Well how bizarre, I just looked at last year’s post to see how I’d formatted it and such and I saw the total shows I watched of 149 – this year’s according to the list is 148, hehe. Anyway, it goes without saying that I haven’t posted as much as I’d like in this section over the past year, but we can only move forwards and hope for better

This is just me going through that list and picking out the things I gave five stars to.

1. Outnumbered – one of the best things I have watched on TV ever. Ramona Marquez could save the world.

2. A Colbert Christmas: The Greatest Gift of All – expectations were through the roof and it completely trumped them.

3. Summerhill – like BBC Four was reading my mind all over again. Couldn’t be timelier.

4. The Sarah Connor Chronicles – more and this and Summerhill here

5. Dead Set – “Does this mean we’re not on telly anymore?” It’s sad that there are Big Brother fans who watched this, that calls them zombies to their very stupid faces, then probably went back as soon as the “celebrity” version kicked off this past week … but Charlie Brooker did it better than Peter Kay and in any case, if you strip away the reality TV element here, it’s frankly a better zombie movie than some that have been released in cinemas. This is one of the few TV productions this year that will last.

6. Sunshine – Steve Coogan is always brilliant, but he outdid himself here.

7. The Oscars – they got it right, they got it right, they got it right

8. The Olympics Opening Ceremony – fake but who cares? It made me feel like a kid.

9. The US Election – I guess everything related to it comes into this, so we get to include Colbert and Stewart (who, like South Park etc really go without saying as they’re always consistently must-see to me) ... but I really mean the night itself which I stayed up for, frankly wondering why I was bothering, but I’m glad I did. There are things to be cynical and skeptical of in this whole thing, but when Obama made his speech, it felt good, and I cried. And it has to be said that McCain’s speech was pretty good too.

10= Doctor Who – The Doctor’s Daughter (this is the episode I noted in my list but to be honest I don’t remember much of it – though I think it was the whole idea that the Doctor had caused deaths in his adventures etc, and the whole gun thing too)
Gavin and Stacey – The Christmas Special (just because it’s the freshest in memory but the second series was perfect too – I really didn’t think they’d keep it alive after the end of the first but they’ve outdone themselves)
iCarly – iHatch Chicks (if you ever want to watch just one episode of this great kids show, watch this one, lol)
Torchwood – VERY specifically, the episode “Adrift”. The series as a whole has gone down the toilet, but this episode was just fantastic. I don’t think I cried so much all year.
Trick or Treat – the one with the kitten. Again, there are things to be cynical and skeptical about, but this show isn’t the place for those things, lol – and that episode took my breath away.
Tribal Wives – this got dull in the end and I tuned out, but the first episode was wonderful.

Honorable mentions: Songbook, Lucy Davis in Reaper, Dom Joly’s Complainers, a number of other childhood related things on BBC Four, Marco’s Great British Feast, Harry & Paul, This American Life (I just didn’t get to watch it all yet), Lead Balloon, Massive and Elvis Costello’s Spectacle. Disappointments: sadly, most of what was on at Christmas, including Shooting Stars. Gavin and Stacey was genuinely the only treat there.

This one is fascinating – another TV production, this time by the BBC for the “Wednesday Play” series, and boy does that show: the word “pretentious” certainly comes to mind but I for one won’t be using it because this is one of the best adaptations of the book that I’ve yet seen. It begins by perfectly recreating the part of the story that has always been the most strongly evocative part to me: the simple, lazy image of Alice and her sister on the bank on a hazy Summer afternoon (“All in a golden afternoon …”). From there it launches into some of the most surreal, dreamlike progressions I’ve ever seen on film. It captures some part of the book that few other adaptations would dare. Through clever editing, it’s the closest and most prolonged replica of the dream experience I’ve seen.

