Top TV Pairings Part 4

Sorry I didn't get to this on Sunday but better late than never, so here's the fourth part in my TV Pairings ...

Rome - Atia/Marc Anthony

Now, these two were quite a lethal explosion. I know Atia may have been traded in for Cleopatra but her and Marc Anthony were a bloody brilliant pairing during this whole series. One of the many memorable things about this HBO classic.

Game Of Thrones - Renly/Loras

It's hard to find a relationship that comes to er being sweet. I could've gone for Ned and Cat but we didn't get enough interaction with them and Drogo and Dany didn't start off sweetly, so I guess it's Renly and Loras that scoop this one. Here's hoping there's more with them in the second season.

The Vampire Diaries - Caroline Forbes/Matt Donovan

Forget the Katherine/Stefan/Elena/Damon quadrangle, the best relationship that I witnessed in the first two seasons was the one between ditzy vampire Caroline and the rather sweet Matt. Kinda like this show's version of Jessica and Hoyt really.

Smallville - Chloe Sullivan/Oliver 'Green Arrow' Queen

This show has had it's fair share of relationships, a lot of them rather stormy as well but I did like the relationship between Chloe and Oliver that developed in the last two seasons of the season but that's probably down to them being two of my favourite characters as well.

Camelot - Merlin/Morgan

This show might have gotten canned but Merlin and Morgan were the best pairing of antagonists going. Seriously, I could watch these two trying to outwit each other more than the other characters. Damn you Starz for cancelling the show.

Game Of Thrones Finale Discussion

I was going to leave this until my TV jumble but the Game Of Thrones finale, Fire And Blood was so good, I had to talk about it now ...

Bloody hell, this was a finale and a half. I want season 2 now, not in 2012. Though filming will be starting in Northern Ireland for the next season in July. Danaerys arc has been my favourite throughout the entire season and I loved the way it came to a head tonight. The woman lost her husband and her unborn child but managed to rise from the ashes with three dragons in an epic last season. I can't wait to see how that plays out next season and while I can understand the witch's desire for vengeance, it did backfire spectacularly on her here. And can we have more of Ser Jorah, the bestest ally a Khaleesi can have?

I don't care if Joffrey is a child, I still hope he meets a horrible ending next year. That boy is a tyrant in the making and his glee over humiliating others will hopefully be instrumental in his downfall next series. Sansa has my sympathies and then some. Until Joffrey is taken out, that girl is destined for a horrible life ahead of her. Cersei slept with her cousin in this one as well. Can't that woman not keep it in the family for once? Also, Jaime doesn't fear death? Methinks he doth protest too much. I wasn't too bothered with the Jon Snow bits but I did like the respective looks into both Cat and Robb's grief for Ned though. Arya might now be forced into disguising as a boy but at least she's in safer hands than her sister at the moment. I want Renly back sooner than later as I missed his character in this one. Tyrion continues to be a brilliant character. It's a shame his father's a dud though.

I'm going to do a Season 1 review when the DVD surfaces for the show.

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.

New York New York

And here's some of the latest stuff I've been watching, including some finales as well ...

Desperate Housewives: It's finales like these that actually remind me that the show can fire on all cylinders when it pays attention. Having the housewives united because they've witness Carlos killing Gabby's evil stepfather in self-defense was certainly the best bit of this episode where the rest of the ingredients involved Renee taking her ex-husband's imminent remarriage badly and Lynette/Tom's marriage continuing to go down the crapper. I did like the Come Dine With Me means of celebrating Susan's return to Wisteria Lane as well and Bree and Chuck continue to work well as a couple but next series should be it's last.

Game Of Thrones: I think I'm going from enamoured with this show to nearly addicted. After a slow start, something with this series has gotten better. Maybe it's the charactersation or the inventive means of death (Viserys literally getting crowned springs to mind) but this show is certainly getting more and more gripping. Characters like Ned, Tyrien, Cat, Renly and Dany have definitely shined in the last couple of weeks and with three episodes left, I am definitely glad I have stuck with this show.

Glee: As a finale, this one was pretty good. Not as good as it's first one but definitely an excellent end to a pretty good season. Romantic wise, I don't care about Rachel/Finn and while Kurt/Blaine's 'I love yous' were rushed, they were rather nice and I liked the reveal about Sam/Mercedes as well. Still, there were some disappointments - the gang's under preparation meant they came in 12th, nothing was progressed with Brittany/Santana, Jesse served no real purpose in this episode, Will's dreams were gotten out of the way and Quinn didn't go through with her plan for vengeance. Still, there's always next season to rectify some of that stuff.

The Kennedys: I'm going to get blasted for this but now I can see why this eight part miniseries struggled to get a channel to broadcast it - it's a damp squib. It's well filmed and there are some good actors but I caught the first two episodes (and will watch the remaining six) and it didn't really come alive for me. More importantly, I'm not getting any chemistry at all between Greg Kinnear and Katie Holmes (the latter of whom seems miscast as Jackie Kennedy). I hope this improves because so far, I'm not impressed with this at all.

