TV

Colditz
1x08 The Traitor

Due South
1x08 Chicago Holiday Part 1 [2nd watch]
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Thorne
1x01 Sleepyhead Part 1
This is Sky's attempt at home-produced Adult Crime Drama... so why it has a name like a CBBC series I don't know.

Whites
1x06 Episode 6 [season finale]
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

TV

Ask Rhod Gilbert
1x06 Episode 6
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Colditz
1x07 Lord, Didn't It Rain

Dave's One Night Stand
1x04 Sarah Millican
One of the more successful editions of this series, I thought; certainly more so than the preceding episode.
There's one more episode of One Night Stand (tonight's, in fact), but as it stars the unfunny Russell Kane and two others I'm never sure about, I just can't be bothered -- the Johnny Vegas one was bad enough.
[Watch it (again) on Dave's website.]

Downton Abbey
1x07 Episode Seven [season finale]
A satisfying finale: packed with drama, but enough happy resolutions and/or desired turnouts to keep it enjoyable without slipping too far into implausible audience-wish-fulfillment. Looking forward to seeing where they go with it in the second series -- covering the years of the First World War, as it seems to imply, or perhaps a Surprising Four Year Jump Forward? Either way, it's eagerly awaited.
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player.]

Spooks
9x07 Episode 7
One of the better episodes this year, even if it did feel like one huge infodump in places. Ruth's subplot was excellent, however.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

this week on 100 Films

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

The Emperor's New Groove (2000)

Somehow, it holds a decent score on both viewer-rated IMDb and critic-rated Rotten Tomatoes. This surprised me for two reasons: one, I thought it had gone down badly; and two, it deserved to go down badly. No pleasant surprises here — it's as weak and irritating as the title.

Hercules (1997)

the tale is told with surprising faithfulness. There’s still a healthy dose of anachronistic content to liven up the humour though. In fact, the sequences with Hercules’ adoring fans and merchandising empire ring even more true in this Twilight-obsessed world than they did 13 years ago.

Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985)

Rambo becomes a superhuman killing machine — running round a jungle topless, muscles shiny and bulging, taking out more-or-less an army single-handed. It’s cartoonish and ludicrous, which can be fun in its own way... but only for action movie fans, losing any crossover appeal the first film had.

And as we passed into November last Monday, there's also the October summary to check out.

More next Sunday.

TV

Argumental
3x12 (2/11/10 edition)

The Armstrong & Miller Show
3x01 Episode 1
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Dave's One Night Stand
1x03 Johnny Vegas
Or, The Fat Northerner Edition.
[Watch it (again) on Dave's website.]

House
7x05 Unplanned Parenthood
It's quite neat being behind on programmes -- there's no new House on Sky1 this Sunday, thanks to a two-week hiatus in the US, but being a week behind already I shan't notice. Shiny.

How I Met Your Mother
5x23 The Wedding Bride
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

Merlin
3x08 The Eye of the Phoenix
3x09 Love in the Time of Dragons
The Eye of the Phoenix was particularly good, I thought; perhaps Merlin's best episode, in fact.
[Watch The Eye of the Phoenix and Love in the Time of Dragons (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

Due South
1x07 Chinatown [2nd watch]
A particularly good episode, I thought. Just in case you're interested.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

The Event
1x03 Protect Them From the Truth
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

The Graham Norton Show
8x02 (29/10/10 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

The Mentalist
3x04 Red Carpet Treatment
[Watch it (again) on the new-look Demand Five.]

Collection Count

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

Some solid increases this week. It would've been more, but I was forgetting that TheHut-owned sites such as Sendit and Zavvi are untrustworthy when it comes to sending out items complete or as advertised, so there's a number of returns to make. They're also not top of the pile when it comes to sending out pre-orders, so a few things to wait for there too.

Best of all, though, is the number of titles in my collection. In case you need it spelling out: one, two, three, four...

Number of titles in collection: 1,234 [up 7]
Of which DVDs: 1,102 [up 1]
Of which Blu-rays: 132 [up 6]

Number of discs in collection: 3,023 [up 15]
Number of films in collection: 1,304 [up 8]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 4,290 [up 10]

Statistic of the week:

Number of titles produced in the '00s:
664
(53.8% of the total)

After the look-how-far-I've-come first anniversary list of stats a fortnight ago, I've been curious about how a few other early Statistics of the Week have changed in the past year. So, over the next few weeks, I'll be picking up on some I've done before.

First is the first, number of titles produced in the '00s, which was at 589 titles (or 55.3% of my collection) back on 30th October 2009. The total has increased (by 12.7%), but how large a part of my collection they are is down (by 1.5%). Clearly I've bought more older films this year, though with the '10s now in the equation for the newest releases I should imagine it will only sink further in future.

