Saturday, January 04, 2014

Remains Of Last Year

I was meant to actually do this TV jumble earlier in the week when it was still 2013, but I got distracted by other things, so here it is at last ...


Downton Abbey: As much as I still massively enjoy this show and have every intention of watching the fifth series, I can't help feeling that the writing is seriously beginning to lack at times now. 2012's Christmas special wasn't exactly brilliant but at least with Matthew's death and the birth of baby George, it felt like something actually happened. Here, nothing apart from Edith giving birth offscreen and coming up with an overly complicated plot to stay in her baby's life actually happened. Rose's coming out ball was pretty much meh as was the attempts of a Royal scandal and while Harold and Martha were fairly enjoyable guest characters, they didn't really do much that was truly memorable. And that's not mentioning the frustration with other plots being dangled about as well. A shame because this should've been a great one.


Death Comes To Pemberley: The BBC and their costume dramas, eh? You're never far away from them and while I wouldn't say this was the best one they've ever done, it was very well done and nicely spread out over three nights during the Christmas period. The not very praised sequel to Pride & Prejudice managed to translate slightly better onscreen than it did in book form but that was mainly down to the stellar cast in question. Hats off to Matthew Rhys and Anna Maxwell Martin who made a better job of the source material and gave a delightful performance throughout the three episodes. The supporting cast were pretty decent as well, but it really was Rhys and Martin who shone the most here.


Him And Her: The Wedding: It's amazing that in the space of four series from the BBC3 comedy I went from being coldly indifferent to the series to oddly gripping to slightly disappointed by the ending of it. Which is a shame because for the most part, I do actually think they managed to keep the pace of Laura and Paul's wedding going for five episodes and it was a wedding that would've made the Red Wedding look like a tea party in comparison. That being said though, I just found the ending rather unsatisfying and I kind of felt it derailed some of the growth that Paul was actually displaying as a character too. It also didn't help that Becky and Steve virtually became bit players in their own show as well. Overall, while it wasn't the worst ending to the series, it really could've been a lot better too.


Mrs Brown's Boys: Is it wrong that I get a perverse pleasure in the fact that the critics scorn at this show and it continues to top the UK ratings? Probably but I seriously do not care. While the Christmas special wasn't as funny as the 2012 ones, the New Year's episode was one of the funniest they've done in some time. It's a shame we'll have to wait until the summer for the movie version and even longer for a fourth series but these episodes were nice enough to have until then. I can see why this show might not be for everyone but it's a hell of a lot more funnier than other sitcoms at the moment and I love that it continues to perform well in the ratings as well.


- There's rumours of another Marvel spin-off being in the works. This time one focusing on Hayley Atwell's Peggy Carter and will be titled Agent Carter.
- Vince Gilligan's character in Community will come between Annie and Abed when he appears on the show.
- Luke Grimes has exited True Blood and the role of James will be recast.
- Game Of Thrones was the most pirated show of 2013.
- The second season of The Americans will return to FX on February 26th.
- Josh Peck will be playing an archenemy of Stuart in an upcoming episode of The Big Bang Theory.
- Nick Nolte has been cast in Gracepoint, playing the role that David Bradley did in Broadchurch. Elsewhere Josh Hamilton will be playing the husband to Anna Gunn's character.
- Tina Fey's comedy set in a women's college has been given the greenlight by FOX.

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