18 Aug – €50.58 (£41.65) @ Amazon.co.uk

Kokowääh

19 Aug – €8.99 @ Drogerie Müller

The IT Crowd: Season 4

22 Aug – €8.33 (£6.44) @ Amazon.co.uk

Machete

22 Aug – €10.01 (£7.87) @ Amazon.co.uk

Red

22 Aug – €9.83 (£7.72) @ Amazon.co.uk

True Blood: Season 2

22 Aug – €18.23 (£14.86) @ Amazon.co.uk

Unstoppable

22 Aug – €11.23 (£8.91) @ Amazon.co.uk

My 850th movie:

Scream

30 Aug – €11.07 (£8.91) @ Amazon.co.uk

Cougar Town: Season 2

31 Aug – €0.00 (CA$24.99) @ Amazon.ca (paid via gift certificate)

Terriers @ Wikipedia
Terriers @ IMDb

Hank is an ex-cop and an ex-drunk. Britt is his best friend. And together they run an unlicensed private investigations business. Their first case is to retrieve a dog from a mountain of a man, directly followed by helping a young woman who got in the crosshairs of some very powerful tycoon.

I’m not entirely sure where this show is (supposed to be) going but I liked it. It wasn’t on my radar until today but … I liked it. Donal Logue from Grounded for Life and Michael Raymond-James from True Blood make an interesting team and my guess is that the episodes will be a mixture of case of the week and the story arc involving that tycoon (because I’m pretty sure that ain’t over yet). Since they are neither real cops nor real PIs this could be an interesting change of pace.

The Big Bang Theory

A sitcom (with laugh track) about four scientists and their hot neighbour.
I’m still enjoying this show very much. I don’t understand why they broke Penny and Leonard up (especially because it felt like one of the most normal relationships on TV) but at least they didn’t put any bad blood between them.

Bones

Forensic anthropologist Dr. Temperance “Bones” Brennan and FBI Special Agent Seeley Booth investigate murders where only a skeleton is left of the victim.
Quite a few episodes of this season where just “OK” but it’s still watch-worthy and I assume that next season will have a totally new dynamic due to the “time leap”.

Burn Notice

Michael Westen is a former spy who has been “expelled”. He now works as a “problem solver” for people whom the police can’t help.
It’s a good show but I hope that one day they’ll drop the whole “I want to go back to the spy game” aspect of it and just run with the main plot.

Castle

Richard Castle is a best-selling thriller author who solves crimes with Detective Kate Beckett who has become his inspiration for his novel heroine “Nikki Heat”.
They are only in their second year and both characters already know they have feelings for each other. Progress! While the WTWT is certainly an aspect of the show that can’t be ignored, I tune in because of the crimes they have to solve and the ways they do it. For me, it’s the unofficial sequel to Murder She Wrote.

Chuck

A guy who works in an electronics superstore get all the secrets of the government uploaded into his brain. From now on he works as a spy and helps to put the members of the most dangerous organisations behind bars.
I enjoyed the first third of the third season but then disliked where the show was going with Shaw and Sarah. Not because I’m a Charah shipper (I am that, too ) but because it didn’t feel real that Sarah would tell Shaw (who just came into her life) things, she didn’t share with Chuck. But now the show is great again, and I can’t wait to see the finale and the fourth season.

Gossip Girl

A show about a lot of spoiled rich kids in New York’s Upper East Side and some “normals” who get caught up in the whole mess.
It took them a while to make the transition from high school to university, but they managed to do it. Bonus points for not having all the characters attend the same university (University of California in Sunnydale or Central Kansas A&M University in or near Smallville ).

House M.D.

Specialist for Diagnostic Medicine Dr. House leads a team of doctors that take care of patients that have rare or inexplicable symptoms and try to help them.
It’s still very formulaic but every year is still different. This year House actually tried to be a better person. That doesn’t mean he stops playing games but now they are means to a different end. And next year will be different, too. I’m watching it because House can still surprise you.

How I Met Your Mother

Ted tells his kids the story of how he met her mother. For that he’s going into greater detail about his early life.
The show as a whole is declining. The search for the mother has been put on hold for a while now and it isn’t as much fun as in the beginning. There are still good episodes in it but as a whole it’s getting more generic.

