Jasmine Sahu is well suited with this new American drama exclusive to Dave.
Lois Cameron explains why this series is much more than your average cosy period drama.
The last episode of this series sees Sherlock and Moriarty attempt to solve the final problem with devastating consequences.
With major cast changes afoot, Jacob Martin ponders whether Being Human can live up to its own scarily high standard.
Three more shows have closed up this week - two of the most successful products of the 2009-10 US TV season, and the other one of the longest-lasting on TV. So which displayed more potential?
After a mammoth 22 episodes, the all-singing, all-dancing extravaganza that is Glee has reached its schmaltzy first season finale, prompting Gleeks everywhere to weep into their Glee™ branded handkerchiefs. The quirky bunch of misfits came full circle, performing a Journey medley at Regionals, harking back to the success of ‘Don’t Stop Believin’, the tune that became Glee’s theme, reviving it for many a cheesy disco everywhere. This episode should’ve been a landmark, with the failure of New Directions to win Regionals, Quinn’s baby being born and Will and Emma potentially reconciling. However, it descended into a giant cheese-fest. Glee has always been cheesy, but there was always a witty line poking fun at itself, not taking itself too seriously. In the finale however, we had the Glee club crying, holding hands and singing ‘Over the Rainbow’. For a show that managed to tackle difficult issues such as teen pregnancy, coming out, disability and racism in an original and funny manner, for the finale to have become so lacking in humour and chock-full of cheese was surprising. The challenge now for the writers and producers is to make sure the show stays fresh, especially as a third season has already been commissioned. The Gleeks are ecstatic.
Extolling the virtues of Modern Family would be an endless task, but unfortunately, it does not get enough love. Having been picked up by Sky1 rather than a freeview channel, it has gone under the radar here, despite its consistency and strong US ratings. Shot in a mockumentary format, its first season has established it solidly with its smorgasbord of comedic styles ranging from wit and sarcasm to slapstick and playful stereotypes. Its portrayal of 3 family units has managed to be endearing, despite maybe not seeming so on paper (who would have thought a Colombian trophy wife could be so believably understanding?) and spot-on casting with all children involved (the three Dunphy kids are all stand-outs, but Manny as the 10 year-old wise soul is most frequently the weekly highlight). When you pair this young team with self-proclaimed ‘hip’ dad Phil, flawed but desperate-to-please Claire and the wonderful Cam and Mitchell adjusting to life with their adopted Vietnamese baby Lily (they may be my favourite TV couple ever) this has been a winning formula from day 1 – and anyone who’s yet to discover its magic, I urge you to order the boxset, download it or watch Sky1 repeats at the nearest opportunity.
In the wake of The Simpsons Movie the show’s quality has been on a downward slide with many of us loyal fans conceding that it could be past its sell-by date. With Season 21 of The Simpsons having recently finished it is good to see that there are some signs of recovery, even if the season finale was insanely weak. The main thing that has changed in comparison to Seasons 18-20 is that The Simpsons have tried to get back to the storytelling that made the earlier seasons enjoyable viewing. All that they need to do now is to try and marry this with some of the laugh out loud humour that we used to get from this much beloved yellow family and The Simpsons could very well be on the verge of a creative renaissance. A particularly inspired change was featured in the episode ‘To Surveil With Love’, which was arguably the best episode of The Simpsons in years, where in lieu of the usual opening sequence they had the characters lip-synching to ‘TiK ToK’ by Ke$ha. They are not yet on-par with pre-Season 11 episodes but things are beginning to look up, especially compared to the recent season of Family Guy.
Yes I was also disappointed by the level of cheese in the Glee finale, but if there's anything I learnt from the Lost finale, it's that you should come to expect a cheese overload in a finale! Saying that I still enjoyed Lost finale, and the Beth's birth/Queen sequence in Glee was immense.
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