I wouldn’t have thought it, as I’m quite attached to the innocent and gracious image of Alice in the blue dress with blonde hair in a bow etc, but I quite like this Hermione-haired, black-dressed, aloof version as played by Anne-Marie Mallik, too; I love how she’s always walking away from people with a “hmph!” flick of her hair. The look she almost gives the camera as the caucus-race “winners” gather around uttering, “prizes, prizes, prizes”, quite like zombies droning, “brains”, lol, is quite priceless, it’s the look of a person bemused by the herd-like behaviours of society.

In short, what it lacks in colour, effects, costumes and comprehensiveness, it makes up for entirely with the feeling it gives by the extraordinary stillness, both in the image and in the soundtrack, Mallik’s whispery distant voiceover, and that very BBC “Play for Today” type score (excepting the odd moment when it, like the imagery, goes a little mental). At 70 minutes, there’s no excuse to pass up the chance to see it.

I love Tina Majorino in just about anything so I kind of knew that I’d be comfortable through most of this despite some bad comments about it (Martin Gardner calls it “undistinguished” and “boring” in “The Annotated Alice” and considering how great his insights are in the margins of that volume, I couldn’t well not believe him). With the book very fresh in my mind (I just finished reading it minutes before putting this on), I was pretty dazzled by how faithful it is to the text (to “Wonderland” at least; I can’t speak for the episodes towards the end I’m assuming are from “Through the Looking Glass”, which I’ve not yet read). That, however, turns out to perhaps be the production’s singular problem. There’s a fine line between being faithful and too damn literal, and this certainly crosses that line eventually.

As expected, I found Majorino delightful as Alice (I don’t like the yellow dress though :P) – her English accent is a little too clipped at times but mostly it’s perfect, as is she. The rest of the cast is certainly impressive (how often do you find Ken Dodd, Martin Short and Gene Wilder in the same place, lol?) but often just plain annoying; for me nothing much compares to the fantastic supporting cast of the Fiona Fullerton version. The visual effects are fairly clunky at times and the production and costume design etc (I already mentioned the yellow dress) is some of the most garish and unappealing I’ve seen in any artwork based on the story – towards the end, in fact, it almost looks like they’re running out of money by the scene. For Majorino and the details in the script, however, it’s certainly worth seeing if you’ve read and enjoyed the source material.

... Two TV productions that couldn’t be more different, but they pretty much constitute my personal highlights from the month of January in television and bode almost forebodingly well for the next 11 months.

I’ve seen the first half hour of Summerhill twice now – the 2-hour feature was split into 4 half-hour episodes for broadcast on children’s television, a choice completely – even beautifully in these times – in keeping with the overall message in the production about children’s rights, about children being fully capable of the same decisions grown-ups are allowed to make, etc. Like I wrote on tumblr, I don’t even know if real children watch children’s television anymore, but it’s nice that its there for them if they want to.

I couldn’t wait to see the remaining 90 minutes tonight and I was not let down at all. I’ve half the mind to finally switch to including British TV movies in my definition of “movies” therefore really this post should possibly be in the movie section as I imagine it will turn out to be a more fulfilling 120 minutes than at least 50% of the dross I’ll subject to myself before December is out. It was a beautiful idea to start with, almost a shame it’s taken 8 years to make something of it, the music is gorgeous, the cast firing on all cylinders from the cute Holly Bodimeade to the supporting cast of the inspectors, Geraldine McNulty as the headteacher, and yay Martin Ball (sorry, such a whore for mentioning people I’ve seen live on stage :P). It’s pretty much the benchmark for television this year … like I said, forebodingly early.

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles came as a total surprise to me. Though I loved Terminator 3, I’ve still not got around to seeing it a second time since the first time, and in that time I’ve allowed my opinion to somewhat slide to the point where I approached this series with as much trepidation as excitement. It turns out that comparison to the second sequel to James Cameron’s original doesn’t bear pursuing; all three of the first episodes of this show quite comfortably compare to the best of the movies, Judgment Day – and given that both Linda Hamilton and Edward Furlong have for obvious reasons been recast, that’s really quite a thing to find myself saying. Each episode seems to follow that great direction in Cameron’s screenplay to T2, “OKAY, BUCKLE YOUR SEATBELTS, HERE IT COMES…” and seriously, for a TV show, the brilliance of the pace cannot be understated, it’s truly overwhelming. Lena Headey, Thomas Dekker and Summer Glau are a perfect threesome, so good that I didn’t question the recasting from the classic movies for a second (okay, I didn’t do for “Rise of the Machines” either, but kudos is still due). I can only hope it keeps up the pace. The worst I’ve heard on the IMDb message boards is that it’ll be cancelled after 2 seasons – like omg! lol. Two seasons sounds like a hit to me

