Link to Top 50 Position.

Starring:
Scott Adsit as Pete Hornberger
Alec Baldwin as Jack Donaghy
Tina Fey as Liz Lemon
Judah Friedlander as Frank Rossitano
Jane Krakowski Jenna Maroney
Jack McBrayer as Kenneht Parcell
Tracy Morgan as Tracy Jordan

Current number of seasons: 2 (3rd comfirmed)
Runtime: 448 mins (21 Episodes)
Number of Discs: 3
Awards: 2 Golden Globes, 1 Emmy, 2 Gracies, 1 Peabody, 1 PGA, 2 SGA, 1 TCA, 1 WGA


30 Rock is a 20 minute-ish comedy show from Tina Fey about the goings on in and around a fictional television show run entirely inside 30 Rockefella Plaza (located in the Rockefella Center, NY and home of NBC). Tina stars, writes and produces the show so it's very much her baby and it shows in it's quality.

Liz Lemon (Tina) is the head writer for a moderately successful comedy sketch show called "The Girly Show", but when a new executive - Jack Donaghy - is transferred and takes charge of the show he rapidly installs dramatic changes. Hiring the somewhat mentally disturbed film star Tracy Jordan in order to appeal to more demographics and renaming the show "TGS with Tracy Jordan" or "TGS".

Initially the show struggles a little to find its place, the first few episodes are amusing but not that funny, it's not until around episode seven (or so) that the writers find the dynamic that works best and suddenly the show transforms from being sort of funny to comically brilliant. The working relationship between Liz and Jack becomes one of the core dynamics of the show and things really begin to spark.

Once you get beyond the slightly rough start the show is consistently clever, satyrical, witty and funny. Tina gives a stunning performance as the dorky and unsure Liz, Tracy is just brilliant as 'Tracy', Judah manages to consistantly be hilarious as the unashamedly porn-obssessed nerd Frank, Jane is top notch as the insecure aging Jenna and Jack is laugh out loud funny as the country boy turned enthusiastic page Kenneth. But the real star turn is from Alec Baldwin who is just effortlessly brilliant as the bombastic and egotistical Jack, his performances are consistently brilliant and he's just great in his scenes with Tina.

I got into watching 30 Rock off the back of Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, as I was looking for another show which was based on the backstage goings in of a fictional sketch show. 30 Rock satisfied that need in some ways but ended up becoming a far more enjoyable experience in many other ways. I loved Studio 60, but the antics of the TGS crew have won a space on my DVD shelf entirely on their own merit. It's a great little comedy gem and I hope it manages to keep going and improving (which it does in the second season).


The product comes packaged in a cardboard dust jacket with three almost identical slimline DVD cases. I am a little confused by the choice of artwork (see top of this post), it has this strange lime green colour choice for the background buildings and the three stars (Tracy, Tina and Alec) all have a slight second after image. Maybe you're supposed to view the case with some of those non-tinted 3D Glasses or something. Also the colour filters used on the actor's photographs are a little strange. Alec looks like he's a waxwork version of himself, maybe he is. Perhaps he was too busy with his custody problems to pose so they had one made up for the shot. Who knows?

Sadly, there's not a lot to talk about here beyond the packaging. This Playback release is very much no-frills. In fact, it's so no-frills that they decided to cut out the subtitles as they're obviously just an extra for people who like to read. They're not important, no of course not.

Mind you, when it comes to the extras it seems we're not missing out too much. So I won't complain that much this time.

The set can be purchased from Zavvi for £25 (which is 5.6p per min).


This is very much a lightweight release, you get the show and nothing else for your money. I must say (write?) it's a pretty poor decision to exclude the subtitle track and thus force any hearing impaired fans of the show into recording their own copy with subtitles. But this shouldn't take away from the experience for everyone else, the show is clever, funny and awesome in all kinds of ways.



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Mary-Louise Parker as Nancy Botwin
Elizabeth Perkins as Celia Hodes
Silas Botwin as Silas Botwin
Kevin Nealon as Doug Wilson
Alexander Gould as Shane Botwin
Justin Kirk as Andy Botwin
Andy Milder as Dean Hodes
Romany Malco as Conrad Shepherd
Tonye Patano as Heylia James


Weeds is the story of Nancy Botwin, an ordinary housewife from suburbia who's struggling to make ends meet since the death of her husband Judah (played in videos by the awesome Jeffrey Dean Morgan). When we first meet her she has turned to dealing pot in her neighbourhood and has already gathered some small success and client base.

First of all, let's get the inevitable comparisons with Desperate Housewives over with. Yes, both shows are set in the suburbs. Yes, both shows have a housewife female lead(s). Yes, both shows deal with suburban life as a single mother. Yes, they are both dramas. But that's where the comparisons end. Weeds is quite a different beast from DH, while the show stars the lovely Mary-Louise Parker (Nancy) and Elizabeth Perkins (Celia) as suburban home makers the rest of the cast is largely male. The show looks into Nancy's situation, the events that surround her choice of income and the difficulties involved in raising two boys without a father.

