Saturday 18 June 2011

A Summer of Shows

A short post today because of a combination of tiredness and lack of inspiration, but I wanted to write something so I thought I’d write a quick list of the 5 TV shows I am most looking forward to watching over the summer.

5. Buffy the Vampire Slayer

I love this show, the writing is so strong throughout; the comedic elements would look good in an out and out comedy show, rather than just as one string to it’s bow. I’ve watched all 7 seasons a number of times but I’ve been working through them again recently and I’m definitely hoping to watch the 3 seasons I have remaining over the next few months though obviously shows I am watching for the first time are taking priority.

4. The Wire

Quite regularly listed as one of the greatest TV shows of recent times I was blown away by The Wire when I watched it a couple of years ago. The characterisation, dialogue and plot strands are all so far beyond what the average show achieves; the fact that in a story about drug gangs and the police in the city there are no 100% good or bad guys is a testament to what makes this show work, by the end you care as much for a number of the dealers as the cops, not because you condone what they are doing but because you sympathise with their plight and desperately want to help them in some way. I’m a big fan of shows like that, where good and evil get a little bit mixed up and it’s left up to the subjective judgement of the audience. I definitely think it’s worth at least one repeat watching and so am hoping to work my way through the 5 seasons, each of which deals with a different element of Baltimore.

3. Camelot

I’ve watched the first two episodes of this that have been broadcast on channel 4 so far and it’s kept me entertained enough to want to watch more; for obvious reasons I’ve always had a bit of a soft spot for this particular fictional ruler of Britain and so far this show hasn’t disappointed. It will be interesting to see how they extend it over 10 episodes but the acting and script are good enough that I’m at least going to watch it on an episode by episode basis. It may be that this, like so many shows, falls a little by the wayside if the episodes don’t keep my interest levels up, but for now I’ll keep watching, and keep trying to ignore the expectation that everyone’s going to burst into song or start discussing the air-speed velocity of swallows.

2. The Shadow Line

I watched the first episode of this BBC crime drama while I was trying to avoid revising for my exams and was impressed but for absolutely no coherent reason I haven’t gotten round to watching the rest of this series despite the fact that exams are long gone. Anything with Christopher Ecclestone and Chiwetel Ejiofor starring is going to be a tempting prospect for me and the opening episode was full of promise. It made almost no sense, but that’s what you want from a mystery of this type; if anything meaningful is revealed in the first episode then you’d be a bit disappointed. I’m definitely intrigued enough to want to follow up and watch the remaining episodes

1. Battlestar Galactica

I’ve written about this show before so I won’t write much more, other than to say that I’m now up to the start of the 4th and final season and the quality hasn’t yet let up, with the plot continuing to look at some of the big questions about society through this particularly dramatic science fiction looking glass. I’ll probably have finished this show within the next fortnight or so and I intend to write a review of the show as a whole once I’ve seen how it all pans out.

Today's song is one i guess some people might not consider my 'kind' of music, but it's a definite favourite.

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