I'm working my way through season 7 of Stargate (SG-1). In some ways it's not as good as the earlier seasons, but it is entertaining none the less.

Just watched Buffy series 4 over the weekend.

I'm not sure whether to do Buffy (I'd do buffy) all in one go and then do Angel all in one go or to do it Buffy, Angel, Buffy, Angel etc.

I fear that If I do it Buffy all in one go then Angel all in one go I'll miss out on some cross-over in-jokes and what-not.

I say do them seperately. Neither will suffer from being watched out of synch with the other to be honest, the cross over jokes aren't all that prolific. I watched every series of Angel back to back over the course of two weeks and it was great, I imagine breaking it up would have diminished the feeling of watching one big saga.

Aye, it's been working with Buffy so far so I'll stick with it, Buffy then Angel.

Addicted to buying Sopranos box sets now....I hope series three is going to prove as good as Maian said it would be.

Oh it is Lewis, it really is.

Probably better.

I'm at the wake now...Chris is delivering his stoned eulogy. It's the supporting characters, Carmela's dad, Hesh, that I really like.

It's probably my favourite season, though that may be because it's the one I've watched most. Or because of the episode in the forest.

Was that really so long ago?

Just watched Dr. Who's Tomb of the Cybermen. 'sokay.

Finally got Firefly. To see what the fuss is about. Pfft*










*Actually, it's fucking fantastic so far...

Yay! Another convert!

I think it's good in the way that it throws the narratives on to other characters than Tony in each episode.

That was probably the series where they started to experiment more and the show really began to take off. Not that it had been in the doldrums before, but it was when it really started to ascend to the majestic heights it has only rarely fallen from since.

Today I watched a few episodes of The Wire having not watched it for a week or so. The only show that even comes close to the genius of the aforementioned mob show, utterly brilliant.

Last TV DVD I bought was series 1 of Shelley. I'd been waiting for that to come out for absolutely yonks, and it didn't disappoint. Series 2's in the pipeline, too, apparently. Nice.

Shelley was good. Hywel Bennett rocks.

Yes...didn't it have quite a cheesy theme-tune?

Finished watching Bottom - Mindless Violence.

I have never seen any of the live performances & they were the best part. We will definitely have to invest in them soon.

My friend is letting me borrow Season One of X-Files in return for me lending her Season One of Desperate Housewives. Can't wait!

I feel like a gorram born again believer.

Finished Neverwhere last night. Utterly brilliant. Occasionally shows it's age in the first few episodes but as the series progresses any hints of date seem to fade away, mostly because little of the later episodes are set in the real word I guess.
The characterisation is fantastic, Mr Croup and Vandameer (sp?) in particular were fantastically written and performed parts.
Does anyone know if there was ever any intention for a second series? The ending is wide open for more to have happened and it's a damned shame that it never continued.

Ah, classic times. I still dip into early X-Files now and again from the complete box set.

I was under the impression that you were sent to spy on me

Neil Gaiman has been talking about writing a follow-up novel for quite a few years now, but I don't think they intended to do a second series, especially since Gaiman got quite annoyed at the stuff that was cut out from his scripts that then wound up in the novel.

It does have to be said though- the R1 release got a far cooler cover than the R2.

Maian - Such a shame, I'd become quite attached to the characters by the end of it all.
Guess I'll invest in the book to curb my longing for more.

It's a very good book, especially since a lot of it is taken up in quite funny descriptions of the characters which are basically just descriptions of the actors from the TV show.

With all the Soprano's talk lately and the fact that they're now a lot cheaper, I bought series 3 & 4 today to add to my collection.

^
I swore I would only watch a couple of episodes but ended up watching 6 in a row. It's just too good. One thing that's always grated on me, though, is the "Employee of the Month" episode. Although it was well handled it just seems like a clunky mechanism to keep Dr Melfi seeing Tony.

It's been pretty good so far, but I'm only a few episodes in at the minute. I'm looking forward to episode 8, Ice, partly because it has Felicity Huffman in and I think she's cool, but also because it seems to be the highest rated episode of the first season on tv.com.

I can't believe how much different Gillian Anderson is at the beginning compared to later seasons. And also how tiny she is.

Watched all of Catterick annnnd The Thick Of It in one day

Now I have nothing to watch tomorrow.

I just keep watching them in turn until I get to the end of season 9 and then start back from season 1 again. It's a lot slower these days though.

I've watched up until episode 8 so far. I found episode 8, Ice, to be rather disturbing and I was crying at one point. Yeah, I know, I'm strange, but I couldn't help it. I felt so sorry for poor Nancy at the end, though I did think it was sort of cool how she went totally crazy after being so meek and quiet all along. But, yeah, it was that end bit that I cried at due to mixed feelings of sympathy and horror.

I am now quite afraid of worms. And I still can't get over how different Gillian Anderson is in the beginning. Sometimes she looks barely older than me.

Yes, Prime Minister - Series One

Not so much a political comedy, more a fly-on-the-wall documentary on the mechanics of government. When I was studying political science, first for my A-Levels, and then towards my degree, we were always asked to try and get copies of this and the earlier Yes, Minister to watch. And learn. Not many sitcoms are that educational, to be honest, but this is not only very, very funny, but also a close interpretation of the mechanics of government.

