During my sabbatical I've caught up with a great deal of television that has been sat on my shelves in the 'must watch' section; this includes shows like Mad Men, Eureka, Frisky Dingo and more besides. But the DVD I finished watching most recently was the third season of Buffy: The Vampire Slayer, a season I haven't seen since it first aired back in what was it? 1998-1999?

I have a lot of fond memories of Buffy's third season, it's the season that took the structure created by the initial two seasons and built on the various concepts within. What resulted was the season with my favourite Buffy big bad - The Mayor of Sunnydale; Richard Wilkins the Third. I adore the fatherly persona the immortal Mayor projects; he's concerned about things like family values and foul language - but also the hypocrisy of the man knows no bounds. He's willing to steal, murder and do just about anything to complete his goal of ascension into demonhood, but then he complains about the decline of good old fashioned family values in America, beautiful.

The season also follows a lot of other characters and has a great selection - from the face/heel turn Slayer Faith (face/heel turns being something Buffy:TVS has a lot of), the return of Angel (in a rather "I was dead, well I got better" moment) and his subsequent departure to spin-off Angeles, all the way to the quite brilliant Wesley Wyndam-Pryce (though in Buffy he's nowhere near as great as he becomes in Angel). It's a season that's just packed with coming of age events and quite literally stuffed to the gills with amazing characters - fortunately at no point does the show feel overcrowded, which is quite an achievement in writing.

The stand out episodes of the season are, for myself: Band Candy (especially the revelation that Giles and Joyce slept together during the episode), The Wish (Mostly because of Anya - but it is a great 'what if'), The Zeppo (it's such a fun concept, having a sidekick character take centre while everyone else deals with some almost implausable situation that is just shown through snapshots - it also gives Xander his first serious character development in a while), Bad Girls (of course - face/heel turn ahoy!), Doppleganger (Vamp Willow is fun, Anya is funner and the foreshadowing of Willow's eventual sexual tastes is brilliant in hindsight), Earshot (for the payoff of the Giles/Joyce Band Candy incident) and of course the two part Graduation Day is a great closer - "Well Gosh!".

The third season of Buffy does not contain any single episode that stands out as 'one of my favourite episodes' (I might write about that on a future date), but it is a consistent and entertaining piece that brings many of my favourite characters into the story and it's a great piece about the trials that occur during the end of "teenager-hood".
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As it's Halloween and I have spent my time enjoying several Halloween specials today I thought I'd take a respective and look at some of my favourite ones. Without any further build up, here they are.



A complete newcomer to this list (relatively speaking). But, having just watched it for the first time before starting this list it's already become a firm favourite. In part because I adore the show and it's witty, intelligent form of comedy. But it's mostly because of one particular character in this episode. Abed's (Danny Pudi) fantastic performance as the Batman, which was close to pitch perfect vocally (Christian Bale Batman) and crackingly authentic in his movements as well. He pretty much lurked around for most of the episode on the sidelines, but the final three scenes were nothing short of hilarious.

The rest of the episode as is just superb both before the costume party and during it. Pierce arriving as 'The Beastmaster' and later freaking out on a trip had some fantastic moments and the main story surrounding Jeff was a great example of just how far his character has come in just a few episodes. He's still cynical, selfish and prone to discarding people when there's something he wants in his sights. But he's also now coming to care about the people who depend on him and is willing to bend for them, even to his own cost.

Still, it's "Batman's" closing monologue which propelled the episode from good into amazing.

This episode is the reason why I started watching How I Met Your Mother in the first place, I just caught it by happenstance when flicking through the channels a few years back and decided to start watching. It's from very early on in the shows run and it was one of the first times where the "is she the mother" angle was played up for great effect (outside of the pilot psych out).

Every year on Halloween there's a party on the apartment roof and Ted heads up there to try and meet the 'slutty pumpkin' again. A woman who was present one year wearing a pumpkin outfit with inappropriately placed holes. He got her number and then promptly lost it, so each year he heads back up there wearing the same (now completely out of context) costume in the hopes of finding her.

It's a great episode, showing a rather pathetic and romantic side to Ted. But it also plays well with Barney, his constant attempts to lift Ted away from this needy act and instead get him to head to a decent party become more and more entertaining. As do his costumes, especially the Top Gun one and of course the Penguin.