Leverage

If Burn Notice is the unofficial sequel of MacGyver and Knight Rider, this is the unofficial sequel to The A-Team. A group of con (wo)men who live somewhat outside the law try to help people.
I loved these kinds of shows in the 80s and should I stumble across an episode of The A-Team on TV, I’ll still watch it. And I watch this show for the same reasons. And Jeri Ryan (7 of 9 in Star Trek VOY) was a nice addition to the show this year.

Smallville

The myth behind this show is relatively unknown. It’s about an illegal immigrant who hides on a farm in Kansas. That is, when he’s not out in Metropolis and commits crimes of manhandling, B&E and malicious mischief while running around in a T-Shirt with a stylized “S” on it.
I really didn’t like seasons seven and eight. But this year was really good again and I’m looking forward to its tenth and last season.

True Blood

Vampires are real. And they live amongst us. And they want the same rights we have.
The second season was even more explicit than the first one was. I did not really care about the plot about the Pagan Goddess but that was just one aspect and I will tune in for the third season.

Two and a Half Men

A sitcom (with laugh track) about a man in his forties who lives in a beach house with his brother and his nephew.
It’s the same kind of humour this show had from the beginning but after seven years there are only so many jokes you can make about the same subject. I still enjoy it, but it’s not a priority anymore.

Community

A cool sitcom (without laugh track) about a bunch of students in a Community College.
As with most shows, it needs a few episodes to settle in, but I really liked it from the start. The dynamics within the group is so great because they have such heterogeneous backgrounds. If it weren’t for that college, these people probably would have never met. That’s were a lot of the fun comes from.

Cougar Town

A sitcom (again without laugh track) about a divorced mum, her teenage son, her ex-husband, her neighbour friends and her assistant/friend.
The show started out as exactly what it says on the tin but moved quickly away from it. Which was a good idea. They are probably going to rename it next year. All the characters are very quirky with Jules being the queen.

Glee

The Glee Club at a high school.
I’ve watched the first two episodes but it just wasn’t my terrain. It seems to be a big hit in the U.S. but I simply can’t see the appeal.

The Good Wife

Alicia Florrick is the wife of a former D.A. who has been charged with crimes regarding the misuse of the powers of his office. Now Alicia has to work again and she starts as a junior associate at a law firm of an old friend.
I really enjoyed this year, it was a good drama show with a lot of interesting characters. And it’s never clear-cut, not black/white. Just like reality.

Human Target

Christopher Chance (not his real name) works for people who need a bodyguard of the special kind.
This is a popcorn show. You watch it, you enjoy it and you don’t think about it. If you watch it, you’ll enjoy it most of the time. If you don’t watch it, you haven’t missed anything.

Justified

Deputy U.S. Marshall Raylan Givens has been transferred back to his old hometown in Kentucky where he meets his ex-wife and his old flame who just shot her husband. And that’s not the only baggage he’s having.
The first season as a few more episodes but I really like it. All the characters have depth and it’s obvious that there’s a bigger plan and not just writing on an episode-to-episode basis.

Life Unexpected

A teenage girl wants to escape the Foster system and finds her real parents. And they try their best to give her a home.
Sometimes it’s corny, but I really enjoyed the show. The characters are all interesting and while the show progresses they move away from the concept that the episode has to end on a high note.

Spartacus: Blood and Sand

Spartacus is the name he was given by his Roman captors. Now he’s a gladiator and he’s fighting to get his freedom back and to see his wife again.
A very graphic show (in all aspects) that has an actual story behind all the blood and the sex. Should the Vampires of True Blood ever have a blood shortage, they could come here.

Stargate Universe

A group of military personnel and civilian scientists make a one-way travel onto a ship in a galaxy far away. Now they try to discover the secrets of the ship, of that galaxy and they try to get back home.
It’s not just because it’s different from its predecessors SG-1 and Atlantis. It’s because the characters make no sense most of the time (like starting rebellions when there’s nothing real to gain) and also because most of the time nothing happens. And even when something happens, it’s not interesting. I haven’t even watched the last few episodes anymore and I doubt I ever will.

White Collar

Basically a spin-off of the movie Catch Me if You Can. A former con man works now for the FBI, solving crimes.
Peter and Neal have an interesting relationship and their cases are also interesting. And the co-characters like Peter’s wife and Mozzie also have their charm. Just like the guys from Leverage Neal is a con man with style.

