flashman181

No not the well known song Sunday Morning Coming Down as grumbled by KK but rather a catch cry of the wonderful world wide web that envelopes us

When I was a youngun in Brisvegas , as in school age young, Sunday night was the big TV night for the week because it was movie night on FTA TV. Of course in those days you also only had roast chicken once a month – spookily also on a Sunday. Sundays were something to look forward to for a number of reasons then. And lets not forget the great Sunday afternoon matinees. Good times.

These days we have to put up with reality nonsense like The Block or The Voice or The Vomit…….

But in the good old USA Sunday nights still rule. Now we have Game of Thrones, Vikings and Mad Men to savour. Next Sunday night they are even going to squeeze in a Good Wife episode, return of Nurse Jacki and Veep and even a Mentalist episode +/- a Red John appearance. But we live in Australia so Sunday nights equate to late Monday mornings when the goodies start to roll in

MM is simply a great show that needs your full attention for full reward. As my old mate Viggo said it is a show you need to deconstruct. The double episode worked a treat and was needed to complete this little intro to what promises to be an even better and even darker season

Vikings has been a revelation. It is what Spartacus should have and could have been. No needless blood splatter and front bums – just engaging story with realistic fights. And of course it is a fascinating mythology and period of history. Once I stop seeing Jax Teller as Ragnor I just sit back and let it flow over me.

Game of Thrones is an enigma to me. Recently rewatched last 4 episodes of Season 2 as Season 3 lead in and they were superb, better than I remembered. Ep 1 of Season 3 was good if not great but episode 2 was a tad dull – not enough Dinklage and no dragons. Now I seem to be in the minority here but I like me some dragons – the ultimate killing machines. I have not read the books but do struggle at times to follow the various characters and hence may enjoy more on a rewatch.

So with the big 3 ably supported by a stellar supporting list Mondays have got very busy. There is not much room left for anything else folks.

But this Monday is different, all other events pale into insignificance to the one must watch TV event of the year. And its live

Its the last 9 holes of The Masters folks. Best sporting event eva. Doesnt matter if Fred Funk is holding off Neville Nobody by 6 shots – you cant look away.

Do yourself a favour.

Shawn Ashmore, who has committed professional suicide by being associated with The Following, was asked about how a season finale should run. His response regarding the season finale for The Following…….. follows

“What I will say, without giving too much away, is people rarely love the finale. Sometimes shows end on such huge cliffhangers that it’s exciting because it pumps you up for the next season and I understand why they do that. But, sometimes there’s a sense that there’s no closure, no satisfaction about what happened in that season. The creative team really does a great job of not only tying up and giving some satisfaction, emotionally and character-wise, but also leaving it wide open for a second season. It’s a huge episode.”

Now The Following has a huge advantage because nearly every one wished that episode 1 was also the season finale – alas that has not happened but the bar is so low 43 mins of commercials would be a step up come finale time. This can not be said for The Walking Dead and certainly not for Justified which had their season finales this week. Probably not helped by return of GOT and my personal favourite Vikings being in full swing

TWD had a very good second season. My general loathing for all things Zombie related is well known by my loyal band of Followers (the non-psychotic version natch). Season 3 started in the prison and ended in the prison and that pretty well sums up the lack of progress in this yarn. They dont mind killing off some major characters which is definitely a plus but the story simply does not engage me anymore and I imagine that Season 4 premiere will sneak up on me without any warning…… like a zombie even……. and may wait for a season rewatch in 2016 if any good vibes abound

Now Justified is a different animal altogether. Has been a great season but someone seems to have blinked at the end and forgot it was the season finale. Of course I will watch Season 5 premiere tout suite but it will seem more like Season 4 Ep 14 I imagine. Of course I blame Zea. She bought across a The Following script by mistake! They appear to have no idea how to handle Patton Oswalt all season? The show has some good baddies but do think Goggin’s character and his interactions have not really evolved. They have never quite recovered from the loss of Mags Bennett but do like Win Duffy et al.

Its a rich vein of TV around at present with the imminent return of MM also so this finale disappointment will quickly pass but the weak season finale is becoming a common event as many show runners get on the Dexter bandwagon and just keep churning out the seasons

However, as women will always tell you, all the build up in the world means nothing if no satisfactory conclusion at the end which only leaves one unsated.

And unlikely to go back to the well again.