Because of the Wonder Woman twirl. Oh yes. I really have nothing more to say here except that it was a really unexpected episode for the show to pull, and it worked.



Say what you like about the various Treehouse of Horror episodes, I enjoy them a lot. But my personal favourite is the triple bill from the third season with the cursed Krusty doll, King Kong homage and Dial Z for Zombies - which is just about my favourite Simpsons moment of all time. Homer running down the corridor with a shotgun shooting various famous zombies who have no reason for reanimating in Springfield at all is just delicious.

I still do prefer Futurama's Anthologies of Interest on the whole, but Treehouse III will always remain my favourite animated Halloween episode - sorry Charlie Brown!



This episode wasn't exactly the Halloween episode for Supernatural, but it was released in October and is one of several episodes which shows just how special Supernatural really is. They often mix things up and homage the genre the show is built upon with great love and respect. Episodes like Ghostfacers, the Groundhog Episode "Mystery Spot" and the Evil Dead homage "Hollywood Babylon" simultaneously lampoon and affectionately pay tribute to the mediums of film and horror.

But it's Monster Movie which tops the shop, filmed entirely in black and white with a huge range of references to the old classic black and white horror b-movies it's an episode which is both Supernatural down to the core and something entirely different as well. The Winchester lads arrive in a small town which is being menaced by not just one, not two but three classic movie villains. It's ripping fun.



It's almost obligatory that this one makes it onto the list, but I'm not putting it on here because of that. It's a genuine and classic episode of a show which pretty much ran like a Halloween special every week. "Fear Itself" is another contender often mentioned in these kind of lists but I personally give Halloween the nod, in part because of the fantastic fun we have when each character takes on a new persona thanks to the outfits they're wearing. But it's mostly because this is the episode where we get to first see the steel and iron which hides behind the tweedish impertinence which makes up our initial perception of Giles. When his mask slips and we get to see the Ripper it's a great moment for his character and a great moment for the show.


This episode came in just the second season of the show, but it proved that The Office's American counterpart was capable of some stunning and subtle comedic insights of it's own. From the shrewd nod at the laziness women display when they turn up dressed as a cat, through Jim's rather amusing costume and all the way to Michael's second head berating Dwight and the attempted mind tricks - it's nothing short of classic Halloween and classic "Office". It's just a shame that this year's episode doesn't follow in that tradition.

Oh and Dwight's costume is one of the best, only beaten by last year's Joker look.


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While shows normally centre around heroes, individuals who go out there and do what must be done, it's often the villains who propel the story and provide the most memorable moments. Who can forget Alan Rickman's amazing performance in Die Hard (or Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves), Gary Oldman in Leon, Kevin Spacey in the Usual Suspects, Darth Vader and so on. Villains are just as important (if not more so) as the heroes in stories. Without someone to stand up against and constrast with our favourite heroes would be a shadow of their former self.

Lets face it, everyone loves a good bad guy, it gives you someone to either root for or rail against, and television is no exception to this. There have been some exceptional villains on screen over the years and here is a selection of my favourites.

Number One/John Cavil
From Battlestar Galactica. Portrayed by Dean Stockwell.

More than any other cylon in the show it's Cavil who stands out as the primary antagonist and most dangerous threat to humanity. A Machiavellian individual who not only threatens the humans, but also stands opposed to any cylons who attempted to get in his way. Lacking any kind of mercy he was responsible for the fates of the final five cylons, tormented Ellen Tigh terribly on New Caprica and constantly called for the culling of humans wherever possible.

He provided a face, voice and name for the threat the Cylons posed, while also turning out to be mostly responsible for the conflict between humanity and the Cylons as well.

Lieutenant Jon Kavanaugh
From The Shield. Portrayed by Forest Whitaker.

Strictly speaking Kavanaugh is not a villain as such, but because of the unusual perspective of The Shield he is cast as one. Sent to investigate allegations of corruption amongst Farmington's Strike Team he is diametrically opposed to the series' anti-hero/protagonist Vic Mackey and his team. Kavanaugh is powerfully portrayed by Forest and charts a fall from grace as he becomes increasingly more and more desperate to find evidence that Vic Mackey is corrupt. His tactics become more agressive and gradually he is drawn into breaking the law in order to try and do what he feels is right.