Since everybody seems to be starting to count at zero instead of one the first decade of this century and millennium is now over. So it’s time to recap these past ten years and take a look at the TV Shows it has given us.

Let me give my résumé at the beginning: Of the four decades I know TV Shows from (70s – 00s) this was without question the best decade for us TV junkies. When you read my review you might say in the end “Hey what about <insert your favourite here>?” (e.g. The Sopranos, Dexter, The Wire, Six Feet Under, …) but that’s exactly my point. This decade has given us so many outstanding shows that it was impossible to watch them all. Also, everybody has a different set of favourite genres but I’d say that every genre got their fair share of excellent series in the last years.

But let’s face it: There’s rarely any series (if there’s one at all) that could keep up the quality and its appeal for its entire run. Some had a bad year in between, some fell short at the end. But even in these “bad years” they had more quality episodes in it than entire shows from previous decades. So all the shows I am going to name have of course aspects that can be criticized and I invite you to do so.

For me the most outstanding characteristic of this past decade’s shows is that they are more often than not more about the “journey” of the character(s) than the actual events. It’s not the character who shines a light upon the unfolding events but it’s the events that shine a light upon the character and his development. I have to say that shows (hereby excluding comedy shows that work with stereo- and archetypes) that don’t have a real character development don’t interest me at all. But if the character development is interesting I might even watch shows from genres that usually don’t interest me at all.

If the character development is interesting enough I might even set the fact aside that my second favourite characteristic is missing: A real story-arc. The first TV Show in my TV universe that had a real story-arc, was Babylon 5. Later Star Trek: DS9 did the same albeit not in that quality and complexity. But these shows were two of the rare exception in the 90s (another famous exception would be Twin Peaks, but I never watched it). It seemed that viewers weren’t interested in either developing characters or story-arcs.

This drastically changed in this decade and one show had an early start to this:

Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997-2003)

I believe Buffy is one of the most studied TV Shows there is, possibly only surpassed by the Star Trek universe and comparing the age of both franchises one sees how truly amazing that is. Just take a look at Slayage Online to get a glimpse.
I had of course heard of Buffy but ignorant as I was I did not watch a single episode during its original run. It was only in the year 2007, three years after the show had ended, that I discovered it for me and it swept me of my feet. This show does not deal in black & white, every character is flawed and yet tries to contribute in the ultimate fight against evil.
For me there’s not one season I’d qualify as “bad” even though some of them are very different than the others.

Angel (1999-2004)

On the dawn of the new millennium Angel relocated from Sunnydale to Los Angeles and opened a second front against the apocalypse. The show was different from Buffy but the characters were still wonderfully drawn and the story was very good. The show had its down during the fourth season which I didn’t like that much but got better again only to get cancelled. But it went out with a BOOM. “Let them fight the good fight. Someone has to fight the war.”

And then the new millennium began.

24 (2001-)

“All Events Occur in Real-Time.” This show introduces a whole lot of concepts in a TV Show. Since everything happens “live” they depend heavily on split-screens to show multiple events in different places. It’s also one of the first shows that uses technology to a sometimes ludicrous extend. But its compact and thrilling story-telling totally makes up for it.
There have been years where the story absolutely jumps the shark, especially the fourth and fifth season. But then the writers manage to refresh it again end they’ve delivered a real highlight with the seventh season and I truly hope they can keep it up in the soon-to-begin eighth year.

Alias (2001-2006)

The show surely declined during its five-year run but overall it’s a fascinating piece of television, with its elaborate Rambaldi-arc and its shifting allies and enemies. It especially wins it fascination from all these grey characters where it isn’t certain on which side they’re on (for now) and what their hidden agenda is. It also uses a remarkable amount of plot locations all over the world that coincides with the number of wigs the main character Sydney Bristow seems to have.