Nancy is a woman attempting to reconcile her decision to deal and rationalise it. We're not shown exactly what prompted her to decide dealing was the best choice, but we do get to experience what it's like and the challenges facing her as the season progresses. Nancy is very much someone in over her head, while she rapidly proves capable of selling product in the face of competition she's still very naive and unaware of the risks and dangers involved. But she's going to learn, sometimes the hard way.

The cast of Weeds are a very talented bunch and all provide solid performances that are believable and enjoyable. Mary-Louise is superb as Nancy, managing to be likable even when she's breaking the law or being intensely hypocritical, but the top performance is from Tonye Patano as Nancy's supplier Heylia; who effortlessly steals every scene. Each episode is pretty much the perfect length, not feeling too long or too short and always finishing with a flourish that leaves you wanting more.


Weeds season one contains 10 episodes at a total run time of 272 minutes. It can be had from play.com for £12.99 right now, which works out at a slightly expensive 4.8p per minute but there is plenty of re-watching potential in this series as it's so light and funny. The set is packaged in a colourful cardboard sleeve that holds two slimline DVD cases, it takes the same amount of space as the repackaged DVDs of "The Wire" and "Dexter" do which is pretty much the size you want from a DVD.

The discs come packed with extras, spread across the two DVDs are outtakes, a mockumentary on Marijuana, Agrestic Herbal recipies, three Showtime featurettes, Audio Commentaries on 6 of the 10 episodes, a featurette on 'Suburban Shakedown' and a music video. I've only watched the featurettes and the mockumentary at this point, but they were quite an enjoyable experience. The mockumentary in particular has a dark streak of humour about it.


I still don't recall why I started watching Weeds, but the DVD set is a nice little package. My main complaint is the length of the footage, it's all finished in a little over 4.5 hours and honestly that's not enough for the full retail price of £25. The show is one that has stuff for both genders and even if you're not that keen on the subject matter it's still fun, lighthearted entertainment that doesn't take itself too seriously or attempt to push it's agenda too hard.

It's a good show with plenty of room to grow (sorry for that one, couldn't resist).


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Read the review of the first series here.
It also makes an appearance in My Top 50 Shows.


Homicide: Life on the Streets - The Complete Second Series contains the complete third season of Homicide (Series One contains both Season One and Two). The third season was the first one to get a complete episode run of 20 episodes and marked the arrival of a new detective called Megan Russert (played by Isabella Hoffmann). It also marked the final times two other detectives would appear in the show, one of whom was cut because of network pressure.

The episodes are 17 standalone episodes (some of which are linked in part) and a three parter containing a guest starring spot from the excellent Steve Buscemi. During the course of this season the members of the Baltimore Homicide unit deal with a serial killer who leaves white gloves at the scene of the crime, suicide, the murder of a street side Santa Claus (Ho-Ho-Homicide!), Motorcycle clubs, police corruption, an ex-con seeking revenge and the difficulties of buying a bar.

The third season is the season where Homicide really begins to find its feet, it's able to provide standalone cases alongside ongoing meta plot with great ease. Making the events of one week feel natural in their progression to the next. Some shows are exceptionally ham-fisted about their ongoing stories, but Homicide never suffers from that. David Simon's influence can be felt throughout the season, bringing everything down to a natural level of storytelling and realism.

Performances from the cast continue to be strong, it's hard to pick out my favourite from amongst them all but Andre Braugher as Frank Pembleton, Kyle Secor as Tim Bayliss and Clark Johnson as Meldrick Lewis are up there. The story lines are shared out between them pretty well, and every member of the cast gets their time to stand up and be counted.


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This week Michael continues to dig into the mystery surrounding Carla while also helping a client who owes a loan shark $200K.

It's Friday and that means it's Burn Notice time! "Trust Me" is the third episode in the season and the show is continuing with the format of two plots, one concerning a weekly client and the second separate meta plot dealing with Michael's burn notice and his attempts to find out more about the woman sent to work as his handler.

The episode opens up with Michael and Sam heading into the Pakistani embassy with the intent of using a little distraction (Bruce causing a scene while stealing it simultaneously) to procure some sensitive information from the head of security. Michael explains that the head of security in most embassies is in fact a spy and there tends to be plenty of sensitive information around that they would be desperate to get back if it went missing. It turns out that the normal procedure for storing sensitive material is putting it in a standard grey filing cabinet located in your office, which you leave unlocked while there is an unsupervised guest sitting not more than five meters away. I guess that the Pakistan intelligence agency isn't that interested in keeping their information too secret, they must enjoy a good bit of being coerced. Or maybe the Miami head of security is just bad at his job, I don't know. Either way it's good news for Michael as all he needs to do is pop on some gloves, rifle through the top draw of the nearest cabinet and bingo, he's got something he can use as leverage.

