Mommy's Home

And here's a blog on the last couple of shows I've been watching recently ...

2 Broke Girls: Okay, the last few episodes haven't been as funny as the rest of the series so far but there have been some interesting moments. For instance, any where Han is challenged generated a chuckle from me and seeing Caroline develop an obsession with coupons (and the way she kept pronouncing it) was definitely the type of thing that US sitcoms do in their sleep. And we need to see more of Chestnut and less of Max offering tampons to customers (though Han clearly set that one up).

Bedlam: Good finale but sort of a predictable one too. I kind of saw that Max's dad would have a bigger role in things, that Ellie and Eve would be connected with each other and that Ellie would also be Jed's sister after all as well as that outcome for Warren too. That being said though, this has been a largely satisfying second run and hopefully we will get a third batch of episodes next year. The cliff-hanger definitely suggested that Ellie's story is far from done anyways.

Don't Trust The Bitch In Apartment 23: Another solid finale but seven episodes for a US sitcom is too short a run and perhaps we should've gotten a few more episodes to develop the growing friendship with Chloe and June though. Still, I liked the whole comic book subplot and that slight indication that underneath her penchant for chaos, Chloe had some insecurities as well. Here's hoping the second season will produce more fun times for the flatmates and the crazy gang.

Grimm: I've been watching this show off and on over the last few months and while there were times when it felt a little too tame for it's own good, there have also been moments where it's become interesting as well. Monroe is still the best character the show has to offer but Nick has become slightly less bland than when he started out and his attempts of trying to be honest with Juliette about things going bump in the night was oddly amusing. However, the reveal of that mystery woman being Nick's mother only felt obvious in retrospect but it did manage to set up an interesting development for Season 2, so good work there.

Sinbad: Two episodes in and you know what - I really, really like this show. Okay, so like both Robin Hood and Merlin before it, Sinbad has a tendency of sounding rather modern (and even looking it with the costumes) but already, I like Elliot Knight in the lead role, find the crew members and the villainous characters like Akbari, Taryn and Razia intriguing and given that the ratings have been good for it so far, I hope that means a second series will be imminent too. The only complaint I do have is that the CGI can be dodgy in places but I'm sure that's something the show will overcome as it progresses. Definitely one to watch.

White Collar: I don't watch the show religiously but I've seen enough from previous years and let's face it, Matt Bomer isn't exactly hard on the eye either, is he? No, in all fairness the guy's a great actor and as Neal Caffrey, he's managed to come up with a charismatic and sympathetic conman who has been easy to root for. The first two episodes of the show's fourth season did see Neal attempting to escape from the FBI before being recaptured but his scenes with Mozzie and Peter more than made up for it. However, I'm not so keen on Mehki Pfifer's agent character just yet, though he's not as annoying as Rex was in the first half of Torchwood: Miracle Day, but only by a tiny margin. Good start to the season too and nice to see that this show maintains it's ability to be interesting without taking itself too seriously.

- Jennifer Jason Leigh has been cast as Emily's mother, Kara Wilkins in the second season of Revenge. Barry Sloane will also play a character named Ethan, connected to Emily's past.
- Clea DuVall has joined the second season of American Horror Story, though the nature of her role hasn't been revealed yet.
- Adam Lambert will feature in an upcoming episode of Pretty Little Liars.
- John Noble has revealed that Fringe's final season will feature a war with the Observers.
- Aaron Sorkin is replacing the writing staff for the second season of The Newsroom. I have to confess, I wasn't that keen on it when I watched it.
- Grace Phipps has joined the cast of The Vampire Diaries for it's upcoming fourth season, playing a character with connections to Elena and Jeremy.
- Once Upon A Time's second season will introduce Aladdin, Jafar, Ariel, Peter Pan and Captain Hook with Sarah Bolger playing Sleeping Beauty in the upcoming season as well.
- Santiago Carbrera has joined the cast of Dexter, playing a crime writer named Ethan Price who arrives in Miami to investigate for a book about true crimes.

Frozen Yoghurt

It's been a while but here's a jumble of some of the shows I've been watching recently.

2 Broke Girls: It's still a guilty pleasure/dumb fun but this series does provide the laughs and whether it's Caroline having the joy of Christmas sucked out of her or Max actually realising that she likes Chestnut more than she lets on. I still wish some of the male characters were better developed though. Max and Caroline's co-workers are little more than caricatures still (though I like Earl a lot) and Johnny's function is little more than a love interest for Max. Still, it's a diverting 30 minutes.

Bedlam: We're at the point where next week is the final episode of Series 2 and it's overall been an improvement. The dynamics between Max and Ellie have been fun, the Eve mystery has been interesting, both Kiera and Dan have become less annoying and even Warren has greatly improved as a character. Thankfully, also the ghost of the week storylines have shown a bit of variety as well too, so all in all, this has been an improvement for a pretty uninspiring show when it began.