Smallville (2001-)

Smallville is a complicated topic. The label says “How Clark Kent became Superman”. On its face it’s a show about teenage drama mixed with some action pieces. Many don’t like it because it often breaks with the official Superman canon (whatever that means in a comic universe that retcons itself all the time…). Others have problems with Clark himself who is not yet the iconic character he’s supposed to become. Still others had problems with the prolonged presence of Lana Lang and the very existence of the not-in-the-comic character Chloe Sullivan. And they are supported in their criticism by the often kitschy storylines and the Freak-of-the-Week episodes in the early seasons. The show also lacks a mastermind who has a clear idea of where the journey is supposed to end up. This was painfully obvious during the seventh and eighth season that fell flat on every aspect of story-telling.
But still, the show has something that draws me in – even though I never read a single Superman comic. Despite their problems the characters are really enjoyable and most of them undergo a real development. If I had to name a favourite character (excepting Clark) it would be Allison Mack’s Chloe Sullivan even though they heavily damaged the character in the last two years. The second one is Erica Durance’s Lois Lane who is slowly taking the place that is rightfully hers.
I have to admit I was nearly giving up on the show but the ninth season is developing really great so far – let’s just hope they can keep it up this time.

Firefly (2002)

Maybe it was so good because it was so short-lived but the 14 episodes of this series showed a potential worthy of a Joss Whedon (Buffy, Angel) show. This show literally brought the wild west into space. One has to wonder what this show could have achieved if it would have had a reasonable lifetime.

Two and a Half Men (2003-)

Sitcoms have always been era-bound for me. I’ve watched many sitcoms during their original run. When I watched them again years later I didn’t find them as funny as the first time or don’t find them really funny at all anymore. Maybe all the sitcoms in this list will fare the same fate. But for now I really enjoy the two brothers, their house-keeper, their mother and their son/nephew very much.

Battlestar Galactica (2003-2009)

Most sci-fi shows are plot-oriented. The spaceship that flies from planet to planet to go where no one has gone before. The station that is the last hope for peace. The team that searches for technology to protect Earth from the Evil Overlords. The fleet around the Galactica also has a goal: to find Earth. But the story is about the crew of these ships and about their robotic enemies who are as diverse as the Humans. In the end it’s not as simple as in the beginning: Humans vs. Cylons. The journey will re-shape all of them in a way none of them could have anticipated.
Unfortunately the end was a bit disappointing because the writers thought too late about where the journey is supposed to be going.

House M.D. (2004-)

House is a typical Procedural. Basically every episode has the same general plot. If that were everything to it, I would not bother to watch it. But it is more. All the other characters sum up to a counter-balance to House, to keep him in check. While House spirals down in his medication addiction they try to pull him up again and they manifest as a wall when he tries to go too far. Every one of them is necessary and due to recent events in the sixth season I fear that one element will be sorely missed in future episodes: Humanity. They have to find a way to restore the balance. House doesn’t work with just House.

LOST (2004-2010)

A great mystery show that will hopefully have an end this year that is worthy of it. For me the entire appeal of the show depends now on if they manage to give satisfying answers to all (or at least most of) the riddles they produced over the last five years. Otherwise it might have the same fate as Battlestar Galactica. They promised that they would have a satisfying end in mind – let’s hope they can keep this promise. If they do this will be one of the most memorable shows of this decade.

Veronica Mars (2004-2007)

After the 80s I was never to much into private investigation stories but this show was highly praised – even though German television dump-aired it in the middle of the night. And it rightfully got the praise. It combines teenage drama and crime/PI stories to an excellent mix and has an excellent cast, especially the ones of the Mars family. Unfortunately the third season deviated from the way the story was told in the first two seasons and the show never got a fourth season. But these three seasons are absolutely worth checking out.

Bones (2005-)

Another Procedural that combines technological overdose and a relatively strict plot pattern. But it has a fascinating set of characters who complement each other (both at work as well as emotionally). Just with House I do not watch it for the case of the week but to see how the characters grow and how they struggle with their past and try to find their future.

Doctor Who (2005-)

The Brits are different. But that doesn’t make them less interesting. The Doctor is a national institution just like the Queen. The show as a whole has been running since 1963 with a big break during the nineties. In 2005 they revived the show and the Ninth Doctor and his companion Rose took the TARDIS and travelled to the end of the Earth. The Tenth Doctor even took it to the end of the universe itself. And in 2010 the Eleventh Doctor will take command of ship and he too will travel to places and times one can hardly imagine.
In order to like Doctor Who one has to like a certain kind of humour and has to appreciate weird stories and ideas. To give you an idea: If you like/disliked the The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy book series by Douglas Adams or the “Thursday Next” book series by Jasper Fforde or the Australian TV Show Farscape you’re probably going to like/dislike Doctor Who.

