Masterful men of magic and spying

Well, I watched the third installment of Merlin last night and I absolutely loved it. I assume that after the first scene-setting episode they will now continue to follow the format of a stand alone story of bad sorcery that Merlin has to defeat before the end of the episode.

Why did I love this episode? Because I am a girl, and because all the men, even dweeby Arthur, were really masterful and manly. Rrrrr. Also, the characters were all fleshed out a bit more in this episode, particularly Guinevere and Morgana. Colin Morgan does work really well as Merlin, he plays the clever but confused bit well. Particularly notable for his "I will not let this happen" swooshery.

I didn't watch anything else. I've got the following to watch sometime before I forget:

Little Britain USA. Pretty much know what you're going to get here...

Griff Rhys Jones, Losing It, Part 2. I loved the first part of this, because Griff is so very likeable and funny, and it was good watching him lose his temper and talk about it. I'm not so keen to see the second part, because it is about touchy feely making him better guff. But he is marvellous and will presumably carry the show as well as demonstrate suitable skepticism for the touchy feely stuff, so I will watch it and probably enjoy.

Where's Spooks? I need Spooks, even if they do seem set to write out the very lovely Rupert Penry Jones, but compensating by introducing the very lovely Richard Armitage.

Upon searching for the answer to this pressing question (which will undoubtedly be revealed on the cover of the Radio Times, I need only to exercise patience, it will happen sometime) I found all sorts of trailers for Quantum of Solace. This, I am excited about. I've always been a fan of Bond (obviously) but found Pierce Brosnan wet, unconvincing and generally rubbish. Timothy Dalton was fabulous, he was my favourite pre-Craig Bond and I loved the Living Daylights. I can't remember which of the Brosnan ones I liked and didn't like, I know I hated Goldeneye and liked Tomorrow Never Dies, but I can't remember which one of the other two was good and which was unwatchable drivel. Anyway, I LOVED Casino Royale, Daniel Craig is magnificent as Bond (and, shockingly, can actually act) and the film was mostly superb. Except for the whole emotional in love Bond thing, that was too long and tedious and could have done with being trimmed. The Quantum of Solace has Angry Bond, which should be quite a thing to watch.

31st October apparently. Woo.

Things that used to be easy #978,345: watching television

Well, my memory has deserted me for good. I miss it a bit.
I forgot to watch Buzzcocks. Because I'm not used to things being on at 9pm on Thursday? Because I don't like it? Or because I'm a mong? When I got a blatant reminder for next week's episode, the penny smashed into my consciousness and I found it on catchup.

Aaaah. That's better. Even though St Bill was off and was replaced by Mark Ronson. I'm sure I shouldn't like him, but I do. He's no Noel Fielding, but still, yup. I long for Phil Jupitus to be replaced by Noel Fielding, and to have Bill Bailey and Noel Fielding as the two captains. That's not going to happen given Jupitus' knowledge, and the fact that Bailey and Fielding are both as bonkers and surreal as each other and no sense would be uttered from start to end with them and Amstell.

Another programme I didn't watch was Merlin episode two. I recorded it and got round to watching it last night. I'm less impressed now, but I did enjoy it. Anthony Head is marvellous, I must have him round for coffee... Colin Morgan completely reminds me of Ralf Little (possibly influenced by his being the guest on Buzzcocks right before in my special schedule), compounded by Will Mellor playing a character and making my head go into Two Pints of Mead mode.

Finally, I could have sworn I watched the entirety of series two of Ugly Betty. I missed series one on the assumption that I wouldn't like it, then I somehow started watching the end and really liked it (at least in part for the presence of Daniel...). Channel 4 SEEMS to be showing series two, according to the schedules. But things are happening that are later on chronologically than what I was aware of having happened. Have I lost my mind or my capability to take things in? Ahhhhhh. Thank you Wiki (I should not rely on Wiki, this is a sign of my ever shrinking intelligence) apparently there was a big gap (of 9 months!) and the rest of Season (must not say series) 2 is now showing. And I didn't watch it and will have to catch up a month's worth. Sigh.