It's this 'the ends justify the means' attitude combined with the powerful and intense performance from Forest which makes Kavanaugh a gripping villain and a worthy foil for Vic Mackey.

Maurice Levy
From The Wire. Portrayed by Michael Kostroff

Maurice Levy originally surfaces in The Wire as the lawyer responsible for D'Angelo Barksdale's case, it's his defense (combined with intimidation from the Barksdale organisation) which results in D'Angelo being released. But this rather innocuous initial appearance conceals someone who is far deeper into the world of crime than anyone would or even could suspect. As time passes it becomes clear that he's a major source of advice to the criminal world, assisting Avon Barksdale, Stringer Bell and even Marlo Stanfeld as time passes.

It's this corrupt and unscrupulous attitude combined with his 'light touch' which makes Maurice such an interesting villain, he's like the proverbial slippery eel. It's clear he's involved in crime, but because he has such a complete grasp of the law he's very difficult to pin down. He's dirty and almost untouchable...

Avatar
From Millennium ("The Mikado"). Portrayed by unknown.

Avatar is unusual when compared to the vast majority of villains in this list as he only made a single appearance in the second season of Millennium. Modelled around the Zodiac Killer, Avatar also communicated with the police using cryptic messages and was a dormant serial killer who had just resurfaced with a new modus operandi - killing his victims according to the number of hits his webcam site received. People who were visiting the site to see what was happening were quite literally facilitating the death of the victim on camera. Eventually the series of clues Avatar left for Frank lead into two traps, one of which took the life of a police officer and the other which nearly resulted in Frank shooting an innocent woman.

Little more is known about Avatar as he was not caught by Frank and the police force (like the Zodiac Killer) and as the show never revisited him he remains at large. Which is a big part of what makes him so interesting, he's still out there, on the loose, waiting to strike again.

The Greek & Spiros "Vondas" Vondopoulos
From The Wire. Portrayed by Bill Raymond and Paul Ben-Victor

The second villain(s) from The Wire on this list, The Greek and Vondas first make their appearance in The Wire's second season as the men behind the smuggling which Frank Sobotka was facilitating through his docks. Vondas is initially revealed as the head of the organisation through meetings which occur in a small diner. But a little while later on it becomes clear that the innocuous old man who is seen dining there all the time is in the true head of the organisation - The Greek.

The pair are the personification of prudent and cautious criminals, for them it's about "Business, always business." They are willing to deal with whomever has the cash to purchase the product and they are efficient in their role as drug wholesalers, human traffickers and large scale thieves. In fact there are few pies they don't have their hands in.

Of the two it's Vondas who is the softer, he forms quite an attachment with Frank and especially Nicky Sobotka. But if there is any killing to take place it is Vondas who will do the deed. The Greek on the other hand tends to keep his hands away from anything dirty, but is ruthless when it comes to taking care of business. If The Greek feels you've become a threat to himself and his operation then you won't last much longer.

Davros and the Daleks.
From Doctor Who. Portrayed by Various.

Quintessential Doctor Who villains the Daleks and their creator just have to be present on any list mentioning top villains. The murderous salt and pepper pots have menaced the Doctor (and countless children positioned behind the sofa) for longer than any other villain on this list.

There's something just so iconic and incredible about them, considering that they are little more than slow moving condiments with a plunger, a whisk and bunny ear lights on their heads. Their attitude and catchphrase of "Exterminate" moves them away from the comical and into the frightening. Daleks represent the purest form of racism, so far gone that they seek to destroy everything which is different to themselves. They are the equivalent of a man sized virus or plague; so virulent that not even the Doctor's repeated attempts to stop them has ever had any long term effect. They keep coming back and they will continue to do so as long as the series runs.

Nina Meyers
From 24. Portrayed by Sarah Clarke

You can draw a direct link between the quality of 24 and the presence of Nina Meyers. The first season was just fantastic and the gradual realisation that Nina was a double agent is a huge part of that, her shooting of Jack's wife is amongst the best ends to a season ever. But then in season three Jack encounters her again and shoots her dead - while it's an understandable action it also signals the start of the reduction in quality the show has. I didn't even manage to watch all of the rest of season three and every attempt I made to watch each season following resulted in failure.