How I Met Your Mother (2005-)

In one regard sitcoms are like all other shows: There are those that are episode-based and those that are arc-based and then there are those in the middle. While Two and a Half Men and The Big Bang Theory are more (though not strictly) episode-based, so is HIMYM more arc-based. The very title points to it. In this regard HIMYM is the successor of Friends; the life of the characters is actually changing and not a (relative) constant.
Although, now that the show is in its fifth year I feel that it is time that Ted actually meets his future wife. I don’t have the desire to drag out every show endlessly. I prefer a good closure over a never-ending story.

Supernatural (2005-2010?)

Two things brought me to Supernatural: Firstly my disappointment of Smallville over the last two years. While reading and writing in the KryptonSite.com forums I often read good comments about this show that otherwise totally went below my radar. Secondly my getting closer to the horror genre by watching Buffy and Angel. I’ve never been a great friend of the horror genre and probably never will be – but this show intrigued me. At first it looked like a standard Monster-of-the-Week show but soon it developed its own story-arc that is culminating in this year’s battle against the apocalypse and Lucifer himself.
According to the show runner, this will be the last year of Dean’s and Sam’s journey and I really like that idea because then the show has managed something many shows fail to do: To tell one big story and to bring that story to a defined end.

Heroes (2006-)

Heroes is now in its fourth year and it’s doubtful whether there will be a fifth. It started with great promise and the first year was really great. But then basically everyone lost their way and the characters started to act uncharacteristically and erratically and unpredictably and it all went down the drain. I am still watching it because I like the characters but it’s not nearly as much fun as in the beginning.
If you’re new to this show, buy the first season and probably leave it that.

The Big Bang Theory (2007-)

The best sitcom there currently is. The four geeks and their hot neighbour are a really great ensemble and the hilariousness goes up to eleven when Penny and Sheldon clash into each other. There’s nothing I can laugh more about than these five.

Burn Notice (2007-)

I don’t even remember how I stumbled across this show but Michael Westen is basically James Bond and Q in one person. He’s the spy who builds his gadgets himself. His entourage is also great: The trigger-happy ex-IRA ex-girlfriend, the now retired former spy and friend – and his mother. Since he can’t work as spy anymore he has become the local MacGyver / Michael Knight / A-Team of Miami, Florida. He still tries to get his old “job” back but there is someone who does not want him back and Michael has no idea, why.

Chuck (2007-)

Chuck is an action comedy about a guy who accidentally gets all the secrets of the CIA and NSA uploaded into his brain. What makes things worse: His knowledge is now the only copy in existence. He gets two personal bodyguards: The CIA agent Sarah Walker and the NSA Major John Casey. The three of them try to use Chuck’s knowledge to protect the country while hiding the fact that he knows what he knows and without getting exposed as spies by enemies and family.
This show is pure fun and I am really glad that they got a third season. The three main characters are great but all the supporting characters from Chuck’s family and the Buy More superstore form a great ensemble.

True Blood (2008-)

There are Vampires in the world and they live openly among us. But not only Vampires, but also mind-readers and shape-shifters and others. And in Bon Temps, Louisiana the waitress Sookie Stackhouse meets Bill – the very first Vampire in their small town. But mankind has still getting used to the idea that Vampires actually exist and there are quite a few animosities between both groups, especially when people get killed and it looks like Vampires were behind it.
This is a very graphic show based on the “Sookie Stackhouse” book series by Charlotte Harris. But it’s quite fascinating to watch all these different people and how they deal with life (and death).

Being Human (2009-)

A Vampire, a Werewolf and a Ghost are moving in together. What sounds like a joke is basically the question that what it means to be Human. All three struggle with themselves and their fate. The Vampire is the oldest one; he’s fought as a young man in the First World War. The other two have only recently become “different”. This British series is not a comedy although it is funny at times and as most British series relatively short (the first season has only six episodes). But the story it’s telling is really worth watching.

So, that’s it. Let’s hope that this new decade can at least hold the quality bar if not even outshine the last decade since the producers should have learned by now that high-quality television is something viewers do appreciate.