Who remembers the famous old cliff hanger in original(and I assume best but have zero interest) Dallas – Who Shot JR? Don’t fret if you don’t because many of us who would have seen it originally now have Alzheimers. It was the talking point around many a water fountain or school tuckshop for months to come and was classic TV marketing. How they have picked it up now and run with it , not to build suspense but rather to rake in the moolah. Dexter – Hello? This guy should have been caught, boxed and buried around 4 seasons ago but the ratings said otherwise. In other cases we have good stories – Lost? – that do better than expected and are suddenly stretched beyond original concept. There are some exceptions – Breaking Bad has always had a finite life and 5 seasons is about a good number as The Wire showed but Sopranos and West Wing could go the extra distance. There are no hard fast and rules. What is a lock though is that eventually Wile E Coyote has to catch the Road Runner or everyone just gets pissed. Lets face it they need to produce one more Roadrunner cartoon where he throws that bloody bird of a cliff with an ACME ANVIL around its neck and we see blood and feathers. Ok, fine have a parental warning or better still put it on Channel 10 because no kid watches that anyway.

Now to The Mentalist. Red John is a great villain but he appears about as often as Kevin Rudd at The Lodge. That is ok to a point but how can you have an RJ heavy episode like Episode 16 Season 5 and then next week have that army nonsense on. Don’t get me started on Cho’s embarrassing salute at the end but lets just try and work out what the hell they are thinking? Nope, can’t. Before Ep 16 we had the self combusting heiress. Boring. Now I like the whole Jane schtick but I dont understand how we are expected to believe one week he is a shambling barely functioning wreck, the next week bright and breezy. Ok, some say it is an act and that is fine but really WTF? We have the Visualization loonies, we have a half dead RJ accomplice – but no lets investigate a case of sexual harassment in the army

The Mentalist has always been cute with the wording or image of red in its episode title. Now I have no idea how long Bruno thinks he can draw this out but the title for Ep 22 Season 5 – Red John’s Rules – promises yet another tease. Personally I would still watch The Mentalist after Red John was killed off because it is an enjoyable procedural and would not have to keep wondering if RJ was going to turn up again. Chances of that happening anytime soon is like Deb and Dexter doing the nasty next season.

Now I cant get the image of them doing it with a red smiley face above them out of my head. Damn.

Being a man of leisure these days – ok unpaid leisure at least:) – there is plenty of time to watch all the new TV shows but every now and then you go back and watch an old series and realise what you are missing. Recently decided to rewatch some later West Wing seasons having watched the early seasons on occasion. Started with Season 4 and before you know it finished Season 7 in 2-3 weeks. Its interesting, actually got quite sad as approached the end of season 7 knowing there was no more to come. Have seen the show in its entirety a few times over the years and can go back and watch selected episodes at times but having watched four seasons in a row recently felt the loss more this time around. Of course in another 12-18 months could start again and a lot would seem fresh again but there are some memorable characters that you simply miss when they are not around anymore in your life as pathetic as that may seem Probably not helped by the fact that it reinforces there simply are no great “drama”shows around in last several years, with possible exception of Breaking Bad and Mad Men, that engage you so much and you find yourself watching rubbish but only really understanding it is rubbish when some actual quality comes across your desk. Probably doesnt help it also makes me want to visit Washington again and I dont really have the resources for that anymore. Starting at Season 4 was also interesting to pass through the Sorkin departure. Many would say the show was not as good after he left and indeed most “greatest episodes ever” lists are heavily populated by the first 3 seasons and for good reason. It is not the post Sorkin era though in my view but rather the natural progression of the Bartlett term where it was lively and energetic in the first term and then slowly withered towards the end much as Jed himself did. Personally though I find the US election system fascinating so enjoyed the Santos/Vinnick campaigns enormously. Toby was often an annoying, though interesting character, but for me his story line in Season 7 was the only weak point for the whole series and he became largely unlikeable.

So I will keep watching Spartacus, Girls, Justified et al until it is time for another rewatch – or at least until BB and MM come back! The only show I get invested in at all at present is The Good Wife – and yes I know it is an odd choice but its mix of legal and politics just works for me and will have to do for the time being. Now if there was another WW around the corner then all my prayers would be answered.

Hey Francis 1 old mate got time for a miracle?

Naked sheilas usually work for me but as we have seen with Girls it can depend on which naked sheila is CONSTANTLY getting her kit off. It is part of the anatomy though

Heart. With a little bit of Pi or π.