The lack of Nina probably isn't responsible for the downward plummet 24 has taken, but the show would have been a lot more interesting if she was still around in some fashion. It feels like the pay off of Jack killing Nina would have made for an excellent show finale. But it was not to be like that, which in some ways is realistic, but in others clearly bad for the show's performance.

Old Yellow Eyes/The Yellow Eyed Demon
From Supernatural. Portrayed by Fredric Lehne

As the primary antagonist for the first two seasons of Supernatural the Yellow Eyed Demon (Azazeal) was responsible for the vast majority of the sorrow and torment the Winchester family suffered over the years. Both the boys mother and Sam's girlfriend were slain by Yellow Eyes. Almost unkillable, vicious, evil and ancient beyond measure he was a terrible opponent for the Winchesters. Even after the Winchesters defeated him his presence and plans continue to make themselves known and felt. While he didn't count on being slain, as demons are supposed to be immortal, dying hasn't stopped the wheels he set in motion.

He also had a dark and amusing sense of humour about everything, often taunting the Winchesters and even willing to banter and converse with them. Fredric Lehne brought a lot of presence and 'cool' to the character and made him much, much more than just "the enemy".

Honorable mentions:
Shane Vandrell (The Shield) who didn't make the cut because a) he's not a villain the entire time he appears in the series and b) I'd already picked one character from The Shield.

Antwon Mitchell was cut from the list for a similar reason.

Ben Linus from Lost also has a similar bent in that he's not strictly speaking a villain, as time passes he becomes more of a protagonist with his own agenda.

The Master from Doctor Who, again excluded because the Daleks had already taken a spot.

Sylar didn't make the top list because it feels like Heroes has done it's uttermost best to reduce the impact of this character by sucking hard. Zachary Quinto's performance as Sylar is one of the two best parts of the show, but he is stuck on a sinking ship now.

Captain Hammer from Doctor Horrible's Sing Along Blog also didn't make the cut. Strictly speaking he's a hero. But he is the villain of the piece, regardless I do hope he makes a return appearance in the next Doctor Horrible.

Spike from Buffy and Angel. Who lost out because he becomes somewhat redeemed and shifts into the position of anti-hero as time passed on. His wiry observations remain amongst some of the most entertaining in the shows.

So that's my list, but I'm sure there are many, many more who could and should have made these lists. Who are your favourite television villains and why?

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Supernatural fully arrived on my radar around this time last year when I discovered the first two seasons were available for very reasonable prices and that I was able to get my hands on an advance copy of the third season. For a long time it was a show I was hesitant about watching due to the exceptionally photogenic duo who star in this, Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles. I was concerned that the show would be shallow and filled with eye candy moments for the ladies (and the more discerning gentlemen), or be little more than 'Buffy with blokes'.

But I dug around a little more and noticed one name in particular, Ben Edlund was involved with the project. The same Ben Edlund who gave us The Tick (or The Tick) and also worked on The Venture Bros., Angel and Firefly. This is class as a "good thing" and when combined with the low price tag it was enough to tip the balance across into 'worth a try'.

Upfront disclosure, I really like Supernatural (as evidenced in this short 3rd season DVD review). It's a show which genuinely surprised me in many directions. While the lads are very pretty and an obvious draw in themselves they are also very likable, down to earth and just fun. In fact the entire show is fun, it effortlessly mixes traditional horror along with schlock and B-Movie. Simultaneously parodying and honouring the genre at the same time while also providing an exciting ongoing story to follow.

Sam and Dean Winchester are monster hunters, their father John is also a monster hunter. When they were young their mother was killed by a demon; Dean embraced the life of hunting, Sam attempted to flee from it and until the pilot episode he succeeded. In the world of Supernatural demons, vampires, zombies, werewolves and much, much more are all very real. They lurk in the shadows and prey on the unsuspecting. Only the hunters know the truth, only the hunters know how to deal with them.

Supernatural runs with a mix of one off episodes combined with an on going storyline which grows from season to season and often provides huge almost unthinkable moments at the end of each. It's a show which grips the viewer with the constant danger these boys live in, but lightens the mood with a wry, knowing comment or an episode which pastiches another classic horror story.