I know that Burn Notice is meant to be light hearted fun and you're supposed to leave reality at the door when dealing with it, but this heist must go down as the easiest job Michael has pulled in the history of the show. Sure it's important to keep things pacey, but that one was as smooth as fresh snow on polished silver. Maybe I shouldn't think too hard about this and just enjoy it instead.

A bit later Michael is attempting to sneak into his mother's garage for car parts when she spots him. Maybe the Pakistani embassy should consider hiring her as their head of security, she's obviously better at surveillance than they were. Michael is brought in and joins a game of cards with his mother's friends (and Fi). Apparently another of Mrs Western's friends is having trouble as her son has borrowed $200K from a loan shark and has lost the money with a poor investment. Fi decides that Michael should take this job, it seems she wants him to pay penance for putting his burn notice ahead of her. Ah Michael; never cross an Irish woman even slightly, she has a million ways to get back at you. It doesn't matter what the show is called, Fi considers herself more important, women are a little crazy like that.

So Michael heads off to talk to the woman and her son (Andy) with Fi, they quickly identify that Andy has been the target of a rather old style sting. He was approached with a 'deal of a lifetime' by a man called Zeke and only had to front $200K to pay for a club in Cuba with a promise of thousand fold returns. Just as he handed over the money the "FBI" arrive; arrest Zeke, confiscate the money and leave Andy penniless. This is of course a classic con, one that anyone with a passing interest in con merchants or con films should immediately recognise. I'm not going to have a go about the use of such an obvious old school con because it fits here. Andy is clearly a complete rube, he's a nice guy but very naive. So it's natural that he'd fall for something so obviously false that would send anyone who's even been near a con movie into full alert.

Michael heads off to meet with the head of security for a little blackmail information exchange but he rapidly hits a snag. It seems that the information he's stolen isn't as valuable as the information on Carla, so down but not out Michael leaves to hatch another plan.

Fi is then sent to try and get her hands on the money direct from Zeke, to do this she comes up with the clever disguse of letting her hair down, wearing a very short skirt and employing a British accent that's just as terrible as the one Michael used in the first episode. I'm really enjoying the bad accent running joke, it's more fun than the yogurt one. Unfortunately her plan doesn't work out because Zeke likes to keep his office locked with a key card, Fi's hairpins don't work on key card slots so the gang have to come up with an alternative two man operation that involves someone playing a tempting mark for Zeke. Sam seems the obvious choice but Fi lands Michael in it instead (see Michael? Don't upset the Irish women, they'll hold a grudge forever and wear you down the same way water from a vine leaf wears away a rock!)

Michael meets with the head of security a second time to tell him that "He wins" and return the stolen files in a suspicious looking brown envelope. Intrepid photographer Sam Axe happens to be around with a camera and manages to photograph the entire exchange. Can you smell a second blackmail attempt coming? Mmm, blackmail...

Somewhere in amongst all this the loan shark comes round with a couple of heavies to put pressure onto Andy and his mother. Michael responds to the threats in the way you'd expect, he beats up the thugs with a magazine called 'Cat Fancy' and then informs them they'll get their money. At this point everyone seems to be wisely keeping quiet about any kind of interest, it seems this loan shark lends you $200K and only expects to get that much back. Perhaps that's why his men are easily fought off with nothing more than a glossy for people who like kittens.

Michael then heads off to the club to pose as a Texan oil baron trust fund baby. Cue the second terrible accent of the episode (hooray!) as Jeffery Donovan hams it up big style in order to compete with Gabriel's outrageously bad British accent.

Once inside the office Michael finds out that there's another snag (I'm sure he's tired of this by now, it seems he hits more snags in his plans than Malcolm Reynolds), the safe contains newspaper instead of money. So the gang need a third plan built off the back of the second one. A plan where they can get Zeke to hand over his money first. Enter Sam Axe, who poses as Michael's trust fund manager.

Meanwhile, Michael meets with the head of security again. Shows him the pictures and once again attempts to blackmail him, this time using the threat of being reassigned to somewhere unpleasant for accepting handouts. This time it sticks and the guy agrees to get the information.

Sam proceeds to manipulate Zeke by employing the strategy of 'walk away whenever Zeke refuses to hand over the money' and Zeke caves repeatedly to this. It's actually a lot funnier to watch than I've described it here. But basically Sam's part in the plan is to pick up all his toys and walk off saying "The deals off". The deal is set up and Michael gets Barry to help with a fake transfer. Then when the deal goes down the gang essentially pull a variation of the con trick used by Zeke and his partners. Sam intercepts them, sends them off somewhere and then blows up their car. Michael claims his ex-special forces mates have just aced some FBI men and want paying. Zeke promptly panics, goes back to the bar and hands over the original $200K (plus a little extra) to Michael. His partners then show up alive and Zeke is left explaining what he's just done. It's quite likely that we won't see Zeke again, he's probably enjoying a long swim in a special sack now. But maybe his partners will resurface seeking their money at some point.

