TV

Archer
2x08 Stage Two
[Watch it (again) on Demand 5.]

The Sex Researchers
Episode 1 (of 3)
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

$#*! My Dad Says
1x16 Well Suitored
[Watch it (again) on Demand 5.]

Fiction

Carte Blanche by Jeffery Deaver
Wednesday: Killing Fields, Chapters 32-38
It's been 2½ weeks since I last read any of this. Oops. The end of Chapter 36 is the halfway point, as it goes.

Articles

Torchwood: the UK wait continues by Chuck Foster
(from Doctor Who News Page)

The BBC Press Office have now released details for 9-15 July... Torchwood: Miracle Day does not feature amongst the highlights listed for that week. ... it would currently seem that Torchwood won't begin on UK television until at least a week after its premiere in the United States [and Canada and Australia].

This is getting silly now. And showing it in the UK 10+ days after the US isn't going to do it any favours -- sure, the fanbase who download will be much smaller than the potential BBC One audience, but they're also the ones that really generate word of mouth, online discussion, etc -- ever so important in keeping a series high-profile and popular these days -- and it massively increases the chances of spoilers, both fan-to-fan and in the press. Plus it's generally annoying and sort of disrespectful -- "it's still a British show"? Yeah, right.

TV

Mock the Week
10x02 (16/6/11 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Wimbledon 2011
Various bits of Wimbledon today, but mainly the brilliant three-setter between Venus Williams and Kimiko Date-Krumm and Laura Robson's first round victory over Angelique Kerber. Didn't watch Andy Murray.
[Watch Date-Krumm v Williams and Murray v Gimeno-Traver (no Laura Robson match) on iPlayer.]

Films

Saw 3D (2010)
[#67 in 100 Films in a Year 2011]
I watched it in 2D, but it's still called Saw 3D. Stupid.

TV

How I Met Your Mother
6x16 Desperation Day
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

Luther
2x01 Episode 1
I wasn't sure we'd see the return of Luther, but here it is, in rejigged form as two two-parters. Which would seem to lend itself to the Sunday/Monday broadcast recently afforded Case Histories, but for some reason they've scheduled it across four Tuesdays. Each to their own. Anyway, the rejig they've made so much of in the press running up to the series isn't very significant. Sure, characters are gone and new ones are here, and some of the relationships have changed, but the series still feels the same and functions in the same way. So it's still as awkward, weird, sick, but strangely likeable.
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Mystery Science Theater 3000
4x24 "Manos" The Hands of Fate [season finale]
Having enjoyed the MST3k movie last year, I decided to start my viewing of the series with perhaps the most famous episode, in which the Satellite of Love gang riff off one of the worst movies of all time. And it truly is a dreadful movie... and, unfortunately, doesn't seem to give them much to work with. It has its moments as an episode, but there were too many long stretches without notable funnies. Though fans do say not to start newbies with this episode, so...
(Incidentally, MST3k follows Family Guy and Robot Chicken as my... I don't know what, really, but it's filling their void. Sure, they had 22-minute and 11-minute episodes respectively, while MST3k runs 90 minutes per episode, but I watched big chunks of the other two, so it kinda works out.)

TV

Breaking the Magician's Code: Magic's Biggest Secrets Finally Revealed
Show Two (of 13)
As I probably mentioned during BBC One's The Magicians earlier this year, I enjoy magic, but I enjoy even more finding out how the tricks are done. Magicians like to claim this ruins the experience because the reveal is too mundane and never as fun as the trick. Maybe this is true for some, or even most, viewers, but personally, I'm too aware the trick isn't what it says it is (obviously) and find it more impressive how they make it seem to be that way. Anyway, that's a long-winded way of saying I love shows like this, which finally tell us how it's all done. And this was a particularly good edition, answering some things I'd been wondering about for a while.
Plus, it's an American show, so it has the bonus of a ridiculously OTT title and a marvellously cheesy voiceover. The narration is so omnipresent I swear it could be classed as an audio description track.
I stumbled across this particular edition on Virgin TV's catch-up; ITV Player online currently has four more (with more to come, I hope). I may have to watch those soon...
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player.]

Lead Balloon
4x03 Shoddy
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

TV

Case Histories
1x03 One Good Turn Part 1
1x04 One Good Turn Part 2
Having pointlessly killed a dog in the first two-parter, they pointlessly kill a cat in this one. Place your bets for what perishes in the third...
[Watch parts one and two (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Agatha Christie's Marple
4x04 Why Didn't They Ask Evans? [season finale]
Two years after it was first shown in America, 18 months since it was released on DVD, and after having already broadcast all of series five, ITV finally deign to let us see the final episode in Marple's fourth series. Weirdos.
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player.]

Films

101 Dalmatians (1996)
[2nd watch]
The first -- and, obviously, last -- time I saw this was, I believe, in the cinema when it came out, almost 15 years ago. So that's something...

A Study in Terror (1965)
[#66 in 100 Films in a Year 2011]

Happy Father's Day

via @kevtsai

this week on 100 Films

2 new reviews were posted to 100 Films in a Year this week, and they were...