Now Person of Interest is without doubt one of the more ludicrous shows around, now well into its second season and rating well I assume. Ratings dont mean a lot regarding quality of a show given the general non-discerning intelligence of the great unwashed but it does mean the show may be around for a while. Hell The Man in the Suit may finally even catch Dexter! I started off with Season 1 and while liked the concept of the “machine” the ease with which “The Man in the Suit” – hereafter Superman – dealt with multiple baddies was simply ridiculous even if he had actually once rounded up Saddam, Adolf and Osama all in one afternoon all by himself and during a half time break in the footy. We all like the good guys to win but there has to be at least 1% of reality involved occasionally. So would watch an episode and then leave it for a couple of weeks to see if it had changed. Superman didnt but other elements started to appear. We had HR bubbling along in the background, shady FBI guys and of course the introduction of Elliot the Fashion Photographer as an interesting and very nasty baddie. So we got through Season 1 but then Season 2 kicked off and once again sat around for a while before starting to watch and then finally got to Season 2 Episode 11 and the Life of Pi. Superman was locked up all episode so it was time for the real superhero of the show Harold the Gimp to shine along with the usual help of Bonnie and Clyde. Carter is a smart operator of course who basically has all the time in the world to devote to these specific cases given how safe and quiet NYC is. Apparently. Fusco is just a lovable and loyal lapdog but he does have heart. Harold plays the role of substitute teacher who is stuck teaching Maths to the usual bunch of cool retards. Of course there is the obligatory boy genius cleverly disguised as a drop kick and he is the heart of the story and more specifically his number has come up. In trying to communicate with said retards Harold introduces the concept of π. In a rather clever way. As he explains π is never ending and contains every single other number and never repeats. Then the zinger – every infinite possibility in life rests within this “one simple circle”. Deep shit but clever. As this season has progressed we have got to know more about Harold and even his past romance with his real life wife Carrie Preston. He has blossomed and with him so has the show. Now we still have the saccharine sweet endings often that make The Love Boat seem like The Walking Dead but we still have shady FBI guys, HR and Elias bubbling along. And keeping it all pumping along steadily, as one would expect, is the heart inherent in the show and often lost in the hail of bullets and bullshit. It will never win an Emmy of course and nor should it but it does have some intangible that draws you back.

And,luckily, Superman is still locked up.

Avid Followers – not of the serial killer kind – will know of my love/lust for Tina Fey so it is with sadness that we see the end of 30 Rock. Mind you it went out on top so that is the way to go. Seinfeld remains my favorite comedy series of all time and it ran for 10 seasons and was still delivering. It was a more consistent show for moi while 30 Rock had its highs and lows, even if the highs were some of the best ever. Seinfeld had some clever lines of course but it was more the circular nature of an episode and the interaction of the characters over time that was its strength – much like Curb that followed on. 30 Rock had many memorable and sharper lines but it also had some episodes that wandered. I always felt you could enjoy an episode of Seinfeld more if you understood the idiosyncrasies of George et al displayed over years. You could come in cold with 30 Rock and laugh your ass of because the characters were every easily identified. My new fave now – yes slow to the party – Parks and Rec falls somewhere nicely in between these two without quite reaching either – yet. My favorite period on 30 Rock was when Matt Damon and Elizabeth Banks were front and centre. 30 Rock used guest stars very well and it would appear from my friends at Firewall&Iceberg that it was often simply the case of them being in NYC at the time. Will Arnett was a great recurring character.

Fortunate enough to do the NBC tour when in NYC in 2011 and had to take the chance to hold Tina just once. Worked out ok

Ok this time of year we all make wish lists but all I want for Xmas is some bloody rain so lets skip the next few weeks and move onto 2013 and look into the TV Crystal Ball

Boardwalk Empire

More Chalky, less Irish tart. In fact Capone discovers that even his deaf son is annoyed by her constant moaning so he puts a hit on her. Nucky then thinks its time to get his illegitimate Italian brother over from Sicily to take care of Capone given the close links the Irish and Italians have always had. Vito Corleone duly arrives and makes Capone an offer he cant refuse. Luckily there were some dead horses still on the set from Luck so no more animals were harmed in the filming of this episode. Richard loses the sight in his good eye thus making him an even worse dancer but we see the first introduction of the famous hockey mask which would be used extensively in horror films many years later. Nucky realises he is no longer lucky but as he doesn’t give a fucky anymore takes a long walk of the rather short Atlantic City pier. Miraculously he is kept afloat by the constant number of bottles that always seem to be swarming just off the beach. He floats to Australia and naturally is quickly deported to Christmas Island where he lands a full time gig as an elf and lives happily ever after

