Upcoming Goodies

And here's a look at some upcoming TV treats in the next week and a half ...

Camelot - Season 1: If you live in Ireland, then this latest take on the legend can be seen Fridays from 9.30pm on RTE2 from May 13th, starting with a double bill. I've read some pretty mixed reviews for this series but given that Chris Chibnall seems to be a rather polarising writer, that really shouldn't surprise me all that much. Some of the casting looks great though - Eva Green, Joseph Fiennes and James Purefoy for instance and while this version is seemingly more grittier than BBC1 show Merlin, do we really need another show like it on the air? Channel 4 should be airing it soon as well.

Family Guy - Season 9: Trust BBC3 to be a season behind with this show (and FXUK to be about two seasons behind) and while the laughs aren't as big as they used to be, this first episode - 50 minutes long sees the Griffins taking part in a murder mystery as Stewie comes up with lyrics for the theme tune to Dynasty of all things. It's also dedicated to creator Seth Macfarlane's late mother and BBC3 are having an entire weekend to the series from May 7th, including a documentary on the show's humour and repeats of various episodes before the ninth season premiere airs on Sunday, May 8th at 9.45pm.

Psychoville - Season 2: I wasn't really keen on this series when it first started because as much as I liked The League Of Gentlemen, this one felt like it was trying too hard in places to be shocking and some of the jokes fell flat for me. However the second season is starting up on Thursday at 10pm on BBC1 and I might just give it another go to see if it takes this time around. I hope so, because I'd like to get into the show.

The Genius Of Seth MacFarlane?

Oh, FXUK and BBC3 - your neverending love/obsession/bloody hard on for Seth Macfarlane means that I can't go a single day without seeing one of his show. American Dad: I wasn't initially impressed with this show and most of the time, I'm either watching repeats or not knowing what season I'm watching but either way, the show has won me over but the characters are the same steretypes and then some - sexist caveman Stan, hot, bored housewife Francine, sexually liberated freedom fighter, nerdy loser Steve, alcholic alien Roger and Nazi fish Klaus but there's definitely a fun, pithy humour to this show that's making it a better watch than MacFarlane's first creation.

Family Guy: A year ago, I would've preferred this one to American Dad but now Family Guy slightly loses out. It's still a good show though I kinda wish that BBC3 would get a move on and air the current season as I've nearly rewatched all the first eight seasons over and over. In terms of characters, the show continues to strike gold with dog Brian and psychotic baby Stewie but loutish Peter is still a little hit and miss for me at times. Lois and Chris are funny enough but aren't the jokes at Meg's expense a little old now? Then again, maybe not.

The Cleveland Show: It's the one that I've watched the least of the three MacFarlane shows on TV and also the one I like the least. It's not as funny as the other shows and Cleveland is a weak character to base a spin-off on but it's better than some other animated shows. Maybe I should give it a bit more attention but overall, Seth MacFarlane is definitely someone who should keep making TV.

I Wish Some People Would Stop Believing

Okay, losing two people in Big Brother sans eviction is pretty careless in the space of a week but there's always a bit of a bright side, isn't there? Except not really. Sure, I never really liked Caoimhe but she was getting more bearable without Shabby and Keeley at least won pointers for calling certain people out on things but it's still a little sad to see them both leave when we're still stuck with pompous Ben and religious nut Dave (WTF was up with that puritanical rant about Caoimhe in a wet shirt last weekend?). I'm not sure if adding more people was the right solution either, especially with the housemates choices. Other JJ's cute though I doubt Mario will get to get up and close with him and Laura and Jo just seem a bit meh to be honest. As for the Glee inspired task this week with Pineapple Dance Studios Andrew Stone (what, Louie Spencer too big to do the show?), can I sue for noise pollution because that version of Don't Stop Believing was horrible and that's being nice on the matter.

BBC3 are trundling through their Family Guy episodes and occassionally, I'll sit down and watch one. The one I ended up watching last time was Quagmire's war hero father coming out to his son that he was becoming a woman. As usual, it's largely played for laughs, mostly politically and Brian's reaction when he finds out that the mystery woman he slept with was formerly a man is far from great in one way but hilarious in another one. Also, who knew that Quagmire could really get mad that badly?

