Wow.

That’s what I said when I realised the date of my last post. Where did the time go?

I’ll tell you where, concentrating on my (still newish) job, helping my fiancee plan our wedding, emptying my Google reader, doing more photography than ever, and actually watching more TV than there is humanly possible to talk about.

And that segues me neatly in what I logged in to say. I’m calling “Me and the TV” a day. It was a fun ride while it lasted, but over the last few months I’ve discovered that I prefer reading and agreeing with other peoples thoughts on TV far more exhilarating than actually writing about my own thoughts. This was reflected in the length of my posts, and the amount of times I let Youtube do the talking for me. That’s no way to run a blog, in my opinion.

Anywho, I would like to thank every single person that took time out to read an article I posted, watched a show on my recommendation (and then cursed me for not giving them back that hour of their lives), or left a comment on my blog, even if you were putting me to shame with your superior knowledge.

If you found yourself agreeing with me, I have a blog to recommend to you that should go some way to replacing the huge void in your internet life that I clearly haven’t been filling since May.

Televisionary is a blog about TV that I always read and agree with about 99% of the time. They guy who writes it is nice and has helped me out with stuff in the past, which is a rarity in the media industry.

Anyway, let me sign off by telling you that as of 20th July 2008, the finest comedy I ever watched was Arrested Development. The finest drama I ever had the pleasure of laying eyes on was season 4 of The Wire. And I’m ashamed to admit that the finest reality show I ever viewed from behind the sofa was the first season of FOX’s Temptation Island. Although lying in a hotel room in Lisbon, watching “I love New York” on MTV Europe with German subtitles comes a surprisingly close second. Top that list, I dare you.

You can still catch up with what I’m reading on Friendfeed, and as always I’ll keep taking pictures on Flickr, but as far as writing about TV is concerned, take care of yourselves, and each other. Goodnight, and good luck.

彼女はそう言いました。

Ricky Gervais introduces his inspiration for “The Office”. (N.B It’s not actually that funny, bearing in mind all the effort they put in to learn their lines… ah well, good try.)

The Wire S04E13 – Final Grades

So I wasn’t too impressed with the death one of my favourite characters on TV this week. But I decided to finish off Season 4 of The Wire, after Geoff finally gave me the last disc. I can’t really even write about it, because I know a couple of my readers haven’t finished this season yet, but I will say it almost made me tearful. That’s right, *almost!* One of the finest hours (and 18 minutes) of television I have had the privilege to watch, the bar has been raised again. Watch one of my new favourite death scenes after the jump. P.S. Come on FX, get it on in HD in the UK!

CSI S08E17 – For Gedda

I am deeply unsatisfied by what I just saw. I knew it was coming, but the payoff wasn’t nearly enough for someone who has put eight years of their life into this show. That is all.

NBC Universal on UK iTunes store

Well this hasn’t been reported much, amid the launch on Zune Marketplace of NBC Universal content. Although NBC Universal are in (a much publicised) dispute with Apple over TV content on the US iTunes store, they slyly added Heroes and House to the UK store, under the moniker “Universal”. Can a return to the US store be too far behind?

The No.1 Ladies Detective Agency

I finally got around to watching this the other night, I had it on the old Sky plus taking up a world of space (BBC HD) from when I was in Lisbon. My feelings can be summed up in bullet points thusly…

• I really liked the cinematography, it’s a shame it takes a Hollywood production to make Botswana look beautiful.
• I couldn’t stand Jill Scott’s accent. It may just be that I am so used to hearing her sing.
• David Oyelowo was hilarious, I didn’t know he had this comedy performance in him. So many quotable lines from “Kremlin”.
• It was also good to have Idris Elba back on my screen. I’m watching Season 4 of The Wire, and although it *is* great, I do miss Stringer Bell.
• I can’t wait for the series to start…

iTunes updates…

UK programming abound on both sides of the Atlantic on iTunes. ITV have started selling their old archive stuff on the UK store, including Lewis and Brideshead Revisited (Riveting, my mum says). On the US store, BBC AMerica has started selling the likes of Little Britain and Torchwood. So there you go.