V: I caught the final two episodes and it's a shame that this series was cancelled because the final opened such possibilities. A series without Tyler, Erica having a stronger ally force with Project Aries, Anna and Amy blissing the entire world, Lisa's punishment and Diana and Ryan's deaths as well. With the ratings being a disaster, ABC were wise to pull the plug but it's a shame none of these awesome storylines will be full resolved now.

- Patrick Dempsey has admitted he will be leaving Grey's Anatomy after the upcoming eighth season.
- Glee will be adding four new characters to the it's third season, including two named Rebecca and Marilyn.
- Eliza Dushku as well as doing Torchwood: Web Of Lies will also be guest starring in the third season of White Collar as well.
- Benedict Cumberbatch will be starring in an upcoming BBC/HBO World War 1 co-production called Parade's End alongside Rebecca Hall.
- Jane Lynch will be hosting the 2011 Emmys.
- Jane Espenson has claimed that SyFy's remake of Randall And Hopkirk: Deceased will be realistic.
- UK viewers can finally see the 10th and final season of Smallville, Tuesdays at 9pm on E4 from June 7th.
- Brea Grant is the latest cast signing for the sixth season of Dexter. Others include Colin Hanks, Billy Brown, Mos Def and Edward James Olmos.

Funeral Blues

And here's another look at the last few shows I've been watching ...

Desperate Housewives: Ah, Susan. You try to do good and you wind up nearly getting sent down for trying to poison Paul. As if Susan would have enough braincells to try that for starters. Still, the last two episodes that I've seen were actually quite good and with RTE2 set to air the finale on Tuesday, I'm intrigued to see where the show ends, given that both the Paul and Felicia strands have been dealt with. I suppose there's still Gabby coming face to face with her stepfather and Bree's relationship with Chuck. As for Lynette and Tom's shaky marriage - I'm really struggling to care at the moment because neither of them are remotely sympathetic.

Game Of Thrones: Another two episodes I've managed to watch together, I have to admit that this show is really gathering apace. The fanservice scenes between Renly and Loras aside, the characters in this episode are clicking more for me - Tyrion, Dany, Ned, Cat and Jon Snow are all definitely getting stronger with each episode and while I do find both Cersei/Jamie horrible people, they are however decent antagonists for the series and more effective than the King at the moment.

Glee: Great set of episodes. Okay, the Prom episode hardly reinvented the wheel for that particular theme and the cynic in me thought that Jean's death was an excuse to give Jane Lynch an Emmy submission but the uneven writing aside in places, I actually am looking for the finale the finale. It's nice that more progress with Santana, still happy that Brittany/Artie are no more, officially bored to death with Jesse/Rachel/Finn/Quinn quadrangle but musically the last two episodes did give us numbers from Adele, Amy Winehouse and ABBA and that was a lot better than Kurt and his neverending showtunes. Step out of your comfort zone, Kurt and nice Sue will not last for long.

The Walking Dead: Really brilliant last two episodes. I definitely want more of this series. Everything seems to have clicked better - the characters, the pacing, the introduction of Jenner and his abrupt demise but either way, I left watching the last two episodes wanting more from the series. Season 2 can't start soon enough as far as I'm concerned.

V: I still have to catch up with the double bill episodes that SyFy to end the series but the last two I watched were strong enough episodes. I like that Lisa's trying to play the game with Anna while scheming with Diana and even Erica's brutal methods with the Fifth Column make more sense than Tyler's increased gullibility. Only Ryan's storyline with his daughter and Jack are beginning to be sore points of each episode. Looking forward to the last two.


- Joseph Morgan may become a regular in the upcoming third season of The Vampire Diaries.
- Ricky Gervais has recently complained about the celebrity cameos in The Office finale. Er, you were one of them, Ricky.
- Chris Vance has signed up for a series based on The Transporter movies.
- Supernatural has been picked up for a seventh season but Misha Collins won't be a regular.
- Peter MacDissi will be playing a vampire in an upcoming episode of True Blood.
- TNT have confirmed that a decision has not been made on the Dallas reboot just yet.

All The Muck That's Fit To Rake

And here's another TV jumble for you ....

Desperate Housewives: I have to admit that Season 7 has been something of an improvement recently, with nearly every plot minus anything Lynette/Tom (I'm fit to kill the both of them) actually being interesting. Bree and Gabby trying to maintain their friendship in spite of Carlos's wrath, Susan befriending Paul and Felicia subsequently poisoning, Karen getting a little more involved with Felicia and even Renee has been enjoyable. Here's hoping the last few episodes wrap up the season nicely.

Game Of Thrones: The show moves at a somewhat slow pace but it's actually becoming interesting viewing though. Ned is definitely a better character than I expected him to be and Tyrion is by far the best character of the bunch, though I'm liking Arya for smacking Cersei's bratty child down and John Snow is still a sympathetic character too. Sometimes the politics is a little hard to keep up with though but I'm still sticking with this show.

Glee: Really loved the last two episodes. Okay, so doing Born This Way was nowhere near as great as Rachel/Quinn's mashup of Unpretty/I Feel Pretty but you have to admire Santana's scheming. The girl managed to neutralise Karofsky in a way that no-one else managed to and Kurt returned to McKinley and while Sue might need to up her game beyond rumour spreading, I did enjoy Will and April taking on Fleetwood Mac's Dreams and the subplot about Sam being homeless was pretty effective as well. Looking forward to the final three.

