The Idiot Box

tras OK I admit it, as well as games and movies I love TV. Well I love some TV, and at the moment it seems to be American. No insult to British drama but aside from a few programs they just can’t compete with the stuff coming out of the states at the moment, the fact that they produce 20 odd episodes a series, as opposed to the British standard of 6 at a much higher level of quality all round is amazing enough. So from time to time I thought I would chip in here with my thoughts on a few programs I’m watching at the moment and how they are doing…

Lost

What started out as one of the most intriguing shows on television frustrated me in its first season teasing with questions but withholding answers, and randomly dropping storylines. However the show picked up for a great second series and so far despite a weak start the third season is keeping me hooked. Maybe because now I am used to the fact that concrete answers are about as hard to come by as a hot shower on the island that it doesn’t bother me any more but I am enjoying where the series is heading and appreciate the amount of time we have spent with the ‘others’ so far this year considering how secretive they have been in the past about showing them at all. While the program can still be frustratingly obtuse and the possibilities of an overarching explanation are becoming slimmer, I feel they have found a good way of keeping the plot unpredictable and allowing the viewers to feel they are being enough to go on whilst keeping them asking questions. But regardless of its flaws Lost is still one of the best shows on TV if only for its lush cinematography and the fact that it is so out there and different from the other shows on TV that it still feels like a breath of fresh air. As the second half of season 3 continues we shall have to see if the momentum they seem to be gaining now will pay off.

24

One of my all time favourite TV shows 24 is a masterclass in technical excellence, tight plotting and acting and exciting tension filled television. That said whilst I have been enjoying the latest series, it feels like something is missing, or maybe that the formula is starting to wear a little thin. After 6 years there is only so far they can escalate up the stakes of the day before we enter a series when the entire world ends up destroyed by nuclear arms. However the series is still one of the most compulsively watchable shows on TV and the writing is as tight as ever finding new ways to escalate the threats and involve older characters. Another factor in the enjoyment of this current series is the fact that it is the first for a while I am watching week to week, most of the series I have watched in the course of a week or two on DVD and more than any other series the format of 24 really suits this style of watching, having a week between episodes lets the tension fade and stops you getting so involved. So still a great show, and we are only half way through this season, but one that is perhaps better watched on DVD.

Heroes

Heroes is a new program that me and Martha recently got hooked on, it has just started on Sci-Fi and already has a great premise, ordinary people discovering they have super abilities, and enough mystery to sustain it for a good while. The characters are all interesting, though my favourite by far is Hiro the Japanese guy who find he can stop time. The show is really coming into its stride now and the word is it only gets better so keep an eye out Monday nights for this. My only criticism of the program would be that it tries to feature all the main characters in every show meaning that their storylines progress very slowly, which can be painful when the episodes are a week apart! Lets hope they break up the formula in the future to keep it fresh and that they keep the surprises coming!

Ugly Betty

I would blame Martha for me watching this, but I have to admit I enjoy it. Silly, camp and superficial it may be at times, but it also a remarkably sweet and enjoyable. Betty herself is fantastic character, naïve and nervous, but resourceful and inventive I can see her being in many ways a great role model and the blatant digs at the fashion industry are never too deep, the makers obviously have a love for the industry in all its bluff and that shows too and it stops the show becoming to cynical or lumbered with a purpose of exposing the fashion industry. These people are stereotypes, but they play to them so well it’s okay. It’s also nice to see Ashley Jenson from Extras in the show playing Betty’s best friend and while I have a few issues with the generally lightness of the show (even when it tries to do dark it never quite manages to get anywhere near) and the background storyline that doesn’t seem to be going anywhere involving Daniel’s father and a woman who may or may not be dead, this is still enjoyable TV all round and a pleasant surprise. Also the portrayal of family life in the show with Betty’s family is really well done, and though they are Mexican rather than Peruvian, I see a lot of similarities with them and Martha’s family and the warmth and love they seem to have is genuine and touching. So if you haven’t seen Ugly Betty, give it a go, you never know, it might just surprise you.

The O.C

Another show that I did not used to watch at all, but that I really got into on DVD. There is definitely something about watching a show over a short period of time that makes you really get into it and watching the existing three series of the O.C over the winter left me eager for the final series which started a couple of months ago on Channel 4. Now the series is not perfect, it does however have strong characters and it seems that in this final series they have abandoned a lot of the more serious elements of the show in favour of a more frivolous unrealistic attitude that has made this series really fun to watch, but has impacted on a lot of the things built up over the years. So it’s a bit of a mixed bag, more entertaining but less dramatic and despite hints of a real darkness at the start of the year things have more or less returned to normal, something I’m pleased about but that has really prevented any real growth or change amongst its core characters. Even so it will be sad to see the series end in a month or so, I just hope it goes out with a bang!