The money is repaid to the loan shark (along with a lifetime magazine subscription to 'Cat Fancy') and Michael exchanges the photos plus negatives with the old head of security for the files on Carla.

It's a solid episode, not as good as the previous two but still enjoyable, light hearted and most importantly fun. We get two terrible disguises with awful accents and one whole explosion. What more could you want? (Apart from maybe a vampire and an explosion).


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A short promo for Dexter season 3 went up on DM yesterday. Here it is in all it's (brief) glory.



In case you didn't watch it before here's the other season 3 trailer from the end of season 2:
There's not really that much new material in this one at all, but it's time to start getting excited about Dexter's return.



I'm still concerned that the show might take a similar direction to the one the third book did, I really hope that this is not the case as the third book was terrible and switched genres from crime to lovecraftian fantasy. But hopefully the writers of the show noticed the poor reception that book got and just give us more of the brilliance we've seen in the first two seasons.
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Just a quick post with first of Bag of Shoes's Top 25 Seinfeld moments video. I don't know if this is the same as my own top 25, but I do love all of the ones in this.

25 to 22 are in this short video.


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Steve Carell as Michael Scott
Rainn Wilson as Dwight Schrute
John Krasinski as Jim Halpert
Jenna Fischer as Pam Beesley
B.J. Novak as Ryan Howard
Leslie David Baker as Stanley Hudson
Brian Baumgartner as Kevin Malone
Angela Kinsey as Angela Martin
Phyllis Smith as Phyllis Lapin
Kate Flannery as Meredith Palmer
Mindy Kaling as Kelly Kapoor
Paul Lieberstein as Toby
Creed Bratton as Creed
Oscar Nuñez as Oscar Martinez
Melora Hardin as Jan Levinson
Ed Helms as Andy Bernard
David Denman as Roy Anderson
Rashida Jones as Karen Filippelli
and Craig Robinson as Daryl Philbin


Just about everyone who's watched any amount of television should be familiar with at least one of the two versions of "The Office", so I'll assume this is the case here and I'll try to be brief. The Office: An American Workplace - alternatively known as The Office (USA) - is the American remake of the two season BBC Comedy "The Office". For the duration of this I shall be referring to the American version as "The Office" and the UK one as "The Office (UK)".

"The Office" is a mockumentry style show that follows the members of the Scranton branch of 'Dunder Mifflin'. The team is headed by one Michael Scott (Steve Carell) and follows the action in and around the office, spiced up with talking head interviews placed around and sometimes in the middle of scenes. The members of the office are very aware of the cameras, often looking directly into them or acknowledging their presence, sometimes with annoyance. Jim in particular is prone to looking into the camera when someone else has done something he feels is rather 'interesting'.

The show mostly revolves around Michael Scott's attempts to relate with his staff members during various issues, problems and sometimes even crisis that occur and affect the branch. Michael is the American equivalent of David Brent, in that he's very poor at dealing with people and often makes a situation worse. He's awkward, socially unaware, often inappropriate and pretty much the worst boss you could ever hope for. But, there's a side to him that is caring. He genuinely thinks he's personable and likable. He wants to do what's right for his staff as he cares deeply about all of them (except for Toby, who he inexplicably hates). Steve Carrell chose to play Michael Scott without watching Ricky Gervais's performance as David Brent. And it shows in the character; as while David Brent comes across as a worthless wretch of a human being, Michael Scott is intensely sympathetic. Which makes it a lot easier to like him, he really cannot help the way he is - but he is always trying to do what's best for the people who work under him.

The other main links between the UK and American versions of the show are the Jim, Roy and Pam love triangle (Tim, Lee and Dawn in UK), the arrival of a new temp, Ryan (Ricky in UK), Jim and Pam's constant pranking of Dwight (Gareth in UK) and Michael's interactions with his direct boss Jan (the lovely Melora). But with 66 Episodes over 4 seasons so far the show develops story lines for most of its characters and gives us insight into the lives of everyone in the office.

While the show is scripted, the cast are often given opportunities to improvise; this is in part because the cast has many members who are known for their improv work and many of these moments make it into the final cut. Additionally the material that gets cut during editing is still considered to be 'cannon' and as such it can get referred to at a later date even if it hasn't been seen. This gives the show a feeling of realism and spontaneity to it that makes it a joy to watch.


Season one was picked up and ran in March 2004 to a somewhat lukewarm reception, it ran for only 6 episodes and wasn't well liked by most critics. Watching it you can see why, as the first few episodes directly life story lines and events from the UK episodes. Which makes it very easy to just say "Oh it's another bad American remake of something British", but if you look beyond this you find that the show has an unexpected depth to it. Even with similar scripts and situations it's very clear from the start that the characters are quite different to their UK counterparts (especially Michael Scott as I noted earlier).

During the first season the members of the Scranton branch deal with the arrival of the documentary crew, downsizing, the new temp, Jim's pranks on Dwight, racial diversity, new health plans, a game of basketball between the warehouse and office, an attractive purse saleswoman and a $1,000 top sales man competition.