Homeland

Brody becomes a lumberjack in Canada and evades capture by the Intelligence community by assuming the name of “Nick” thus remaining totally undetectable. Carrie and Dana have a whine-off in Washington only to be tragically killed when the Lincoln Statue falls on them thus fulfilling one of his famous decrees “ and Liberty for all”. Saul finally breaks out in song when he hears the news and after shaving off his beard in a futile protest heads off in search of the Princess Bride thus fulfilling his lifetime dream of appearing in 2 Fairy Tales simultaneously. Nazir and Bin Laden bond over sheets and form an unholy alliance the world has not seen the likes of since Gillard and Rudd. Mrs Brody has a clause inserted into her contract whereby she must appear naked every episode but never actually speak. Finally we have the Homeland we only once dared dreamed of. In the last scene the new VP played by Elaine finally meets the President played by Jerry thus confirming all along it has been a show about nothing.

Dexter

Realising they can never have the man they love, Deb and Hannah become lesbian lovers. Sadly old habits die hard and Deb succumbs to a fatal poisoning during a Cunnilingus Catastrophe. Dexter is distraught and finally cracks killing his father because he is sick and tired of him always turning up when he is having fun. With his world unravelling Dex heads to the Marina and off to the wide blue yonder in his boat only to tragically hit an iceberg in the middle of Miami Harbour and drown. Critics later state that the appearance of an iceberg in Miami during summer was one of the more believable scenarios on this show over 8 seasons. Harrison is seen shopping online for hessian sacks (head size) as a sly evil grin spreads across his face. Over the closing credits we hear in a slow lilting female voice – “Oh fuck me , not another fucking one”. Is Deb really dead after all?

Breaking Bad

Walt grows hair – apparently. Jesse becomes insanely jealous of the luxuriant growth especially when Hank turns up with an Afro. No matter how much Meth he rubs into his scalp , nothing! He kidnaps Skyler for her hair and keeps her in a well in the middle of his house and lowers down food in a bucket. Skyler thinks if she can just get hold of his mysterious yapping little dog she will have the upper hand but just as her plan starts to come together Jodie Foster bursts in and saves the day. A bottle of Chianti is strategically placed on the table as Foster slowly turns to Jesse with a smile and says “ah what the hell she was a whiny bitch anyway”. Walt on discovering that his one true love – Foster – has just eaten his wife goes ape and smashes her over the head with a Periodic Table, ironically the heavy metals causing the most damage. As Jess and Walt face off for the final showdown Hank bursts in shooting them both dead. He then pulls off the Afro wig and turns to the bleeding corpses and says “ who is the fool now fellas”. Saul is offered his own show of 13 episodes under the working title of “Better Call Saul” .

Mad Men

All the male cast die in the third episode from Lung cancer. Joanie’s breast reduction surgery is spread out over episodes 4-6 as it is a 3 week operation. Mrs Draper 2 becomes a headline act in Moulin Rouge while Betty D takes over Dons job and her first client is Gloria Steinem who is being sued when she burned Joanie’s old bra and the fire engulfed Wall Street. Now you know why all those bodies falling out of windows in the opening credits were black! Peggy gets a job in the White House with her Dad and lives happily ever after until she meets a cowpoke named Bill from Little Rock. Luckily she has her friend Monica to confide in.

Misfits

Anything will do fellas, just keep making it.

Did the right thing and waited until Finales of Homeland and Dexter – need not have bothered

There were 5 shows that stood out for me this year and they are in no particular order but will state quite clearly that Boardwalk Empire Episode 11 was the pick of the year for me. Mad Men was the best show consistently throughout its season. There are another half dozen shows that had good but not stellar seasons

Boardwalk Empire

BE has always oozed class but like Treme never fully engaged me. I would watch it but many times in first 2 seasons it would be a few days after the release. That all changed in Season 3 especially towards the end. The emergence of Capone and reappearance of Chalky towards the end elevated the show to must watch category. It helps that there are real characters like Capone in there that you know. Mrs T was still a pain most of the time but the introduction of Gyp et al more than made up for it and the evolution of the relationship of the Thompson brothers was well handled.

