I missed the actual date for my blog's birthday this year... Oops. It was actually the 27th of September 2007 when I started writing on here.

This year has been a reasonable year for television, not amazing if I'm honest - most of the existing shows I've watched have either been pretty OK (but nothing to go nuts about), or fallen by the wayside and been placed as "to catch up with on DVD". Only "Mad Men" has managed to stand tall, but Boardwalk Empire looks full of promise and I'm hoping it'll

But as for new shows, the world of DVDs has been most kind to me this year. Thanks to Dan Owen of Dan's Media Digest I discovered "In Treatment", thanks to my father I found "Mongrels", thanks to my sister I learned to enjoy "The Inbetweeners", thanks to Aaron of Snark and Fury I rediscovered "Robot Chicken", thanks to Lucia of Heroine TV I've started to watch "My So Called Life" and thanks to my random 'I'll have this' purchases in local stores (impulse buys trump internet purchases for me every time) I introduced myself to "Samantha Who", "Frisky Dingo", "Freaks and Geeks", "Wonderfalls" and "Better Off Ted".

Highlights of the year outside of the DVD spectrum include this year's Doctor Who (which I reviewed over at TV Geek Army) which was a triumphant urination on the head of Rusty's offerings from the years previous, writing for TVGA (I'll be reviewing Sons of Anarchy for them every Sunday) and podcasting for the first time with Lucia (Heroine TV).

I'm hoping in this upcoming year to do a couple of podcasts of my own, write some more guest reviews for other sites (just ask if you're interested, I have time to do a fortnightly slot for sure!) and catch up on some seriously great shows!
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The second (and concluding) part of my podcast with Lucia of Heroine TV is now up on her site (here). We tackle shows like Frisky Dingo, Dollhouse, Pushing Daisies, Drive, Terminator, Better Off Ted amongst others; and we totally do not talk about Arrested Development (honest!)

It's around the three and a half hour mark as we got a little carried away. Enjoy!
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Like Family Guy? Like Doctor Who? Always wanted to see the two of them mashed together in something other than another irrelevant Family Guy cut away? Want no longer, the Internet gives you...

Doctor Stew!


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I'm still exceptionally short of time and energy at the moment, but I have made a decision to update at least once a week no matter what happens. I am also posting over at TV Geek Army - so I'll start putting links or cross posts here when the site is updated with some thing from myself. At the moment Eric from TVGA and myself are round tabling about finales - the entire series so far can be read here, needless to say it is spoiler-riffic, but only about shows that have been finished for a while and each post on the link has a spoiler cut so you don't need to worry about reading a show finale you haven't seen yet.

Myself I have been using the summer months to catch up on a multitude of shows, what follows is a couple of sentences on the seasons I've seen.

Bones Season 4
Thank goodness Zach is down to an occasional guest star now, final episode was pretty rubbish but Booth's storyline was great. This show is one of my favourite "trashy" procedurals.

Mad Men Season 2
Still as great as ever, in the process of watching season 3 right now.

Frisky Dingo Season 1
I loved Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law and I'm still rocking The Venture Brothers - so it's no surprise I enjoyed the first season of this show.

Samantha Who Season 1
I know it was cancelled, but I wanted to give it a try anyway and I must say, you can't help but fall in love with Christina Applegate in it. She's wonderful.

Doctor Who - Doctor Eleven, Series 1
You can read my reviews at TVGA here. Brilliant series, I did not think I was going to like Matt Smith more than David Tenant, but I do. Vincent and the Doctor was one of the greatest episodes of any show, ever.

How I Met Your Mother Season 3
So glad they're finally releasing this show on a reasonable schedule in the UK. Season 3 was as great on the rewatch as it was the first time round.

HIMYM Season 5
I caught up with the complete 5th season as well recently, it was decent but a little forgettable in parts. The show has become TV popcorn, easy to digest but not much to remember. I still love it though.

Eureka Season 2
A really silly show in some respects, but it's so much fun it's easy to forgive the dafter parts of it.

Burn Notice Season 2
Burn Notice is something I fell behind with watching and really, desperately want to catch up on. I need the third season to be released in the UK asap. Adored the second season, better than ever.

Buffy Season 3
One of my favourite seasons, I'm two episodes away from the end of it and I'm just holding off from watching them because I know the mayor is going to be killed and I like the mayor.