Don't Trust The Bitch In Apartment 23: Another guilty pleasure series for me but yeah, the last few episodes have been a laugh riot. It's still formulaic in the sense that Chloe will do something selfish, June will scowl about it but will see something in her roommate's selfishness that benefits her while James will say something cheesy and Robin will blather on about her obsession with Chloe. Still, I've enjoyed the episodes that have seen June loosen up a little and hopefully tonight's finale will be a good ending for a ridiculously short first season of the show.

Hit & Miss: This show really has lived up to it's title, hasn't it? It's had some excellent moments and less excellent ones too and having Mia's family fall apart all around her (as well as her relationship with Ben) has made the show a bit more enjoyable than usual. I'm still not loving the whole idea of Riley being pregnant but the death of John was pretty damned welcomed and that cliffhanging moment between Ryan, Eddie and Mia really does make me hope that the show is picked up for a second run now.

Veep: I have to admit that despite being a fan of The Thick Of It, watching this show wasn't especially high on my list of things to do but seeing as both shows share the same creator, I thought I'd give it a whirl. It's not bad - Elaine from Seinfield makes a decent, buffoonish vice president in Selina Meyer and I have a certain degree of sympathy for her aides, in particularly Amy (looks like Vada aged really well) but if you've seen the antics of Malcolm Tucker, this this is going to be feel rather light weight by comparison. I might give it a few more episodes though.

- Sky1 have scooped the rights to Arrow while SkyLiving will air Elementary from the Autumn.
- True Blood has been renewed officially for a sixth season with Mark Hudis as the new showrunner for the show.
- John Bradley will feature in the fifth series of Merlin, playing a character called Tyr Seward. The show is due to return to BBC1 from late September.
- Benedict Cumberbatch will provide a voiceover for an upcoming episode of The Simpsons.
- Denis Leary has confirmed that casting has commenced for his version of the axed Channel 4 show, Sirens.
- Tara Fitzgerald has been cast in an unknown role for the third season of Games Of Thrones, which is scheduled to start filming this month.
- Trevor Donovan is returning for two episodes of the fifth season of 90210 for the CW.
- Yvonne Strahovski has talked about her character, Hannah McKay in Dexter being a woman haunted by her past.
- Laura Fraser has been cast in a role for the fifth and final season of Breaking Bad, which premieres in the States next Sunday.
- Both Dallas and Falling Skies have been picked up for further seasons by TNT.

The Lady Is A Vamp

Okay, this one is a little shorter than usual but I've been catching up on other things ...

Bedlam: I have to be honest, I wasn't that enamoured with the first series, so I wasn't too broken up by the idea of an entire new cast for the second run and so far, it's looking pretty good. Ellie and Max are a somewhat better ghost busting duo compared to Jed and Ryan and while Kate, Kiera and Dan are pretty forgettable as characters, Warren is improving and the fact that's there's a continued mystery with that block at Bedlam and Ellie and a mystery man with a tattoo on the back of his head, this might actually be a lot more watchable now.

Game Of Thrones: What a way to end this season. The last two episodes were some of the best television I've seen so far this year. The fight at Blackwater coupled with defining character moments for Cersei, Joffrey, Sansa, the Hound, Tyrion and Shae was one thing but the finale with Daenerys trip into the House of the Undying, Jon winning Ygritte's confidence, Maergerys making her moves into power and the arrival of the White Walkers - all I can say is that after a few little hiccups, this season was every bit as compelling as the first one and certainly has left me wanting more.

Hit & Miss: Well, it certainly lives up to it's title alright. It's definitely been interesting to see Mia balance killing people for a living and trying to raise a family that one minute seem warm to her and then the next minute are treating her with disdain. However I do wish the show would find some way of getting rid of John. Having to see him sleeping with Riley and getting her pregnant was not a plot I particularly wanted to see and while I'm glad Ben did have a believable reaction to learning about Mia being a pre-op transsexual but I'm starting to think that Eddie isn't as friendly as he seems and I'd like some answers to that man who keeps watching the farm as well.

The Vampire Diaries: Despite finding Klaus utterly annoying in places, this has been a wonderful season to watch and the ending was certainly unexpected. I know the books turned Elena into a vampire but I thought the series would either avoid it altogether or wait until the last ever episode to do so. Still, it should make for a great dynamic next season but can we please get some new villains? I didn't like that we ended up with Bonnie storing Klaus in Tyler's body to save her friends from all being killed. It's the one important thing the show desperately needs now.

- It seems that Gugu Mbatha-Raw may not be returning for the second season of Touch.
- Production on the third season of the US version of Being Human has begun with Kristen Hager to return as series regular as Nora.
- ITV viewers can finally watch the fifth series of Primeval from Saturday at 6pm.
- Valerie Cruz will play Major Joy Mendez, a military officer who interacts with Carrie in the second season of Homeland.
- Spartacus's upcoming third season will be it's last one according to Starz.
- Jorge Garcia and Maggie Grace will be reunited in an upcoming episode of Californication.
- Victor Webster will be in an upcoming episode of White Collar.
- Catherine Tate is set to become a regular in the upcoming ninth season of The Office.

