A Bit Of Werewolf Slaying

I was meant to do this on Saturday but I got distracted, but here it is ...

Angry Boys: I am loving this series more and more. I don't know if we'll get a second series but I wouldn't mind seeing more of Gran Sims after last week's episode revealed that she had Alzheimer's, proving that Chris Lilley can add some poignancy to these characters as well. Even in last night's episode, I felt a little sympathetic towards the Blake character, despite him being the weakest character of the bunch. And fair play to Tim for finally getting his own back on that evil bitch of a mother he has. Only three more episodes left to watch.

Camelot: It's a shame this has had to come to an end because it's really been an interesting series. In the last two weeks, Morgan has upped her game as a character - first by being forced into making an example of her pet nun (thank you for that, Merlin) and then by holding Igraine captive and posing as her. However in spite of her desire to undermine/usurp her brother at every turn, I still get the feeling that Morgan cares something for Arthur, even if she's not willing to admit it. As for the Arthur/Guinevere/Leontes triangle - it's not bad but could be a little better though.
Mildred Pierce: I need to catch up with the last two episodes but the second and third instalments were pretty decent stuff though. Okay, I'm at the point where I'd ship Veda off to military school and Mildred's romance with Monty is about as interesting as paint drying but the main actors have definitely earned their 21 Emmy nominations with the powerhouse performances though.

Sirens: I've caught up with the last three episodes of this series and it's definitely been worth watching. From dealing with Stuart and Maxine's push/pull dynamic, Rachid's fear of dying alone and even Ashley's family antics, this show has been one of the best things Channel 4 has produced for a while. Here's hoping there's a second series around the corner.

Smallville: Finally Lois and Clark are on the same page. No more hiding in plain sight, no more lame excuse - they finally have honesty with each other and it's about damn time. Too bad the last two episodes have been in cliche land though - Lois possessed by an Egyptian goddess in one and nearly sacrificed by a creepy set of villagers. Better though is the current storyline with Tess and Alexander's rapid aging - he's becoming Lex and it's working well, plot wise. And I kinda like the idea of her working in Watchtower while Chloe is still gone.

The Vampire Diaries: How do you solve a problem like Mason Lockwood? If you're Caroline, you kiss his ass for threatening your friend but if you're Damon, you kidnap him, tie him up, torture him and kill him. Damon is nothing if no predictable to be honest. I felt a little bad that Mason was killed off so speedily but that only means that Katherine will just get poor Matt to cause Tyler to turn into a werewolf. I am loving Katherine in this show - her threats to keep Stefan/Elena apart, manipulating Caroline/Jenna/Matt, resistance to Vervain - the woman is unstoppable, isn't she? And the personal stuff with Caroline and her mother in the last two episodes also worked well.

- Idina Menzel will be reprising her role as Shelby for a multi-episode story in the third season of Glee.
- Jamie Murray has been cast as Andrew's business partner, Olivia in the new series of Ringer.
- Michelle Forbes has admitted that she doesn't know if she'll be appearing in the second season of The Killing.
- Jason Ritter will be reprising his role as Mark in the third season of Parenthood.
- Liam Cunningham is the latest actor to be cast in the second season of Game Of Thrones as Davos while Stephen Dillane will be playing Stannis Baratheon and Melisandre will be played by Carice Van Houten.
- Ricky Gervais and Clyde Philips are working on a series called Afterlife, a series about an atheist who ends up in Heaven.
- B.D Wong has confirmed that he will not be appearing in the upcoming season of Law And Order: SVU.
- Michael C. Hall has said that the upcoming season of Dexter will have a lightness to it.

Hitting The Nostalgia Button

And here's a jumble of some of the stuff I've been watching over the last fortnight ...

Angry Boys: I'm still enjoying this series immensely. It's nice that BBC3 have laid off the double bills and are airing single episodes, which means I can enjoy the series longer. That Japanese mother forcing her son into pretending to be gay though is a scary concept. Even for pushy stage mothers, she's a step too far, isn't she? My favourite character is still the jailer gran though and my least favourite is the failed surfer guy but half way through the series, I can happily say this is a fun show to watch.

