TV

24 Hour Panel People
Episode 3 (of 5)
Including Celebrity Juice, which is even worse than I always thought it was, something I didn't think possible. People actually watch this for pleasure? Really? Seriously? Seriously?
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Family Guy
2x08 I Am Peter, Hear Me Roar [2nd watch]

Let's Dance for Comic Relief 2011
Episode 4 (of 4)
Very pleased about the winner. Made even better by seeing how annoyed the runner-up was, especially as he clearly thought he was going to win when the final two were announced. (In all honesty, I don't like him at the best of times, but that was especially satisfying.)
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Monroe
1x01 Episode 1
Very good. I can see why there are constant comparisons to House in the press -- it's about a genius doctor, after all -- but they're also a tad unfair, because as a programme it's not really very like House.
I didn't like the music though; bit too far down the jolly route.
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player.]

TV

24 Hour Panel People
Episode 2 (of 5)
A very game-show-y episode, in some cases a bit too cut-down. Oh well.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

How TV Ruined Your Life
1x06 Knowledge [final episode]
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

$#*! My Dad Says
1x01 Pilot
Hm, well, we'll see.
[Watch it (again) on Demand 5.]

Silk
1x03 Episode 3
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Stand Up for the Week
2x01 (12/3/11 edition)
Slightly surprised to see this back. Still not sure if I like it or not.
Though Micky Flanagan's material is typically out of date. A routine about Gok Wan? Really? His show started five years ago and Flanagan begins, "there's this guy on TV now called Gok Wan". Ugh.
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

Twenty Twelve
1x01 Episode 1
As it turned out, very topical. They couldn't've asked for more.
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Articles

Quarantine 2 Trailer Goes Viral by Owen Williams
(from Empire)
So the first film was criticised for being a shot-for-shot remake of the original, but the sequel -- sequels of course being known for their repetitive derivativeness -- is nothing like the plot of either the first film or the original's sequel? Mind = blown.

Steven Spielberg on Tintin: ‘It made me more like a painter than ever before’ by Rachel Abramowitz
(from Hero Complex at Los Angeles Times)
A brief, interesting piece on why Spielberg chose motion capture to realise his forthcoming Tintin film.

TV

24 Hour Panel People
Episode 1 (of 5)
Remember when this happened live? Well now here's the highlights.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

House
7x13 Two Stories
An exceptionally entertaining episode, I thought.

Law & Order: UK
4x01 Help
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player.]

Yes Minister
2x07 A Question of Loyalty [season finale]

Articles

Interview: Ben Richards, writer/creator of Outcasts by Dan Owen
(from Dan's Media Digest)
A lot of discussion about what did (or didn't) go wrong with Outcasts. I don't agree with a lot of it -- especially what's said in the last two paragraphs -- but it's interesting to see the creator's perspective. (And, in case you haven't heard/guessed, it's been cancelled.)

TV

Outcasts
1x07 Episode 7
That was actually quite good. Still marred by myriad niggles, but better than most of the series. Too little too late, mind.
The last episode was on tonight. I read it doesn't contain all the answers, mainly because the makers hoped they'd get another series. Oh well.
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

South Riding
Part 3 (of 3)
Well that turned out surprisingly grim...
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

this week on 100 Films

Back to just 1 new review being posted on 100 Films in a Year again this week...

Melinda and Melinda (2004)

If it wasn’t for the framing device that clearly tells us not only the thematic point of the film but also which bit is the comedy and which the tragedy, I don’t think it would be immediately possible to tell which was which. Indeed, one might think that was Allen’s point: life is neither tragedy nor comedy, but both at the same time, so of course you can’t tell the difference.

More (hopefully, more than one) next Sunday.

TV

The Killing [aka Forbrydelsen]
1x14 Day 14
How are there six episodes left?! Surely all is nearly solved? It's ever so tense, exciting and moreish. This is what 24 used to feel like back when it was good.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Let's Dance for Comic Relief 2011
Episode 3 (of 4)
That largely felt like watching a parade of irritating also-rans. Why are some of these people allowed to befoul my television screen? At least watching on iPlayer allows one to fastforward crap 'music' like The Wanted.