Last night I almost missed the first “Live!” episode of the new series of Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps, one of my favourite TV series ever, so shame on me (for almost missing it, lol, not for loving it silly :P) – actually I did miss it, but luckily BBC3 repeat most things the very same night 2 hours later, lol. It was weird, to cut a long story short, and I don’t think I liked it. I don’t know the full behind-the-scenes story but it looks like Ralf Little didn’t want to be involved so writer Susan Nickson (who I’ve often regarded as a genius) decided to acknowledge the “jumping the shark” moment in a cheesily hilarious self-referential series rejuvenation fest, right down to the live transmission gimmick – which in itself was actually disappointing because all those involved are so talented that there weren’t any of the classic out-take moments we’ve seen in one or two specials. On top of all that, it plain wasn’t that funny. I don’t know if I’ve grown out of it (likely story, lol), if it was just bad, or if it’s just Nickson being perfectly juvenile in making sure this series is the last. We’ll see how the rest pan out – for all I know, Jonny will make a Patrick Duffy like return. Though I don’t know if that would just be rubbing salt in the wound.

I caught up with “Jamie’s Fowl Dinners” tonight, from Friday. Not what I expected at all. His “School Dinners” show was presented as a shocker, but though it was brilliant there wasn’t anything so confrontational as, say, Morgan Spurlock’s “Super Size Me”. But this … it’s like Gunther von Hagens’ “Autopsy” meets the TV chef. I find something glorious about the grand guignol style of education, and if nothing else, this was certainly better than his “At Home” series which I never really wrote about but gosh, what a bore.

Other potential goodies of the past couple of weeks include Fairytales – the BBC’s retelling of 4 classic fairytales, starting with Rapunzel. It wasn’t anything special, but I adore the concept and I wish the series could’ve been longer, plus unexpected transgender elements are always welcome here

Torchwood later this week, of course … v. excite! But the best news which I only came across while writing this is that tomorrow night a new series of Shrink Rap begins … the first guest, Chris Langham. Wow.

I’ll stick to the way I did it last year, a very restrictive top ten. I’ve watched 149 separate shows this year … I’m not sure what that means since it’s the first year I’ve kept count. It sounds like a lot, but it sure didn’t feel it, and there’s a bundle of shows I wish I’d had time for but didn’t. Anyhoo, these are my picks, and like I said, 10 is very restrictive – there’s probably at least another 20 I wish I could include here.

The Simpsons / Family Guy / South Park – I don’t normally include them, but this year they’ve really outdone themselves. The Simpsons for doing the 20 year thing so well, not to mention actually being better in the the 3-4 episodes that bookended the movie than the movie itself; Family Guy for a lot of things but it’s the Gene Kelly / Stewie scene that sticks in my mind the most; and South Park, for the Imaginationland trilogy and the extraordinary image of Stan’s dad rising up on that enormous poo LOL.

Doctor Who – for getting over Rose perfectly. For “Blink”. And for just being so bloody brilliant.

Shrink Rap – probably the most obscure one I’ll mention here. I absolutely loved this little series of interviews and I hope Channel 4 haven’t given up on the concept. In short, a psychiatrist took the role of regular chat show interview, participants including Sarah Ferguson, Stephen Fry, Robin Williams and David Blunkett. I think even if the interviews had been terrible I would’ve still been taken by the set-up. But they were, all of them (even the Sharon Osbourne one), unmissable stuff.

