Showing posts with label How I Met Your Mother. Show all posts
Showing posts with label How I Met Your Mother. Show all posts

Sunday, 26 September 2010

Mini Reviews- September 26th

As you can see from my About Me section to the right of the page, my TV watching has severely increased over the last week, with many of my favourite TV shows starting recently. I will try and blog mini reviews about them every week- time permitting. I also watched a couple of pilots this week, that I will continue with as the season progresses. I will try to watch a few other pilots and review them over the next couple of weeks.

90210- 3x01/3x02 "Senior Year Baby" and "Age Of Inheritance"
The third season kicked off last week, mostly dealing with the events of the finale and how they would impact on the characters. The biggest storyline is perhaps Naomi's who is not dealing well with her rape at the hands of Mr Cannon. She attempted to talk to the police about it, but when this didn't work a stream of booze, sex exploits, flirting with Teddy and throwing a big birthday bash ensued, none of which went well.
The writers wisely got rid of Adrianna's brief fling from last year, Javier, in a dramatic car crash. Her stealing his songs was obviously a bad move and I'm just waiting to see how it will crash and burn around her.
Annie and Liam continue to tip toe around each other which is frankly a little boring. Liam's half brother doesn't necessarily make this love triangle more interesting, though I am intrigued to see his history with Liam. Other yawnsville storylines include Ryan and Jen, who quite frankly no-one cares about any more.
Ivy, now a full time character, is now lusting after new bad boy with a bad accent Oscar, who deliciously and in true 90210 style is sleeping with her mother. Can't wait to see this one blow up!
Silver has rather swiftly broken up with Teddy who after injuring himself has taken to drinking. Though I understand her own history with alcoholics, considering he's basically lost his career, she's being very judgmental. That makes it a little harder to care therefore when Mr Cannon has set his eyes squarely on her. As a villain goes he's pretty effectively and I almost hope they don't do away with him too soon.
NB After 7 years of having others play themselves with him in character Adrian Grenier had to play himself as his and performed at Naomi's birthday- he proved that playing yourself, is a lot harder than it looks.

Chuck- 3x16/3x17 "Chuck versus The Tooth" and "Chuck versus the Living Dead"

The show is definitely kicking it up a few gears with now pretty much everyone bar Ellie in knowledge of Chuck's secret and Ellie get caught up in the spy game too. It makes for a much more interesting show, but I can't help that feel that the show is marking it's own ending date by doing this, as it's changed the show forever. Chuck going mad is an interesting way to go with the Intersect and it makes sense, but it seems underplayed and not really like it's taken seriously. However I do like that Morgan knows as it's much more satisfying watching him be the geek in the spy world.


How I Met Your Mother- 6x01 "Big Days"
The creators promised us a return to form and I think we got it. Set primarily in McLarens, we saw the gang get up to their usual shenanigans, but in a funny and heartwarming way, with all characters getting ample screen time. The flashforwards that bookended the episode which revealed that Ted would meet the Mother at a wedding in which he was a best man were exciting though I don't think the commonplace theory that this is Barney and Robin's wedding day. Though it would make sense and the clues were obviously placed there, I hope it's not as I really can't see the couple getting married, much less in a all the frills church service!

Modern Family- 2x01 "The Old Wagon"
I'm happy to say that the show hasn't allowed it's success to go to it's head (though admittedly this episode was shot pre Emmy win) and this was another funny and endearing episode of the show. It was a fairly quiet episode, not necessarily one where a lot happened, but it was funny and very true to the characters. Good to have you back, Modern Family.


The Inbetweeners 3x01/3x02 "The Fashion Show" and "The Gig and The Girlfriend"

And finally not to forget this incredibly funny UK comedy, the show has proven they are one of the funniest things on TV period. Though the first episode got off to a rocky start, the second was hilarious throughout and very much classic Inbetweeners. Though I can't personally identify with the drugs storyline in the second episode, it was very true to life and very funny.