I remember the days when I watched TV when it was broadcast, or taped it. I think that's why my memory worked back then. I have no need to remember things now, technology does it for me. If I remember to set it up in the first place...

Merlin, episode 1

I wanted to write this before I found out what anyone else thinks. I've been excited about the first episode of Merlin and I wanted to write down an uninfluenced response.

Episode one seems rather like Robin Hood, which I found unwatchable due to the casting of the least Robin Hood-like Robin Hood. But this has the same historical, based on legend (and thus freeing accuracy of detail) feel to it. Merlin has much more scope as a story, as well as not having been umpteen TV series and films before, so there is potential for something new. Maybe.

It's hard to gauge something like this from the first episode, the majority of the episode was scene setting and introducing the characters. But so far it seems good, the cast is strong and I'm anticipating following this through to the end. I had a momentary glimpse into the future of a nostalgic look back to this first episode.

I like Colin Morgan as Merlin. Victor Meldrew, sorry, my mistake, Richard Wilson is likable enough as ???? - I have no idea what his character is called. Anthony Head is ace, I'm still waiting for him to borrow a cup of coffee, except for the excruciating conversation where I have to explain why I don't actually buy Nescafe, gold or otherwise. Hmm? Oh yes, I liked him as Uther. The dragon bizarrely looks a bit like John Hurt. According to the Radio Times, he had detectors all over his face as he spoke so as to accurately portray the speech of the dragon, so maybe that's why. Or maybe I imagined it. I don't know the other actors' names, but Arthur fits what is said about him, Guinevere's nice enough, but you can't not see her as a gold digger, you know what happens. Morgana said two words so you can't really tell much about her (but she's baaaad).

I now need to brush up on my Arthur knowledge because I'm SURE I'm meant to know things. I'm confused as to things like, what about Excalibur? He knows who he is, so surely he'd say "Well, I'll have a shot, saying as how I'm the King's son and all". And was Arthur not quite young when Merlin was really old?

Unfortunately, Monty Python and the Holy Grail and my Horrible Histories: Arthur are both in storage, so I'm going to have to activate sleeping synapses, resort to Wiki, or get a reliable source.

I can't decide whether this will be heralded or slated. I like it, I have appalling taste.

The inevitable comparisons make me wonder how Harry Potter would have been received had it been a TV series. Would it have been so popular, would it have been less mocked (by those that haven't read it, no less), would it have gone to seven series? Would it have been better than the films if each had a 13 episode (a total of nearly ten hours) run? Hmm.

Autumn watch

It's that time of year for BBC's new season, the series that will finish at Christmas time. Sod the summer, bring on the autumn dark evenings and watchable telly.

First off, and this I am looking forward to, is Merlin, starting on BBC1 on Saturday at 7.30 pm. I saw the trailer for this while waiting for The Dark Knight at the cinema and was immensely pleased it was to be on TV not a film release. The guy who plays Merlin, Colin Morgan, is mesmerising from what I've seen, he has incredible eyes. I'm not overly familiar with the whole Arthurian legend, I know some parts of some stories, but it's not a world I've ever explored in detail. I feel it may now be easy to do so, which is always an added bonus. There are to be five series of this, the first one of which is in 13 parts, so lots of watching there.



Spooks series 7 is imminent. I adore Spooks. It is necessary to suspend all disbelief, but the action is fast paced and I like the cast. One of the things that is good about this is the suspense, this is one of the few dramas that will quite happily kill off a lead character, removing the assurance that all will be well in the end - it usually isn't. Rumour is that the very gorgeous Rupert Penry Jones is to be leaving this series (presumably by getting a new identity as he appears to be immortal), but whether this is true or not, the broodingly sexy Richard Armitage is to join the cast, which is quite splendid news. Not sure of exact broadcast date, Autumn 2008 is the closest I can find. Check the Radio Times.


And finally...
It's back. Series 3. October 1st, BBC2 9pm. Some of the cast can act, some of the stories work, but overall... I love it.