In Season 3, the BBC series ‘Merlin’ became a little darker, a little more epic, a little more cinematic and a little more… good. As Tony Head put it: ‘The chickens come home to roost.’ Now if they could drop the silly comedy stand alones completely for Season 4, I’d be ecstatic. I mean… farting, seriously?

Rob Brydon and Steve Coogan’s “The Trip” was one of the best TV comedy experiences this year. Here they riff off of costume drama dialogue.

I’ve been rewatching Buffy the Vampire Slayer from Season 2. I didn’t have S4 and 5 on DVD yet so I got them 2nd hand a few days back. I never bought them before because I’m an S1-3 person and in my mind things started falling apart from S4 on.

However, this time I am enjoying S4 and 5 it a lot more. More than S6 and S7 anyway, both of which I really didn’t like at all. It’s still the core Scoobies most of the time and while they’re falling apart, at least Giles is there full time. The actor decided to become recurring from mid season 6. One of the reasons the show became less enjoyable to me.

I can watch S1 – 4 back to back now without skipping much. It’s during S5 where I start to disengage from the storyline. It’s not Dawn (who at the time wasn’t a fan favourite and that’s putting it mildly), she’s actually pretty cool now that I’m watching it again. It’s the season’s Big Bad. Glory/Ben, and Ben in particular. Was the actor – and his Donny Osmond hair – on valium? What a snooze-fest. I actually fastforward through his (and Glory’s) scenes. Thank goodness Giles strangles the character at the end of the season.

Giles has always been my favourite character on the show, but he wasn’t much to look at in the first few seasons. That all changes in Season 5 when he’s supposedly having his midlife crisis. The clothes improve vastly, as does the haircut. I don’t really find the actor attractive and the silly specs don’t help – it’s the character and the job that he does that I love, I too am in a way, a watcher – but Giles is pretty sexy in this season. He also gets what’s probably the actor’s best scene on the show: when he tells Spike to get over his ‘thing’ for Buffy:

Giles: Spike … listen to me.
Spike: It’s just … I’m trying to explain. She might have said some things that sounded like I expressed some kind of feeling-
Giles shoves Spike backward. He stumbles into a bookshelf. Giles walks slowly up to him, glaring angrily.
Giles: (softly) We are not your friends. We are not your way to Buffy. (Spike stares at him) There is no way to Buffy.
Giles leans over, picks up the blanket and slams it into Spike’s chest. He leans in close and looks Spike in the eye.
Giles: Clear out of here. And Spike, this thing … get over it.
Spike: (small smile) I don’t know what you mean.
Giles: Yes, you do. Move the hell on.

Unfortunately, the threat is pointless. In the next season, Buffy takes up with Spike. Meh.

More random thoughts:

• I still liked Spike in these two seasons. Right up until the end of S5 he’s brilliant. Then I went off of him and his storyline completely in S6. Now that’s all I remember. Too bad.
• I cannot stand the character of Tara. Honestly, I want to punch her in the face the minute she shows up. I can’t put my finger on why this is.
• I love Alyson Hanigan (Willow) when she’s playing funny (funny/happy and funny/sad). Any other emotion is less believable because of that weird breathing thing she does.
• Doug Petrie’s commentary on “The Initiative” (not the greatest episode) is entertaining and hilarious. Joss Whedon’s commentary on “Hush” (one of the greatest episodes) is a little dull. I think Whedon masks a rather dark personality by being self-deprecating (c’mon Joss, embrace your inner bastard!), while Petrie’s just naturally funny.
• Nick Brendon (Xander) is so lovable, I wish he got more work. And of all the male actors on the show he’s the best at playing sick or wounded.
• Emma Caulfield (Anya) had big shoes to fill (Cordelia, who went over to the Angel series), but does so brilliantly. She’s probably my favourite female character of all seasons.
• ‘Hush’ is probably the episode I’d show first time watchers. It’s funny, scary and poignant.
• ‘Beer bad’ is the one I’d never let anyone watch. After school special bullshit and crap acting.
• Why did the costume department dress some of the guys (Xander, Giles) in such loose, ill fitting clothes? They’re not supposed to be sexy? Unlike all the female cast, as well as Spike and Riley?
• Riley’s really not so bad. I suppose you could think of him as ‘dull’ compared to tall, dark and brooding Angel, but at least Marc Blucas has more facial expressions than, um… constipated.
• Such a shame S4 is the last season in which Ethan Rayne appears. Maybe they’d have brought him back if Giles hadn’t taken a back seat in the following seasons. Boo, ASH!
• I never want to hear the word ‘empowering’ again.