Dexter- 4x01/02/03/04 "Living The Dream", "Reamains to Be Seen", "Blinded by the Light" and "Dex takes a Holiday"
I finally managed to begin Dexter and the best thing about starting it late is that I was able to watch a few episodes all at once. A lot has happened this season already, what with Lundy being shot in the fourth episode. I've enjoyed Dexter's family stuff as it's been very fun to watch him grapple with being a dad. I love that finally Dexter is realising that he does enjoy being a dad and having family around; it's about time he realises what we already know. The Angel/Maria storyline has also been enjoyable though most people don't seem to think so. The Trinty killer stuff is completely terrifying and creepy though, not surprised John Lithgow won an Emmy for the role.

Saturday, 18 September 2010

How I Met Your Mother Season 6 Preview

After the difficult season 5, season 6 will be more Ted centric and we will get a big Mother clue in the first episode!

Though Ted is often cited as one of the less interesting characters, he is obviously the heart of the show- I don't think it's a coincidence that season 5 struggled and it's the only season in which Ted did not have a long term girlfriend or any substantial romantic prospects. Thankfully the shows creators realise this and are putting the show back on it's path.
I'm excited to see the show move forward considerably, in terms of Ted's romantic life and Marshall and Lily's baby making. I'm also excited to see Barney meeting his dad for the first time and for more Robin Sparkles history to emerge!

EDIT: I also want to point out that they are releasing The Playbook from the season 5 episode of the same name- it sure to be another funny installment from that now prolific author Barney Stinson (and of course the excellent actual writer Matt Kuhn!) This clever piece of advertising is one of the reasons by HIMYM is so damn good!

Monday, 15 March 2010

Mini Reviews- March 15th

Grey's Anatomy- 6x08 Invest In Love
Such a sad episode centring around children. I'm enjoying these special episodes personally and Arizona led this one brilliantly. I'm also liking the Mercy Westers starting to have crushes on the original doctors as its a great way to integrate them. Plus any episode where Alex has his shirt off is a good one!!




Desperate Housewives- 6x07 Careful the Things You Say

Not the best episode but it was okay. Bree and Angie bonding was good, but why is it always Bree bonding with the newbies? (eg Katherine in season 4) Enjoyed the fact and it was both Lynette and Tom defending Julie as Lynette can be a bit cack handed when she does these things herself. The flashbacks at the beginning explaining the Danny Julie affair were also much needed.



Brothers and Sisters- 6x09 Pregnant Pause

A very successful episode in terms of all characters getting a decent amount of screentime. Why can't more episodes be like this? Apart from Ryan, all the other characters had something useful and meaningful to contribute to the episode. Storyline wise I'm not a fan of the Rebecca pregnancy because it feels a little desperate to me. The way in which all the family found out before Justin was typically Walker like, but Rebecca really should have told Justin sooner. It feels like the writers are almost foreshadowing a break-up between the two, as neither are able to tell each other major events in their lives. Justin's major event- him still struggling in med school- is a brave story from the writers, it would be easier to have him succeed and focus on his romantic dramas. Also I liked that the alcohol issue rose its head again, its been forgotten for too long. Its nice to see Nora having some fun; shame her children have to spoil in, first Sarah and then Kevin. Does it really matter if he's not the greatest doctor? Holly's money troubles were less annoying and it was sweet to see her reaching out to Nora for grandmother advice as well as Nora giving Holly the money without interfering (much). The only storyline I feel like was a little bit shunted was the Kevin/Scotty sperm thing. Kevin is obviously annoyed, and they haven't sorted this issue out yet. It will probably rear its ugly head in the next episode. Also as a sidenote, I'm happy Scotty will be the bio father, especially as Kevin already has a biological child out there.

90210- 2x13 Rats and Heroes
Returns after a very long break and I'm pleased to see it. Its drama-ful as usual, but mostly dealing with the aftermath of the previous episode events. Poor Navid though getting caught with the drugs, hope he gets out of that one. Didn't like the blatant Windows 7 product placement- more subtle next time please!


Modern Family- 1x17 Truth Be Told

The perils of Facebook and Judy Greer make for a great episode. That love triangle bit was very funny as was Alex telling her brother Luke he was adopted but I don't feel we got any conclusion to either storyline. The Cameron/Mitchel storyline was less funny, and I don't buy that Mitchell's boss heard him. It will be fun to see Mitchell flounder a bit, but I hope he goes back to his job as none of the adults in the show seem to actually successfully hold jobs.