Catching up with the second and third episodes of Misfits first season and I can honestly that I am loving this show. I wish it wasn't airing on Saturdays but I'm glad that unlike Skins, Channel 4 are airing it in a 10pm slot. Nathan still doesn't seem to have powers but his sarky banter is providing some of the best moments in the episode and I felt bad for him when his liaison with Ruth resulted in her being revealed as way older than her years. The interpersonal dynamics are certainly interesting - Alisha's abuse of her powers, Curtis's attraction towards, Simon's increased isloation from the group and Kelly making peace with the girl she battered after said made her bald for a few days. I'm also liking the arc with Sally trying to find out who murdered her boyfriend, even though it's gonna be a long wait for that to bear fruit.

Smallville have been painting doomy futures for a bit of a while now, so why am I not surprised that an Earth ruled by Zod would be an unpleasant place? At least I don't have to feign shock that Tess would also be one of the few humans to willingly join up to his cause in order to save the planet. Yeah, Tess, you keep telling yourself that. The look into Lois's memories of a dystopian future certainly seems to have given Clark food for thought in regards to how to handle Zod but I'm not so sure that treating Zod like a friend is a good way of stopping him in his tracks. And you don't need to be Chloe to worry that once again that Clark is shutting people out to try and beat the bad guy.

- Joe Manganiello is being signed on as a regular for the fourth season of True Blood. Lara Pulver's Claudine is also appearing on the show soon and look out for the character of Holly.

- Kevin and Scotty's baby plans are being scrapped for Brothers And Sisters. They'll end up taking in a homeless kid instead.

- John Barrowman is rumoured to be appearing in the second season of Glee. New cast member, Charise also denied having a makeover for her role in the series.

- Indira Varma is joining up as new team leader Lisa for the next series of Human Target.

- Joss Whedon has blasted networks for not embracing serialised dramas.

- Emma Caulfield has landed a role on Life Unexpected. Why do ex-Whedon people keep signing onto shows I don't watch or want to watch?

- Weeds will not end after it's upcoming sixth season, according to executive producer, Victoria Morrow.

- Emily Bergl has been cast as Paul's wife, Beth for the seventh season of Desperate Housewives.
- The character of Cat Grant will be introduced into the tenth and final season of Smallville. John Schneider will also be reprising his role as Jonathan Kent in the new season.

- An upcoming episode of Family Guy will poke fun of Return Of The Jedi.

Time Warps

I don't know about everyone else but I've been divided about Rachel Berry on Glee for some time now. Sure, Lea Michele can sing excellently but there are times when I wish that more characters were given bigger numbers than just Rachel. This week, in a homage to all things bad, Rachel/Finn/Puck/Jesse got to do both Run Joey Run (never heard of it) and Total Eclipse Of The Heart. And while Rachel probably should've informed all three that she was using them in the video for the former, I do think they overreacted a tad. Why was Puck so narked? He doesn't even fancy her all that much and as for the Glist, it did make sense that it was Quinn. Nice to see that Quinn still can be a bitch. Wouldn't want her getting all soft on us. Other highlights from this one included Emma calling Will out on his crap, any moment between Sue and her sister and Kurt/Mercedes/Brittany/Artie/Tina's failings to be bad-ass. The Olivia Newton-John appearance and Physical remake with Sue however didn't work that well and please stop Will rapping, it's painful.

You can tell that we're towards the end of Lost forever because more characters are dropping like flies. This season we've had Juliet's death linger on for two episodes, confirmation that Locke is totally gone, Illana blown to smithereen and now this episode delivered four big death and for this show, that is an achievement. Will anyone be alive by the time we get to The End? Jin, Sun and Frank all died inside a bloody submarine and when Sayid came back from the brink, he had to go and sacrifice himself, didn't he? And this week's episode, featuring The West Wing actress Alison Janney features none of the main cast.

I've been missing Grey's Anatomy for a bit but after reading about The Time Warp, I made the effort to go and watch it for myself and you know what? I actually enjoyed it. Sarah Paulson and J August Richards did a good job as the younger versions of Ellis and Richard and this is coming from someone who's never been that interested in anything involving those characters at all but am I really supposed to believe that Ellis drove him to drink? The whole series of lectures in this episode was brilliantly done out. I liked seeing a reserved Miranda who learned to stand up for herself by having such a bitch for a resident and even the reveal of Alex/Callie sleeping with each other during Season 2 didn't bother me, though it seemed to nark Arizona for some reason.