Promos for the 6th season of House, including some ‘Snakes on a Cane’ teaser spots. The logo was designed by Hugh Laurie as a gift to the cast and crew, but the producers realised they could use it for marketing.

I have seen every single episode of House and don’t remember any of the medical story lines. I get my kicks out of watching Laurie play a smart prick every week and out of the interactions with the other regular cast members.

House returns to Fox television on September 21st.

The season premiere of House S6 will be two hours long and Hugh Laurie will be the only regular cast member to appear in it, though ‘Wilson’ (Robert Sean Leonard) appears in a phone conversation. Franka Polente guest stars in the premiere in a role she has not been allowed to reveal any details about.

One of the many perks of running Whedonesque.com, is…

Hang on. There aren’t a lot of perks, really, other than the pleasure of being boss of a site that’s well respected and much quoted. Yeah, we got invited to the Serenity premiere in Los Angeles. But I live in Amsterdam. Which means I never get to go to premieres, conventions, screenings or other meetings. When the Paley Center in New York invited us for a panel discussion on television and online fandom, one of the USA based mods got to go, but I could not. And unlike many of our members, I’ve never met any of the actors, or Joss.

All of this is perfectly fine with me. Yeah, I run the site, but I also run U2log.com and a couple of other sites. I’m not the biggest fan, I don’t keep up with all the news, I don’t know episode titles by heart, I couldn’t tell you which of the writers wrote what. I like communities, but I don’t get too involved. (My pet theory is that people who like to run online communities are actually all mysanthropists deep down.) I consider this a good thing. A little distance from the subject matter is essential. It helps keep me objective. And possibly sane.

I do receive a fuckload of annoying PR in the Whedonesque inbox, all about stuff that means nothing to me, not being American, not living in America. And probably wouldn’t mean anything to me if I were American, living in America. But I digress.

Perks. I has one. A kind soul gave me access to the Dollhouse screener, which contained an unfinished version of ‘Ghost’, the first episode. In case you’ve been living in cave, Dollhouse is Joss Whedon’s new television series for Fox, starring Eliza Dushku and Battlestar Galactica’s Tahmoh Penikett. You can read a synopsis of the show on Wikipedia. It is set to premier on February 13.

I remember catching my first glimpse of Buffy on TV (it was the sixth episode of the series’ first season: ‘The Pack’) and feeling compelled to keep watching it, unable to flip to another channel. Like being drawn in by Bob Ross’s hypnotic voice.

Dollhouse didn’t do that, in fact, the first time I watched it I zoned out several minutes into the first act. I like Eliza Dushku a lot, after all she was my favourite slayer. In this first episode, I think she did ok as ‘Caroline’* and as the innocent doll ‘Echo’. She’s also fairly good as the brazen character she’s ‘imprinted’ with in the first few minutes, but I found her far less believable as the character she becomes next, when she’s hired to mediate between a kidnapper and the abductee’s father. In fact, she looked so awkward and miniscule in her skirt suit and specs, it took me right out of the story. And that’s when the supporting characters began to stand out – especially on second viewing.

