I review a whole season rather than individual episodes, so there is a chance of spoilers. If you haven’t watched the whole season yet, stop reading now! Season two of any tv show is the real test of where it … Continue reading Parks and Recreation (Season 2) TV Review
Someone at NBC must have said to Greg Daniels “we want you to create a show that is almost exactly like The Office without being set in an Office. Mr Daniels, happy to keep making television and sitcoms, duly obliged and … Continue reading Parks and Recreation (Season 1) TV Review
There was a time when I used to think Ricky Gervais could do no wrong. I love The Office, Extras was a fantastic follow-up and his first few stand-ups are great too. They are all a testament to how good a … Continue reading Derek (Season 1) TV Review
Because I review a whole tv series rather than individual episodes, there is a chance of spoilers, so if you haven’t watched the whole series yet, stop reading now! I don’t know many television shows that have successfully survived when their lead actor/character decides to leave. The only shows that I can think of that have tried to continue once their lead has decided to move on to other things are X-Files (David Duchovney), Scrubs (Zach Braff), and Two and Half Men (Charlie Sheen). I’m sure there are many more and each of these had various degrees of success. Unless you … Continue reading The Office (An American Workplace) (Season 7) TV Review
Because I review a whole tv series rather than individual episodes, there is a chance of spoilers, so if you haven’t watched the whole series yet, stop reading now! The American version of The Office is better than the original, UK version. Pretty bold statement and one that is actually silly and pointless. By this point, with (I think) the ninth season airing in America, the similarities between both programs is so slight and superficial, that comparing them would be like comparing James Bond and Johnny English. Yeah, they’re both spies, but apart from that? I have been a fan of … Continue reading The Office (An American Workplace) (Season 6) TV Review
Because I review a whole tv series rather than individual episodes, there is a chance of spoilers, so if you haven’t watched the whole series yet, stop reading now! I’m now going to be a complete hypocrite. I’ve reviewed two sitcoms recently (Trollied and Gates) and highlighted, as positives, how closely they try to show a mundane but recognisable environment and find the humour in that. Bad Education does something similar, but then veers off in its own direction. The sitcom is set in a secondary school, following the lives of the teachers and students at the school. This has … Continue reading Bad Education (Season 1) TV Review
Always watch the first two episodes of any new television series before you decide to stop watching. It’s a simple rule but its one that I always use when I’ve found a new television series. There is a basic reason behind this. Every now and again, a tv show will have a brilliant pilot episode. Lost, Heroes, Prison Break and Flashforward are all good examples of television shows with fantastic pilots. The pilots grabbed your attention, they had huge budgets that meant that they could amaze an audience and pull them in before actually establishing the main themes/format of the series. … Continue reading My Rule of Two for Television
Because I review a whole tv series rather than individual episodes, there is a chance of spoilers, so if you haven’t watched the whole series yet, stop reading now! Britain do a particular style of sitcom better than any other… the “everyday” sitcom. What I mean by that is a sitcom where the “situation” is actually very mundane. Not a coming together of unlikely family members or two mismatched people forced to live together with “hilarious” consequences, but a sitcom set in an everyday, very familiar environment. The most famous (and arguably the most successful) is probably The Office. The … Continue reading Trollied (Season 1) TV Review
Steve Carell is a deceptively good actor. He has much more of a range than most people realise. He’s probably most famous for his more “wacky” or crazy roles, where he gets to be outrageous or obnoxious, like The Office, Anchorman or Date Night. Recently though, I’ve watched a couple of films where he has played much more understated, quieter and, even as lame as this sounds, complex characters. He’s great as part of the ensemble cast in Little Miss Sunshine, plays a fantastic part in the surprisingly enjoyable Stupid Crazy Love (review coming soon) and he’s brilliant in Dan in Real … Continue reading Dan in Real Life (2007) Review
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