Season one is a rocky start to the show, but it quickly finds it's footing. The main issues I have with the DVD set is it's really not worth the price. It's only 6 episodes plus deleted material and as such it should either be combined with the second season (as was done with Homicide Series 1) or dropped to about £5 in price. You want to get in with the show at this season, but it's not the best introduction you could have. As such it can make it hard for fans of the UK series to get past those recycled story lines and arrive at the gold that is season 2+.

Extras: Deleted material
Price: £10
Runtime: 2h 15mins (not including deleted material)
Price per minute: 7.5p

: 3.5


The Office Season 1 @ Rotten Tomatoes


The second season started in September of 2005 and was the first full 22 episode season of the show. This is the season where "The Office" moves away from it's progenitor and begins to walk on two feet.

During this season several romantic relationships develop or continue. Michael sleeps with his boss Jan in a moment of (her) weakness, Dwight and Angela begin a secret relationship and Jim continues to see Katy (the hot purse sales woman). Meanwhile we discover that Oscar is gay when Dwight sees him with his partner - but Dwight himself does not realise what this means.

Speaking of Dwight, he continues to be tormented by Jim and in one episode is forced to resign his position of 'volunteer reserve deputy sheriff' and in another is given lines from speeches by Adolf and Mossolini to use in a conference - which surprisingly turns out quite well for Dwight. The entire team is given sexual harassment training, Ryan starts a fire, Michael burns his foot on a George Foreman grill, Michael also stars dating a woman named Carol instead of Jan and Jim reveals his feelings to Pam and once rejected he decides to transfer away from the branch.

The problem with the UK release of the second season is pretty simple. It's a horrifying monstrosity to look at, something I've talked about before here in some detail so I won't repeat myself. Needless to say it would not hurt the producers of the first two seasons if they went back, repackaged them together and released them in a new slimline foldout book form with entirely new box art.

Apart from this the season is sheer brilliance; filled with awkward moments, funny pauses, it's the reward you get for sitting through the not quite as good first season and it is well worth watching as the performances and scripting are a work of televisual art. The extras included on the complete season DVD are also worth watching, as I mentioned before they are considered cannon and also included is the entire run of "The Accounting" webisodes and fake PSAs. All of this material is worth watching and adds a couple of hours to your viewing pleasure easily.

Extras: Deleted material, Blooper Reel, Episode Commentaries, "The Accounting" Webisodes, Fake PSAs, Steve on Steve.
Price: £22.99
Runtime: 7h 59m
Price per minute: 3p

: 4


Season 2 @ Rotten Tomatos



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Starring:
Neil Patrick Harris as Doctor Horrible/Billy
Nathan Fillion as Captain Hammer
Felicia Day as Penny
Simon Helberg as Moist

(Keep an eye out in the very first scene and look at the top left corner. Does the shape those pots and pans make look familiar to you?)

All three acts of Joss's short web musical are up and available to watch for the next 2 days at drhorrible.com (you have until midnight on the 20th, but I don't know who's midnight - assume west coast America) and I've just finished watching the third and final act now. It's brilliance at the level you'd expect from Joss.

I'll use a mostly spoiler free synopsis rather than a full review at this point.

Dr Horrible's Sing-Along Blog is a 45 minute musical based around a wanna-be supervillain called Dr Horrible (or Billy to his friends). Dr Horrible is an evil scientst type with a "PhD in Horrible" who's desperate to make it into the big time Evil League of Evil. But his efforts in the past have always been hindered by Captain Hammer, an individual described by the Doctor as a "corporate tool".

Doctor Horrible Blogs on the internet about his progress in an amusing parody of many online blogs, often reading out e-mails from viewers who like to point out his general incompetence. In his personal life Billy doesn't have much, he lives with a minor henchman who calls himself 'Moist' and is as pathetic as his name would suggest. His only real distraction from his desire for horrible is a young woman (Penny) who uses the same laundrette as him, but he's unable to strike up a conversation with her as he's inept around women.

Will Doctor Horrible defeat Captain Hammer? Will he get into the league? Will he get the girl? You'll have to watch the three acts to find out.

Doctor Horrible is an enjoyable experience, Joss has produced nothing but quality programming over the years, each of his shows is excellent in it's own field. The man knows how to craft excellent dialog and provide a plot that you'll want to watch again and again. The story is top-notch, the characters are instantly identifiable and everything unfolds without dragging out.

Neil Patrick Harris is stunning as the titular Dr Horrible, he hits the right pitch for every piece of dialog and is brilliant in the songs. I've said in the past that he's exceptionally talented - he's the best thing on "How I Met Your Mother" - and Dr Horrible shows this. Nathan Fillon is fantastic as Captain Hammer, he brings a level of pomp and arrogance to the role that makes you immediately dislike the Captain. He makes it easy to root for the villain when the "hero" is such a bully and a thug. It's refreshing to see a superhero portrayed as someone who gets his kicks beating on people weaker than him, even though he's on the side of the law he's not a good person. It also helps that Nathan can carry a tune and he sounds good singing in counterpoint to Neil and Felicia.