I'll be back next week with a more substantial review of a show. I'll also let you know if I update on TVGA, I'm waiting for Eric's response on the Finale Round table before I post again though.
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I'm off away for a few days now, doing the family thing. So until I return have a great time, enjoy Doctor Who and I'll be back on either the 27th or 28th with a look at my favourite TV for 2009.

So stay safe till then!
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I've been rather busy, also writing Watching The Wire means I have less time to update over the week than I normally would.

As penance here's a wonderful comedy sketch which recreates The Matrix (remember? It was that awesome science fiction movie with two progressively rubbish sequels that had only one redeeming feature - Hugo Weaving) in the style of a silent movie.


The translation from Russian isn't perfect in places, but this isn't a film about the words really.

Enjoy, proper content to come later.
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Over time I've become an unashamed watcher of The Guild. It's grown from something I kind of found funny on occasion into a very special show that I've been eagerly awaiting the return of.

The trailer is up, warning it does contain mild spoilers for the season:


Yay!

Episode one is available for download on xbox live if you're a gold member, so I'll see you guys later. I've got some TV to watch!
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As I'm now settled into the my new job and I have a fair idea how it's going to work out I can now provide a decent idea of how often I'll update here. I'm going to do the vast majority of my writing over the weekend and then just use the evenings in the week to polish things up a smidgen or write about the odd bit of interesting news which has caught my eye. This means there should be an update most days of the week, Monday, Wednesday and Friday at a minimum.

As for the weekends, I'm devoting that to writing about other things (i.e. not TV, so not on this blog). So unless 'Watching the Wire' is running (which it will be tomorrow for the final post Season 2: The Overview), then there will only be posts on the weekend if I have spare time and a desire to write something up. This is because I don't really have time to watch TV during the week now, I have a two to three hour commute each day and I'm out of the house for about twelve hours, so time at home is limited and precious during the week days.

As for the kind of posts you'll see. DVDs in Review will continue as I've still got a backlog of about a hundred or so DVDs. Why You Should Watch will also make the occasional appearance, depending on my mood - it's nice to write about a show in it's entirety instead of writing about the individual DVD seasons and Film Fridays will start next week.. Other things will turn up as well and as we move into September/October I'll review a few shows which are airing as well.

So hopefully that should give you an idea of what's ahead - I do wish I could devote more time to writing, but I'm not a professional journalist/critic. I'm just an enthusiast who writes fiction and reviews stuff on the side, and as such I've got to do something else to pay the bills.
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Starting from next week I'll be filling in Fridays (way-hay!) with a series of reviews and retrospects on various films I've watched and enjoyed over the years. Where I own the actual film I'll review the DVD set as well at the same time. Up until now I've mostly concentrated on television shows as I do prefer long running stories where I can get to grips with the characters and experience their lives, their losses and their gains. Films do offer the same experience, but on a shorter time frame - so while they are not my first love, they are something I am going to dabble with.

Sorry this isn't longer, I went out for the evening instead of coming home and writing. I wish I could devote more time to the written word, but at the moment it's not possible - one has to earn a living!
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There is now a blog for the show up at http://emersonwild.blogspot.com/ - while I'll continue to mention updates about the show here, this official blog looks like it'll be a great place to keep an eye on. Hurry up and release the first episode guys!
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I am completely and unashamedly a supporter of web released shows like the BBC iPlayer, Dr Horrible and The Guild, all of which (I think) show a new form of television, perhaps the future. Right now, who knows? But I approve of it, especially The Guild which was also released on XBox live, thus allowing me to watch the show from the comfort of my living room (which is a fun place) as opposed to the work based environment of my office (which is a place where bills are paid and words are written).

Lately Emerson Wild: Monster Hunter popped up onto my radar via Nuklear Power and most recently a preview video of the piece has been released on YouTube.

Here is the HD version:



I'll be following and updating about this occasionally as I do like the look, the humor and the style I've seen so far. He used the word irregardless, I love that word!

The Website is located at http://www.emersonwild.com/ and twitter is http://twitter.com/EmersonWildMH
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This week Barker and Dove end up looking for the people who infected a young boy and are now blackmailing his mother for the cure, demanding millions of dollars in jewels from her place of work. Meanwhile Dove's brother rolls back into town and asks to stay at his place.

Read about jewels, viruses and a show which is failing to reach it's potential behind the link...

