Donnerstag, 14. April 2011

[Review] Chuck - S04E20 - Chuck Versus the Family Volkoff (slight spoilers)


So I will just say it if nobody else will: Chuck needs to die. Soon. And I don't mean Chuck the character, I mean Chuck the show. I fell in love with the series from the very first episode and have been an avid viewer for three and a half seasons now. But now... every episode is like another week in a bad relationship: stale, repetitive and quite frankly - boring.

This weeks episode was no different. Of course it had everything I came to love about Chuck: Jokes, relationship banter, multiple storylines and the revelation of a new villain. But it just felt underwhelming and brought nothing new to the table. It was pretty much the same recipe as in season 1.

So I know they tried to bring in a little character development throughout the seasons but in reality Chuck is still the same guy - only now in a relationship with Sarah. Sarah is still pretty much the gorgeous blonde spy - only now in a relationship with Chuck. Casey was allowed to show his softer side - but he's still the same grumpy spy. Ellie and Awesome are loveable side characters with no real storyline and Morgan had nothing real to do for at least a whole season.

The addition of Timothy Dalton as Volkoff, the notorious arms dealer was the only thing this season had really going for it and now that he is on the path of redemption, he lost all his appeal. The revelation of his daughter as the new uber-villain was no revelation at all (did anybody not see that coming?) and so we have a kind-of-climax 20 episodes in the season which really makes no sense at all storytelling-wise. This whole thing was hindered by stupid case-of-the-week episodes that did not matter at all. We did not need all that character exposition for characters we don't even care about (was anything achieved with that whole Intersect2.0 storyline with Casey?).

So between all the slow storytelling, repetitive storylines and stale characters. Do you still enjoy Chuck? Have you ever enjoyed Chuck? Is it time to say goodbye to the series? Let me know.

Mittwoch, 13. April 2011

[Review] House - S07E18 - The Dig (slight spoilers)


Wow. The 150th episode of House delivered on so many levels. First of let's all welcome back Olivia Wilde as 13 to the mix. Her character was welcomed personally by House with a martini just outside of a correctional facility where she was held the last six month on drug charges.

The subsequent road trip House and 13 take together must have been the best and most intense I've ever seen Hugh Laurie and Olivia Wilde together. The facial expressions in every single scene together with constant looming "why was 13 in jail" plot was just fantastic. The revelations of why she actually was together with her catching up on everything from House's relationship with Cuddy and he subsequent marriage was just brillantly played by both. The emotions running wild (no pun intended) in 13 and the stereotypical non-emotional House together were intense to watch and worthy of an Emmy in my book.

The downside of having such a strong main plot obviously is that the side plots fall short. This episode had two side plots - one being the case of the week which was so weak I dont even remember what it was - only that 13 was the one solving it in the end via the telephone and thus exposing her to the rest of the team. The second side plot was Taub rekindling his marriage - or at least the sex part of his marriage causing some trouble in his room-maty relationship with Foreman. This is something I couldn't care less about in a normal House episode - so you can just imagine me wanting the show to switch back to the road trip whenever there were scenes that revolved around all this.

Thankfully the main plot was strong and worth watching right until the end which saw one of the most brillant and terrifying lines ever delivered on that show in House promising 13 to kill her. As to why he chose to promise to kill her: I will not spoil that for you. It's just to nice a storyline to not watch yourself. So what are you waiting for? Go watch "The Dig" now! It was just brillant.

Montag, 11. April 2011

[News] House, Claire Forlani, Game of Thrones

So before we dive into reviews this week with most of my favourite shows back from hiatus and in regular weekly schedule, today we'll have another three news items. So here we go:

House


The current struggle between the production company seems to take an unexpected turn: Fox is reportedly in danger of losing its hit medical drama. But fear not as this seems to be a purely financial struggle between Fox and NBC. While Fox is airing House, NBC Universal owns the series and is producing your favourite medical drama. NBCU wants to keep things as is, which sees Fox paying for production and giving NBCU a licensing fee. Fox is asking for a reduction in expenditures because of cast members' increasing salaries and the show's decreasing total audience. All this might turn out with NBCU opting to air House on its own network and completely shutting FOX out.
