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

Colditz
1x05 Maximum Security
1x06 The Spirit of Freedom

Due South
1x06 Pizzas and Promises [2nd watch]
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Electric Proms 2010
Elton John
His collaborations with Leon Russell sounded great, but Plan B's version of I Guess That's Why They Call It the Blues was atrocious, his weak vocals sounding like a bad X Factor audition. Even Elton looked uncomfortable, and he'd supposedly picked the guy.
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer, or listen to the full 2½-hour concert in HD Sound.]

TV

Due South
1x05 They Eat Horses, Don't They? [2nd watch]
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Mad Men
4x08 The Summer Man
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Never Mind the Buzzcocks
24x02 Episode 2
Catherine Tate doesn't make a very good host. That's two eps down, two bad hosts. Still, Jack Dee next week (well, tomorrow night) -- he's more experienced at things like Reading Out Loud.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Story of England
Part 5 Henry VIII to Industrial Revolution

TV

Argumental
3x11 (26/10/10 edition)
Coincidentally, this evening we learn via Marcus Brigstocke's twitter that Argumental has been cancelled. Shame -- I really rather liked it, especially as it was somewhat different from the identikit form of most comedy panel shows.
There's one of those online petitions to get it uncancelled here. At the time of posting, it's ratcheting up signatures at a rate of knots.

Colditz
1x04 Welcome to Colditz
Apt title, as we finally have an episode set almost entirely inside the prison. Though it begins with a lengthy (too lengthy, to be honest) sequence with another escaped prisoner. All looks set for a fourth 'first' episode, but no -- after his capture we don't see him 'til a brief, silent arrival much later in the episode. Who is he? Mysterious. Unless you recognise the actor.
In the main plot, there's another new arrival, as the British offers are delivered a new CO. Why? Not sure. But it makes for a plot, so, super.
I don't mean to sound like I'm doing Colditz down though -- it's fantastically well done; in particular, this episode and the preceding one are both excellent hours of TV. I hope it continues in such a vein.

Just Good Friends
1x03 Let's Spend the Night Together

House
7x04 Massage Therapy

Whites
1x05 Episode 5
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

TV

Ask Rhod Gilbert
1x05 Episode 5

Colditz
1x03 Name, Rank and Number
Another excellent, standalone, WW2-set story. Though this time, it ends with the series' first few scenes at the titular prison. It seems the cast is complete.

A History of Horror with Mark Gatiss
Part 3 The American Scream [final episode]
Mark Gatiss' series comes to a close by examining the re-emergence of American horror films in the '60s and '70s, and why he believes the genre has stalled rather after this point. It's another insightful, personalised account -- again, despite the criticism from some quarters about what he's chosen to leave out, we're talking here about a three-hour documentary covering decades and decades of a major genre; there's not room to cover it all, and the level of insight he offers is preferable to a dry overview of everything (which, even then, would surely miss some things).
Indeed, the sole shame with this series is that it's only three episodes long -- another two, or even three, covering the beginnings of screen horror and just where the genre has (or hasn't) gone in the last 30 years would be most welcome.

Spooks
9x06 Episode 6
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

Colditz
1x02 Missing, Presumed Dead
Having spent episode one introducing us to a collection of characters and how they landed themselves in Colditz -- without a single scene at the titular prison -- episode two now jumps back to England to start again with a new chap. It certainly seems an unusual way to structure a series. And the number of scenes set in Colditz this episode? None, again.

Downton Abbey
1x06 Episode Six
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player.]

Dragons' Den
What Happened Next 5 Theo Paphitis [season finale]

Due South
1x04 Manhunt [2nd watch]
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Poirot
12x02 Hallowe'en Party
ITV chose to air this on Wednesday. Much more appropriate today, I feel.
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player.]

Articles

Johnny Cash comic hits iPhone, iPad by Mark Langshaw
(from Digital Spy)

the App scans the user's device for music by the late country and Western star to accompany each scene.

Ooh, that's clever then.

TV

Lots today, including Sarah Jane guest starring the Doctor. But first...

Colditz
1x01 The Undefeated
Apparently Colditz hasn't been shown on UK TV for 15 years, and next month's DVD release is the first time it's been out on DVD too. And there I was thinking it was popular. Still, it makes it understandable why Yesterday have made such a fuss about this repeat run, currently showing weeknightly at 10.
Episode one (which actually features no scenes whatsoever at the titular prison) is very of its time in terms of pace and style. Though that's not necessarily a bad thing -- look how much I loved The Sandbaggers, for instance -- it'll take a few more episodes for it to settle in and for me to decide what I really think.

Due South
1x03 Diefenbaker's Day Off [2nd watch]
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Have I Got News For You
40x03 (28/10/10 edition; extended repeat)
[Watch the extended version (again) on iPlayer.]

The Mentalist
3x03 The Blood On His Hands
[Watch it (again) on Demand Five.]

Michael McIntyre's Comedy Roadshow
2x06 Leeds [season finale]
Please make it 45 minutes again! Everyone was very good tonight, but all were cut off far too quickly.