While the previous episode 'Nadia' was a solid and well written, Infected was decidedly average and rather pedestrian. It's not that it was bad, there's nothing really shocking in it, but the sum of it's parts just ended up being rather weak. That's a serious problem for an action/thriller which is only into it's fourth episode, things should still be new, exciting and well thrilling. As such this review is going to be one of the shortest ones I've ever written.

It seems things are already very formulaic and the show is struggling, honestly without a huge kick up the can I can't see The Beast making it to a second season. Swayze is pretty much carrying the entire show by himself as Larry Gillard Jr. is woefully underused and Travis just can't act convincingly in any way. With a deeper cast this would work, but The Beast essentially has a three man cast and two of them never interact with each other. So Travis (as the go-between) needs to be able to pull his weight, he can't.

It's very hard for me to write a lot about this particular episode, I realised halfway through I'd actually converted it into moving wallpaper, instead of paying attention and taking notes I was cleaning my living room and organising things ready to move home. That's really not a good indication at all because that's my behaviour when House is on and House is the ultimate time filler show for myself.

Ultimately it feels that the show is doomed to fail, which is a genuine shame because the core concept for the show is fantastic, likewise Swayze's performance is nothing short of phenomenal, his best performance since well... ever. But I have to be realistic, one man does not make a television show alone.

So ultimately Infected really doesn't have a lot going for it, I'm going to keep watching the show and writing about it, but the next episode needs to be a lot more gripping and deep than this one was.

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2008 has been a year where a lot of TV shows have ended, some prematurely, some intentionally and some were cut short but still given a chance to finish.

The first of the shows to end was The Wire of course, it's hard to believe that it's still been less than a year since that final season aired and everything was brought to a close. The Wire was and still is the greatest narrative show to ever air, it had such depth and richness to it's stories and characters alike. The fifth and final season wasn't The Wire at it's finest, it did have a few bumpy moments but it was still head and shoulders above everything else. Some day in the future I might be writing about a show that's 'better than The Wire' but for now this show with it's huge tapestry of events and rich deep characters is most certainly the best thing produced for TV so far. The knock on effects of the show are already being felt, with an increasing number of ex-Wire cast members being pulled into other more popular shows for guest or reccuring roles like House, Heroes, Lost and Prison Break.

Next up to end was The Shield, I think I've pretty much said it all as far as this show was concerned by now. The final season was just phenomenal, with top level performances across the board from the cast but a particularly special shout out for CCH Pounder, Walton Goggins and of course Michael Chiklis. The Shield never had a duff episode and the final episode finished so pitch perfectly with some of the most powerfull silences ever televised. It will be sorely missed.

Then there was Boston Legal, this time last year I was wondering if Boston Legal had watered itself down too far. The constant cast erosions had weakened the synergy in the cast interactions and left the viewer disconnected from making an attachment with quite a lot of the newer characters. But then came the news that Boston Legal was having one last season and things were looking bleak. The show seemed like it would end up going out on a low note.

Fortunately this was not the case at all, Boston Legal kept the cast which worked last season and developed them further. The final result was the show Boston Legal should have always been, silly, clever, self-aware and touching. Boston Legal managed to go out on a serious high and saved it's most ridiculous fun for the final few episodes. Plus it gave me exactly the resolution I was seeking where Katie and Jerry were concerned.

Then came the news that Pushing Daisies, a show which I really worked at to like (and did in the end) was cancelled, most likely a casualty of the writers strike, and while Bryan Fuller will move back to try and save Heroes from the dire mess it's become I don't really find that a silver lining. I could take losing Heroes as it's had all of it's chances now and really should be put down. But Pushing Daisies was just beginning to bloom, I was really beginning to enjoy watching Olive and Emerson in particular and I'm hugely disappointed with the show getting cut down. It's a real victim of the times and we might not even get to see the final few episodes and have to wait for them to come out on DVD. It was a unique and light-hearted show that had a real feel good factor to it. Just the kind of show people need in trying times.

Other lesser casualties/Endings this year included Eli Stone, The Riches, My Own Worst Enemy and Jericho. Some of these are shows I was intending to watch if they ran for longer. There are more shows besides these ones and they can be seen here.

In the new year I'll look at a few shows which might fill the void that the departure of these shows has left. Maybe you'll find something in amongst them to enjoy.
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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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