Sky is doing a big shuffle of its entertainment line up from February 1st. One change is that they're switching the HD and SD equivalents for HD subscribers to make the HD channels easier to find. Another difference is that Living is being rebranded as Sky Living after Sky bought the channel from Virgin back in June, and some flagship shows such as Chuck and Bones have a new home there. They're also moving around a lot of the entertainment channels while they're at it to cluster the best Sky channels on the first page of the TV guide. But the change I'm most excited about is the new channel Sky Atlantic.
Sky have signed an exclusive deal with the pay channel HBO from the US so that all the top shows will be on Sky Atlantic and available to all Sky subscribers without any extra fees as part of the variety mix. This starts with new shows Boardwalk Empire and Blue Bloods on the opening night as well as the new series of Entourage on Thursday. They are also going to repeat several classic shows from the start during the daytime line up such as ER, The X-Files, and Six Feet Under. Now I just need to find time to watch everything while still leaving enough time to blog about it!
The only drawback I can see to this new line up is that Channel One (formerly Virgin 1) has disappeared and I was watching Supernatural from the start on it. However that and Chuck were the only things I ever watched on it, and they did at least stop at the end of a series so I'm sure can pick it up again from the start of season 3 on another channel in future. This downside is more than made up for by the fact they also cancelled Bravo so I no longer have to sit through UFC matches with my husband.
Showing posts with label new shows. Show all posts
Showing posts with label new shows. Show all posts
Monday, 31 January 2011
Friday, 28 January 2011
No Ordinary Family
A new show called No Ordinary Family started a few weeks ago, and it looked very promising. I was over in the States at the start of the Fall season and I saw billboards for it all over Times Square that made it look really exciting, so I was disappointed when it didn't start showing in the UK as soon as I got back. And I was surprised that when it did start showing in the UK it was on Watch, a channel I've never actually watched anything on before and an unlikely home for a hit new show. However after watching a couple of episodes I can see why.
It stars Michael Chiklis and Julie Benz as the parents of two teenagers in a typical middle class family. The Mom is torn between her successful career in scientific research, spending enough time with her children and working on her marriage. The Dad is unhappy that his career in art peaked as a sketch artist at the local police station and resents the lack of respect he gets from other men for being the main carer for his children. The daughter doesn't want to lose her boyfriend because she isn't ready to sleep with him, and the son is about to be put in the 'special' class because he keeps failing tests despite his best efforts.
But that all changes when a freak plane crash into some radioactive water leaves them with super powers. The Mom can move at lightening speed so she has enough time for everything now. The Dad gets super strength, super high jumping and super tough skin. The daughter becomes psychic and the son starts to see The Matrix and ace all his maths exams.
Now so far so good, but unfortunately the show fails to capitalize on the innate coolness that comes with super powers. The script spends most of its time focusing on the relationships between the family members which is just dull. Every now and then we're given glimpses of a deeper plot involving more people with powers and an evil plan by the company the Mom works for, but it's moving so slowly it makes Lost seem pacy. Basically it suffers from all the same problems as Heroes but it only took 2 episodes to make that obvious. The start of a new series should be gripping enough to see you through the next few episodes when the writers start saving their best material for sweeps. So given the amount of competition in my current Sky+ planner I think I'm going to have to give the rest of this show a miss.
Rating: 3 out of 10 - Not at all original and doesn't even pass the time that well. I found myself looking at my watch after the first 20 minutes and the 2nd episode didn't improve on that.
It stars Michael Chiklis and Julie Benz as the parents of two teenagers in a typical middle class family. The Mom is torn between her successful career in scientific research, spending enough time with her children and working on her marriage. The Dad is unhappy that his career in art peaked as a sketch artist at the local police station and resents the lack of respect he gets from other men for being the main carer for his children. The daughter doesn't want to lose her boyfriend because she isn't ready to sleep with him, and the son is about to be put in the 'special' class because he keeps failing tests despite his best efforts.
But that all changes when a freak plane crash into some radioactive water leaves them with super powers. The Mom can move at lightening speed so she has enough time for everything now. The Dad gets super strength, super high jumping and super tough skin. The daughter becomes psychic and the son starts to see The Matrix and ace all his maths exams.
Now so far so good, but unfortunately the show fails to capitalize on the innate coolness that comes with super powers. The script spends most of its time focusing on the relationships between the family members which is just dull. Every now and then we're given glimpses of a deeper plot involving more people with powers and an evil plan by the company the Mom works for, but it's moving so slowly it makes Lost seem pacy. Basically it suffers from all the same problems as Heroes but it only took 2 episodes to make that obvious. The start of a new series should be gripping enough to see you through the next few episodes when the writers start saving their best material for sweeps. So given the amount of competition in my current Sky+ planner I think I'm going to have to give the rest of this show a miss.
