The Week That Was returns to it's usual spot at 'Sometime on a Saturday'.

This week is pretty sparse, shows are just starting to return to normality after the Christmas break, so it's going to be pretty light this week.

Scrubs:
There were two episodes of Scrubs this week and it's clear that in both of them that the dedicated decision to scale back the wacky and return to the tone of the first few seasons has been followed. The first episode introduced Courtney Cox as Kelso's replacement and a whole batch of new interns. Cox is very good, but the new interns are all best described as the Rude One, the Annoying One, the Brown Noser and The Rest. I'm not fussed on them.

The second episode guest starred The Wire's Glynn Turman as George (at least I think that was his name) a dying man who's kept company by JD and Turk. It was the better of the two episodes, both for the comedy moments and the more thoughtful ones. Glynn gave the entire thing a real sense of gravitas and dignity, it's been a while since the show has had such a strong actor playing a one-off patient. I have a good feeling about this season of Scrubs, but I do hope it's the last one if Zach is leaving.

My Name is Earl:
Sometimes I find myself wondering why I keep watching 'My Name is Earl' and for some of the latest episode this was one of those times. I guess I'm not the worlds biggest fan of forumlaic shows and My Name is Earl is pretty much the pinnacle of forumlaic alongside House M.D. and CSI. But then I got swept up in the story of Earl's attempt to get a young lad he was responsable for causing the pregnancy of (there must be a better way to write that) to fly straight and grow up. It was fun and the B story of Mr Turtle being lost was entertaining as well.

I just wish that Earl would resist going back to the start every single episode, this is a show that's meant to be about someone growing and making amends for what they've done, but it doesn't seem to go anywhere and the characters don't grow much either. Maybe I'm just expecting too much from this, I've already seen three and a half seasons so I shouldn't be surprised anymore...

30 Rock:
Also returning this week is the businesses favourite comedy 30 Rock. Salma Hayek joins the cast as Eliza, a nurse Jack has hired to look after his mother. Liz on the other hand meets a UN Member (name forgotten and not present on the imdb) played by Peter Dinklage when she mistakes him for a little boy. The show is filled with some excellent comedy, overall a little weak plotwise but there were so many funny moments I didn't really care. 30 Rock continues to be a little up and down with it's quality, but when it's on it's so good that it more than makes up for the lulls.

The Guild:
Rounding up this comedy edition of TWTW is the Web based show 'The Guild', I've written a little about it in the past and I've enjoyed it enough that I wanted to find a way to support it each week. As each episode is just less than ten minutes in length it's hard to write a full review on each episode. So I'm just going to give it a slot in TWTW each week instead.

We're up to episode six at this point and I have to say this second season is a lot sharper and funnier than the first season. Paring up Vork and Zaboo together has been nothing but comedy gold, Zaboo is inappropriately homo-erotic towards Vork constantly and the dysfunction between them constantly has me laughing. Add to this Clara's repeated griefing of Vork, her sleep deprived delusions and the awkward attempts by Codex to get to know her stunt man/martial artist/all round awesome neighbour after she puked on him and it's amazing to think these episodes are so short. They're packed with as much action as an episode of Treehouse of Horror or Harvey Birdman.

You can watch the full episodes for free on msn or via Xbox Live.

Other News:
In other news my copy of BSG Season 2 arrived damaged, I thought about complaining but it turned out I would have to return the product and then wait for a new one, costing me both time and money. I decided to use an iron, glue and good old skill to repair it instead. You'd never know it was broken now.

I also purchased season four of Battlestar Galactica as well because I honestly haven't watched Razor or the fourth season yet -- That's for next week. Amusingly this means that part of my collection looks like this now:


Yes, that's right. I don't own the third season, I just have a gap instead. (I'm also missing the final season of The A-Team still, I keep meaning to get it and then putting it off.) For the curious who don't recognise everything up there on sight, if you click the picture there's an 800 x 600 version. (For the doubly curious, the dragon doesn't have a name, but I like to celebrate my nationality! Call him Welshie after the Futurama character.)

I'm also waiting on deliveries of RescuMe's second season and the first two series of Wire in the Blood. I'll probably write about them at some point. RescuMe in particular has really grown me, despite the fact that I can't write it's name correctly and have given up trying.