Felicia Day is quite good as Penny, I say quite good because she is one of the only weak points in this whole production. Her singing is rather, generic. That is, her voice doesn't have much variation in it when she sings her numbers. She sounds pretty similar in all of them, it's not exactly a big problem. In fact it highlights how mundane she is in comparison to the other two, she's just an ordinary girl who cares about helping the homeless. She's great in all of the dialog scenes and fantastic in the big musical number where she sings counterpoint to Neil.

Still, that minor grip aside there's very little wrong with Doctor Horrible's Sing-Along Blog at all, the only other complaint I have is that it's only around 45 minutes long. I can't help but wish it was longer. But maybe; as it has been such a success, we'll see more from Doctor Horrible in the future.

It will be available on DVD eventually, so you'll be able to own it after it's been taken down online.


Full marks with the 5 gold TVs, bravo!
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This week Carla meets with Michael face to face and asks him to get in contact with a skilled Tunisian counterfitter who can duplicate a high tech key card for her organisation. Also, Michael is approached via Sam by a waitress who's being stalked and asked to help her out.


[Episode Spoilers Below]


Thankfully the writers of Burn Notice have decided not to drag out the moment before Michael and Carla meet face to face, the episode pretty much opens with it - following on almost directly from the scene where Sam met her the following week. Michael heads out with Sam and Fi for the meeting, with the intention of getting Sam to photograph her while Fi follows her. Predictibly this doesn't work, in fact I was left wondering why Michael thought it would work. He's such an astute spy he should have known his friends would be clocked the moment they were in the same area as Carla. But he doesn't and they are.


Carla hands him the afformentioned key card and explains that there's only one man in Miami who can make something like this. Michael has to set up a meeting and get the counterfit duplicate made. Sam then meets up with Michael and explains about helping Sophia, Michael is reluctant to help at first but decides to do so at least in part for Sam. While scouting out the "stalker" Raul they realise he isn't exactly what Sophia made him out to be, as he's packing a Mac 10.

Meanwhile, Fi goes to the one man who'd know where the counterfitter would be, Barry the money launderer. It's nice to see Barry back on screen again; even if it's only for a moment, and he's suitbly sleezy when dealing with Fi. Something she's more than happy to respond too in her prefered manner, with violence and threats. I do find Fi's love of violence refreshing in some manners, it's great that the most trigger happy character in the show is in fact a woman. But it's a little stereotypical that she's also Irish.

Michael confronts Sophia over Raul and after some shrewd observations about inconsistencies in her story he gets her to admit to the truth. She's a DEA agent, Raul is part of a drug cartel and she's been trying to get enough to arrest him for two years. Unfortunately she's in over her head, but unwilling to tell the DEA as that would get her pulled from the case. Michael learns about the organisation and comes up with a plan to get her out of there and take Raul down in about 30 seconds. You have to wonder why they burned him if he's that good at this job.

Michael meets the counterfiter with another flimsy cover identity, this time he dresses up in a terrible shell suit top and puts on a slight voice while he pretends to be a low skill counterfitter who specialises in cheque washing (once again Burn Notice teaches you something the public shouldn't learn about, this time it's how to blank cheques that have been used before). It's nowhere near as funny as his British performance last week, but it's still entertaining to watch.


Once again Carla and her people break into Michael's mother's house, this time to replace the coffee maker with a new one. He takes this pretty well, they're consistently trying to rattle his cage but he hasn't gotten angry or worried about the bunch of trained spies who seem to treat his mother's place as a place to leave him messages and screw with his head. His mother also seems to be completely oblivious to the events, assuming Michael bought the new coffee maker for her. She also asks that he go to councelling sessions with her, counselling sessions that don't work out.

Michael manages to work his way into Raul's confidences and starts to put his plan into motion when he hits a few setbacks, the first of which is when Raul discovers that Michael and Sophia have been talking on the phone to each other. Something Raul mistakenly assumes is to do with them sleeping together, but Michael keeps his cool and doesn't give anything away while talking Raul down with a believable story about "checking him out in advance". The second snag he hits is when Raul turns out to be far more loyal than Michael had estimated. His initial plan to get Raul eliminated as a potential leak of information becomes impossible because Raul brings him to meet his boss Campos. So Michael rigs the situation to make it seem like Raul wanted to have Campos killed and this forces Raul to go to the DEA rather than get killed.

Michael returns to collect the duplicate from the counterfitter and also asks him to find out where the keycard would be used. But Carla's organisation are ahead of him and attempt to kill Nezi right after their meeting. Michael realises this but gets back too late to save him. He does manage to reclaim his money and gets another copy of the key card for his troubles.
Finally he meets again with Carla to give her the money, the counterfit and the original and he gets her to show off by communicating in Arabic. Which gives him a clue to her identity as she has a Kurdish accent. It's not much, but Sam agrees to do what he can.



