Telly review of the year

[altariel]

My year's best telly.

Spooks: Best season EVER. It was as if the production team looked around, realized no-one else was going to step up and make drama about politics, and then slammed down hard on the accelerator until you were gasping for breath. Better than I'd dared hope for.

Rome: Yes, yes, technically this was last year. But I got the DVDs this year, so it counts all over again. Lovingly, lavishly made; sharply, brilliantly scripted.

The West Wing: Which unexpectedly turned around after more than a season of episodes so bad I could hardly watch even through my hands. Also - Alan Alda.

Life on Mars: You could just enjoy this show as Seventies coppers. Or else you can sit and give its kaleidoscope another twist, and think about what it has to say - about British society, about mass culture, about nostalgia, about authority, about where we were once and where we are now, and what has been lost and gained in between.

Doctor Who: More specifically, 'The Girl in the Fireplace' and 'Love and Monsters'. 'The Girl in the Fireplace' used the format of the show so knowledgeably and lovingly and perfectly that I cannot imagine what the writers might craft next. And 'Love and Monsters'... How amazing that something like that got made and transmitted. How fabulous to have someone sit and say to primetime Britain: "Don't be afraid. Life is scary, and life can hurt - but every chance and risk you take to love will be worth it." What a way to use your powers for good.

Comments

[hafren.livejournal.com]

Mine would have to include Planet Earth. But some of us got complete dvds of Up Pompeii and Bilko for our birthday so we don't expect to be watching any current TV for some time:)

[altariel.livejournal.com]

I never think of non-drama. I'd have to say Strictly Come Dancing, which has absorbed me completely the past few weeks, and Galapagos, which was the first documentary I watched on HD.

[kalypso-v.livejournal.com]

Will Ramps win?

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Smart money is on Ramps after last week's astonishing Argentine tango.

[kalypso-v.livejournal.com]

Smart money was on whatsisname last year, and then Goughie waltzed away with it!

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Good point! Or maybe this dancing is a cricketer's game...

[sallymn.livejournal.com]

Up Pompeii?? Must put that on my little list...

Dr Who

[nestashouse.livejournal.com]

I quite agree about 'The Girl in the Fireplace'. It was inventive, original, exciting, moving and written by someone with a fairly sound knowledge of French history, all of which are indeed unusual on prime time TV.

I love the irreverent wit of the new-style Dr Who, especially as it in no way prevents them from handling serious topics. Pity 'Torchwood' didn't follow their lead. It seems that being 'adult' means that you can substitute simulated sex for wit, honest feeling, well-made plots and a lot of other things. (Though TW has had its moments, admittedly.)

Re: Dr Who

[altariel.livejournal.com]

It's a shame Torchwood has been all over the place. I thought the last two episodes showed glimmers of a quiet maturity: I hope this is the direction that the show is going to take in future.

Re: Dr Who

[nestashouse.livejournal.com]

The scenes in the last show between the 1950s man and his senile son were very moving (though I don't know if they were sufficient grounds for attempted suicide). However, the idea of that gorgeous brunette travelling fifty years through time just to hit the hay with Owen strained credulity - mine at least. Me for the Rapide, asap.

[gaspode.livejournal.com]

Yep once again (aside from BSG of course) we have scarily similary tastes in shows - even Rome and Love and Monsters (which i've so many rows with people over)

Happy Xmas ...

[altariel.livejournal.com]

'Love and Monsters' is something really special.

And happy Xmas to you too!

[espresso-addict.livejournal.com]

Life on Mars was a superb surprise for me, & GitF was amazing, but I've found the tv year pretty barren elsewhere.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

I've watched a lot of old series on channels like ITV3. Prime Suspect and Cracker were both pretty good, and Longford on Channel 4 was a surprise (i.e. Channel 4 in decent drama shock). What I've been most addicted to at the back end of this year has been episodes of Friends I for some reason hadn't seen before. I gave up on Lost and BSG, and haven't missed them.

[emeraldsedai.livejournal.com]

I can't comment on the full range of British television, but I enthusiastically second your motion for Doctor Who, which I shamelessly pirated watched thanks to the internets. Have just finished putting my teen nieces onto the Eccleston season on legitimate DVD, and am eager to share the first Tennant season with them when it comes out in a few weeks.

As to Life on Mars, it was some of the best television I've ever seen, and the second series can't come soon enough.

Over here on this side of the Atlantic, I'd have to bid on Heroes for thrilling, comic-book good fun, and Studio 60 for more of what West Wing left me hungry for: impossibly clever people talking a lot.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Your lucky neices, still with Tennant to come! We passed on a set of DVDs to a 5 year-old-boy yesterday, but he was already well addicted.

I'll look out for Heroes and Studio 60, thanks for the tip-off.