The general TV show watching thread.

[monel]

Season 6 has a great actor in it, I won't mention it in case you don't know, although I can see where they're going with him I bet there'll be at least one surprise. Yep, I quite liked the Jimmy Smits season, too. Ahhhhh-Brookside- I missed the insane plotlines before it finished, but I can remember the good old days of Jimmy Corkhill and Barry Grant (sp?).

[JazzFunk]

^I know about the 'great actor' but that's as far as spoilers go right now, I'm having a clampdown. Once this season ends, I'll get 'em all and avoid the internet for however long it takes to watch them.

As for Brookie, they went bipolar and started releasing 18-rated sell-thru only, 'not for TV' VHS episodes, and these were crazy abusive, even had Harry Cross saying the F-word(!)

Last thing I heard, the real-life Jimmy Corkhill was trying to buy the real-life Brookside Close and Bazza Grant's bezzie mate, the real-life Terry Sullivan, was involved in a real-life murder plot involving the brutal gunshot-to-the-head slaying of a dodgy-looking nightclub bouncer.

Seems life imitates....Brookside.

****, this is SO such a time to resurrect Brookie, it's nuts...!

[monel]

I remember the last episodes of Brookside I watched, looked reallllllyyyyyyy low budget and were on at 11pm or later, I think. Was Jimmy's son the Liverpool fan from Grange Hill (?????) or is my mind playing tricks on me (cue Ghetto Boyz song)???

[JazzFunk]

^I think you are right!

It met a very undignified end, it went out like a substance abuser who was in denial. After years of devoting time to it, I eventually began to see it as exactly that, and started 'moving away' from it. I remember very little from the last days, except that 'Jeremy Kyle' feeling, like it was some close relative who had turned to drugs and had robbed the **** out of me over several years and I was sick of forgiving it.

Would love to see Barry Grant again, but Terry is a real-life crim and 'Callum Finnegan', Bazza's main nemesis, has sadly pegged it, excellent actor though Gerard Kelly was.

[JazzFunk]

Um, a mate recommended me Friday Night Dinner as 'really funny' and I just watched it all back-to-back and it was pretty much just likeable, phlegmy, pointless suckage, not particularly funny at all, like My Family with added "****"s.

Mark Heap was the best thing in it, though he was basically playing 'Brian' in Spaced yet AGAIN. Weird nextdoor neighbour with twitches. Always good at that.

[Rossco]

I thought it was decent. I would watch the next season if they made it.

[JazzFunk]

^I think they are making another season of it.

I probably watched it in the wrong way. This probably/definitely worked better as a 'pleasant half-hour of light entertainment every week' rather than me shotgunning all the episodes in the space of two hours, with all the ad breaks removed. When watching it like that, every flaw is *totally* revealed - basically repetitive salt jokes, Mark Heap, and dad's hearing. Think Tamsin Greig looks very foxy in this, too.

In other news, just watched episode 1 of Fresh Meat. Really like it, 'cept didn't actually laugh much at all (think the Scottish guy is gonna be the prime 'jokemeister' in this, he's "Nick McFrost"). Will be interesting to watch the rest of it.

[eastyy]

saw the simpsons halloween special i thought it was pretty rubbish dunno what everyone else thought of it

[Bort]

saw the simpsons halloween special i thought it was pretty rubbish dunno what everyone else thought of it

Homer bit has hilarious. Flanders started off poorly but got all good like. Bart was trash with a few funny moments.

[eastyy]

anyone watched the new family guy series ? ...i thought its been terrible so far the last episode was just not funny at all

[Atticus]

Got to say I'm loving the new series of Curb. The relocation to NY has freshened it up no end. Last couple of episodes have been class ... I was laughing my ass off at Janice Soprano coming at Larry from his POV

[koopatroopa90]

Watched that Louis Theroux documentary about the bat**** crazy bible people in America who claim "God hates us all" as it is on the Virgin on demand thingy. I'd seen it before (when it was first broadcast) but my girlfriend hadn't and could barely believe what she was seeing, whilst I was fascinated all over again.

I just can't believe that people like this exist. I watch it not knowing whether I should be shocked or in hysterics - they accuse others of twisting words in a book, yet that is exactly what they are doing. Louis was clearly peeing some of them off with his questioning as they simply did not have an answer, instead either citing some stock phrase or resorting to getting angry to avoid the question altogether.

Definitely worth a watch if you like Louis' other documentaries/find people (or cults, I guess!) interesting.

[Bort]

Homeland - Seven episodes in now. I still feel it doesn't have the legs to go for multiple seasons but it is starting to get interesting. It could easily turn very hackish but I have a good feeling.

Dexter - Bad.

Boss - Four eps in. Chicago city politics staring Side Show Bob. Fairly flat and forced but better than all of the similar shows from recent years.

Hell on Wheels - I had initial hope for this but it started poorly.

Walking Dead - Carrying on from the end of the last season. Piss poor.

Beavis and Butthead - Good good.

[QualityChimp]

Has anyone been watching Jo Whiley's Music Show on Sky Arts 1? It's brilliant.

She gets 3 eclectic music guests in and talks about various music-related topics and it's really engrossing. I thought it'd be a bit meh, but I'm so glad I series-linked it.

I just watched one with Queen's drummer, Adam Ant and the Guillemots frontman talking about touring and Michael Jackson. I've just started one with Nicky Wire, Professor Green and Will Young debating X Factor. The first one I saw had Noel Gallagher and the Kaiser Chiefs singer talking about Nirvana. Absolutely engrossing.

It's on of a Friday at 10pm and then repeated throughout the week. I think last week's was shown at 10am this morning.
You'd think it was dull, but they're talking about things that are of interest - X-Factor's effect on the chart, Nirvana's influence and so on, but also about the side of music we'll never see - meeting Michael Jackson, playing at Buckingham Palace, life on the road and so on.

I hope they repeat the ones already shown as they're all worth seeing.

It's not like 24-style entertainment, but it is like sharing the conversation with some interesting musicians (and Will Young).

[JazzFunk]

Been using the Wii's BBC iPlayer a lot over the last couple of weeks, been watching something called The Slap (BBC4), a very interesting Australian 8-part drama, just watched episode 3 and am now fully hooked on it and cannot wait to see what future episodes bring.

Without wishing to give too much away about the show, the first episode kicks off with a very annoying child getting slapped at a barbecue and the (fabulously unpredictable) events that transpire from thereon in. Each episode is based around one of the characters who were present at that barbecue, this was based on a novel and I think it mirrors the book's format closely, and is really well done.

Plus...the "Hugo/breast dynamic"....it's.....ummm...something I've never seen before, quite hard to sum up...

Only irk I have is that episode 3 was available on Wii iPlayer several days back but now it's only got episodes 1,2 and 4, 3 seems to have vanished, had to watch ep 3 on the PC iPlayer. Weird.