Children’s TV on Trial – the best season of programming ever. An hour on every decade since the fifties, and a handful of supplementary docs. So great.

Challenge Anneka – the “Over the Rainbow” album show. It was so corny but it always was. It’s the fact that this one made me forget my modern cynicism about such shows for once. By the time all the children got to singing I really didn’t care how it was brought about. It was just pure goodness and making people happy. I love Anneka.

Paris – Sandrine Voillet’s tour of Paris was way too short in just 3 hour-long episodes, but it was ample substitute for my not going there personally as planned, not to mention giving me a few pointers of places to go when I finally do get there again.

Liverpool Nativity – it wasn’t as good as the Manchester Passion, but it was damn close.

Extras – I try and write what I think about this and my eyes just roll back in my head remembering all the beautiful moments it had. It was just perfect, that’s all that can be said. It wasn’t just the best 90 minutes of TV of the year, it’s something people will be able to look back on like a time capsule that captures at least 5 years of television, and I just know that it was all calculated on Ricky Gervais’ part. Just on the sheer quantity of cultural references it counts as the show of the year. Andy’s epiphany in the BB house and the Truman Show-like ending lifted it way beyond everything else mentioned here. I bawled … bawled, seriously. That makes it good.

Honorable mentions: Hell’s Kitchen, Peep Show, The Sarah Jane Adventures, Fear, Stress and Anger, iCarly, This American Life, Gavin and Stacy, Saxondale, News Knight, Heston Blumenthal, Russell Brand’s Ponderland, The Genius of Photography, The Late Edition, Autopsy: Emergency Room, The Mighty Boosh, The History of Mr. Polly, Kitchen Nightmares and The F Word … see, I told you I could easily come up with another 20 LOL. If anything there’s simply been too much TV this year.

Oh you protest too much, Nigella! lol she actually took the bus this week … heaven forfend! And, taking that many random children on a picnic where 2 items are packed with nuts? Sorry, but this series is kinda getting quite hilarious, lol. Loved the munching of the honeycomb hokey pokey in the taxi (yes, taxi, I mean you can’t take a bus all the time, can you?) though lol (and how much fun does that stuff look to make? lol).

Well, anyway I finally caved last night and bought the overpriced book which must surely prove not only that I really do like Nigella no matter what it might sound like here but also surely permits me to share the recipes with the handful of people who find this page lol.

“on the run”

buttermilk+pecan coleslaw
4 spring onions
2 carrots, peeled and grated
2 sticks of celery
head of cabbage
200g mayo + 4T buttermilk
2T maple syrup
2tsp cider vinegar
salt, pepper
whisk, pour, mix well
100g pecans roughly chopped
toss

pea and pesto soup
3/4ltr boiling water
1/2tsp salt
375g peas
squirt, 1/2tsp lime juice
2 spring onions, whole, immersed (remove at the end)
heat till the peas are tender
pesto, 4T
blend

rapid fire homemade honeycomb hokey-pokey
100g caster sugar
4T golden syrup
stir (before heat)
heat
heat off
1 1/2 tsp bicarb
whisk
pour
set
break

(as to last week’s recipes, btw, just in case anyone was wondering … part laziness, but also part I decided they were all fairly self-explanatory and didn’t need any notes from me – I mean, I’d be pretty scared by the person who can’t at least approximate Eton Mess in the kitchen, lol)

17th September:

I almost felt like not putting my notes here this week, Nigella’s message seems to be more and more, laziest way possible! So just go out and buy her book which going by tonight’s episode will just have a list of shops to go to where they have all the dishes pre-prepared to take home and dish up, lol (“It would take me hours, even days, to make this octopus salad; and I just wouldn’t do it!”) Ah, I still love her, don’t worry, but she better not get any more like Eddie from AbFab, lol. I guess I should shut up, it is actually nice to have a show that aims at a higher class of people at 8:30 on a Monday night, even if it’s obviously a class above my own lol.