Claire Forlani

Although currently a cast member on Camelot, Claire Forlani will be joining the NCIS:LA cast in the recurring role of Lauren Hunter starting May 10. The character is described as “attractive, authoritative, cool and calculating” and in possession of “a dangerous quality that suggests she is much more than your run-of-the mill operations manager.” She will play the role of the team's operation manager and there is speculation that she could replace Linda Hunt permanently who is currently portraying Hetty. So is this Claire Forlani's safety net if Camelot fails? Sound away in the comments.
















Game of Thrones


This is actually more of a reminder: The first episode of Game of Thrones on HBO will air on April 17th - which is this coming sunday. Be still my little fanboy heart. Are you excited?

Sonntag, 10. April 2011

[News] Ricky Gervais, Amber Tamblyn, Castle shocker

Ricky Gervais


If you are like me you enjoy The Ricky Gervais Show on HBO. This animated version of the hilarious podcasts from back when is just the right portion of insanity and hilarious nonsense for me. So if you do, you will be glad to hear that HBO has just renewed the show for a third season. More Ricky Gervais = good TV.
















Amber Tamblyn


With Olivia Wilde picking up her 13 character who has been on hiatus for a few months (as in: being in prison) Amber Tamblyn's guest appearance on House comes to an end. But fear not, she will be around House-folk for more: Tamblyn has teamed with Katie Jacobs (executive producer of House) and "The Wire" co-creator Ed Burns for a potential drama series that would find the erstwhile Joan of Arcadia playing a young teacher in the world of public education. The project, which has received a script commitment from the network, is being produced by 20th Century Fox TV.
















Castle


With the season finale and may sweeps drawing closer more and more shows reveal their shockers for the sweeps. And Castle is no different. And this one is as shocking as they come: This season finale will also be one character’s finale. No details yet as to who it will be but as I understand it the grim reaper will visit a character who has been with the show from the very beginning. That's not to say it will be a series regular. Who do you think it might be?

Samstag, 9. April 2011

[Review] Camelot - S01E01 & S01E02 - Homecoming & The Sword And The Crown


Camelot is one of these series that you either don't watch at all or absolutely love. If you are into the legend of King Arthur and everything that revolves around the mystical castle of Camelot you are bound to be part of the second group of people.

Freitag, 8. April 2011

[Review] Breaking In - S01E01 - Pilot (slight spoilers)


Remember when Christian Slater was in feature films like "Very bad things"? Now he is back on the small screen starring in "Breaking In". In this new half-hour comedy on FOX he is the cool boss of "Contra Security", a high-tech security firm hired to break into its clients' companies and find loopholes in their security.

[News Roundup] Jersey Shore spinoff, Kristen Bell & Katherine Heigl

Jersey Shore


The much rumored spinoff from the MTV series Jersey Shore is a done deal. Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi, Jenni “JWoww” Farley and Paul “DJ Pauly D” DelVecchio will be starring in offshoots of the MTV hit. In what will be two new series the three cast members will gain even more undeserved attention and exposition on national TV.

No dates are set as of yet but both the JWoww-Snooki and the Pauly D centric series will portray “how they deal with life and love when the vacation is over” as per the press release. So look forward to that.



Kristen Bell


House of Lies, the series which starres Kristen Bell and Don Cheadle, has officially been picked up by Showtime. The network greenlit an 12-episodes order for the show.




Katherine Heigl


Remember Katherine Heigl? The blonde actress that got booted from Grey's Anatomy in 2010? Well, if you do you will be glad to hear that she is poised for a TV comeback in an HBO original movie based on Ann Hood’s best-selling novel The Knitting Circle. HBO Films optioned rights to the semi-autobiographical book, which centers on a mother mourning the death of her young daughter and struggling to overcome the grief that jeopardizes every aspect of her life.




So there you go. Let me know in the comments what you think of all this and whether you like more news in the future.

So lets do this

This is just a little starting post as I embark on this journey. As I watch a lot of TV series I will try to review a lot of shows. So lets do this!