How I Met Your Mother- 4x21/22/23/24 The Three Days Rule/ Right Place Right Time/ As Fast As She Can/ The Leap

Still catching up with the show, but I wanted to say that the end of season 4 was some of the best episodes of the show I'd seen. They were a little odd considering Lily was missing and Robyn seemed to have less lines due to their respective pregnancies, but the writers and the three male actors did a great job writing around this and pulling off some very funny and 'mother revealing' episodes at the end of season 4.

Saturday, 6 February 2010

Suit Up- It's going to be Legen -wait for it- dary!


I'm not sure if I've explicitly mentioned it before in my blogs but I've definitely thought it; How I Met Your Mother has a great cast (Whedon-alums Alyson Hannigan and Neil Patrick Harris) and has a lot of critical praise. So why don't I find it funny? I've watched episodes before and never really warmed to it.

Until last weekend.

Looking for something to watch I watched a couple of episodes and I still didn't find it laugh out loud funny. Then I watched the pilot and I finally 'got' it. I'm not really sure what 'it' was, but since then I've been watching episodes every night (completely out of order) and I completely love this show. I'm laughing out loud a lot watching episodes and I'm finding the characters more and more endearing.

For me this is very similar to my 'discovering' of Gavin and Stacey. I didn't like the show the first time I watched it but after watching a few, I'm loving it. I think this is the thing with comedies, (good ones obviously) the more you watch, the more the characters become familiar and lovable and the more you understand and 'get' the humour.

So anyway now I'm addicted to the show. Whilst the show is similar to Scrubs in terms of characters (Lily/Marshall comparable to Carla/Turk as the stable couple and Ted similar to JD as the searching for love young guy) and very similar in themes to Friends (close group of friends meet at the same place all the time, live in New York), the retrospective and mystery of the mother angle to it, keeps the show fresh and new. Plus it feels like the grown-up version of Friends almost, they are repeatedly shown drinking, they smoke and one night stand happen frequently and unashamedly (mostly for Barney). Speaking of, Barney is one of my favourite characters. There aren't many characters on TV so crass and yet so utterly charming, which is mostly down to his portrayal by the excellent Neil Patrick Harris.



I'm also loving the numerous tie ins with the show including:

Barney's Blog

Barney's Bro Code
- I'm not a bro but I really want to get the audio version of this!

and the various websites featured in the show:

http://www.guyforceshiswifetodressinagarbagebagforthenextthreeyears.com/


http://marshallandlilywedding.com/

http://www.itwasthebestnightever.com/


This is a great show and I thoroughly recommend trying it out. It isn't the most intelligent show but its funny and so feelgood!!

Saturday, 30 January 2010

The Good, The Bad ,The Ugly, and The Riculous

The Good

How I Met Your Mother has been renewed. I don't watch the show personally but Neil Patrick Harris and Alyson Hannigan are wonderful actors and fully deserve success with the show.

Dexter was a big winner at both the Golden Globes and SAG awards. Admittedly I haven't seen the 4th season for which the awards were won, but I'm sure they're very deserved!


The Bad

Rob Lowe is leaving and Calista Flockhart is reducing her role on Brothers and Sisters. Neither is great news for the show though I am more concerned about Calista Flockhart not being there as much. The show does need her, though hopefully she'll still be in it plenty.

The Ugly

Ugly Betty has been officially cancelled. Not a huge shock given its ratings but still a real shame. happily though the show has been given time to construct a series finale. Apparently it will include a wedding!

The Ridiculous

Steve Carrell wants to make a US version of Only Fools and Horses. I cannot think of anything worse. Also I'm not sure he really understands the core of the show if he thinks it can be remade.

Greg Gruberg thinks it was a timing change that affected Heroes' ratings. Yes of course Greg, it had nothing to due to the vast drop in creative quality that followed the first season!

Producers want to make a third Sex and The City film. This will be its last because they want to "go out on a high." Yes really. SATC finished on a high in May 2004 on HBO, everything since has felt cheap.