critical of season eight during its run, with the show having now sadly drawn to a close I don’t want to be overly harsh at this juncture. The final few hours were dumb as hell and were as riddled with as many holes as Amy Winehouse’s arms but they sure as hell reminded everyone why 24 became the cultural phenomenon it did.

As character by character fell by the way-side: Weiss, Ethan, Hassan, Hastings, Dana, Renee, the show became more and more about Jack and was able to give him the spotlight for a final few hours of Bauer madness.

Characters have come and gone in the 24 universe on almost a conveyor belt but the one constant has been Jack and that is why people fell in love with the show. It almost pains me to say that because I have always been a huge Tony Almeida fan, but I’m under no illusion that it is Jack Bauer that drew in the casual fans. Although these final few hours weren’t necessarily Jack’s finest or most honourable hours they sure as hell showcased the Jack Bauer that made 24 the iconic show it was.

The finale might not have packed the emotional punch, or required the same amount of deconstruction as the Lost finale did but there was plenty on display to sink one’s teeth into; and I defy anyone to not have at least got a little emotional and nostalgic as Jack talked about when Chloe “first came to CTU”.

I’d heard there was a heartfelt Jack & Chloe moment, and I think anyone who knows the show would have probably suspected it would have involved a “goodbye” but it really was a rare tender moment for the show and both Sutherland and Mary Lynn Rajskub – who has really come into her own this season – were fantastic in that scene.

Elsewhere in the finale, it was nice to see Arlo (who at one point I didn’t think was going to see out the day, especially when Dana was looming with that garrotte) and Cole, both of whom I really grew to like over the course of the season, get some rub by appearing in that climatic scene.

Michael Madsen’s role didn’t pan out to be as substantial as I expected but he was a cool, if somewhat implausible and convenient, character and I enjoyed his handful of scenes with Jack and then subsequently Cole.

Something 24 has always done well is reintroduce characters from earlier in the season when you aren’t expecting it – done nicely this time out with Bazhaev and then Meredith Reid, who I was certain was a premiere only player. They’ve played that card in seasons gone by with the likes of Marie Warner and Roger Stanton in season 2 and then Audrey’s Brother and Read Pollock in subsequent seasons. Meredith’s reintroduction worked well this season; although I could have done without her overcooked “torture is bad” diatribe when Jack was busy gutting Pavel like Sarah Palin would a prone Moose.

The saviour of season 8, sorry Callum Keith Rennie – you were a close second, has to be the brilliant Gregory Itzin who squirmed back onto our screens as disgraced former President Charles Logan.

Does he ever learn? Undone by a micro-recorder at the hands of Jack Bauer for the second consecutive time. It was quite a sad end for Logan really and one that pretty much summed up his character – the constant failure: the poor bastard couldn’t even succeed in shooting himself in the head, instead leaving himself in what I suspect will be a vegetative state.

I really hope Logan not dying wasn’t premeditated to try and interject him into the upcoming 24 big screen outing because I think that, as good as Itzin is as the oily little weasel, his time in the 24 universe has come to an end.

Itzin’s brilliance was further evidenced as Logan’s interplay with Jack brought a rare comedic moment for 24 in the finale. With Jack, even in the middle of all the adversity, cracking a wry smile as he watched Logan through the scope of his sniper rifle and told him to do what he does best and lie.

It was a lovely moment for fans of Jack who hadn’t seen his playful side in quite some time. I’m sure there have been other instances of Jack being a bit more light-hearted but the only one I can instantly think of is back in season 1 as he torments Kim’s ex Vincent on the phone.

It was always inevitable that 24 would end up repeating certain plot devices during its mammoth run, but season 8 has to have been the most derivative yet. I’ve already made reference to some of this rehashing in my earlier posts dissecting this season but the finale evidenced even more deja vu moments. Jack being kidnapped with a bag over his head is directly lifted from the season 5 finale and disappearing into the sunset as a fugitive with a President phoning telling him to run is season 4 finale territory.

That being said (to quote Simon Cowell) even in its most imagination-void moments 24 still mopped the floor with most serialised TV dramas and its longevity in this age of TV execs who are more trigger-happy than Jack Bauer himself has to be commended.

Unlike Lost, this isn’t the absolute end for 24, so I wasn’t quite as sad to see the clock countdown to 0 as I was when I saw that wreckage on the beach circa 2 weeks ago.

It’s still going to be tough to think that I’ll never see 24 in my Sky+ ever again though.

Hopefully we won’t have to wait too long for the movie and the brains behind this iconic show will have something truly awesome up their sleeve for Jack on the big screen… And I’m personally hoping that it will come complete with a soul patch.

So thanks for eight great seasons 24, we’ve got some great memories but I guess its farewell… For now.

Whilst we’re on the 24 finale… I present the final instalment of our…

24 Day 8 Death Counter

Hours 23 & 24

Jason Pillar – capped a very bad couple of hours which included having his ear bitten off by Jack by being bludgeoned with a liquor decanter then executed while unconscious by Charles Logan

Episode Death Total = 1

Season Death Total = 101

Jack Bauer Kills (JBK) Total = 38

So there you have it, with no major catastrophes this season 101 souls were lost and over a third of those were by the hand of Bauer – not bad for a guy who was supposed to be on a plane to California at the start of the day.

God speed Jack.

Pulse, Strike Back para deshacer el mono seriéfilo

No tienes ninguna serie para seguir después de las finales de Mayo? aquí dejo 2 series made in England de 6 capítulos cada una. No hace falta mencionar su calidad, son inglesas.

Chris Ryan's Strike Back (Sky1): Finalizada.
Pulse (BBC Three): En emisión.

(Actualización) Añado otra más:

Going Postal (Sky1): En emisión.

Personaje Sexy Femenino Tv favorito (The FINAL)

Ya hemos llegado a la FINAL, 20 han sido las elegidas. Dejaré 2 semanas, más o menos, para votar, para que haya el máximo de votos. Recordad que es 1 voto por día, así que no dudéis en hacerlo varias veces. Abajo dejo las fotos de las finalistas donde se pueden ver en todo su esplendor. Ya está todo dicho, a VOTAR!