TV Round Up - February 2011

Here's a brief round up of what's going in in my world of televisual entertainment; the winners, losers and the who the hell knows...

Of the new series that have come to my attention of the last few months it's Frank Darabont's adaptation of the comic strip The Walking Dead that's come out tops. Only a 6 part first season has meant that this high quality drama is to be savoured for everything it's worth, but the cast, the scope, the gore, the writing and the grim tone is of an exceptional quality. The pilot, which Darabont wrote and directed himself, is one of the single greatest TV episodes I've ever seen. Thankfully the confirmed second season will bring a higher episode count.

The rest of the newbies are comedies. From the UK we have yet another hilariously scathing examination of TV from Charlie Brooker in How TV Ruined Your Life. Brooker also turns up in Britain's answer to Real Time and The Daily Show with The 10 O'clock Show also starring David Mitchell and Jimmy Carr. It's pretty good, and fantastic to have a live political satire on air, although the serious interviews do tend to drag on a bit. From the US is a promising sitcom, Mr Sunshine, from the always excellent Matthew Perry as a cynical Sports Stadium manager. It's an OK start but needs to find a mean spirited streak if it's going to win me over. Better is a spoof TV News show, The Onion News Network, based on the well established fake news website The Onion. Silly, satirical and sharp, it's the US equivalent of the UK's The Day Today.

Established hits, Castle, Robot Chicken and Fringe, are back in their stride with the latter ramping up the dramatic mythology stories in an effort to fight of cancellation Stateside where it resides in the infamous Friday night death slot on the Fox Network. Doctor Who made a spectacular return at Christmas with a thrilling and moving story based on Dickens's A Christmas Carol making it by far the best of the festive editions of the revamped family show. Primeval returns after being cancelled by ITV a couple of years ago. Fortunately it's retained much of it's sizable budget, impressive effects, the core cast and anomaly mythology built up over the last few seasons, with new cast members including DS9's Alexander Siddig making an impact. And the brilliant Being Human has made a strong return in the last few weeks as it pushes the boundaries of supernatural mythology, horror based drama and gut busting comedy to the limits.

The same can't be said of McSpaced version of the show, Being Human USA, which sticks closely to the premise and first season storyline but fails to grasp the comedy and horror aspects which makes the UK show so powerful; it's bland, safe and unremarkable. Another reimagining, the remake of V, has run it's course for me. While the alien invasion threads have become more and more interesting during the start of season 2, the characters remain dull and one dimensional. Just finishing it's second season, Human Target remains a fun, action-packed diversion. The premise is sufficiently different each weak to stop things getting stale, the addition of two new female cast members keeps the dynamics fresh, and the constant banter and bickering between the regulars is a quality 95% of US TV shows ignore to their peril. Whether it gets a third season is undecided however.

Finally, Spartacus: Blood & Sand returns in the form of a prequel series Gods Of The Arena which returns us to the house John Hannah's Gladiator Owner, Batiatus, and maintains the gleeful level of over the top gorenography, sex, swearing, nudity and violence to which we've become accustomed. Most excellent!