The show has homaged a variety of other films, books and even TV shows in it's existance, and it's some of these which really raise the bar. Just about all of my favourite episodes come from this category and they've referenced things like Most Haunted, Evil Dead, Ghost Busters and even in my favourite episode Groundhog Day. Last season they also ran an episode which was rendered entirely in black and white and homaged the old classic hammer horror style films of the past. It's called "Monster Movie" and it's sheer genius.

In many ways Supernatural is the ideal show to watch for people who are fans of either horror movies or Josh Whedon's Buffy/Angel series. It's similar in tone but different enough to warrant watching and the humour in the show is so sharp and at times black that it really takes the experience of watching the show to another level. It's well performed, action packed, witty and just plain old cool.

And that's enough to make it worth watching...
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Carnivale is an unusual beast in the world of television; airing between 2003 and 2005 and set in the American dust bowl during the great depression era but the events of that time are only lightly touched upon. Instead the show focuses on a travelling circus, a priest and a supernatural struggle between good and evil. Originally the show was planned to run for six seasons, with each "pair" of seasons telling a tale in the trilogy and while cancellation resulted in just the one full story being told. This story is still an absolute dooz and warrants attention.

Carinvale is a deeply distinctive show; every aspect, from it's look all the way to it's music speaks as an unusual and striking piece of work. The show tells a series of self contained stories in each episode combined with and over-reaching arc told between two separate and distinct plot lines. The first of which deals with the carnivale itself and the one of the lead character Ben's (Nick Stahl) experiences with the travelling folk, the second deals with a deeply religious man - Brother Justin Crowe, who is played with a high level of competency and skill by Clancy Brown.

Over the course of the two seasons we come to know more about Ben and the people he joins and starts travelling with in the carnivale; there is Samson (Michael J. Anderson ), the diminutive ringleader and nominal head of the troupe. But he answers to the Management, a mysterious individual who lives entirely inside a caravan and may or may not exist - many suspect Samson created Management as a fiction and in truth he is the management. There's the snake charmer Ruthie (Adrienne Barbeau), Tim DeKay is Jonesy the co-manager, Patrick Bauchau is Professor Lodz - blind mentalist of great ability and then there is the catatonic seeress Apolloina and her daughter Sofie (Clea DuVall) who reads and interprets for her - but there are also a host of other characters involved in the carnivale, both as stars and as reoccurring guest stars.

The cast in Brother Crowe's story is smaller, mostly centered around himself, his sister Iris (Amy Madigan), a second priest Reverand Normand Balthas (Ralph Waite), Eleanor McGill (K Callan) and Tommy Dolan (Robert Knepper) a local radio. We learn much of his life, his gradual discovery of the power inside him and his acceptance of his position. Clancy gives an exceptional performance as Brother Crowe, avoiding many of the stereotypical aspects his character could have shown and instead giving us a magnetic and interesting man who draws the viewer in and carries them along for the ride.

The visuals of the show are as stunning, if not more so, than the plot and the authenticity of the series. Carnivale is a show which looks the part, you can almost taste the ever present dust and dryness which cloys everything in some scenes. The costumes are great, the sets are just stunning and everything feels very real. Apart from the strong supernatural bent to the show this is something which paints a very real picture of the 1930s Dust Bowl existence.

There's a great deal of depth to the show; much of the mythology in the show is quite profound and subtle at times. It's not entirely clear as to who stands for what and you only find out as time progresses over the two seasons. Gradually the meta-plot moves forward and the show brings events to a head in it's final few episodes. Resulting in a satisfying collision of plot lines. The show is also very authentic outside of it's supernatual areas, and has been praised for this authenticity by experts. In some ways it is a distant kin to Deadwood, there are parallels which can be drawn between the two shows - especially in the attention to detail and authentic nature of the shows.

Now there is one large warning which has to be delivered when talking about Carnivale and I touched on it earlier, the cancellation of the show. Because this project was conceived and designed as a long term story, there will be certain threads left hanging at the end of the second season and never resolved. You'll just have to steel yourself against the mysteries and accept that not everything is explained. In truth the cancellation is a shame, because while Carnivale does have it's flaws it also has a very unique and gripping vision. There is also some hope it will be finished in some form as Daniel Knauf has not yet given up trying. Unfortunately HBO still own the rights to the show and are refusing to do anything with them, and considering the climate of the media currently, they are unlikely to do so.