Turn and Burn is classic Burn Notice, but with an added layer of complexity. The 'problem of the week' format is followed but this time the 'big season metaplot' also gets equal screen time. As such you get two stories in this episode, but it doesn't feel too packed in or rushed. All of the cast are excellent when on screen, Bruce and Jeffery provide the best performances (as usual) but Tricia is very good when she's on screen and looks very good with a more natural appearance to her (compared to BSG) except for her smile, sometimes it's just darn creepy and really unflattering.

Clues as to Carla's agenda continue to arrive, previously we had a collection of high security data files and this week we have an exceptionally high tech key card being duplicated. It's clear there's a major heist on the books, but why, who, where and how come everything needed is in Miami hasn't come to light yet. Next week promises to reveal even more about her.

There's a lot to enjoy in this episode and it's probably better than the season opener (which was still good).


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Before I begin, I just watched the second Act of Doctor Horrible and pretty much the only complaint I have is it's only 13 mins long per act. I'll write about it in full once it's finished this weekend.

Today instead I give you two interlinked shows called Moving Wallpaper and Echo Beach. It'll be best to deal with these two shows separately and then talk about the entire thing as a whole.



Starring:
Elizabeth Berrington as Mel Debrou
Raquel Cassidy as Nancy Weeks
Sarah Hadland as Gillian McGovern
Sinead Keenan as Kelly Hawkins
Dave Lamb as Carl Morris
James Lance as Tom Warren
Lucy Liemann as Sam Phillips
and Ben Miller as Johnathan Pope

Moving Wallpaper is a term that's used to describe television in general and often applied to TV Soaps in particular. It's based on the way many people use TV shows as sort of a background. Moving Wallpaper the TV show on the other hand is a comedy show about the fictional writers of the TV Soap Echo Beach; a brand new post watershed ITV Soap. Ben Miller plays Johnathan Pope, the new producer drafted in by the network to make Echo Beach into a huge success. Unfortunately for the writers of the show Pope is something of an ass, lacking any real social awareness while muddling his way through something of a mid life crisis.

The writing team consists of Gillian - a new age feminist, Carl - an aging, single man who's useless around women, Tom - a handsome and smooth individual with a streak in cruel practical jokes, Sam - the script editor and normally the level head of the group, Kelly - the secretary and Mel - John's assistant. They're a somewhat neurotic group who struggle with the constant demands of the network and have their problems additionally compounded by Pope's antics. Pope himself has a lot to handle as his direct boss is Nancy, a women with an intense dislike for him as she sees through all his pretences and understands just how obnoxious he is.

Each episode of Moving Wallpaper is about the difficulties involved in writing the corresponding episode of Echo Beach. While watching you can see how events that occur in and around the writers end up making it into the script for various reasons. You can also hear dialog that later makes it into the script. Moving Wallpaper is a fast paced and witty show that's not afraid to have some off the wall characters and run with the concept. It's an exceptionally strong sitcom that's enjoyable to watch. Ben Miller's performance in particular is fantastic and he carries himself well throughout the show, not afraid to look like a complete w****r when the situation requires it.

ITV's home page for Moving Wallpaper



Starring:
Jason Donovan as Daniel Marrack
Martine McCutcheon as Susan Penwarden
Hugo Speer as Mark Penwarden
Ed Speleers as Jimmy Penwarden
Hannah Lederer-Alton as Abie Marrack
and Susie Amy as Angela Cole

Echo Beach is the linked soap "created" by the characters from Moving Wallpaper, it's based in Polnarren, Cornwall and initially was supposed to be a worthy drama about social issues in Cornwall. But Johnathan Pope arrived and decided to sex it all up with stunt casting, exciting story lines and a gorgeous cast. The plots for the show mostly revolve around the Marrack and Penwarden families and their past involvements together.

And that's where I need to stop talking about what happened in Echo Beach (if you want to read more here's the wikipedia entry). Because I really did not enjoy watching it at all, I hoped that there was going to be something entertaining in watching it. That the show might hit say the utterly ludicrous level of Sunset Beach and provide an ironic parody of the whole soap experience. But in fact it doesn't, it seems that the creators of Echo beach decided to try and create a proper honest to goodness soap. It's like watching a poor facsimile of any other British soap and as I really cannot tolerate them I found the experience dull and slightly painful. It's very jarring moving from such an entertaining and witty sitcom into a dull and predictable soap and as such I found myself ignoring the television while Echo Beach was on and only paying attention when the segments occurred that were obviously linked to the relevant Moving Wallpaper episode. It was a nice experience to see how the dialog and events from Moving Wallpaper "inspired" the direction that Echo Beach took. But this wasn't enough to hold my interest.

I'd go as far as saying that watching Echo Beach almost replicated the experience of going to a British Beach. In that it sounds exciting and you expect a wonderful time. But once you get there you end up sitting about bored stiff in dull weather, yearning to be back home where you can do something more productive; like say, removing your own teeth with a chisel and hammer.


