I don't like True Blood, but I'm going to have to now.

Sherlock was just increasingly overwritten, and the last 1/2 hour of that last episode was emblematic of the problems that beset UK drama.

They just banged on and on on that rooftop about the mental battle between them, but they just came across as a couple of right pillocks. The sound editor tried his hardest, ramping up the screechy strings every couple of minutes as one of them arrived at a "staggering" conclusion that would immediately be wiped out by the next thing that hadn't been mentioned until that point, but was suddenly really important. The writing just wasn't good enough, and it's sad that we struggle to write 3 one and a half hour episodes of anything to a consistent quality.

Just look at a series like Sopranos, Deadwood, or Boardwalk Empire at the moment. The Yanks can crank out 12, even 22 episodes of something in a season that has a uniformly high standard of storytelling, dialogue and narrative structure. They get huge teams of brilliant writers, and they all work within a style guide, and it's rigorously edited and revised, and they then get a bunch of really good directors to share the directing duties. They spend a lot of money on it, basically.

Recent dramas like Downton, Sherlock or Luther just expose the limitations of the system over here. Sherlock always felt in such a rush - they had so much they wanted to do with the characters, but with only 3 episodes to do it they just rammed it all down your throat. I'm on episode 2 of the 2nd series of Boardwalk Empire and Margaret Schroeder has just now revealed her purpose in the series, and the true depth of her character. If she'd have been in Sherlock she'd have completed her entire character cycle before the fucking credits rolled.

To be honest Loki, the arc in something like Sherlock is quite loose. Its essentially 3 films a series, all seperate with slight nods to other stuff to come.

If they did a 12 episode run, we'ld probably see a lot more, but as its 3 they have to cram some stuff in. The first episode of this run showed that with a number of cases shown fleetingly, which if done as a 12 part series we would see the friendship or Sherlock's 'character' develop slowly.

I thought the end of this episode was perfectly fine, and I imagine some of the stuff will be paid off in the next series. It was to show Sherlock's weakness, as well as his feelings towards John.

But thats the problem, films != TV shows. Compared to films Sherlock isn't that great either, so on either criteria it fails to match up. We end up giving it a pass because it's homemade and so on but it's kinda sad that Sherlock is in our top tier of TV output.
Don't get me wrong, the episodes have all been a lot of fun with some great touches but when you put it up against the best of american TV it just shows the flaws especially given how the yanks have produced some of the best TV dramas ever in the last decade or so.

I'm a long way behind watching Idiot Abroad 2 because I didn't think the first few episodes were that good. Watched the Gorilla trekking episode lat night though, it's absolutely brilliant. i think Karl is at him best when he's the one in the right! Great stuff.

It's a tough watch at times like. I think I want to enjoy it more than I do, because I love pretty much everybody involved. Tobias and Job would be enough, but I'm a bit in love with Sharon Horgan too. Judging from the first and second episodes of Season 2, it looks to be much of the same. Not sure I'll stick it out to the end, to be honest.

My thoughts on the finale of Sherlock:

Once again, I'm in bed with NEWM. I've always found Todd Margaret to be less than the sum of its parts. Something about it just doesn't work.

Tonight on BBC4, Jonathan Meades has a three parter on France starting. I love his stuff, he is one of the few genuine intellects presenting on TV. The programme is on at nine if you're interested.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b019m5yy

Shoved this on my iPlayer list, Keith, cheers.

Any other BBC4 stuff you would recommend of recent that I might have missed?

Cheers for that, would have passed me by if i hadn't seen it here.

Just finished with episode 3 of the Story of Musicals, highly recommended. Also the BBCs Iplayer volume goes up to 11, I've only just noticed that.

In which case they shouldn't have written it so that by the end of it that was the only ending that wouldn't have made it shit.

They painted themselves into a corner with that whole ludicrous plot.

Moffat has more to say on the sherlock finale. i'll pop it in spoilers

Though of course superior to us for Drama at the moment, I was a huge fan of The Shadow Line which was on BBC1 over here a few months ago. I would say that's the nearest thing we had to an American style show.

Two episodes into Homeland, intrigued and hoping for good stuff to come.

Stick with it and you won't be dissapointed.

plenty of good stuff to come, I've just finished episode 6...i'm hooked.

I enjoyed the Shadow Line, thought Rafe Spall's character was really good.

I thought the ending was shite & couldn't be explained in any way that made sense but my misses pointed something out to me at the time.
SPOILER - Highlight the black box to read
He asked Molly Hooper for help, which is out of character as Moffet said in his clue. She could have supplied a body for the fall & did the post mortem to confirm it was Sherlock. I guess it makes sense in some ways but is still a bit far fetched. Then again the whole series is far fetched.

The new episode of Skins wasn't much cop.

I didn't even know it was on until people on Twitter were talking about it.

I've stopped watching it since the new cast turned up.... They're utter shit.