The Sarah Jane Adventures
4x05 Death of the Doctor Part One
4x06 Death of the Doctor Part Two
I think it's safe to say this is the story everyone's been waiting for (and I'm sure it got higher ratings because of it), as the new Doctor meets not only Sarah Jane but also another former companion, Jo Grant, and Russell T Davies writes for the 11th Doctor for the first time.
And it certainly paid off, both in excitement and emotion -- Sarah Jane's speech at the end, about the fates of other companions, was (for this Who fan, at least) incredibly moving. It also ably proves why a) all Who fans should be watching SJA, and b) why, for all the Moffat-love, RTD's departure is a loss to the series.
[Watch parts one and two, or a compilation of both, on iPlayer.]

TV

The Event
1x01 I Haven't Told You Everything
1x02 To Keep Us Safe
It feels like this has come in for quite a lot of flack, but personally I quite liked it. It's not the greatest start to a series ever, this is true, but while the writing, acting, etc, aren't exceptional they are fine -- which is more than FlashForward managed most of the time. I was also more engaged and intrigued than I was by Lost, plus it seems to have potential for on-going stories (something else FlashForward really lacked). So, we'll see... though the way the US viewing figures have tailed off (almost halving since the pilot) doesn't bode well for long-term success and/or renewal.
All that said, the SUV that could apparently travel as fast as a plane was ludicrous.
[Watch I Haven't Told You Everything and To Keep Us Safe (again) on 4oD.]

The Graham Norton Show
8x01 (22/10/10 edition)
Graham moves into the Wossy slot, but fortunately they haven't messed around with the format of his show. Super.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Living Free (1972)
[#111 in 100 Films in a Year 2010]

Collection Count

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

Several DVD-to-Blu-ray upgrades fiddle the stats this week; a few more are on their way to do the same next time too.

Number of titles in collection: 1,227 [up 1]
Of which DVDs: 1,101 [down 2]
Of which Blu-rays: 126 [up 3]

Number of discs in collection: 3,008 [up 1]
Number of films in collection: 1,296 [up 2]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 4,280 [no change]

Statistic of the week:

Number of double-dips:
119

With (as noted) several DVD-to-BD upgrades this week, I was curious just how many titles I've upgraded (i.e. double-dipped) in my collection. This number represents the number of times I've re-bought something I already owned, be it on DVD or BD, whether I kept the previous edition or not.

Incidentally, my most-dipped title is -- surprisingly, as I'm not especially a horror fan -- The Evil Dead. Not only that, but I still own all the copies I bought. (For the curious: my first copy was the fabulously packaged "Book of the Dead" Edition, my second a trilogy box set, and my third a box of banned films that happened to include The Evil Dead. Thanks to the trilogy set having two copies of the film (in its original fullscreen and cropped widescreen forms), I actually own four copies of it.)

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

Dave's One Night Stand
1x02 Jack Whitehall
Despite the fact I usually loathe Jack Whitehall, this was rather good all round, particularly the songs by one of his guests.
[Watch it (again) on Dave's website. The first episode, starring Ben Elton, is also available.]

Dragons' Den
What Happened Next 4 Deborah Meaden
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

The Rob Brydon Show
1x01 (17/9/10 edition)
Still resolutely watching these entirely out of order. I don't think it really matters.
Who'd've thought Brydon's duets with Tom Jones would be so... good? He's surprisingly musical.

Films

Born Free (1966)
[#109 in 100 Films in a Year 2010]

Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985)
[#110 in 100 Films in a Year 2010]

Articles

Nolan: Dark Knight Rises finds the future in IMAX, not 3-D by Geoff Boucher
(from Hero Complex at the Los Angeles Times)

[It won't be in 3D because] we want the look and feel of the film to be faithful to what has come before... Our ambition for the third movie is to complete a story that has begun. This is not starting over, this is not rebooting. We're finishing something, and keeping a consistency with what's come before has real value.

Good point. Can someone please tell this to Peter Jackson before The Hobbit starts shooting?

Talking of which...

Peter Jackson explains Hobbit casting by Naomi Rainey
(from Digital Spy)
Richard Armitage does seem odd casting for a four-foot-tall stocky dwarf, but I can see where Jackson is coming from -- most of the lead characters are dwarves, so some variation amongst them makes sense.

TV

Band of Brothers
Part Six Bastogne [2nd watch]
This is one of the episodes that most sticks in my memory (as I may've mentioned, I haven't watched the series for almost a decade, so that feels a little significant). It was, naturally, another very good instalment.

Film 2010 with Claudia Winkleman
Episode 2 (20/10/10 edition)
In many respects, Film 2010's 8-year-old blogger should've been the best person to talk about Back to the Future. But then it's more than two years old, so I guess he refuses to watch it. (Thank God he didn't, incidentally. I hope he's gone now...)
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Just Good Friends
1x02 Hello Again

Law & Order: UK
3x07 Anonymous [season finale]
Another good, strong episode for the season finale. I think L&O has improved a bit this series.
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player.]

Mad Men
4x07 The Suitcase
Even by Mad Men's consistently high standards, this was an exceptionally excellent episode. Awards all round, please.
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]