We're not fags, we're dykes you fuckers....

Jenny's got a taser (as she once again is confronted with the conservative conformistic prejudiced world view of idiots), Shane wears a dress and hairextension....... and telling you more would be a real spoiler. The L word S03E02 (Lost weekend) seems to bring us back to the good scripts of last half of the first season and first half of the second season. Still more fragmented tention than earlier episodes, but it develops in the right direction i must say. A few things we could be without, but these little things often seems to disappear within the first episodes of a new season. The L word still manifests the power of aesthetic televised fictive worlds. And speaking of slow lift offs, ITVs Eleventh hour is an interesting attempt at bringing science and classical thriller elements together (Though not as interesting as Regenesis). It's also nice to see Patrick Stewart back into a seriouse thriller-drama. As usual we have good characters and awesome casting. Typical good old fashioned english quality entertainment. This i think will develop into something really good. I will come back to this show. And as long as we're into drama I'll have to mention the sci-fi-thriller-drama Threshold (which i forgott to mention in my previouse post). As earlier this low budgett serie steeres steady and is still somewhat recommendable. At the borderline of drama and comedy we find a new glossy serie from the mastodont BBC One. Hotel Babylon with one of my current favorite english drama actors Max Beesley (foremost Bodies also packed with fantastic casting). Well, anyway, for now Hotel Babylon wasn't to promising. Lightweight craftsmanship. Almost english gone american thrash gloss. But i'll maybe follow up this somewhat hard critic since the actors strive to please. And I also forgott to mention that Grey's anatomy is back. Can't explain why i like these stupid american shows, always twisting and turning. Never deciding on what they'll transforming into today. Love story, comedy-drama, pure drama, sentimental classical conservative drama, politically correct drama, educational morality soup etc. This is not quality. But i must tell you i'm weak for medical jargon and white coats. In fact i've always liked medical dramas (not ER). In this show the main character is the weakest link. You are once again warned.

Well, enough about serious drama. In the shadow of the loss of Curb your enthusiasm i found the hysterical BBC Three sketchshow Tittybangbang (in the tradition of the swedish Reuter & Skoog). This is typical good old fashioned humor. Nothing fancy, not reinventing the comedic wheel. Just plain old good laughable humour. Funland on the other side (still in BBC Three land) seems to go new darker routes to lure laughter from us. The series homepage presents itself as; Funland is a disturbingly funny new thriller . In other words a recommendable serie since it seems to offer something new. Not being the latest on the scene, i apologise, but as you can see the shows keep piling up. Anyway Funland is a very strange and bizarre kind of comedy. In the more traditional american cosy comedy tradition i found the new serie Love Monkey. Described on Tv.com as; The series is about four male friends at different stages of life and love as told through the eyes of a single, thirtysomething record executive. Well, appart from the last part of that sentence it just dont cut it. But the music refrences are for sure my kind of music. So, thou in doubt, i will try a few more episodes. But be warned, this is cosy american bubblegum comedy.

Sea of souls. Northern lights. The Book of Daniel. To be continued monday night........

Thinking back on good and evil

In Falcon Crest evil conspired with evil when Melissa and Lance got togheter. Typical black (evil) leather clothes on Melissa. Lance is the typical modern playboy of the time. Leaving the shirt unbuttoned at the top to show his manhood. Evil transformed into good for a shorter periode of time when Melissa supposedly fell in love with Cole, who never knew what hit him (later being framed for the murder of Melissas father).












In Dynasty evil is tamed for a short periode when Dex Dexter and Alexis finds one another. The heritage of the prime-time soap cannot be underestimated.........The aesthetics of televisuallity stems by far from these characters and their peers' narratives and discourses......They manifested and developed what Jane Feuer called to peak hysteria.

R.I.P

Dynasty [TV-Series 1981-1989]
Falcon Crest [TV-Series 1981-1990]

The Dark horse, continuation and returns

Just after Christmas i finally got through the 18 episodes of the fantastic retro comedy drama Freaks & geeks. Really one of those rare feelgood occurrences I recommend for everyone. The serie is for sure a real scrutiny of growing up (Tv.com). Besides that some other quality series have picked where they left off before Christmas. Last years dark horse surprise Invasion picks up in the same mysteries way they left us (S01E11). Still managing to keep feeding us seriously eerie feelings and forcing us to try to stay ahead of the story. Even though we know we can’t solve the riddle we’re constantly pushed to try. That’s the aesthetics of good writing kicking in. A perfectly played classical formula (the human race vs. aliens (ETBE) repeating it self all over again. Why isn’t this running on Norwegian television?