Mad Men

Superb season and while most episodes were strong the best for me was The Other Woman – followed closely both in quality, plot and time by Commissions and Fees. Mrs Draper 2 was loopy at times and Roger entertaining as always but the strong showing by Pete and Lane really stood out this season. This show could go on forever really

Louie

Bit slow getting on board with this guy but thought this season really stood out and the Late Show arc of 3 episodes with Lynch front and centre was the standout for me. It is a unique comedy with no 2 episodes the same – unless as part of an arc of course:) The Miami episode was a fave of many and once again shows the diversity of the guy

Breaking Bad

Strong short season – but then this show is never bad. The final 8 episodes will complete this season and build on some interesting developments and the solid ground work laid down this year. Not its best season but still better than most and how they tie it all up will be the tester

Misfits

Tried to describe this in other media commitments and closest I came was Skins meets Fantastic 4 with Walking Dead thrown in and all written by someone on an acid trip It is a totally unique viewing experience and unlike most shows the new seasons often go off in total new direction. Never afraid to kill characters off but it is likely many could enjoy the earlier more plot driven seasons rather than the later more humorous seasons – or vice versa. Do yourself a favour and then thank me later – weirdly wonderful.

So to the rest. Comedy wise, 30 Rock was uneven but still very funny at times no doubt helped by my love/lust of Tina Fey. Modern Family was solid as well and particularly liked the garage sale episode. New Girl and Happy Endings were suitably quirky but lacking originality now.

Drama wise, Justified was solid but not as good as previous season. Spartacus pipped GOT in the costume drama saga category but both were uneven and never rose to any consistent great heights although there were glimpses at times. Honourable mention for Elementary as well – most cream their jeans for Sherlock (which is great but short on numbers) but this one is very enjoyable and fills the void nicely

And then to the big 2 disappointments – Dexter and Homeland. Both started of gangbusters with the first 5 episodes of Homeland amongst the best TV all year – then they got the meth head down the road to write a few episodes and it all went pear shaped. Solid but not spectacular finale gave some hope for next season but really Brooding Brody (sometimes referred to as Nick by those not close to him) or Catatonic Carrie have to bite the bullet next season. Dexter remained solid for many episodes especially while the Roaming Russkie was on board and Deb deserves an award for her work this season but it was a ridiculous finale once again that let down an otherwise almost believable season

And in between all the big guns, it was great to sit down and laugh at A Moody Christmas for a short 6 weeks.

This is where I need someone like Viggo to go all forensic on us and tell us that of course episodes 6 and 8 were crap – they were written by Dana and directed by a poodle. Homeland is a victim of its own success and by extension we suffer for it. It was a great concept but doubt if when initially pitched the writers saw a multi-season arc there? It should have been a UK type show like State of Play – perfect. Season 1 was great but there were some concerns how it ended ala Lost – ok you are on the hook now lets drag it out. The start of Season 2 gave us hope though that they had a plan. They do apparently – lets get rich and make 12 more seasons. 24 could do some illogical nonsense at times because Jack was a good guy and in the end we wanted him to win. Some of us want Brody to win or at least did up to about Ep 5 of this season and that doesn’t sit all that well. Now I just want Brody and Carrie to take a long walk on a very short pier. What may have been great acting initially has just become annoying characters for me. The only interest left in this season , and show , for me is just how much more ridiculous and illogical it can become by end of season and just how they expect to keep anyone interested beyond that.

Boardwalk Empire showed us how to do it – don’t shoot your load early. Make a classy show with some great scenes every now and again and some interesting characters and then build. If it is quite in Atlantic City move to Chicago. Yada Yada Yada. We see Capone starting to come to the fore now etc. Season 3 was superb and now cant wait for Season 4. Homeland has all the dizzy expectation of a root canal appointment now – you know you have to do it but you know there will be a lot of pain. Of course one thing the 2 shows do share are annoying lead female characters. I say Chalky does Nucky one last favour and takes out Mrs T next season

Even Dexter has been able to reinvent itself this season after a couple of years in the wilderness. We can forgive the ridiculous ease that Dexter moves around Miami – on land and sea – like an invisible Batman because we basically like the guy and want these scum to die a nasty death. Then we have some interesting characters thrown into the mix – Deb should have Emmy tattooed on her ass now. Ok “Fucking Emmy” to be exact J Even when they flew in big names like Lithgow it was still the central 2 characters that engaged us. Brody and Carrie no longer do that for this little black duck in Homeland

Saul has always been the great hope for this show but is so closely aligned with Carrion that he is being dragged down to her level. (Carrion from the Latin “caro”, meaning “meat” refers to the dead and decaying flesh of an animal) . The best way to end this show now would be for the President to knock on the Brodys’ door and ask Jessica “I need to speak to Nick”. She responds “Sorry, no one of that name lives here. Only me and my husband Brody”.