Taken together as a package these shows are a fantastic concept, it's a real stroke of genius to come up with the idea of a mockumentry showing the writers and then have the show they write follow it up. But the key problem with the entire thing is the lack of viewership preferences between the two shows and the weak nature of Echo Beach. In the collected boxed set you watch first one episode of Moving Wallpaper and then one of Echo Beach, this means you're switching back and forth between a show you're interested in and one you (may) not be in interested in at all. How often does the TV soap and sitcom demographic collide?

It could have worked if Echo Beach had been a bit less serious, if it had taken some truly ridiculous moments and worked them in. Classic soap moments like, the return of a previously dead character, the evil twin, the abandoned child returning or impregnation with a turkey baster. But instead Echo Beach plays it too straight and instead of giving us a modern Acorn Antiques it delivers something like Hollyoaks, but even more boring. I know it was meant to be rubbish, but it managed to be rubbish in an utterly mundane manner - it's no Plan 9 from Outer Space.

Fortunately, Echo Beach has been dropped from the line-up and is being replaced with a show about zombies. (See Dan's Media Digest here and Digital Spy here). Now zombies has a real potential for providing either laughs or a fresh new experience. There hasn't been a zombie based TV series on UK television that I can recall (feel free to prove me wrong) and it doesn't matter if they play it straight, funny or attempt to make it look really bad they should have a hit on their hands. Additionally there is a lot more crossover of demographic between fans of comedy and horror, just look at Shaun of the Dead and Spaced. It's a brilliant idea, I love it!



As I mentioned the DVD set of Moving Wallpaper/Echo Beach alternates between one ep of Wallpaper and then the matching episode of Echo Beach. This is fine as it's how the show was meant to be watched, but in all honesty it's not a pleasant experience to do this. As such I'd thoroughly suggest you instead pick up just Moving Wallpaper by itself and experience the good half of the shows. The extras on this twin set are all related to Moving Wallpaper and they're brilliant, including a fantastically disturbing performance from Jason Donavon in one webisode of 'The Mole Diaries'.

Unfortunately the DVD menus do not contain a play all option for each separate series, so you'll either have to watch all of them, skip the Echo Beach episodes or watch one episode at a time via the single episode menu.


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Just reminding y'all that Act I of Doctor Horrible's Sing-along Blog is up online today for the world to see.

Direct link to it is here.

Enjoy, it's legendary!
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Season three of The Wire returns from Baltimore docks back to the streets and their kingpins with a vengeance. Stringer Bell is firmly entrenched in the Barksdale organisation and so cautious that none of the old tricks are working against him or his crew. Avon is back out from jail and the various kingpins have formed a cooperative group to manage distribution of their drug stashes, but there's a new kingpin on the block called Marlo Stanfeld and he wants more than his share of the action. In the police force, Major Howard "Bunny" Calvin is currently in charge of the western district (where the Barksdales operate) and is getting increasingly desperate in the face of all the failure. McNulty and the detail are stuck bashing their heads against failed surveillance and there's increasing pressure from the mayor's office to produce results. The betrayal of Frank Sobotka by a member of the FBI resulted in "The Greek" and Spiros making their escape at the end of the last season, so the flow of drugs into the city has not been halted much.

Meanwhile Bodie has risen in the ranks of the Barksdale organisation and things are looking pretty profitable for him in the future, as long as Omar's crusade against the Barksdales's doesn't bring everything down around them all. A few new players emerge on the scene as well, including the driven and ambitious councilman Tommy Carcetti - who is determined to become the next mayor of Baltimore - and Dennis 'Cutty' Wise, a former Barksdale Enforcer who's just gotten out of prison.

The third season of The Wire stacks the deck high from the very start, things have not gone well for the Baltimore P.D. despite some successes at the docks. Everything is looking bleak for the Major Crimes detail and their lack of success means they're struggling to stay afloat. It's pretty much life as usual in Baltimore, no matter how hard the police try to keep the law there's always someone out there supplying the demand.

The narrative and characterisation in the third season is superb, the show hits a stride that surpasses the excellent second season and brings you a rich, detailed and bleak world. A world where you experience both sides of the equation and learn to love or hate all the players in the picture. The third season is phenomenal, but what is even more staggering is the fact that the next season improves even further.





The box deviates from the previous style somewhat, providing a blue filtered shot of Avon and Stringer from the viewpoint of McNulty. It's the mirror image of the shot at the top of this post, and stands to highlight the dual nature of the narrative in the show. The rest of the box has been kept in a very close style to match the previous two, on the shelf it's only the colour of the spine (and the text) that differentiates it from previous seasons. It's also has a very small shelf profile (about 1cm wide) which means it's doesn't take up much room.

The plastic DVD case contains all 5 DVDs with ease and even has room for the small booklet. It's a triumphant marriage of design and practicality.


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