TV

24
8x09 12:00AM - 1:00AM

Castle
3x18 One Life to Lose
[Watch it (again) on Demand 5.]

Friends
10x12 The One with Phoebe's Wedding [5th or so watch]

TV

24
8x08 11:00PM - 12:00AM
I thought they'd reached the end of another plot already... but no, not quite yet. Though they are burning through sub-villains with great speed -- I mean, Jack and co have already taken down not one but two supposedly-major Russian crime operations!

Friends
10x11 The One Where the Stripper Cries [5th or so watch]
I've said before that the occasionally-reviled late-era Friends actually contains some of its all-time-classic episodes, and this is a case in point.

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

TV

24
8x06 9:00PM - 10:00PM
8x07 10:00PM - 11:00PM

All About TWO
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Friends
10x09 The One with the Birth Mother [5th or so watch]
10x10 The One Where Chandler Gets Caught [5th or so watch]

How I Met Your Mother
9x12 The Rehearsal Dinner
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

TV

24
8x05 8:00PM - 9:00PM

Friends
10x08 The One with the Late Thanksgiving [5th or so watch]

Game of Thrones
4x01 Two Swords
Wait, what's this -- more GoT already? Yes, well, with one major event already having happened -- and been widely discussed all over the internet & everywhere else -- and with many more promised by Those In The Know for later in the season, I decided that, for my own sake, I should forgo my normal year-long wait for the Blu-ray release and just enjoy the series at the same time as everyone else. I'll only have the whole damned thing spoiled if I don't.

The Mentalist
6x17 Silver Wings of Time
Well that was disappointingly obvious.
[Watch it (again) on Demand 5.]

Comics

Nemo: Heart of Ice by Alan Moore & Kevin O'Neill

A spin-off from / aside to The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, starring Captain Nemo's daughter as introduced to us in Century Vol.1. Moore's taken a break from ongoing League storytelling for a trilogy of these more-or-less-standalone tales: the second was released last month, the third is due... sometime. Considering Moore and O'Neill have managed one a year of late, hopefully in March 2015, and we can have League Vol.IV in 2016.

Heart of Ice is a slighter, more straightforward story than we're used to from League books (especially the last two), which makes it kind of refreshing: it's a clean adventure yarn, not an intricate and disturbing puzzle (though it's disturbing in places, naturally). Nonetheless, it's still packed with obscure allusions, making this guide not essential but worthwhile.

Collection Count

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

Number of titles in collection: 1,665 [up 1]
Of which DVDs: 1,199 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 466 [up 1]

Number of discs in collection: 4,158 [up 2]
Number of films in collection: 1,791 [up 1]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 6,126 [no change]
Number of short films in collection: 409 [no change]

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

24
8x04 7:00PM - 8:00PM [extended version]

It's time to play Count The 24 Story Arcs, because, 3½ episodes in, Story Arc 1 is already at an end, with Story Arc 2 -- which at least spins out of it -- already underway. The rules of the game are: seasons one, two and three did it best, when there were two or three major arcs across an entire season; season four and on mucked it up by having a frankly ludicrous number of arcs/threats every year. Getting through the first so quickly isn't promising, but we'll see -- maybe this new one will run and run...

Also, the "extended" element of this episode is one c.2-minute scene forcibly inserted between the climax and credits. Rather ruins the effect, that. The scene isn't bad in itself, and if they'd inserted it five minutes earlier all would've been fine, but put where it is... I shan't bother with the set's six other elongated episodes (I can just jump to three minutes before the end and watch the extensions in isolation!)


Friends
10x07 The One with the Home Study [5th or so watch]
aka The One Where Phoebe and Mike Give Their Wedding Money to Charity But Then Don't But Then Do But Then Don't.


Have I Got News For You
47x03 (18/4/2014 edition; extended repeat)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

24
8x02 5:00PM - 6:00PM
8x03 6:00PM - 7:00PM

Friends
10x06 The One with Ross's Grant [5th or so watch]

Films

Visions of Light (1992)
[#33 in 100 Films in a Year 2014]

Comics

She-Hulk #3 by Charles Soule & Javier Pulido

TV

24
8x01 4:00PM - 5:00PM
It's been three years and 11 months since the finale of this final season aired, so it's really about time I got round to it -- especially with the revival miniseries imminent (its US premiere is under two weeks away now). I've read recently that it's not a particularly great season (very different to what I heard at the time, it would seem), but this is an OK start... and it's been so long since I last watched any 24 (over four years since season seven, and it was a couple of years before that that I watched season six) that I'm not sure I'll be able to make many comparisons anyway.

