TV

[fog]

At last something decent to look forward to.  The second series of Ashes to Ashes is on soon 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qL8PTSXgqeU

[EricT]

Speaking of Ashes to Ashes... have you watched the ending of the US Life on Mars remake? Horrid ending... spoilers:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Sam wakes up in the year 2035 and he was in a deep sleep on his way to mars along with every other central character in the game. It was all a dream inside a dream after a small mistake in the dream delivery system for long trip. It ends with him taking a step onto mars, with his father, who just so happens to be Gene.

This is what happens when America gets it's grimy hands on something that was actually good.

[fog]

Speaking of Ashes to Ashes... have you watched the ending of the US Life on Mars remake? Horrid ending... spoilers:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Sam wakes up in the year 2035 and he was in a deep sleep on his way to mars along with every other central character in the game. It was all a dream inside a dream after a small mistake in the dream delivery system for long trip. It ends with him taking a step onto mars, with his father, who just so happens to be Gene.

This is what happens when America gets it's grimy hands on something that was actually good.

I haven't watched any of the US ones at all.  I've seen too many poor remakes of shows I like to bother with any of them now.

But....is that really the proper US ending?  Surely not?



In other news it's the three new Red Dwarfs this weekend.  I'm feeling worryingly optimistic.  The clips I've seen aren't entirely awful.

[EricT]

Speaking of Ashes to Ashes... have you watched the ending of the US Life on Mars remake? Horrid ending... spoilers:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Sam wakes up in the year 2035 and he was in a deep sleep on his way to mars along with every other central character in the game. It was all a dream inside a dream after a small mistake in the dream delivery system for long trip. It ends with him taking a step onto mars, with his father, who just so happens to be Gene.

This is what happens when America gets it's grimy hands on something that was actually good.

I haven't watched any of the US ones at all.  I've seen too many poor remakes of shows I like to bother with any of them now.

But....is that really the proper US ending?  Surely not?

Oh it is. I nearly threw my drink at the TV after it happened. Throughout the episode I was just sitting there "Please just redo the original ending", and then BAM. We got whacked with that. The original ending was perfect, perhaps one of the best endings in TV history to me.

edit:

Life On Mars (US) - Ending	powered by Aeva

The series wasn't kinda crap at first, then it got into it's own and was much better... then the final 2 episodes happened... THEN THAT ENDING.

In other news it's the three new Red Dwarfs this weekend.  I'm feeling worryingly optimistic.  The clips I've seen aren't entirely awful.

I forgot those were coming this weekend.

Time to warm up the ol bit-torrent (since, based on US airing schedules, I'd probably see them in 2011 if I waited).

Also the Doctor Who easter special which is believed to be Tennant's last episode. I'm not looking forward to the new Doctor, he just doesn't look like a doctor to me. On the other hand, the series is now in Moffat's hands, the best DW writer on the new series. Very confused as to how to feel.

[fog]

Oh it is. I nearly threw my drink at the TV after it happened. Throughout the episode I was just sitting there "Please just redo the original ending", and then BAM. We got whacked with that. The original ending was perfect, perhaps one of the best endings in TV history to me.

edit: Life On Mars (US) - Ending

The series wasn't kinda crap at first, then it got into it's own and was much better... then the final 2 episodes happened... THEN THAT ENDING.

Ok I just watched that and I still don't believe it.  At least when Red Dwarf did that storyline it was meant to be funny.

Also the Doctor Who easter special which is believed to be Tennant's last episode. I'm not looking forward to the new Doctor, he just doesn't look like a doctor to me. On the other hand, the series is now in Moffat's hands, the best DW writer on the new series. Very confused as to how to feel.

Oh yeah we have our whole evening planned around the Dr.Who special.  Sad but I don't care

[fog]

Red Dwarf then.  Not great, but as the first episode of a multi-part story I'll reserve full judgement until I've seen the whole thing (which luckily we don't have to wait a week for)

One big thing though is that it didn't have a laughter track and consequently a lot of it felt very cold with awkward pauses between jokes.  I'm not a fan of some false canned laughter, but in this case it really did feel like it was missing something.