Camelot: Another show I'm at the halfway point with and my expectations have been confounded. This isn't the best series or take on the Arthurian legend but it has improved a lot. I love the takes we've seen with Gwaine, the lady of the lake and even Morgan has come leaps and bounds as a character. Give her an ally in Sybil has definitely been a lot better for her than her deal with Lot. As for Merlin, still have trouble connecting with the character and Igraine is by far, the weakest of the lot. Liking the Arthur/Guinevere stuff for some reason as well.

Mildred Pierce: I swear in the last two months, you couldn't move from the TV or the internet without hearing something about this miniseries. Having seen the first part on SkyAtlantic, I have to admit it's pretty decent so far. Kate Winslet is certainly solid stuff as the eponymous character but the first part was merely just setting up Mildred's drab life, so here's hoping the remaining four parts are more compelling stuff.

Sirens: I had no intention of watching the latest comedy from Channel 4 (why is it an hour show?) but I caught the first episode out of boredom and I have to admit it was decent. Stuart, Ashley and Rachid might not be the most interesting of ambulance guys but they're played by likeable actors and their attempts of dealing with a trauma by being up, horny and down was far less crass than I expected it to be. With five more episodes to go, I might just stick with this one.

Smallville: I am loving this last series. Okay so the episode where Kara returned and Lois got into a BDSM situation with the baddie of the week wasn't exactly riveting stuff but the homecoming episode was just shameless nostalgia at it's best. For all the varying quality the series has had over the years, it's great to see it celebrated it's history and some of the flashbacks to the characters past made it a wonderful episode to watch. Also wonderful were the show directly facing up to the consequences of Oliver outing himself as the Green Arrow to the general public. This is what I want to remember the series for.

The Vampire Diaries: Good set of episodes here. I have to recommend the series for not using Katherine too much and focusing their efforts on Elena doing some digging on her past, Caroline adjusting to being a vampire and Tyler learning that his uncle Mason is a werewolf. And Elena deserves a medal for not forgiving Damon so easily for trying to kill her brother. That being said, it does look like Katherine is about to step into fore now.

- Chord Overstreet will not be a regular during the third season of Glee but both Harry Shum Jr and Darren Criss will be.
- True Blood has apparently been renewed for a fifth season, following the ratings for the fourth season premiere.
- Russell Tovey will be playing Henry Baskerville in an upcoming episode of Sherlock.
- Channel 4 will be airing The Killing, Thursdays at 9pm from July 7th.
- Neil Gaiman has said that the TV version of American Gods will be faithful to the book version.
- Camelot has been axed after one season. Damn, I was getting into it.
- Dichen Lachman will be playing a vampire named Izumi in the second season of Being Human US.
- Joe Manganiello will be guest starring in an upcoming episode of White Collar.

The Start Of A Love Story

And here's another look at some of the stuff I've caught up with recently ....

Angry Boys: I was a huge fan of Summer High Heights and with BBC3 not doing a lot of decent comedy themselves, I was pleased that they decided to air the third show from Chris Lilley and as a series go, I like this one. The characters might not be as well defined (though Prison Gran is priceless) but there's definitely a lot of potential and some of the stereotyping is handled better than other comedies. Definitely one to look out for, though I can't help but think that BBC3 are trying to rush through it with the double bills.

Camelot: I was dubious about this series and with Merlin, did we need another Arthurian series? Apparently we do and while this one is obviously geared for adults (swearing, sex scenes, violent deaths), it's actually a pretty good show. All of the actors are decent in their roles, even Jamie Campbell Bowers as Arthur and the banter between him and Merlin is less bromance and more student/mentor, which should please the purists. I quite like Eva Green's take on Morgan who managed to achieve killing Uther in the first ten minutes of the series whereas Morgana has managed to fail with that task in three seasons of Merlin. I guess I owe my sister an apology for thinking this would be rubbish then. Looking forward to the remainder of the season.

Game Of Thrones: Again, I went from liking this show to utterly loving it. The last few episodes just kept upping the game and the seeming deaths of Drogo and Ned certainly raised the stakes. Is it wrong that I hope Joffrey meets a violent ending next year? Even Cersei looked shocked when he opted to have Ned beheaded. More importantly the continuous bigger roles that Dany, Cat and Tyrien have had in the last few episodes are another highlight of this series. I only have the finale to catch up on now.