True Blood

What’s the show about?
Based upon the “Sookie Stackhouse” book series by Charlaine Harris. Sookie is a waitress in Bon Temps, Louisiana and she can read minds. She’s fallen in love with a Vampire who has been around since the Civil War. The Vampires have come out of the coffin since the Japanese have invented artificial blood and Vampires need no longer feed off of Humans. The new stuff is called Tru:Blood.

“Strange Love”
Sookie Stackhouse is totally excited when her first Vampire walks into the bar where she works. And the best part of it: She can’t read his mind. The thoughts of all the people around her are constantly raining upon her but he is totally quiet. But she’s not the only one who has identified him as Vampire. So have the Rattrays and they pin him down and try to drain him dry for his “V” – Vampire blood, an aphrodisiac for Humans.

My Opinion
A bit lengthy at times but otherwise very interesting and sometimes disturbing. The show is very open about a lot of topics and also very (very, very!) visual. And except for having Vampires living openly amongst Humans the show also shows other mystical abilities like Sookie’s mind-reading and someone else’s shape-shifting. The interesting part about this show is the fact that Vampires aren’t a secret and how both sides try to deal with that fact (Vampire rights, racism, …).

Bones

What’s the show about?
Dr. Temperance “Bones” Brennan is a forensic anthropologist and works in the Jeffersonian Institute in Washington, D.C.. On occasion she works together with FBI special agent Seeley Booth on cases where only a skeleton or parts of it were recovered from the crime scene. Bones’s team consists of a number of specialists who all help to solve the current case.

“Pilot”
Dr. Brennan has just come back from Guatemala where she excavated mass graves from a genocide. Now she’s back and she’s asked again by the FBI to help in a case. She’s worked with them before but was restricted to lab work. Now she wants to get in on the whole investigation. And while Special Agent Booth is not too thrilled about this, he agrees. They have found the remains of a young woman that has been missing for two years and back then it was Booth’s task to find her.

My Opinion
Just like with House M.D. I am not overly interested in the actual cases because despite the show being created by an actual forensic anthropologist, in my opinion there’s a lot of “Voodoo” involved when it comes to solving the crime. For example, Hodgins can take a sediment sample and his “dirt database” can tell him exactly where the sand is coming from – down to the square mile. Or the case where the bones were dissolved by a chemical reaction but the computer recreated an image of the bones and you could see where and how the knife was going through the ribs.
But I really like Bones and Booth and their development and I also like Booth’s gut approach to the crime solving. And Hodgins and Zack are real fun when they try to experiment and fight for the “King of the Lab” trophy.

How I Met Your Mother

What’s the show about?
The title literally spells it out. In the year 2030 Ted Mosby tells his kids the story of how he met their mother. Ted’s living with his best friend Marshall and his fiancé/wife Lily. They are also friends with Robin, a woman with whom Ted is madly in love with for a long time, and Barney “Legen – ‘Wait for it!’ [season break] – Dary!” Stinson.

“Pilot”
Ted’s life is about to change. His best friend has just proposed to his girlfriend and she has accepted. And Ted meets a beautiful woman at his favourite bar. She likes dogs, Scotch, can quote Ghostbusters and does not like olives. She’s perfect – until he tells her on the first date: “I love you!”.

My Opinion
To be perfectly honest, the show had to grow on me. I watched a few episodes on TV and wasn’t that thrilled. I still bought the first season on a hunch and watched the first disc. While funny, still no ground-breaking experience for me. Then 4 days ago I gave it another shot. I began with the second disc of the first season and roughly one hour ago I finished with the first episode of the fifth season. And while I enjoyed it very much, I’d still rate Two and a Half Men and The Big Bang Theory higher. HIMYM is one really long romantic comedy movie where you don’t meet the female lead (so far) and I really like this kind of movie – if done well. And HIMYM is done well.

Joey

What’s the show about?
Joey Tribbiani is an actor living in L.A. who can’t get a decent acting job. He’s living with his nephew who is a college student and slightly smarter than Joey – and his sister drops in all the time.

What happened before?
Joey has been living on New York for the last ten years and he had a couple of friends there but life moves on and so did he.