Pretty well sums it up.

The start of The Newsroom last week coincided with me finally getting around to watching the final season of Six Feet Under and while struggling through the latest episode of True Blood last night an interesting similarity struck me about Sorkin and Ball – and throw in Whedon for good measure. They are all associated with a TV Masterpiece they have never been able to recreate or even get close to again in reality but each new production brings new hope. It is not that later efforts are all that bad – most are indeed good – but the bar was raised so high initially they can never reach it again which frustrates their many followers but most remain loyal . Whedon has had the most success post Buffy I imagine and now The Avengers has put him back near the top so lets concentrate on the other 2. Whedon also seems to be the one most critics want to do well with Sorkin the least popular and Ball falls somewhere in between. Sorkin certainly had critical success with Social Network so lets stick with TV for now.

West Wing remains my favourite drama series of all time. A significant part of this of course was the clever writing. The political background of the White House is always intriguing and compelling and has never been portrayed better. Studio 60 maintained the clever writing as indeed does The Newsroom but there is something missing? Not really – instead there has been something added that dilutes. Whiny relationships. Watching The Newsroom last night and Mackenzie rant and rave while Maggie pouted and pranced made me wonder aloud – where are CJ and Donna? How did we get from them to the M&Ms – all sweetness, no substance? The answer is of course Studio 60. I read where Sorkin said he had learnt from Studio 60 – I don’t think so. We had the “relationship” dramas there with Chandler and Harriet and Josh and Jordan – unnecessary distractions. Josh and Donna danced around attraction for 7 seasons on WW – this is standard TV practice folks. CJ got herself a man when needed but you always knew she didn’t need one to shine. West Wing had strong women – where did they go? I actually enjoyed Studio 60 and will no doubt enjoy The Newsroom – but there will always be that nagging thought – why introduce these neurotic women Sorko? Donna could play ditzy – which can be charming – but she also had her wins with Josh. Why move away from a winning formula?

Six Feet Under is rightly regarded as a high quality drama series and has a well crafted story arc over 5 seasons. I don’t see the same happening with True Blood which appears as if it will be milked for all its worth – yes I realise there is a book series behind this show. Ball bought his unique brand of quirk to SFU which worked well. I found some of the Nate storyline boring at times but once again what we had here was a strong and interesting female character in Claire who was the star of the show for me – whatever happened to Ambrose? Episode 4 last night of TB Season 5 was a dog’s breakfast. Sookie is more annoying than strong let alone particularly interesting – Pam is the standout female character for me but that is surely not be design. Quirk overload perhaps? With TB we do have the Twilight effect methinks – fans of the books have the rose-coloured glasses on when it comes to the screen adaptations. Even if you don’t see it before your own eyes your background knowledge of the characters and the interactions enhances the experience.
True Blood differs from the books significantly at times I understand – never having read these I rely on anecdotal evidence – and maybe this is Ball placing his stamp on it but for me it aint working. Game of Thrones also appears to wander from the books but has such an interesting cast of characters and strong storyline behind it that it seems less of an issue for the fans. TB seems to be off with the fairies at times in more ways than one.

Whedon also seems to have the most loyal fan base and has indeed created some great shows since Buffy even if they did not achieve critical or ratings success. This problem is not unique to Whedon or indeed quality drama. Not in a world – or even the Whedonverse – where reality crap substitutes for quality TV for the great unwashed masses. One suspects that the second coming of Whedon may see another Buffy on the horizon – the rare combination of a critical and rating success. Then again one could argue he has already achieved that.

So then we have 3 very talented and creative people regularly displaying their wares to varying acclaim and a smattering of bursts of joyous rapture from fans. The Fawlty Towers scenario is always one I drift back to when thinking of successful series. Do you walk away at the top of your game leaving them wanting more or do you try and recreate the magic time and time again? I imagine for creative people it is difficult to walk away and at the end of the day they are producing these shows that they have nurtured from that one idea much like us non creative people may breathe in and out – what else are you going to do to survive the daily humdrum? Success or not doesn’t particularly bother them nor kill the light inside. Good to know. Better to see.