Top Gear
16x07 Best of Top Gear
I say I watched this -- I ended up fastforwarding the whole thing as, unlike what the listing said, it wasn't so much "the best of 2010" as "the best of a few week's ago". Indeed, they'd actually taken the start & end of one episode and the middle of another and just glued them together. Lazy. And, when the whole series is still on iPlayer, pointless. There's another "best of" this week -- probably not worth bothering with either.
[Watch it (again), if you really want, in HD on iPlayer.]

Yes Minister
2x06 The Quality of Life

Films

Let Me In (2010)
[#30 in 100 Films in a Year 2011]
Having now watched both, and with this one out on DVD & Blu-ray from Monday, I shall aim to have reviews of both up by Sunday midnight. We'll see...

TV

Due South
3x11 Asylum [2nd watch]

Family Guy
2x03 Da Boom
2x04 Brian in Love

The Graham Norton Show
8x19 (4/3/11 edition)
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Films

Let the Right One In (2008)
[#29 in 100 Films in a Year 2011]
And tomorrow, Hammer's US remake, Let Me In.

Articles

10 o'Clock Live: an alternative (comedy) view by Laura Pledger
(from What We've Been Watching... at Radio Times)
10 O'Clock Live is an easy target, really, but this is nonetheless well observed and amusing.

Tarantino 'sues True Blood's Ball over macaws' by Simon Reynolds
(from Digital Spy)
This is a quite spectacularly odd story.

Collection Count

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

This week's updates include a new TV series on Blu-ray, an upgrade of a TV series from DVD to BD, and a BD that isn't out 'til Monday. Shiny.

Number of titles in collection: 1,280 [up 2]
Of which DVDs: 1,101 [down 1]
Of which Blu-rays: 179 [up 3]

Number of discs in collection: 3,189 [up 4]
Number of films in collection: 1,349 [up 1]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 4,737 [up 7]

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

10 O'Clock Live
1x07 (3/3/11 edition)
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

Extraordinary Dogs
1x06 The Mystery of Healing 2
[Watch it (again) on Demand 5.]

Fast and Loose
1x08 Episode 8 [season finale]
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Friday Night Dinner
1x02 The Jingle
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

My Life in Books
Episode 10 Robert Harris and Trinny Woodall (of 10)
While it would be going too far to say everyone's been worth listening to, this has been a consistently interesting series. Some more wouldn't go amiss... though whether the Beeb will consider it or just file it away as part of their "year of reading", who can say.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Articles

Guillermo del Toro Confirms He’ll Direct Pacific Rim; Talks Future of At the Mountains of Madness by Matt Goldberg
(from Collider.com)
Following on from yesterday's article, del Toro himself speaks a bit about what went wrong and why there's still a good deal of hope for the project.

Invasion of the stick figures from outer space! by Roger Ebert
(from rogerebert.com)
Ebert's beautifully scathing review of Battle: Los Angeles.

TV

Due South
3x10 Perfect Strangers [2nd watch]

Family Guy
2x05 Love Thy Trophy
2x06 Death is a Bitch
2x07 The King is Dead
In the unlikely event anyone's keeping track, this is where the UK Season 1 DVD comes to an end.

The Killing [aka Forbrydelsen]
1x13 Day 13
If you've still not watched any of this, start it now and you can watch one a day (which, considering each episode covers a day (more or less) is rather neat) before it disappears from iPlayer. If you like high-quality thrillers or crime drama, you won't regret it.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

My Life in Books
Episode 9 Larry Lamb and Sarah Millican (of 10)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Articles

Is it fair to blame Universal for the state of the industry today? by Drew McWeeny
(from Motion Captured at HitFix)
In the wake of Universal cancelling Guillermo del Toro's H.P. Lovecraft adaptation, At the Mountains of Madness, McWeeny looks at the reaction from other websites and explores why this decision is regrettable but completely understandable and, actually, not Universal's fault at all. A very interesting piece.

TV

Extraordinary Dogs
1x05 Above and Beyond Loyalty
[Watch it (again) on Demand 5.]

Family Guy
2x02 Holy Crap
2x09 If I'm Dyin', I'm Lyin'

House
7x12 You Must Remember This

How TV Ruined Your Life
1x05 Progress
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

My Life in Books
Episode 8 Duchess of Devonshire and Elizabeth McGovern (of 10)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

My Life in Books
Episode 7 Jeanette Winterson and Alastair Campbell (of 10)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Silk
1x02 Episode 2
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Yes Minister
2x05 The Devil You Know

Films

Unthinkable (2010)
[#28 in 100 Films in a Year 2011]