This warning aside, Carinvale is still a piece which is worth watching thanks to it's unusual style and unique vision.


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To keep my load as light as possible most of the shows I watch are going to be looked at once a week on a Saturday (as I never watch TV on a Saturday so it makes for a good break point).

Only a few shows dripped their way onto TV this week. Most shows I watch are starting later, many of them next week.

Fringe:

Ok, I tried. I really did try to like this show, I enjoyed Alias when it was on the TV and I enjoyed some of Lost before I just stopped caring about all the "mystery" but both of those shows grabbed me with their first episode and didn't let go for a long time. On the other hand we have Fringe, which feels more like Cloverfield - masses of hype, total let down - it's really like a poor man's ReGenesis or X-Files. The cast doesn't click, the plot is *ahem* weak and Lance Reddick must be insane if he thinks the dialog he has here is any good compared to his previous material (The Wire) and Reddick is the best thing in it. So Dan, I gave the show a chance, I really did; but with next week containing so many awesome shows returning I'm just not interested in carrying on. I'm going to stop watching this and just keep an eye on the reviews, if suddenly a lot of people start saying "Slow start but it's become must watch" then I'll get back into it. But for now, bye bye JJ - I'm just going to go rewatch Millennium and wait until Dollhouse is released.

House:

Eh, a little - well not good this week. Last season started very strongly and ended with a crushingly brilliant two parter but the first episode of this season really didn't grab me - in fact I spent a lot of time pausing the show and doing chores - that's not a good sign. It seems that maybe Wilson has left the show, which is a bit of a shame because the interactions between House and Wilson were second only to the ones between House and Cuddy. The medical case involved in the episode was rather "I don't care" and even a layman like myself felt it was pretty weak, I do get a kick out of reading the Polite Dissent reviews of House mind you. Overall it was OK but the show still feels stuffed to the catheters with characters and now I hear there's some talk of a spin off character? Oh well, I guess I shouldn't complain about a formulaic show trying to shake up it's formula a bit. It's just - they did it better last season.

Supernatural:

Ok so at the end of the last season Dean went to a very bad place indeed. And now he's back. Fine, I did wonder if they were going to use at least a portion of this season devoted to trying to bring him back and introduce a few new characters. But heck Jensen Ackles is the most interesting member of the cast so I guess I can live with a huge Deus Ex Machina followed by a mystery. Oh and when I use the term Deus Ex Machina I think it's the most appropriate use of that term ever.

It seems this season Ruby is busy corrupting/teaching Sam how to use his powers (about time we found out a little more about them) while Dean is dragged back from hell by Castial (Castiel?) who claims to be an angel on a mission from God. I guess it was just a matter of time before someone turned up claiming to be a part of the 'other side', but given the tone of Supernatural I wonder. It's clear Castiel is pretty ridiculously powerful but is he really what he claims to be? And why does he need Dean?

No Heroics:

Rather than talk about this myself I'm just going to plug Rob's review as I think he nailed my thoughts on it as well.

The other TV I watched this week was on DVD, I finally saw the last season of Fraiser and all of Police Squad. Which means I need to get more DVDs, I think Weeds Season 2 + 3 are up next on the list of stuff I want. Which reminds me, I should write up that list so I know what to keep an eye out for...

Next week several shows start up again; The Office, My Name is Earl, Boston Legal and How I Met Your Mother amongst them.
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On general release in the UK on the 25th of August (yes, that's right I'm actually reviewing something before it comes out for once.)

Starring:
Jared Padalecki as Sam Winchester
Jensen Ackles as Dean Winchester
With:
Jeffrey Dean Morgan as John Winchester
Jim Beaver as Bobby Singer
Katie Cassidy as Ruby
Lauren Cohan as Bela Talbot



I talked a little about Supernatural previously; mostly it was about how apprehensive and unsure I was about the series. I liked the concept of the show but I was concerned about the cast (very small with two exceptionally photogenic/pretty boys) and I wasn't sure if I'd enjoy it. But I managed to pick up a copy of the first season cheaply and was very quickly hooked into it.

When Sam and Dean were young, their mother was killed in a fire. But it was no ordinary fire; this fire was of a supernatural origin and nearly killed them as well. But their father John Winchester (The awesome Jeffery Dean Morgan) managed to save them. Over the years John raised Sam and Dean to be hunters and fighters; champions against the unnatural, eventually Sam rebelled against this life while Dean continued to fight alongside his father.