“Pilot”
Joey has just arrived in L.A. but after a few days of shooting his new show it gets cancelled. Now Joey has no job and he’s sitting in an empty apartment. And his nephew asks him whether he can move in, too, since he doesn’t want to live in his mother’s home anymore. Joey’s sister Gina is not amused.

My Opinion
I watched a couple of episodes but never the whole season. It simply wasn’t the same. Seeing Matt LeBlanc as Joey again was just a sad reminder that Friends is actually over and that there won’t be new episodes with the six of them. So I don’t think I am going to see this two-season series entirely.

Charmed

What’s the show about?
Three sisters doing spells and stuff. Fighting evil. Looking gorgeous. That’s all I know.

“Something Wicca This Way Comes”
After her mother has died the Halliwell sisters Prue, Piper and Phoebe move back into their family house and discover that they are witches and that they are destined to fight evil. Prue can move things with her mind, Piper can see the future and Phoebe can stop time and they have to defend themselves against an evil warlock who wants their powers.

My Opinion
Sorry, I tried, I really did. This is the third time I watched the pilot and I believe I once watched the second episode. This was a blind buy because I thought “What can go wrong: three beautiful ladies, witchcraft, battling evil – cool.”. But it wasn’t. The way they simply accepted their fate and never really questioned what has happened to them? Not freaking out? Sure, they toyed with a spirit board in their youth but they never even knew that there actually were paranormal events in the world. And yet “Cool, we’re witches, let’s fight evil!” – no sorry, can’t accept that premise.

Due South

What’s the show about?
Constable Benton Fraser from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) works as liaison officer in the Canadian consulate in Chicago. He also helps Chicago PD Detective Ray Veccio to solve crimes where he either was made aware of or where his unique skills are essential.

“Pilot”
“If you kill a Mountie, they’ll hunt you to the end of the world.” After his father was killed, Constable Fraser investigates this “hunting accident” and tracks down a group of hunters who wore new boots, drove a Jeep Wrangler and had big calibre rifles: Americans. He follows their trail down to Chicago and requests to be transferred there. The local police isn’t really interested in the case but Detective Veccio helps to uncover that it was a hired hit and the trail leads back to the RCMP.

My Opinion
A cool buddy cop show from the mid-90s which was defined by the different lifestyles and ways of crime-solving of Fraser and Veccio. They were a great team and it was real fun to watch them, especially when Fraser put things in his mouth and Ray was disgusted every time. And I loved the deaf wolf Diefenbaker who could read lips.
I can’t remember though if I ever saw an episode with Veccio’s successor, the new “Ray”. But I definitively will do that in the foreseeable future.

Dragon Ball Z

(Doragon bôru Zetto)

What’s the show about?
Son Goku is the strongest fighter on Earth and pretty much anywhere. Still there are new enemies on a regular basis that threaten to destroy entire planets and Son Goku and his friends fight to prevent this. At first it’s the Saiyans, then the Cyborgs, then Cell and in the end the demon Buu. Son Goku has also the help of the Dragon Balls – when all seven are put together, the eternal dragon Shenron will appear and grant wishes that can even resurrect the dead.

What happened before?
Son Goku has been fighting all his life, even in his childhood. He’s competed three times in the Great Tournament and has won the last one. He’s also defeated the Red Ribbon Army and the evil Piccolo Daimao.

“The New Threat”
A space capsule has landed on Earth and from it emerges the warrior Raditz and he’s looking for his long-lost brother, Kakarrot. Humans have no chance when they stand in his way and even Piccolo fears him when they meet each other. Who is he and who is this “Kakarrot”?

My Opinion
I love the mangas this series is based upon. I’ve got all 42 volumes on my shelf and I read them from time to time. Back when I was in college we started to watch the original Dragon Ball series on a regular basis whenever possible. It was a group event. When I bought the books it happened that we sat in the back row of a boring lecture and we would read them in a row – five people with ascending volume numbers and when finished the books would shift.
It also happened to be the first manga series in Germany where the original reading order was kept and when you read it on the train people would give you strange looks because you read a book from back to front…
But I always liked the earlier stories better. The volumes 1-16 are represented by the Dragon Ball series and the volumes 17-42 by Dragon Ball Z and the latter one became too repetitive. For example: A normal Human had a power level of 5. Piccolo had 322. When Son Goku fought against Frieza the latter one had a power level of 4 million! After that the power levels were dropped again because it became ridiculous. After all, Son Goku still had to beat the Cyborgs, Cell and Buu.
The earlier stories were more humorous and had more fantasy elements in it. And I definitively prefer the manga over the anime because in the series they dragged out the fights to eternity.