Success for Pushing Daisies

I told quite a few people at work to watch it, and they decided that if it wasn’t good they would blame me blah blah blah…well I hope you all liked it! BBC are reporting that 5.4 million viewers tuned in. While thats a success for a Saturday night drama on ITV1, it was still beaten by accident-fest Casualty on BBC One. In other news, Day was followed rather swiftly by night.

If you weren’t impressed and you are wondering whether to give the show a second chance or go out next Saturday, next week there is a scene with Kristin Chenoweth singing that is worth the entrance fee alone. If TV had an entrance fee. Which it should. Keep those hoodies away…

Prison Break renewed???

I just returned from a short break to the news that Prison Break has been renewed for a fourth season!! Fox are killing me slowly, they really are… Read the full story on The Televisionary.

Lost S04E08 – Meet Kevin Johnson

A little disappointing, I have to say. When it comes to Lost I like to do a little reading ahead, and I was led to understand that this episode would explain a few things about Michael, and what he has been up to. The answer is… not much.

His reasons for being on Widmore’s freighter don’t add up. So the basic idea is that to clear his conscience of the deaths of two innocents (Ana-Lucia and Libby) that he killed to save his son, he would goback to the island and kill a bunch of other people that he just met, to save the lives of those he betrayed on the island. That is remarkably flimsy. I think I would have preferred it if Ben had kidnapped Walt again.

Mad Men S01E03

I’m about to watch it. I can’t remember being this excited about the third episode of anything! Except maybe Grange Hill…

Japanese TV

Usually when I visit another country, I’m eager to check out the local televisual fare, and see how they do things so I can come back and use it as ammo in my never-ending rants about ITV1. This was the same when I visited Japan.

That country in general seems like another planet, and their genres of TV are no different. One morning I woke up, turned on the TV and saw a weatherman dressed in PVC vest and shorts, complete with dog collar and officers hat. No lie…

I saw this on a forum and it inspired me to write this post. Men playing football, while wearing binoculars. In the interests of keeping the premiership competitive, I vote that the top four be made to wear these during every fixture against a team in the lower half of the table.

I’m still searching for my favourite Youtube clip from the Land of the Colourful mobile phone. It was along the same lines of the famous matrix ping pong, except this one was numerous men imitating the LCD of a large stopwatch counting a 100 metre dash, while other actors portrayed the runners. If you know it, put me out of my misery and post it in the comments to this post.

I leave you with the formula for meeting the hottest girls. Japanese scientists have figured out that if you meet an average looking girl and ask to meet her hottest friend, and so on in that fashion, you will eventually meet the hottest girl in the country! They test out the theory in Italy…

Lost S04E05 – The Constant

The best episode of Lost since the last time I wrote that. Seriously, that was easily the best treatment on time travel since Back to the Future, maybe even better because it doesn’t involve paradoxes (I think). Since an interview in the Summer when Matthew Fox was quoted saying that this was the season people would find out “not just where they are, but when they are“, I’ve been waiting for the explanation, but I had no idea it would be told so eloquently. Listen to Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse on this weeks official Lost podcast clear up any questions you may have on their interpretation on time travel.

My only question is, does that explain the flashbacks? And if so, are they all going to die of cerebral aneurisms over the next 36 episodes???

The other thing they clear up in the podcast is that because of the strike there will be only five new episodes this season, in addition to the eight already produced before the strike began. These five hours will condense what was originally a plan for eight episodes, but those three missing hours will be added onto season five for a total of nineteen episodes in 2009, followed by a final sixteen in 2010. So plenty to look forward to then… Click on to see two sneak peeks from next weeks Juliet-centric episode, the other woman. About time we found out about her past/present/future.