Archive for tv reviews
I'm a Lib Dem so I should have a view about Doctor Who, right?
OK then: a. Excellent snappy dialogue. Just the sort of drama the BBC should do – where its resources allow people the space to polish the dialogue rather than muddle through with second-rate scripts. b. Loved the way the camera work and music was adapted to suit the style of the new Doctor. Very clever [...]
Flash Forward is back
After a pause of several months – longer than planned – Flash Forward has returned to our TV screens with two episodes back to back It’s back with some very ropey computer special effects. It’s also back with the old favourites: the attempts to do deep and meaningful which don’t quite come off. But that’s [...]
24 and Doctor Who: two script teams, one problem
Finally getting round to watching series seven of 24 around the same time as the Christmas two-parter for Doctor Who highlighted a common challenge faced by both shows. Both have often made use of a special plot reset button which, when pressed, not only can get the plot out of any apparent cul-de-sac but it [...]
Flash Forward returns to TV in March
Title says it all, but given the number of people coming to my Flash Forward posts hunting for this information, I thought you might appreciate the news. It’s due to screen again in the US on Thursday 4 March and Five have said they will start screenings in the UK in March.
Mid-season finale: is that it? Flash Forward episode 10
During the week, the last episode of Flash Forward was screened for a while. It being a US show that is, unusually, being broadcast at nearly the same time in the UK, this means we’ve also got one of the US scheduling habits imported with the show – the mid-season break. The next new episode won’t [...]
Back is the new forward: Flash Forward episode 9
Episode 9 of Flash Forward started off with a series of flash backs. The use of this slightly forced plot device highlights the lack of plot and character development over the last few episodes. But it was used to spark off an episode which, whilst light on plot again, this time gave us plot developments [...]
We have no kangaroo: Flash Forward Episode 8 #flashforward
Boo! Hiss! The Flash Forward kangaroo from episode 6 has still not returned. Meanwhile, back in the land of the plot there was some small movement – one mystery was resolved in a rather simplistic manner (no, person wasn’t back from the dead, they’d just never died – even though someone had looked at them [...]
Is that a cardigan? Flash Forward Episode 7 #flashforward
The good news: no quantum physics inspired chat up lines. The even better news: the questionable cardigan was shrouded in dark most of the time. The bad news: the kangaroo didn’t make a return. The plot thread juggling news: the plot’s becoming easier to follow but only by leaving various loose ends abandoned in the [...]
The drunk scientist injects some quantum physics into his chat-up lines: Flash Forward Episode 6
Oh dear me. Has there ever been a more cringe-inducing naff chat up scene opening a TV episode? Drunk scientist on train uses crude quantum physics puns to chat up blonde with long hair and short skirt. Oh, and interleave the chat-up lines using Schrodinger’s cat with scenes from a hospital of a major character [...]
How can you not love a car park shoot out done to a bad karaoke song? Flash Forward episode 5
How indeed can you not? The final moments of Flash Forward Episode 5 showed why I should hate the show – and why I really love it. Sudden car crash. New villains touting guns and wearing black appear. Car park shoot out. Mysterious attempted kidnapping. Significant nods between two main characters. Another badly shot after it looks like [...]