Tahmoh Penikett, playing the FBI-agent Paul Ballard, is as strong as he is as Helo in Battlestar Galactica. Harry Lennix, who plays Echo’s ‘handler’, doesn’t get a lot to do in this first episode, but he could be interesting. Amy Acker – who I never liked as Fred in ‘Angel’ – does a lot with her bit part as the Dollhouse doctor and I immediately wanted to know more about her scar-faced character. The actress who stood out the most, though, is Dichen Lachman. She plays ‘Sierra’, another doll. We catch a few brief glimpses of her throughout the episode, before she makes a striking entrance right at the end of the show. Kick ass, not unlike like Jessica Alba in ‘Dark Angel’, but with more exotic features. I couldn’t help but wish she’d been cast as Echo.

Whedon’s shows are always about the ensemble, and it isn’t the first time the supporting actors do more for me than the lead. I never liked the character Buffy that much and it took a while for me to take to any of the cast of Firefly, which completely failed to grab me in the first few episodes. So while not exactly confident, I am hopeful the series will prove to be a grower and that Dushku will prove to be as big a talent as Whedon says she is.

* Huh? Yeah, she’s called Caroline in a flash back, where she is reminiscent of the more vulnerable Faith we sometimes saw in Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I’m just going to pretend Joss named her after me. Indulge me.

Oh Friday Night Lights, I am going to miss you so much if you don’t return. The show was rescued from cancellation by a last minute deal between NBC and DirectTV to create a 3rd season, shown first on DirectTV, then on NBC. The final episode of season 3 was aired on DirectTV last night. Whether or not we get a 4th season remains to be seen, it will have to do really well when it returns to NBC, starting tomorrow.

I love Battlestar Galactica, which I’d probably say was my favourite tv series the last couple of years, but it’s tough viewing. Friday Night Lights is easy viewing, but still smart. It sits comfortably between adult drama and teen soap. It has been the most life affirming, heart warming, tear jerking – in a good way -, uplifting thing in my torrent list for the last three years. And I don’t want to say goodbye to these characters just yet.

‘Clear eyes. Full hearts. Can’t Lose.’

Verdict: Really, really bad Buffy, without the making sense.

Surprise, surprise. With Jade Goody gone, the evil coven (Jo, Danielle, Jack and Cleo) are laying into Dirk Benedict and Jermaine Jackson, since they’re now afraid to go after Shilpa. Their new bullying tactics? Among other things Hiding Dirk’s (macrobiotic) food and taunting them with it, and waking him up during the night. The latest plan involves dressing Jack up as a woman. They think it will hurt Jermaine since he’s muslim. The mind boggles. Jo is full of glee as she talks about how close to ‘breaking point’ Dirk and Jermaine are.

Cleo: “He takes his macrobio diet seriously as he believes it helped him beat cancer.”
Jo: “So what.”

Yes, it’s time to burn your Sclub7 discs.

Oh, you’re not watching CBBUK? Count yourself lucky not to be drawn into this car wreck television.

Read the summaries at HJ’s TV blog.

If I had to choose to live with any of these people I’d pick Peter, Nikki, Richard, Glyn and Lisa. I think I did live with people much like them in my student years. Nikki’s just hilarious once you get past the shock of her total ineptness – she’s a decent middle class girl underneath the trashy outfits. Pete’s a genuinely good guy. Richard is someone you wouldn’t want to get too close with, or you’d get hurt, but would be ok to have as a fun and mildly outrageous colleague. Glyn… ordinary boy. Lisa… more or less ordinary girl.

Which leaves Lea, who isn’t annoying, or entertaining, or anything. She can go next week.

Update: Oh, fan-bloody-tastic, he’s out with 91.6% of the votes.

As for other bad television… I have succumbed to Big Brother (UK). Oh noes!

My only previous experience with the show was the finale of BB 1 (NL), seven (?) years ago. Yes, I have been strong for the best part of a decade. Anyway, not going to explain myself. Just… freakshow! They must all die a thousand deaths, these uncouth members of Generation Beck’s, these loose moraled bullies, these sluts and dunces. Vile Sezer in particular, with Nikki ‘want a pony or I’ll hold my breath till I explode’ a close second and Richard the scheming bastard third.

I feel dirty. Time for some expressionist art.