V: I still have to catch up with Birth Pangs but the last two episodes were delightful. Finally, Erica and company make an aggressive effort to take out Anna. It's just a damn shame that it failed, Ryan betrayed them and Erica's ex-husband ended up being killed instead. On the flip side, it's been six episodes and Diana has yet to do anything really significant. Hopefully now that Lisa is aware of her grandmother's existence, this might finally change.

The Walking Dead: This show is definitely getting a lot better. Nice to have Rick reunited with his family and surprisingly decent of him to try and retrieve that racist hick with a small team as well. However, the women on this show need a more active role, other than dying (I liked Amy, shame to see her go) but overall, this show is definitely getting into it's groove though and I can't wait to see what the last two episodes have in store.

- Brothers And Sisters could be returning for a sixth season as little as 13 episodes. ABC won't reveal the show's fate until May 16th.
- All My Children actress Susan Lucci could be appearing in Desperate Housewives in the near future. There's been some contradicting reports on this one.
- Puck, Artie and Sam will be singing Rebecca Black's Friday in this week's episode of Glee. There's also rumours that Season 3 will feature a Cheryl Cole song. Ugh.
- Dexter and Deb's relationship will be further explored in the upcoming sixth season of Dexter. Will she finally realise her brother kills people? Dexter will also not be pitted against one big bad this season.
- Grey's Anatomy will see both Meredith and Derek facing tough times as they struggle with adoption.
- Chris Colfer has sold a pilot to the Disney Channel called The Little Leftover Witch, based on the Florence Laughlin books.

Neglecting The Neglected Here

Okay, because I'll be distracted by some bloke in a bow tie and his three mates this weekend, here's a look at some of the stuff I've watched over the last week ...

Desperate Housewives: I need to catch up with an episode later tonight but I did like the last episode that dealt with the consequences of Beth's death and actually humanised Paul for the first time this season. It's just too bad that the poor woman's death served an opportunity for Felicia to get free from jail but I did like that Paul allowed his wife to die, so that Susan could get a transplant, which means that plotline is now coming to an end. Other good plotlines included Andrew's alcoholism (even if came out of nowhere) and Bree trying to help him as well as Gabby learning a bit more about Renee's past. I have to admit that Renee is beginning to improve as a character too but the Lynette/Tom storyline bored me senseless yet again.

Game Of Thrones: You have to hand it to SkyAtlantic for being so quick on the ball with airing this series a day after HBO did. The first episode of this fantasy epic was alright, moved rather slowly in places and because I've never read the books, it did take a while to actually keep up with what was going on. The incestuous brother/sister duo harming Ned's son at the end of the episode was nasty as was the poor girl pawned off by her brother for an army. In terms of characters, the only ones I've liked so far as Ned, John Snow and Tyrien, the randy little imp. With a further nine episodes, I do think I'll be sticking with the show though.

Glee: When you do an episode about neglected artists, it's probably wise to actually do an episode about neglected artists. Which means doing songs by Jack Johnson, Mariah Carey, Aretha Franklin or current chart fave, Adele doesn't count as neglected. Tina seemed to be the only to actually get the memo and the poor girl didn't even get to sing. As episodes go, this one was more lightweight with Sue assembling the worst supervillains going, Sunshine reminding us how well she can sing, Mercedes fighting for attention in the dumbest way possible and Will/Holly coming to a predictable break up. On the plus side, there was the joy of Santana threatening Karofsky and Brittany's knowledge of feline diseases to keep the episode going.

V: Ah, now I am really enjoying this series. Can we please have a third season, ABC? This episode might not have been the best one going but it was decent enough. We had Erica and the gang finally meeting Eli and Anna at her scheming best as she paid a holy visit this episode. Also, I really want Erica's new partner not to be a threat but the show kind of eviscerated that one quickly. That woman doesn't have the greatest of luck, does she? The downside was Tyler trashing the church but I've given up on that character so his doltish behaviour no longer shocks me.
The Walking Dead: Solid second episode. One criticism is that the show tends to move at a snails pace in parts but two episodes in and I can definitely understand the hype for the series. This one was certainly interesting with the gang actually using an interesting method to try and blend in with the zombies, just too bad that it didn't last for too long. As for Rick, he's still a likeable enough leading man but how much longer will we have to wait before he's reunited with his family?

- Cassidy Freeman has admitted that her character Tess Mercer will have scenes with Lex Luthor in the series finale of Smallville.
- In news that won't shock but Games Of Thrones has been renewed for a second season after the success of the premiere episode.
- BBCAmerica will be co-producing the fourth season of Being Human with the BBC.
- Jim Carrey is the latest guest star for the finale for the US version of The Office. Others include Catherine Tate, Ray Romano, Will Arnett and James Spader.
- Former Heroes actor Masi Oka is writing and starring in a pilot for SyFy called The Correctors.
- Kevin Alejandro will appear in the season finale of Bones, playing the role of Hercules 'The Tornado' Maldanado.