But; one day that old life comes back to haunt Sam, it turns out there's no escaping it and alongside his brother the two of them seek to find their father and avenge their mother's death.

The first two seasons of the show were fantastic and the third season of the show has raised the stakes once again, I was worried that a show with such a small core cast couldn't threaten it's characters effectively. But I was wrong about that, while Sam and Dean have a somewhat jaded, brazen and 'been there, done it' attitude towards many of the creatures they encounter - which in itself is quite hilarious at times - there are things and events which effect them hard. The finale of the previous season was one such set of events and the third season is based around dealing with them; literally.

Something that always impresses me about the show is how well it manages to combine a sense of realism with a tongue in cheek understanding that the show is a bit silly. The characters themselves often make reference to things that viewers will have noticed as well, including the strange weaponry they use:

Here's an example of this from the second season, this is in the excellent episode "Hollywood Babylon" where Sam and Dean have been drawn to a Hollywood set where a crew member was found dead. The conversation directly references the actual methods used in the show; but it highlights the absurdity of the notion. If you think about it for too long it stops making sense, so you just accept shotguns loaded with rock salt because they look cool.


It's touches like this that make the show something special.



Consistency is the name of the word when dealing with the packaging of Supernatural, each season looks very similar in design, the spines of each set are almost identical and the layout of the front and back is kept in a similar template with varied box art. I'm a stickler for how DVDs look on the shelf and I'm always pleased when they look good together as a set. Season three is a five disc set containing fifteen episodes (writers strike cut it short) with the discs placed in slimline (not slimeline!) dvd cases. There's a mildly amusing bit of quality control failure as the third set apparently contains discs 5 (plural?) and while that's a minor error at best it's still a little disappointing to see things going out with mistakes like that on them.

Extras:
There is a nice selection of extras in this set:
From Legends to Reality - a look into the special effects in Supernatural
Supernatural Impala - which gives viewers a closer look at the Chevrolet Impala used in the show (nicknamed the Metallicar by many viewers)
A Closer Look - Segments that showcase favourite aspects of specific episodes
Ghostfacers! Confessionals - A Minifeaturette Gallery
and a Gag Reel

Edit: Just to confirm for those people coming from TWoP all of these extras are present and accounted for on my Disc 5 of the UK release. They all also work as I watched them today. I would post this myself on the forum, but my registration hasn't cleared yet.

Price:
It's available now from Play.com for only £17.99 and it runs for 624 minutes. That's 2.9p per minute, which is very respectable for a brand new release. But of course it won't stay like that for long. So grab it while it's hot.


Supernatural is one of those shows that on paper seems like a really silly idea, two handsome young brothers travel around in a car solving mysteries and fighting monsters. But, as I said; I'm thoroughly impressed with Supernatural and I'm glad I gave it the chance to prove my initial doubts completely wrong. It's brilliant fun and worth watching for anyone who previously enjoyed shows like Angel or Buffy, horror films/novels or for people who just enjoy good solid drama with a dark sense of humor that doesn't take itself too seriously.

4 TVs for the third season of Supernatural, great stuff!
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Well I'm stuck waiting until the 25th of August for the 3rd Season of Supernatural to be released on Dove-Eh-Durr over here in Blighty, and if I'm honest that's a little too long to wait. But I'm going to.

I went into watching Supernatural with a bit of a negative view of it, not so much that I wasn't going to give it a chance to win me over but I wasn't totally thrilled with the concept and cast. I've since watched the first two seasons and I must confess it's grown on me quite a bit now.

I talked a bit about the show before here, and I'm going to try and avoid repeating myself. But I'm still drawing parallels in the feel of the show between it and Millenium. Which is nothing but a good sign. The first season finished with a spectacular finale and the second season carried on. Providing consequences, continuity and just generally has a show that contains a reality that you can immerse yourself in because it feels real and alive. Even if you are left wondering why on Earth the authorities don't have a branch to deal with all the ghouls and ghosts... Where's my Delta Green?

Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles have both grown on me as the leads. I was initially concerned that the show had such a small cast it would be hard to threaten them properly and create a level of tension. Especially as the Winchester family is so small, there's little for them to lose beyond that which they've already lost. And this problem remains a concern, but if you can put aside the fact that it's almost impossible for one of the starring characters to get dropped without ending the show; you have a fantastic duo of actors that really play off each other exceptionally well. Jensen as Dean is the more entertaining of the pair, he's also oddly the more authoritive and knowledgable. Which is unusual for a character who's such a 'rebel' character type.

I do still find myself wishing that the cast was a tad larger, but the fact that Sam and Dean are pretty much indestructable is pretty entertaining. They have plenty of time to laugh and quip in the face of the wierd and downright nasty and it's this level of die hard humour that turns the show from being something normal into something a bit special. I mentioned before that the show really has a genuine sense of humour about itself, it's willing to point out the absurdities and has the characters highlight them in a wonderfully ironic fashion. The Hollywood episode in season 2 is a great example of this, both paying subtle homage to the Evil Dead series while also parodying the entire LA Horror Business at the same time. The scenes where the movie directors discuss how ridiculous salt and shotguns are as weapons against spirits are particually great.

All in all, I think Supernatural is actually an excellent show. Season 1 is available from Zavvi and Play for £18 and Season 2 can be had from Play for £18 as well. It's 22 Episodes per season and each episode is about 40 mins long. So that's some great bang for the buck.

I'd say if you enjoyed Angel, Buffy, Millenium, The X-Files or you're a fan of the Horror Genre and have a sense of humour about it you should check out this show.

Oh and I noticed Ben Edlund has written some of the episodes as well (2nd and 3rd Season), so I guess if you like The Tick or Venture Bros you should watch it too. :P

Speaking of which, Venture Brothers is on tonight. WOOT!
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Well; I haven't finished viewing all of the first season, but I wanted to put down my thoughts about this show here.

Initially I had judged the show without watching it at all. I did not like the pair of pretty boys that had been cast in the league, both of them still look like they should be modelling men's clothing on the runway and posing for Playgirl. Additionally the price of the the DVD boxed set was just too high for me to consider trying it out (£30 for half a season!) so I decided to just give the show a miss. But when the price dropped to £18 for the complete season and Aaron Williams of Nodwick (http://nodwick.humor.gamespy.com) said he was enjoying the show I decided to give it a go. Especially because Aaron has exceptionally good taste in TV shows (liking many of the sames ones I do) and I've always been fond of the horror genre.

I'm approaching the three quarters mark for the first season and I've avoided seeing anything on the web so this has been like watching a show fresh just the way I used to do back before the age of the interwebs came along and provided spoilers for every aspect of life.

Anyway, my thoughts... Where are they? Oh yes, Supernatural. Once I got down to watching it this show has actually quite impressed me, the first thing that clicked with me is the choice of camera filters. The show uses a very dark deep set of filters to keep colours rich, shadowy and dark. A similar style of filters were used in Millenium and I liked the bleak nature of them then. The Supernatural ones are a somewhat cleaner, but they still evoke the same feel and this is a good thing because Millenium made it onto my top 50 list as number 50 (it would have gotten a higher place if Fox hadn't nixed it before it finished). Reminding me of a show a love is a good way to get me on your side. Well done supernatural.

But it's not just the filters on the show that I enjoyed, Supernatural is a rather fun experience. It's not the best show ever, in fact it's very predictable. I often call out lines before the characters utter them as they're using all of the cliches from the horror genre with no shame and that's a good thing.

This is where Supernatural (at least the first season so far) manages to succeed, it doesn't take itself too seriously, you have the stereotypical horror monster of the week, a splash of "where is their father and what killed their mother?" plus some pretty female guest stars and plenty of people who are still skeptics. I can't get over the number of skeptics that live in the Supernatural world, considering the amount of utterly wierd things that seem to happen on a weekly basis and the freaky nature of their world in general it's almost comedic that a lot of the guest characters still remain skeptical, sometimes even in the face of the utterly bizzare.

And that's the crux of it, Supernatural works because it's an amusing parody of a genre
that should never be taken seriously. The show doesn't try and be pretentious, it doesn't want you to take it seriously. It's just two brothers driving around America in a 1967 Chevrolet Impala and stopping strange happenings. Sort of like Scooby Do 2000 or a modern day Call of Cthulhu.

As such, I quite like this show.
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