In addition, talking about formula, Lost surprised me we their continuation of season two with The 23rd Psalm (S.02.E10). Lost have come to be a somewhat tiresome phenomenon. In the beginning it was not bad at all, but the latest episode have been close to boring. For each step forward in the story we’re sent at least three steps backwards. But the latest episode dealing with the mysterious and intriguing character of Eko really put me right back on the edge of the coach. He, that’s televisual magic for you.

Showtimes lesbian drama The L word is back with a third season. Episode 01 (S03) didn’t offer anything new. No real peaks of hysteria, but never the less, after the first few episodes we usually get a more compact constellation of conflicts and entangled plot-conglomerates which seems to be the norm these days. So for us who can’t live without the televised (melo)dramas of everyday life The L word still may be worth checking out.

Battlestar Galctica and Stargate Atlantis is still in its respective second seasons. And still by far something for sci-fi fantasts. I have just finished E.

08 (S.02) of Battlestar Galactica (with four to go so far). And I must say I at least for now hope they never end the serie. Besides that BBC Drama are loaded with interesting series at the time being (check out the link in the sidebar). Took a quick look at the first episode of Life on mars (S01E01) yesterday. The serie spins over a classic british detective saga, cops vs. bad guys, but with a twist:

A detective chief inspector from 2006 is investigating a serial killer when he is knocked over by a speeding car. Waking up, he finds himself mysteriously transported back in time to 1973. Initially struggling to come to terms with his situation, he has to come to terms with the old-fashioned technology and attitude of the day, while figuring out how he came to be trapped in the past. Tv.com says further:

The actor John Simm described the show as

"a cross between Back to the Future and The Sweeney", and it makes effective use of the disorientation of the unwitting time traveller while taking a post-modern romp through 1970s fashions and technologies, with due tribute paid to the classic police dramas of the day to fashion a truly unique programme.

Looks to be a mystery within a mystery. Somewhat enjoyable and promising. But for now a typical light weight detective drama. But with impressive mise-en-scene and music. And last but not least, the cops from the seventies are a bit more cruel and evil than what we are used to. Like the character DCI Gene Hunt says: we’re only second to the law.

…….gotta run…..got my hands on Bodies season 01..... and other series are queing up……….stay away from the water….

The constant resurfacing of wait

To some point the waiting for the continuation of different series is excruciating. But luckily the american networks have started several lift offs. Some series have allready started and thus making the wait for the real big battleships to come somewhat easier to endure. To kick of the new year Surface (S01E11), Arrested development (S03E09) and Stargate Atlantis (S02E16) has landed. So it seems the start of the week is going to unfold very nicely. Surface is still very intriguing. Despite the fact that the last episodes before christmas was a bit slow. But still unravelling some elements of the story at the same time as adding more complex subplots to the series still makes it very watchable. And with the discontinuation of the all time great Curb your enthusiasm, the continuation of Arrested development in no doubt still got some laughs left. In addition the latest episodes of Stargate Atlantis gave a new rise to the series as we got more action with the wrait. The everlasting battle between good and evil persists and thank god for that. Offcourse since the the push and pull of televisual evil so often manifests in a highly aesthetically way. The paradox of aesthetics kicks in again.

Later this week the sarcastic character of Hugh Laurie in House M.D., The sci-fi aesthetics of Battlestar galactica, the lesbian drama The L word ( 301. LABIA MAJORA) and The Simpsons is back again. Easing the pain further while we wait for series like Regenesis season two which is rumoured to be just around the corner:
The future is here. Bioterrorism. Designer babies. Frankenfoods. Suddenly Humanity possesses the ability to play god. But is it progress—or madness? Will cutting-edge science be our salvation? Or our demise? Regenesis season one was very, very good. Bilogical terror on every corner mixed with high drama, priceless........
And the long wait for the Sopranos season six is closing in. Before that Jack Bauer is back in 24 season 5 on january 16. This time (quoted from tv.com) Jack Bauer is forced out of hiding after national security is brutally breached. Not expecting anything new from this show. I guess this new season once again will be a tiresome repetition of the other 24 seasons. Though there are usually some good things about the serie to (i'll be back on that some other day). Besides that i long for the continuation of Invasion, last years dark horse, and offcourse Prison break season 2 (season one is airing thursday january 5 on Tv3 and is massively fronted in the media both on tv commercials, in newspapers and on the web). Thou the last episode in season two where very nice it was useless as a season finale. Anyway the serie will be on my top ten list also for 2006. And last but not least the variable but highly viewable Supernatural is soon back.

These are the series i recommend for the time being. Others will surely be added as soon as they surface.......