Arrow
2x17 Birds of Prey
Which (unlike with last episode's titular team) doesn't really feature the Birds of Prey. I bet some fans were pissed.

Friends
10x05 The One Where Rachel's Sister Babysits [5th or so watch]

Comics

Batman Eternal #2 by Scott Snyder, James Tynion IV & Jason Fabok

TV

Elementary
2x19 The Many Mouths of Aaron Colville

Friends
10x03 The One with Ross's Tan [5th or so watch]
10x04 The One with the Cake [5th or so watch]

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

Comics

Batman Eternal #1 by Scott Snyder, James Tynion IV & Jason Fabok

To celebrate Batman's 75th anniversary, DC are releasing this weekly epic by a host of top creators (there's also a "consulting writer" credit for Ray Fawkes, John Layman and Tim Seeley) -- so as it's weekly, I thought I really ought to get reading. Solid start; much promise.

Also:

Batman #28 by Scott Snyder, James Tynion IV & Dustin Nguyen

I'm way behind on Batman (OK, let's be honest: a) I'm waaaay behind, and b) I'm waaaay behind on almost everything else too), but #28 steps aside from the main storyline for a preview/flashforward/something to the events of Batman Eternal. Apparently it's set between issues 39 and 40 of the weekly, meaning they won't catch up to it until next year (depending on Christmastime release dates, those two issues might both be out in January 2015).

And it's every inch the issue that knows it's a teaser, full of lines so self consciously cryptic, so avoiding mentioning names or specifics, that you don't think anyone would ever say them in real life -- like, "you know how bad it is out there... you know how much we need what you have in here." Ooh, why's it bad? What does she have? Why would you only allude to it like that if you both know what it is?

Still, it is intriguing, and presents much excitement of its own, so it's all good.


She-Hulk #2 by Charles Soule & Javier Pulido

Less grim than the above. Tonnes of fun, in fact. Hurrah.

TV

Friends
10x01 The One After Joey and Rachel Kiss [5th or so watch]
10x02 The One Where Ross is Fine [5th or so watch]
The final season begins!

Mad Men
7x01 Time Zones
The final season begins!

Person of Interest
2x16 Relevance
...yeah, this is just an episode. But at least it's a Special one.

Films

The Punisher (2004)
[#32 in 100 Films in a Year 2014]

TV

Friends
9x22 The One with the Donor [5th or so watch]
9x23 The One in Barbados Part 1 [5th or so watch]
9x24 The One in Barbados Part 2 [season finale; 5th or so watch]

Law & Order: UK
8x03 I Predict a Riot
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player.]

TV

Castle
3x17 Countdown
In which the show tries to pretend Castle and Becket might die... twice. On the bright side, a lovely new cool-blue title card (that I guess won't stick around).
[Watch it (again) on Demand 5.]

Friends
9x21 The One with the Fertility Test [5th or so watch]

Have I Got News For You
47x02 (11/4/2014 edition; extended repeat)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

How I Met Your Mother
9x11 Bedtime Stories
A lot of people have been very critical of HIMYM's final season, but this proves it can still manage "best episode ever?"-level awesome.
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

Collection Count

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

Once again, no additions to report this week (though I've just ordered some stuff, so next might be busy). Indeed, a slow month all round: only two new titles added, making for a teeny tiny running time update.

Number of titles in collection: 1,664 [no change]
Of which DVDs: 1,199 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 465 [no change]

Number of discs in collection: 4,156 [no change]
Number of films in collection: 1,790 [no change]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 6,126 [no change]
Number of short films in collection: 409 [no change]

As I intimated at the start, it's time for the running time update...

Total running time of collection (approx.):
297 days, 16 hours, and 16 minutes.
(Up 6 hours and 13 minutes from last month.)

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

Brooklyn Nine-Nine
1x14 The Ebony Falcon
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

Friends
9x20 The One with the Soap Opera Party [5th or so watch]

The Mentalist
6x16 Violets
[Watch it (again) on Demand 5.]