Tuesday, October 25, 2011

The King Is Dead, Long Live The King

And here's the second of my TV jumble blog ....

Downton Abbey: If you haven't read this week's Radio Times (the Crawley ladies are on the cover), then it's become apparent from some critics that Season 2 is a little too soapy, especially with the turn of events here - William's deathbed wedding to Daisy, Matthew's paralysis, Vera's much welcomed demise, more obstacles for Bates and Anna, Carlisle having Mary in his grasp and even Robert seemingly being tempted by a new housemaid whose circumstances have some slight similarities to Ethel. On the plus side, the war is finally over but on the flipside, Lavinia is back. Can both her and Carlisle just do one already?

Merlin: There are plenty of ways a young prince might want to celebrate his birthday. Nearly being assassinated and witnessing his own father's death probably aren't that high on the list. Much as I like Anthony Stewart Head, I just won't miss Uther as a character (though Aggravaine is becoming just as annoying) and his death has been overdue. More interesting was Morgana's sense of conflict when she learned that Uther had perished due to one of her spells interfering with Merlin's attempts to save. The next episode featuring the birth of a white dragon was also interesting, even if Game Of Thrones handled that plot much better.

Smallville: Interesting set of episodes. Apart from some nice progression with Darkseid and Lois holding off on marrying Clark, I think the returns of both Zod and Kara in the last two episodes, particularly considering the effect they both had on Oliver. I can't wait to see how the last two episodes wrap up ten years of superhero antics.

The Fades: I am really loving this show now. After a slow start, it's really picked up considerable pace and while some of the female characters (apart from Sarah) still need improving, I am loving the rivarly between Angelics 'leader' Paul and Fades leader John and Sarah becoming a fade was definitely not something I expected to see. Unfortunately, the writers really are not doing a lot in Neil's favour, are they? Having him resort to taking Mac hostage to get Paul onside isn't the best way of getting us to understand his point of view.

The X Factor: It's amazing how crazy this show gets and not in a good way. Who do the producers think they're fooling? The petty squabbling between the judges is old hat and Kelly and Tulisa are acting like spoiled brats doesn't help matters. Misha B's a bully? If true, there are better ways of handling it and for the love of God, get rid of that insufferable Frankie once and for all, please. Even Gary was forced to admit he was dire and the show's handling of rock week was unbelievably bad on so many levels. Tulisa, I know you're 23 but you do realise that Kesha, Salt 'N' Pepa and Gnarls Barkley aren't rock, right? Count yourself lucky that Sami's cruise ship singing doomed her on Sunday or it would've been one of your acts for the chop.

The Walking Dead: I'm always mystified that it takes nearly a year for FXUK to air the latest seasons of Dexter and True Blood but somehow they're able to air this show within days of US transmission. The second season of this show started on Friday and it's still as slow moving but interesting as ever. I'm hoping with thirteen episodes that the show has enough time to utilize every character better than the first one did. Oh and the cliff hanger at the end of the first episode was certainly a good shocker.

- Kristofer Polaha has mentioned that there are more interesting times ahead for Henry in the next couple of episodes of Ringer.
- Pan Am is expected to be picked up for a full first season as Steve Maeda has joined the series as executive producer.
- Lea Michele has recently mentioned that she was grossed out filming a sex scene for an upcoming episode of Glee. Er, too much info there.
- Both John Hannah and Ryan Philippe will be appearing in the fifth season of Damages. Season 5 will also be the series last season as well.
- Courtney Cox and David Arquette has sold a pilot named Skinny Girl to ABC.
- True Blood's fifth season will introduce a vampire named Nora, who is one of Godric's progeny and a sister to Eric as well as a mysterious character called Salome.

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