Rating: 3 out of 10 - Not at all original and doesn't even pass the time that well. I found myself looking at my watch after the first 20 minutes and the 2nd episode didn't improve on that.
Friday, 10 December 2010
Walking Dead and Raising Hope
Two new shows have hit our TV screens in the last few weeks (well at least they have if you have Sky).
The first one, "The Walking Dead", is a big budget dramatisation of a graphic novel by the same name. It's about a deputy sheriff who wakes up from a coma to find that most of the world has been hit by a virus that's turned them into zombies. He's on a mission to find his wife and son, but while he was in a coma they fled to a commune with some other survivors and his wife, believing he wasn't going to wake up, started a relationship with his best friend and partner. The lead is played by Andrew Lincoln, who you may remember as "Simon" in the Channel 4 comedy "Teachers". It's been interesting watching him pull off a Deep South accent as the show is set in and around Atlanta, Georgia. Seems like more and more Brits are stealing the leads in US shows lately with Stephen Moyer in True Blood and Hugh Laurie playing House, accent coaches must be raking it in!
Rating: 7 out of 10, I'm not usually a fan of zombies because I don't really like being scared, but I'm finding this show well written and pretty gripping so far so I'll stick with it.
Now on to the second new show. "Raising Hope" is a comedy from the makers of "My Name Is Earl" about a white trash family. The show centres on the son, Jimmy. He had a one night stand in his van with a girl he picked up on his way back from getting ice cream. She turned out to be a wanted serial killer who'd murdered most of her previous boyfriends. She went to jail, and was later executed despite having a newborn baby, so Jimmy was granted custody of "Princess Beyonce" (renamed "Hope" at the end of the first episode). He's pretty clueless about how to raise a baby, but he means well and refuses to abandon her at the fire station regardless of what his parents say. Now I know all this sounds a bit dark, but the family have a refreshingly naive and lighthearted outlook on life which actually makes it quite uplifting. My favourite scenes so far have probably been the first time Jimmy changed Hope when he had to run out to get paper towels because he accidentally threw up on her, and when Hope got stuck in the garage under a precarious mountain of clutter that the mother had been hoarding, and the senile grandmother had to play Jenga with it while listening to "Istanbul (Not Constantinople)" to free her.
Rating: 8 out of 10, novel and witty show, the 30 minute episodes are always over too quickly!
The first one, "The Walking Dead", is a big budget dramatisation of a graphic novel by the same name. It's about a deputy sheriff who wakes up from a coma to find that most of the world has been hit by a virus that's turned them into zombies. He's on a mission to find his wife and son, but while he was in a coma they fled to a commune with some other survivors and his wife, believing he wasn't going to wake up, started a relationship with his best friend and partner. The lead is played by Andrew Lincoln, who you may remember as "Simon" in the Channel 4 comedy "Teachers". It's been interesting watching him pull off a Deep South accent as the show is set in and around Atlanta, Georgia. Seems like more and more Brits are stealing the leads in US shows lately with Stephen Moyer in True Blood and Hugh Laurie playing House, accent coaches must be raking it in!
Rating: 7 out of 10, I'm not usually a fan of zombies because I don't really like being scared, but I'm finding this show well written and pretty gripping so far so I'll stick with it.
Now on to the second new show. "Raising Hope" is a comedy from the makers of "My Name Is Earl" about a white trash family. The show centres on the son, Jimmy. He had a one night stand in his van with a girl he picked up on his way back from getting ice cream. She turned out to be a wanted serial killer who'd murdered most of her previous boyfriends. She went to jail, and was later executed despite having a newborn baby, so Jimmy was granted custody of "Princess Beyonce" (renamed "Hope" at the end of the first episode). He's pretty clueless about how to raise a baby, but he means well and refuses to abandon her at the fire station regardless of what his parents say. Now I know all this sounds a bit dark, but the family have a refreshingly naive and lighthearted outlook on life which actually makes it quite uplifting. My favourite scenes so far have probably been the first time Jimmy changed Hope when he had to run out to get paper towels because he accidentally threw up on her, and when Hope got stuck in the garage under a precarious mountain of clutter that the mother had been hoarding, and the senile grandmother had to play Jenga with it while listening to "Istanbul (Not Constantinople)" to free her.
Rating: 8 out of 10, novel and witty show, the 30 minute episodes are always over too quickly!
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