I must say the sets and fx looked generally great mind.  A vat improvement on the CG that had crept into the later series.

[Mikey]

I'm very much into the Boston Legal series.. they have got a finale series running at the moment on Living (series 5).

Here are some of the funnier bits;

Boston Legal - Lesbian!	powered by Aeva

Captain Kirk is... Denny Crain! - Funny!	powered by Aeva

What Is Scientology?	powered by Aeva

[fog]

I'm very much into the Boston Legal series.. they have got a finale series running at the moment on Living (series 5).

And I still haven't gotten around to watching any eps yet.  Probably because it's hidden away on Living which I never visit.


So episode 2 of the new Red Dwarfs and a big improvement.  A lot of ep 1 now makes a bit more sense, but I'm not sure that's intentional or whether I'm reading too much into it (the awkward pauses where there was no laughter track being one example I "think" I can now explain away)

One thing i would suggest to anyone else planning on watching is to watch all 3 episodes in one go as it will flow and make a lot more sense that way.

[fog]

Final ep of Red Dwarf was another mixed bag.  I like the plot and they way it resolved, it had a few really funny bits, but there were pacing issues again.  I can't decide whether the story was really a 2 parter that they stretched out with extra scenes to fill 3 episodes, or whether it was too long for 3 and they chopped some scenes out.  Either way it didn't flow.

Hopefully it was good enough to convince people that there should be another proper series.

[fog]

Has nobody watched the new Dr.Who yet?  It wasn't that bad TBH apart from the silly bit at the end

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

The flying bus bit over London was more like Disney and then her escaping in the flying bus was equally silly.

I watched it with a 10 year old who thought the whole thing was utterly great though so job done I guess.  A lot of people that grew up watching Dr.Who are overly critical of it now IMO.  They forget that it's essentially aimed at kids and that's why they got hooked on it years ago.

[las6]

Has nobody watched the new Dr.Who yet?  It wasn't that bad TBH apart from the silly bit at the end

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

The flying bus bit over London was more like Disney and then her escaping in the flying bus was equally silly.

I watched it with a 10 year old who thought the whole thing was utterly great though so job done I guess.  A lot of people that grew up watching Dr.Who are overly critical of it now IMO.  They forget that it's essentially aimed at kids and that's why they got hooked on it years ago.

I guess you're right about people being too critical, but that said I still think it wasn't very good "special". In fact, it was way below average episode of the new Dr. Who. The same kind of storyline was used in the episode "Midnight", which despite it's seriously low budget setting was a whole lot more interesting. 

[fog]

The second series of The Inbetweeners has started. Hurrah!  Childish, puerile, toilet humour....it's great.

The Inbetweeners | Larks at the Park | E4 (External Embedding Disabled)

The Inbetweeners | Bringing Up Baby | E4 (External Embedding Disabled)

[fog]

Ashes to Ashes got off to a good start last night.  The episodes storyline was decent if a  touch predictable and we found out a few important details about Alex's position back in the real world.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Which so far looks incredibly similar to what happened in Life on Mars so hopefully there's a twist somewhere.

[fog]

Just watched the second ep of Ashes to Ashes that I'd recorded and the main plot is evolving nicely.  I do find the stories within the individual episodes hugely predictable though.  From the first few minutes of this ep if was obvious how it was all going to unfold so it's only the longer storyline that keeps the interest up.

[fog]

So Ashes to Ashes series 2 is finished and it was ace.  The final episode had an extra twist in it that I hadn't predicted.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

It's all set up nicely for the 3rd series now, but because of the way it finished the story really could go anywhere now.  Is Alex really back in the real world?  Which world is the real world anyway?  How will she get back to help Gene?  Is Gene really trapped in parallel world and hasn't realised it....maybe that was him in the bed at the end?

How they start the new series is going to be as intriguing as the ending to this one.

So that's the only TV drama I watch finished until next year.  What now?