Linguine with mushrooms garlic and thyme
Put the pasta on while preparing the sauce
100-125g chestnut mushrooms
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (she made a point about using the good stuff for once as you want the flavour)
mince or grate a clove of garlic
small lemon – zest and juice
teaspoon course salt (or half teasp table salt), pepper
thyme
keep some water from the pasta when you drain it (the starch helps the sauce emulsify later)
spaghetti to sauce, toss, and add the pasta water you saved
parmasan
parsley
toss
serve

Amaretto syllabub – now this sounds even better than last week’s mousse, and looks even easier to prepare!
80ml amaretto
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon lemon juice
Gently whisk to soft peaks, gradually adding 284ml double cream
Crumble some ameretti biscuits into glass, pile on the cream, top with some more crumbled biscuits
refridgerate

10th September:

“I can’t imagine how you do all this after work.”
“Well I find greed to be a great motivator.”

I was really helped out last week by this blogger making notes on Nigella’s new show, “Nigella Express”. Presumably since there’s a book out to accompany the series, the BBC have for once decided not to publish all the recipes on the show’s site – you only get a handful. These are the ones missing this week:

Flash fried steak and white bean mash
Okay, this one’s slightly self-explanatory, but I made notes so I’ll share them:
A 1/2cm sirloin steak – a “2-minute steak” – in olive oil
Into some garlic-infused oil (or olive oil with garlic minced in) grate some lemon zest – drain some cannellini beans and drop them in
Let the steak rest
Into its juices, squeeze the lemon’s juice – pour onto the steak
Push the beans into the warm oil till they disintegrate into a “messy, textured mash”.
“Warning: Instantly addictive.”
Garnish with mustard, oil, herbs (didn’t catch which one: I’m sure it’s not important).

Curry in a hurry
Wok oil – vegetable oil with sesame oil and ginger and garlic added
Spring onions instead of onions – snip them into the oil
Green curry paste – couple of dollops
Chicken thighs, not breast – 1kg
5 mins
Coconut milk – tin
Stock – concentrate, cube, whatever
Fish sauce – about a tablespoon
Take a walk around your frozen garden – soya beans, peas, (200g each), coriander chopped, green beans (handful – last, keep the crunch)
A bit more coriander at the last minute
Garnish with lime juice, serve with rice.

Instant chocolate mousse
Mini marshmallows 150g
50g unsalted butter
Chocolate buttons/chips 250g dark
4 tablespoons boiling water (recently boiled kettle)
Melt.
Leave to cool.
Beat 284ml of cream with a teaspoon of vanilla extract till it forms firm peaks
Combine, fold it all together.
Grate white chocolate over.

Of these I think personally I’ll be going with the mousse I’ll probably try the chorizo and scallop thing too – I’ve never had scallops but always intended to try them, and I love chorizo sausage.

Hope this is useful to someone … I’ll try to do the same next week unless somebody tells me I’m not allowed to lol.

While not quite the weird showcase of random kid talent I was led to believe it’d be (like I care, lol: the less random kid vids, the more Miranda :D), the first three episodes of this have been far from a disappointment. The Dan Schneiderness (he also created Drake and Josh) really shows through in the safe juvenile edginess of some of the gags (pointy boobs, “pee on carl”, sports bra vs. potato) and the stupid mock product names etc; Miranda Cosgrove is of course excellent; and the girl who plays her partner Sam, Jennette McCurdy, is also really funny, she reminds me of the girl who played Mindy in D & J.

I just think this show is such a great idea to start with – I was calling it a favourite show even before I’d seen a second of it, lol – it has every bit as much potential as Drake and Josh had (and, incidentally, delivered on) and it can only get better. The energy reminds me of days of children’s TV I thought long-past, even outlawed lol, the days of slime and gunge and just basically exactly the way kids are lol, like, a whole scene in episode 2 is dedicated to the question “can you drink spaghetti and meatballs?” lol, it almost even takes me as far back as the embarrassingly cheap British show “Why Don’t You?” The dream sequence(s) in episode 3 had me in fits. I hope this one runs as long if not longer than its predecessor.