The Fall Guy

What’s the show about?
Colt Seavers is a Hollywood stunt man and he does all kinds of (dangerous) stunts. But since the movie business doesn’t constantly pay, he has another way of getting an income: He’s also a bounty hunter who hunts down bail jumpers which is sometimes even more dangerous than his stunt jobs. On both jobs he has help: His cousin Howie Munson and his assistant Jody Banks.

“The Fall Guy”
After he’s done a stunt involving crashing an Indy race car into a wall and walking like a human torch, Colt’s cousin Howie approaches him. Howie is supposed to be in college but has decided to become a famous stunt man just like Colt. Howie has no clue about real life and certainly even less clues about the stunt business. But Colt takes him under his wings. And their first job as a team is to bring a man back from a town he practically owns.

My Opinion
The Fall Guy was a great show and the best things were – naturally – all the stunts they did. There was only one topic of discussion on the school yard the day after an episode of “Colt” was aired – and I’m talking about East Germany where we weren’t allowed to watch western television, let alone talk about it. But we did it and we imagined it was us doing all these stunts – and Jody was so hot!
Like with most of the 80s shows there’s a lot of nostalgia involved and while it’s still fun to watch I’d never watch more of a couple of episodes again. But I still cherish the memories and I always wanted to have a “Colt Siwas” (I had no clue how to spell that back then) truck. That thing still looks cool.

Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman

What’s the show about?
Clark Kent is one of the best reporters at the world-famous “Daily Planet” newspaper. But when the need arises he embraces his Kryptonian heritage and becomes the Man of Steel: Superman. And she is always at his side: Lois Lane, star reporter, working with the one man and falling in love with the other.

What happened before?
From the POV of the show, nothing has happened before. Lois, Clark, Jimmy and Lex all meet for the first time here. Superman appears for the first time here.

“Pilot”
Clark Kent has just come to Metropolis, but he doesn’t get the job at the “Daily Planet” that he had hoped for. And Lois Lane is futily trying to get a one-on-one interview with the famous billionaire Lex Luthor. But Clark can be very convincing and when he gets the job he incidentally opens the door for Lois to get close to Lex.

My Opinion
While the effects may be outdated, the chemistry between Clark/Superman and Lois is still great. Both actors embodied their famous characters with a lot of charm and transported one of the oldest super heroes forward into the nineties. When it comes to Lois I am undecided whether I like Teri Hatcher or Erica Durance (Smallville) better but Dean Cain clearly wins over Smallville’s Tom Welling. It’s not Tom’s fault actually because even after 8 years the writers are still make him angsty of everything. Dean’s Clark is a self-assured man and I hope Tom’s Clark will become one, too.

Primeval

What’s the show about?
All over the world anomalies are suddenly opening and reveal itself as a door to the past. Sometimes predators come through and have to be brought back and the government tries to keep this a secret. A team of scientists and members of the British Home Office work on these cases and try to find a pattern and a way to close these anomalies again.

“Series 1 Episode 1″
Eight years ago the wife of Professor Cutter disappeared without a trace in the Forest of Dean. Now something weird is going on in there again, it’s either a huge animal or a giant prank. The professor has to check it out for himself. In the mean time not far from there: A family calls the local zoo because their son has found a strange lizard that must have been set free by someone.

My Opinion
This was another blind buy and I watched the first season today for the first time. At first I was intrigued by the general idea. Basically Jurassic Park without fences or island. But I was constantly thrown off by how these animals behaved. I am certainly no expert on animals but I’ve seen animal documentaries since the days of Jacques Cousteau and I also watched the amazing BBC documentaries on prehistoric life (great stuff!). And now this series has all these amazing predators that could cause a lot of havoc just by behaving naturally. But that wasn’t enough – they had to behave in an un-animal way just to create tension and suspense with the characters.
The characters were OK, but also not exceptional (more stereotypes than individuals). I don’t know if I will watch the second season I already own…

Part 9