Smallville: Ah, at long last - E4 got off their backsides to air the 10th and final season of the series and the first two episodes were wonderful. Let's see - there's a young Lex type clone that Tess has taken under her wing, Clark continues to get closer to his destiny, Lois finally knows who Clark and had Carter for company in Egypt, Cat Grant made a brief appearance and gave some food for thought to Clark, Chloe faked her own death and Oliver got tortured for most of the first episode. That aside, this was a nice return to form for the series.

The Vampire Diaries: I planned to catch up with this series earlier but when TG4 announced they were airing it in June, I decided to wait. The first episode of Season 2 certainly seemed to prove this show wasn't a one trick pony. Katherine is an excellent thorn in the arse for Elena, Damon and Stefan, Damon is still an asshole at times (though even I don't blame him too much for his attempted kill on Jeremy), Bonnie is still fantastic (loved her being a bitch to Damon) and Caroline looks like she's about to have a bigger role on the show. I'm totally sticking with this series.

- James Frain will be guest starring on Burn Notice.
- Kristin Chenowith has mentioned that Good Christian Belles is unlike any show on TV. I think I can compare it to at least one.
- BBC controller Danny Cohen has announced that they will air The Voice in 2012. Judges have yet to be announced.
- Molly Parker is the latest cast addition to be added to Dexter's upcoming sixth season.
- Elizabeth Rodriguez has joined the cast of the US version of Prime Suspect.
- Gilles Marini will be appearing in the new series of Seperated At Birth.
- Emmy Rossum has joked that all the cast for the US Shameless are going to hell next season. UK viewers can see the series on More4 from Thursday at 10pm.
- E4 have claimed the rights to new series Happy Endings, which they will air in September.

Chris Lilley's 'Angry Boys'

First off, I really did mean to post yesterday, but blogger was down the entire evening so here's yesterday's... today!

Well, I've been waiting for about three years for this. Given that this is (mainly) a music blog, I don't talk a lot about other things I'm into, though longtime readers will probably remember me gushing about the TV series Summer Heights High on several occasions. I'm not a fan of most comedians or comedies in general. It's not that it takes a lot to make me laugh, but it does usually take a really specific style of humor.

Chris Lilley is, hands down, my favorite comic actor out there today. He's given us the fantastic We Can Be Heroes and my favorite comedy series ever, the aforementioned Summer Heights High. There's nothing particularly revolutionary about his mockumentary style (think The Office), but it's the quality of it that really sets his work apart. He's an incredible actor (the way he segues into the skin of all of his different characters is a marvel to behold) and a smart, truthful writer. His Mr. G and Ja'mie are two of my favorite characters in any medium.

So what am I getting at here? Lilley's new series, Angry Boys, premiered this week in Australia. It's been three years in the making and, like all of his work, is created and written by the man himself. It's set to be his longest series yet at twelve episodes, and sees a batch of new (yet oddly familiar) characters, as well as the characters of Nathan and Daniel from We Can Be Heroes. Sadly, nobody from Summer Heights High is back (I'm still hoping for a feature length Mr. G project with a new "arena spectacular").

It was with incredible anticipation that I watched the first Angry Boys episode a few nights ago. Unlike previous series, Lilley didn't introduce all of his characters in one night, choosing to instead focus on only three (Nathan and Daniel and new character "Gran"). While I found Gran to be pretty funny, though a bit like past Lilley creations, brothers Nathan and Daniel have never been my favorites. In fact, I'd go as far as saying they're my least favorite Lilley creations. From the previews I've seen, I look forward to Jen, the "manipulative Japanese mother." She seems to be the funniest character by far. What can I say? I'm a sucker for Lilley in drag. He's just so good at playing women.

As far as the first episode, the jury's still out for me personally. I didn't laugh a whole lot, but I'm not sure that's a huge problem because Lilley's creations often pack a heart-filled dose of reality that isn't always laugh out loud funny. After all, both WCBH and SHH ended on painful, heartbreaking moments for some of the characters. I'm wondering if Angry Boys will further explore the dramatic side of Lilley's creativity. From the previews, it's hard to tell.

One thing I can say, though, is that it's going to be awfully hard to top Summer Heights High. In fact, I think I'm better off not comparing the two and just enjoying Angry Boys for what it is. Either way, it's great to have Lilley back. It's been far too long.

Anyone else watching? Or if not, do we have any We Can Be Heroes/Summer Heights High fans lurking around here?

(very short) Trailer:


And my absolute FAVORITE Mr. G scene from the Summer Heights High bonus features: