It's a full life, if a trifle banal

Sherlock was brilliant. ( More, including minor gripe ) But otherwise - yes, more of that, thank you very much. I request that telly be like this more of the time, otherwise I'll have to go back to my West Wing uber-mega-marathon.

Upon which subject: Jed Bartlet is such an arse.

It's the finale of The West Wing on More4 tonight, and they're showing a bunch of 'best' episodes over the weekend (not including my favourite, grump, even though I have it on DVD).

In other news - this has been the best Big Brother ever!!

I keep waiting for this season of The West Wing to pick up (season 5), but apparently we only have 5 more episodes left. This week's episode ('The Supremes') had an ever-so starry guest cast (Glenn Close, Milo O'Shea, William Fichtner (you know, the blind physicist in Contact)) as (potential) supreme court justices, but it still wasn't as good as the same episode from season 1, 'The Short List' (with Edward James "Too Bad She Won't Live" Olmos). That happens to be one of my favourite episodes of the show, however, along with the one where Yo-Yo Ma gives Josh flashbacks.

Meanwhile, the Hallmark Channel is playing back-to-back episodes from all three Law and Order shows. Criminal Intent is definitely the best, because the lead detective character is NUTS. He does disconcerting things to make his suspects talk. Cool. One fascinating thing about the Hallmark Channel is that it feels exactly like a US TV channel, except someone has sensibly realized that a UK audience wouldn't put up with adverts haphazardly interrupting the programmes every four seconds.

Currently playing also is My Life in Film on BBC Three. This concerns the trials and tribulations of Art, a struggling independent film-maker, whose everyday life remarkably resembles many well-known films. So far the one based on The Shining has been the best, although I enjoyed the Top Gun episode about Art attending a driving course. communicator, if you aren't watching this already, I think you'd like it. I have given up on Little Britain, the jokes in which these days seem mostly to be at the expense of the minority group rather than at the expense of the opinion being expressed about the minority group. Also, there's no narrative for the characters, so it's the same joke every week. I still like the bloke in the shop who shouts, "Margaret! Margaret!" however. Even though that's the most repetitive gag in the show. The thing I laughed at most this week was the episode of Yes, Minister in which Hacker is called upon to serve as Prime Minister. One day I will write something about The West Wing, Yes, Prime Minister, and the Special Relationship.

Our Star Cops DVDs arrived during the week, and they are shiny. Haven't played the extras yet, but there is a documentary about Mr Boucher, also one about Philip Martin, and Trevor Cooper appears to have recorded a special message. kalypso_v, I shall report further. The arrival of these DVDs leaves us with a spare set of tapes. Any takers? Let it be noted first that they are copies, cunningly put into boxes with covers I cadged from the video shop display. So - any takers?