And chillingly, some might say, as relevant now as it was then (1986).

For instance, from 'A Victory for Democracy':







It's strength, to me, lies in the fact that it's not about party politics. It's about the fact that it doesn't really matter which party is in government, they will always end up doing the same things that the incumbent did before. Why? Because the government might change, but the Civil Service never does. And it doesn't want to, either. I mean, just look at their reaction to Gordon Brown becoming PM. The Dispatches documentary last night was chock-full of senior civil servants telling us why he isn't fit for office. Some of it might be true. But lest we forget, Brown has downsized the civil service a tad, and it's not something they'll forget in a hurry.

You don't have to know a huge amount about politics to understand Yes, Prime Minister. It helps, true. But it's not essential. As long as you like schemers like Sir Humphrey, and dim-witted populists like Jim Hacker (he's a politician, after all), then you'll find something to enjoy.

There was a really interesting documentary series called ''The Trap: Whatever Happened To Our Dream Of Freedom?'' (pretty much all of which is now on YouTube) on the BBC a few months ago which used Yes, Minister as an example of how the right wing sought to undermine the idea of public service by making it seem as if civil servants were only in it for themselves. Whether or not this is true (after all, public duty underpinned British society for centuries so there would have been at least some altruists in the bunch) is a matter for debate of course.

I finished watching Season 1 of The Wire the other day. So good it makes me cry.

Edit: For anyone who wants to watch The Trap, easily the best thing to appear on TV this year so far, the first episode can be found (in bits) here. It may have the best soundtrack ever compiled for a TV show.

No doubt they did. The left wing certainly liked to point out that civil servants can be the biggest thing standing in the way of reform for many issues. But considering most of the source material came from a serving civil servant, a lot of it is bound to be true. Some things just can't be made up.

Indeed, some of it was painfully true (according to all those documentaries about it) but the slant the show gave on the civil service as a whole could have served a political agenda in itself. Though there's no denying that there are some right bastards who make it to the top levels of the political spectrum.

It certainly highlights the fact that there is an 'Old Boy' network within British politics.

Which leads me to think that a lot of the opposition to Brown becoming PM might the fact he studied at Glasgow, and not OxBridge.

Rules for Civil Servants:

Rule 1: Anyone with a chin must be viewed with suspicion.

How very true.

And Nigel Hawthorne was brilliant actor. Demolition Man is a far better film than it might have been, because of him alone.

Just after he died, there was a documentary about him in which he spoke about meeting Sylvester Stallone again after Demolition Man (at the Oscars when Hawthorne was nominated for the Madness of King George) and apparently Stallone completely ignored him. Hawthorne seemed genuinely quite upset about that, despite conceding that 'it's just the business we're in'.

OI! I was a civil servant for about ten years and that simply isn't true.

If it were, my multiple chins would surely have got me further than they did.

He was a gent, tis true.

His portrayal of Appleby is certainly one of my favourite aspects of it. Especially whenever he's completely patronising to Hacker.

And to be fair, the whole cast of YPM is pretty stellar for the time. Mostly old thesps, but I think you needed that kind of actor to portray the characters. Plus, some of the dialogue is that twisty-turny, many of the more 'popular' actors of the time wouldn't have handled it.

Just started watching The Sopranos again from Season 1. Sooooo good.

Finished watching Curb Your Enthusiasm all the way through for the second time on Friday. I love this show so much. Never have I felt such empathy with a character as I do with Larry David. All his little gripes, his social mistakes and blind disregard for what others see as politeness all ring true with me and remind me of similar instances I've encountered. Can't wait for season 6.

Started Extras series 2. Reminds me a lot of Curb, in so far as the main character regularly gets screwed over by unforgiving people and the fools around him. Watching the character sell out and see his dreams broken in front of him is really quite sad above all else.

Started Firefly as well. Not bad so far but I'm not gripped yet. Much of what is going on doesn't seem all that exciting and doesn't seem to be leading to anything. Hopefully by the end of the series I'll have changed my tone, though a lack of second season is likely to disappoint if I do enjoy it a lot.

I've started back on Season 1 and hd forgotten just how many great moments there are in the earlier seasons. It's also surprising how Larry's problems in the first season tend to result from his own doings rather than others as they they do in the later ones.



The big difference between the two, as far as I can see, is that Andy does deserve a lot of the stuff that happens to him. Whilst Larry is usually just the victim of misunderstandings and circumstances beyond his control, Andy seems to actively participate in his downfall from episode to episode since he can never just admit that he has made a mistake or just lies about things. With Larry problems tend to emerge from him just being too honest and not conforming to social conventions and Andy tries too hard to fit in.

Unfortunately the series doesn't end though.

That's what is so sad about it, it is typical of Joss Whedon to take his time over things and Firefly didn't get the chance to be as good as it clearly was going to be.

Though some of the episodes around the middle and end of the series are top notch.

I'm still watching X-Files Season One. Just finished up to Young at Heart today. I keep getting excited to spot people I know from other things in it. Mainly Desperate Housewives actresses, but so.

8 episodes left.

I love most of the series...sci-fi...western...Nathan Fillion....

Watched Our Mrs Raynolds and Jaynestown last night. You are not wrong.

Also finished watching the entirety of Jackass. Pure stupid fun through and through.