Skins just went downhill with the 5th series. a couple of the cast are ok and may do well after this but all of them are just so unlikeable. the first new one mad frankie the least likeable of the lot

the only reason they made a 6th is because they signed up for it with the 5th as well. talk of the movie with the 2nd generation seems to have disappeared too

One Born Every Minute
I won't be surprised if I don't see a more touching piece of television this year.

I've watched the first few episodes of The Hard Times of RJ Berger as I saw it on Netflix and the blurb sounded alright. I'm not a great fan of the show, but it's the sort of thing that I could imagine absolutely loving as a teenager. A million miles better than the shite I used to watch on Nickelodeon. I don't remember there being much television comedy for teenagers when I was one. There was Kenan and Kel type stuff that nine year olds could watch and enjoy, and then the sort of stuff adults enjoy, but this RJ Berger thing seems like a great bridge between the two.

Noel Fielding's luxery comedy...bit early to dismiss it as just: "the mighty boosh but without a story arc or songs" but that's kinda how it feels like. Even relying on a moon cameo. But the chocolate finger driving a cheese tank was funny, so I'll watch next weeks

Earthflight is just one of the most breath-taking things I've ever seen on television.

Noel Fielding's Luxury Comedy.

Wasn't it just great? I love how random 38 year old Noel Fielding is, he's great. I also loved how any semblence of a joke was removed for face paint.

Did anyone watch We'll Take Manhattan? Just wondering if it was any good before I decide whether to download it or not.

I was going to watch to see just how bad it was but forgot it was even on. Shit, I take it?

LiamTheGreat's review of it tells me all I need to know. I can't imagine finding "the chocolate finger driving a cheese tank" funny, and I can't stand The Mighty Boosh, so I'm not going anywhere near it.

and he wore a hat. All the bloody time

I felt it showed just how good a writer Julian Barratt is.

Whether or not you should watch it depends on how funny you find face paint and Family Guy type "Lulz that's so random" humour.

Anyone been watching Impractical Jokers?

It's a show where 4 friends dare eachother to say and do amusing things in public. The person with the most refusals has to do a forfeit.

White Castle

Mega phone challenge

Petitions

On second inspection, Noel Fielding's luxury comedy is shit

Luxury comedy has already got a second series

Anyone been watching the second series of Mad Dogs? This series is even better. Also as good a male cast you're likely to see in a British drama. TV needs more Ben Chaplin.

Probably a bit late to bring it up, but I'm watching the last series of Hustle. I've loved the show since Marc Warren days and will b sad to see it go, but thus far they've pulled out some bigger names and pretty good stories. Loved Eddie barring them all for defacing a picture of Ian Rush and the Johnson as a dodgy gold dealer.

I'm really hoping that, at the point that Digital Switchover happens in April, the Beeb will reshow that on BBC HD. I'm slavering at the mouth for my first HD Freeview signal, even though I don't care about BluRay much, as I've said before. I'm a strange person and no mistake.

Watch Mad Dogs- Marc Warren is great in that. As is Ben Chaplin, Max Beesley and unsurprisingly John Simm and Philip Glennister.

I've always fancied that, but just never got to itfor one reason or another. Would it be worth watching the first series before this one?

Definitely, you really need to see the first series first. Otherwise you'll spend the entire second series trying to work out what happened.

I enjoyed it, the lad playing David Bailey was superb and just as you'd imagine Bailey being around that time, I remember seeing a preview of it in the paper and they said Karen Gillan didn't have much to do other than stand there being pretty which was a bit harsh as she does have some good scenes

Overall, it was nothing groundbreaking but it wasn't supposed to be so I'd say it's definitely worth a watch

Caught the first 3 episodes of Game of Thrones yesterday, and while it's enjoyable I'm struggling to find why everybody raves about it. There's just so much going on and cutting between bits that it's a chore to keep up.

Also spoilers -

Cheers. I would probably have watched it anyway for the chance to see the Gillan in something that wasn't Doctor Who, but it's nice to have something else to watch it for.

I've been watching that Dance thing on Sky. I have no idea why that awesome tap dance guy didnt get through, he was wicked, and even the boy who was doing the modern dance was good (he made my daughter dance and then clap when he finished).

And how did those weirdy lizard looking people who were jumping in to a massive fabric vajayjay managed to get to the final. I hope that they trip on one of the fabric flaps in the final. Frickin lizard people.

Just saw an ad saying that Sky Atlantic will be broadcasting Friday Night Lights (I'm assuming all 5 seasons) from the beginning. Anyone who has not seen it, I highly recommend it. Don't be put off by the subject of American football as it is about so much more than that. Starts Tues 14th.

This promo for it sends chills up my arm, such an underrated show.

Seconded, I have absolutely zero interest in sport in general and had never bothered to watch FNL because of that. Finally decided to give it a shot and it rapidly became one of my favourite shows of all time. I'm hoping what with the emmy wins, Sky reshowing (showing for the first time?) it over here with some publicity and the gaining critical support that it'll be much like the Wire where it really gets the attention it deserved a few years after it ended.