Desperate Housewives is another show beginning to reach it's conclusion. Introducing John Barrowman's Patrick Logan was much needed at this point. I've been bored shitless of seeing the actor in rubbish Saturday night game shows so it's nice to see him a role as removed from Jack Harkness as humanly possible. That being said as good as the Patrick debut was, there are some still rubbish plotting - Susan and Gabby competing with their kids again, Lynette's hatred in Porter's fiance Irina, Bree favouring Rex's kid Sam over her own. No wonder new couple Katherine and Robin decided to leave Wisteria Lane.

Every time BBC3 say there's a new series of Family Guy, I should cop on to the fact that they're usually a season behind. Season Eight started in double bill form last night on the digital channel and it was a fine enough opening episodes. Stewie and Brian's jumping back and forth into different realities certainly hit a funny bone or two, though Peter's brief dalliance with a fecking cardboard cutout of a supermodel was less funny.

- Katee Sackhoff turned down the role of Debbie Pelt in True Blood. Okay it's not the best role but I thought any actor would want to be on that show nowadays. And Lafayette's fella in the third season will be supernatural.

- Paul Young is the main mystery for the seventh season of Desperate Housewives. Mark Moses will reprise the role in this year's finale and become a regular for next season.

- Brothers And Sisters will be time jumping, so expect Robert out of the picture (along with Ryan), Kevin and Scotty to be parents and Justin and Rebecca to be geographically seperated as well.

- The producers of Glee want Victoria Beckham on the show. Why?

- Irish viewers can catch the final season of The Tudors tonight at 10pm on TV3. BBC2 will air it later in the year.

- The future of One Tree Hill is left uncertain. Why not cancel it? Hasn't it ran long enough?

- Damages has been cancelled by FX. Damn.

- NBC have picked up three new shows - Love Bites, Outsourced and The Event.

All This For A Mattress?

Okay, so South Park aren't renowned for their intelligent insight into the world of celebrity scandal. Their style of lampooning is crass to say the least but even I got a kick out of the recent episode where Tiger Woods sex addiction was royally taken the piss out of. Yeah, so there was too much emphasis on Butters obsession with a certain lady bit and the idea of aliens being responsible for men's growing sex addiction was silly. Still made for an entertaining 30 minutes though.

There are ways to end a generation of kids stories on Skins but the way chosen for the second batch left a bad taste in my mouth. Is it me or have the finales on this show gotten worse since the first one (which was excellent)? Last season's Cook-centred bore fest almost seemed better by comparison. Okay, Emily and Naomi made up and I could be less bothered with Thomas and Pandora but Cook found out that Effy's nutter of a shrink killed Freddie and the bloody thing ends, failing to detail whether or not nutty shrink bumped off Cook or got his just desserts. Thanks a bloody lot!

It's been a while since I've watched Family Guy and I know the episode I'm highlighting isn't recent but damn it, it's actually made me like Lauren Conrad a bit. Much as I despise The Hills and the idiots on that fecking show, at least Lauren had enough humour to allow the show to send her up in a way. Too bad that her brief fling with Brian ended up giving her worms. And Peter stooped a new low by killing Quagmire's cat. I'm recovering from the fact that a dog got killed in the new Lady Gaga video, I didn't need to see that.

I've caught up with recent episodes of Glee and yeah, I'm still here, I still like it. I'm not a Gleek but I have no disdain for the series either. That being said, I'm finding myself sympathising with characters like Terri and Sue more than the likes of Will, Rachel or Finn and I like Quinn and Puck all the more as the series has progressed. More interersting stuff than the race to the Sectionals has been the Mattress ad, seeing Sue's sister, the episode where they did the routine on wheelchairs and Artie and Tina's dynamic.

Another show I've caught up with - Grey's Anatomy. Do I miss the missing Izzie? Er, no, actually I don't. I also could do without seeing the Chief that much either or yet another triangle, even if it is with Christina/Owen/Teddy or Mark's somewhat annoying kid. I did however love seeing Miranda giving her father what for when he made the mistake to criticise her over the Christmas dinner table. And anything involving Callie and Arizona is better than most of the straight relationships on this show.

- Jennifer Beals has landed the lead on FOX drama, Ride Along.
- The next season of The Hills will be it's last. Thank fuck for that.
- There will some deaths in the season finale of Desperate Housewives. Also, expect another on screen appearance for Mary Alice in an upcoming episode.
- Matt Smith will be on Jonathan Ross tomorrow night on BBC1. The BBC have also revamped their website for the new series of Doctor Who.
- Katherine Heigl is leaving Grey's Anatomy this season, which makes me wonder why the writers just didn't kill Izzie off last year given that she's had naff all to do this year.
- The series finale of Lost will be called The End, according the series producers.