Sorry, Wrong Number (1948)

The film concludes with a hair-raising final sequence. I reckon it must be among the most tense, scary and chilling sequences in all of cinema, certainly that I’ve seen. It’s not so much the performances, or the shadow on the wall, or the screeching music — though they all contribute — as the fear of the actual situation: your home, your personal, private, safe space, being invaded, and the first you know of it is an all-too-solid shadow on the wall, coming up the stairs to get you…

The Thief (1952)

if The Thief is known for anything it’s for its dialogue — as the poster proclaims, “not a word is spoken…!” ...it is a fairly straightforward and archetypal story — while it demonstrates that you can tell a story without dialogue, it might leave one wondering about the possibilities for telling a wholly original or truly complex story that way.

And look here at midnight for my review of the second Rebuild of Evangelion film, Evangelion: 2.22 You Can (Not) Advance..

More next Sunday.

TV

Castle
1x01 Flowers For Your Grave
Channel 5's Mentalist replacement is a good choice -- it has the same tone, but seems different enough to keep it fun. Nathan Fillion is certainly always good value. They've already shown three series in America so there's plenty to catch up on too.
[Watch it (again) on Demand 5.]

Films

Evangelion: 2.22 You Can (Not) Advance. (2009/2010)
[#65 in 100 Films in a Year 2011]

Collection Count

Collection Count tracks my DVD/Blu-ray collection via a number of statistics every week.

This week, I add a whole TV series on DVD and upgrade a film trilogy from individual DVDs to a Blu-ray box set, amongst other new acquisitions, so the numbers do all kinds of upping and downing. Love it when that happens.

Number of titles in collection: 1,325 [up 1]
Of which DVDs: 1,112 [down 2]
Of which Blu-rays: 213 [up 3]

Number of discs in collection: 3,308 [up 21]
Number of films in collection: 1,398 [up 2]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 4,976 [up 68]

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

Channel 4's Comedy Gala
C4's second huge comedy event at the O2. I was going to highlight who I thought were the best and worst of the show, but with a whopping 21 acts performing I can't really remember it all...
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

The Graham Norton Show
9x09 (10/6/11 edition)
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Injustice
Episode 5 (of 5)
So, that was that. Can't say I was terribly surprised by most of the twists, but there were a couple of curveballs in there, even if, despite the occasionally glacial pace, several threads still went underdeveloped.
I reckon Horowitz is angling for a second run too -- not only the open ending, but that needless "created by" credit at the beginning -- not that I'd expect another series to do anything with most of the stories from this tale (which were wrapped up, just not fully explored before they reached their end). Injustice wasn't the best of the current glut of crime dramas on TV, but a second series wouldn't be wholly unwelcome.
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player.]

The National Lottery: Who Dares Wins
4x07 (11/6/11 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Scott & Bailey
1x03 Episode 3
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player.]

Films

Valley of Fear (1983)
[#64 in 100 Films in a Year 2011]

TV

Dermot's Big Fat Comedy Gala
Dermot O'Leary presents an hour-long advert -- sorry, behind-the-scenes special -- for Channel 4's second O2 comedy event in aid of Great Ormond Street Hospital.
(Incidentally, I really ought to stop watching so many things a whole week after they were broadcast. Though tell that to some of the unfinished series I haven't watched for months...)
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

How I Met Your Mother
6x15 Oh Honey
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

Injustice
Episode 4 (of 5)
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player.]

Articles

Review: Awkward, uneven Green Lantern packs no punch by Drew McWeeny
(from Motion Captured at Hit Fix)
This is going to surprise some fanboys who have been salivating over the trailers. Personally, I thought they all looked dreadful and this doesn't surprise me one bit. I don't expect it will connect with a wide audience... but then crap makes tonnes of money at the box office all the time, so we'll have to wait and see.

Woody and Buzz Lightyear as Badass Action Figures
(from Live For Films)
Title says it all:

Click to enlarge.

TV

Archer
2x07 Movie Star
[Watch it (again) on Demand 5.]

Injustice
Episode 3 (of 5)
Some TV series have to be sliced right back if Hollywood latches on to them for an adaptation (see: State of Play), but I could imagine this quite comfortably squidging down into a two-hour version. Still two episodes to go, mind, but so little has happened that it doesn't feel over halfway through.
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player.]

Mock the Week
10x01 (9/6/11 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

$#*! My Dad Says
1x15 Ed Goes to Court
[Watch it (again) on Demand 5.]

Articles

Duke Nukem's PR threatens to punish sites that run negative reviews by Ben Kuchera
(from Opposable Thumbs at Ars Technica)
It's a little startling that the idea of blacklisting outlets that give negative reviews seems to just be an accepted part of gaming PR. It's things like that that prove it's an industry still not half as grown-up as it likes to think it is.

Lee Mack 'winces at early Not Going Out' by Morgan Jeffery
(from Digital Spy)
I thought early Not Going Out was funnier and more original than the recent series have been, probably for the reasons Mack dislikes it. Oh well.
(Also, I think I missed at the time (back in April) that it's been commissioned for two more series. Even if it's not as good as it was, this is still good news.)

Oscars to allow five to ten 'Best Picture' nominees by Simon Reynolds
(from Digital Spy)

'Best Picture' nominees will now need to receive at least 5% of first-place votes from AMPAS members to make the cut, meaning between five and ten movies will be nominated.

Good plan, thinks I. Also adds to the fun of predicting the Oscars -- "how many nominations will there be this year?", etc.