Bedlam - Series 2 Preview

Gone are the likes of Theo James and Will Young and in are the likes of Lacey Turner and Jack Roth. Why, it can only be the second series of SkyLiving's supernatural drama, Bedlam of course. I have to admit, I found the first run far too repetitive for it's own good. Literally the same scenario cropped in six episodes with little in the way of variation. I hope that the second series of this show doesn't suffer from that level of formulaic.

Lacey Turner is the driving force behind the second run, playing an ambulance worker named Ellie Marx who can see dead people and with a supporting cast of Gemma Chan as Kiera, Jack Roth as Max and Nikesh Patel as Dan as well as well as Hugo Speer reprising his role as the slippery Warren Bettany, this does seem to be continuing some plot strands from the first run while taking the show in a new direction.

And this isn't the first supernatural thing we have to look forward to with Lacey Turner this year as she's currently filming an ITV2 show called Switch, which I'll be discussing in later weeks. The trailer alone though for Bedlam does seem to make the show look a lot better than it's first run.

Trailer/Cast Shots: http://www.cultbox.co.uk/news/galleries/3817-bedlam-first-look-series-2-cast-promo-photos

Series 2 of Bedlam airs Wednesdays at 10pm on SkyLiving from June 6th.

Thriller Superbowl

And here's another TV blog to savour with some of the shows I've been catching up on over the last few days.

Bedlam: Ooh, SkyLiving decide to do a spooky series and while this show will win nothing in terms of originality, it is rather decent. Okay, so maybe there's plenty of gratituous shots of Theo James's character, Jed Harper in states of undress but the spooky goings on of an old asylum called Bedlam and Jed's mission to deal with the ghosts along the way is interesting enough. The rest of the characters are a mixed bag so far, though Will Young is pretty decent as the nerdy Ryan. It's not the best thing I've seen but there's definitely potential there at least.

Being Human US: Okay, I am beginning to fall out of love with this series. It's not like the last two episodes haven't been uneventful (Sally's mulling over Danny/Bridget, Josh meeting both Ray and Nora/the Nina character in this one and Aidan dealing with both Garrity and Rebecca's bloodlust) but it's beginning to take itself a little too seriously for my liking. The reason why the Uk version works so perfectly is because there's a sense of fun attached to it. This show could do with implementing that a lot more, otherwise it's just going to be like any other vampire themed show out there.
Glee: It's been two months since my last fix of the series and the show's come back fighting with two bizarre but brilliant episodes in it's own right. The superbowl episode definitely saw Sue going too far with the cannon antics but I did like the temporary truce with the Glee and Titans for the Thriller bit and points for attempting to humanise Karofsky, though it's going to take more than this for me to sympathise with him. The Valentine's episode was a lot better though, especially with Santana in full bitch mode (exposing Finn/Quinn sneaking around by giving the former mono was an extreme move) and heck, even Blaine was made somewhat more believable as well but less of the Dalton numbers because they're not overly adding to the series at the moment. Oh and more of the Rachel/Mercedes/Kurt sleepovers and Puck's pursuit of Lauren.

Skins US: Another set of mixed episodes here, I'm afraid. On one hand, there was Chris's episode, which was completely the same as the UK version but surprisingly, nearly as effective. The actor playing Chris in this one is the only male actor on this version that can actually act and I'm liking the friendship between Chris and Daisy as well. Unfortunately the Cadie episode was a hot mess that bored me senseless and the less said about Tony's fixation on Tea, the bloody better. Here's hoping Stanley's episode is a cracker this week.

Secret Diary Of A Call Girl: Not a bad second episode, actually a lot of fun. Amusing to see that Belle's client this week was one that needed his homosexuality confirmed but what was more interesting was the introduction of Ben's mother. I was expecting her to be a harridan, so the more liberated version we got here was a nice surprise. I'm not sure if Belle and Ben will actually last but the pool scene at the end is certainly making me hope so.

Shameless US: In Ireland, the second and third episodes have aired and I can safely say that this show is not improving. The storylines aren't flowing as well as they did in the UK version, like Frank in this one being sent to Canada wasn't as funny as his UK version being shipped to France and Steve is just boring in this one too. William H. Macy is a great actor but he's just miscast as Frank and the last two episodes almost seemed to emphasise that point even further. Here's hoping that this show does improve soon though, because there are some signs of it becoming good.
- Michael Rosebaum will be returning for the series finale of Smallville. Great news, right?
- Stockard Channing has joined NBC magical based series, 17th Precinct from Ron Moore.
- Wentworth Miller has joined the cast of ABC drama, Identity which sees a police unit dealing with identity theft. Didn't ITV do that last year?
- Hilarie Burton is becoming a regular for the third series of White Collar.
- A previously known gay character on a US show may become bisexual. The shows that are possibly it are True Blood, Glee and Southland but which is it?
- The second half of Desperate Housewives seventh season will continue on RTE2 from March 1st. I assume Channel 4 will air it around then as well.