Arguably the true vision and direction of the programme lies with the producer, (they cast the Doctor, remember) often working closely with their respective script editors. Sadly, most of the names on this list are no longer with us, Barry Letts being the most recent loss. 10. John Wiles 1965-66 (The Myth Makers – The Ark) He produced The Dalek Masterplan and secured the first Christmas Day broadcast of the show....
1.6 No Goodbyes Thanks Quietly is the first answer. Its makers had keen instincts as to when to let the landscape and the story speak for itself. It began with Tui’s silent bike ride to the lake, and ended with her stood wordlessly in Paradise, only giving young Jacqueline Joe a handful of lines during the six hours in between. TV crime drama has a weakness for gabbling exposition, from audience-avatar sidekicks narrating cases and clues, to rain-soaked monologues and melodramatic face-offs between heroes and foes....
After all the arson related excitement of the last episode, it turns out that Bill was, in fact, nowhere near the nesting vamps, having taken to the graveyard after Sookie’s frantic voice messages. This, however, is information that he neglected to pass on to his beau, leaving her to believe that he had become the same bubbling sludge that Malcolm et al had been reduced to. After her own midnight death of sorts, Mrs....
After an excruciating and wholly unnecessary two week wait, True Blood‘s third season came to a close this week in what was perhaps the most twist filled episode of its entire run. With Eric and His Majesty still catching some rays, it takes Sookie’s coming to and using her faerie powers to finally crush Eric’s dream of a noble sacrifice, and not a minute too soon. Clearly, the sun went straight to his head, and stayed there....
4.12 And When I Die Despite being vanquished in a fairly mellow way – by the spirit of Grandma Stackhouse, no less – not particularly big bad Marnie kicked off the death-fest that was the finale, with the murder of Jesus for his demon. Shocking as it was to see Jesus go, his death turned out to be the least shocking of the episode. With Marnie, Jesus and Grandma Stackhouse safely back in heaven, the powers at True Blood really started to enjoy themselves, and the reason for the fairly bloodless end to the wiccan storyline became clear – they were saving it for the rest of the town....
4.4 I’m Alive And On Fire At werepanther HQ, poor Jason, having been gang raped by a steady stream of redneck women, whose brother-husbands (yes, one word) are, frankly, in desperate need of a bullet between the eyes, finally manages to put an end to his ordeal. With the help of young Becky, who would appear to be the genius in the family, he escapes and even manages to put Felton down for good....
True Detective Season 1 Episode 1 There are all kinds of cops. They fit a kind of category: The bully, the charmer, the surrogate dad, the man possessed by ungovernable rage, the brain and the regular dude with a big ass dick. Any of them could be a good cop or an incompetent shitheel. HBO’s True Detective follows two cops who don’t fit into any easy categories. Rust Cohle and Martin Hart are former homicide detectives who are called in to tell a new team of cops about an old case that they thought was closed....
The first season of Turn concludes with “The Battle of Setauket,” with the death of a character we’ve seen since the series’s first moments, and without resolving most of its long-running tensions and storylines. This tenth episode begins with Mary Woodhull (Meegan Warner) staring into a fire at her home after finding her husband’s codebook and realizing he’s been spying for the rebels under Gen. Washington. As in past episodes, that image is mirrored toward the end of the show as we once again see Mary in front of a fire....
Yet while Under The Skin shares certain elements with those earlier films, it’s far more intimate, disturbing and powerful than all of them put together. Scarlett Johansson plays Laura, an almost silent femme fatale who roams the streets of Glasgow picking up men and kidnapping them for her own obscure and deadly ends. What is plain is just how unsettling Johansson’s scenes of quiet seduction are. It’s said that some of the men who clamber into Laura’s Ford Transit van aren’t actors, but ordinary members of the public who were filmed in secret and only informed of their involvement in a movie later on, which explains why the dialogue seems so natural and strangely voyeuristic....
“We will fuck Queen Elizabeth,” he said during the filming of Postal, based on the video game. “We want to kill Chinese drivers over 50. We have Little Germany in the movie. There is a mini-concentration camp also. I think we make fun out of everything. This is the best approach.” While Uwe wandered about half-heartedly watching rushes, various underlings were left to run the whole show. But he was perhaps allowed to feel a bit distracted, given that later on he was doing what we were really there to see: box his biggest Internet critics....
Van Helsing Season 2 Episode 9 “Vampires aren’t real, dad.” Flashbacks continue to provide important information, and tonight’s peek into Scarlett’s teenage years reveals a turbulent experience that shaped the woman she’s become. We’ve heard about her parents’ preparations for the vampire apocalypse, but to witness the impact this had on Scarlett as she navigated already difficult teenage years is heartbreaking. Nevertheless, the woman we now see able to fend off the daunting members of the Sisterhood one moment and open up to Axel in another, has seemingly found a balance in her life....
This was one of the best Veep episodes in a series of great episodes. There are big shakeups and little earthquakes. Mike (Matt Walsh) is actually in charge of the vice president’s team for a short term. As frightening a prospect as that might be for the team, it was far scarier for Mike. Or maybe it just took a little too much effort. Mike would almost be up for it, but he’d already given his all on a speech commemorating the 100th anniversary of World War I....
But that’s history now and, after a groundbreaking and unprecedented campaign to resurrect our favourite (once) teenage sleuth for a big screen comeback, Veronica Mars is very much in the cultural discussion. All eyes are on this movie – fans for the delayed resolution to a frustratingly unfinished story and others for its potential to alter the movie making model for the future. And here’s the good news: the Veronica Mars movie comes off as a wonderful (potential) send-off for the character, a love letter to the fans and a success story for a show that could have died a long time ago....
The premise of Mark Millar’s Wanted is simple enough: what if the bad guys all ganged up together against the good guys and wiped them all out once and for all? In this reality, the villainous Council of 5 achieved their goal in 1986 and took over rule of the five continents, their crimes unchallenged and the world becomews their playground for their murderous, lustful games. So enter our hero, Wesley Gibson, the traditional weak-willed, unconfident victimised youth in a deadend job and a passionless relationship....
Four episodes was never going to be enough, really, was it? Just as Sunday nights were beginning to settle into their new role as edifier of the masses, Wonders Of The Universe comes to an end and, most certainly, a gulf will be left in its 9pm slot that will not easily be filled. Its resonance is startling for a series of such brevity, which goes some way in showing how almost unanimously well-received the programme has been....
Most of you reading this will probably know about World War Z’s production already. Based on the excellent novel by Max Brooks – the story of a zombie apocalypse as told by its survivors – the film adaptation caused a certain amount of controversy before a frame had even been shot. Instead of going for a documentary feel, World War Z instead brings us glossy widescreen spectacle. Other than the title, little’s left of Brooks’ oral history, apart from a sense of global panic and glimpses of soldiers fending off hordes of the undead....
7.1 Asylum Of The Daleks At some point, once the dust has settled around Asylum Of The Daleks, it might be worth us all having a big old chat about the definition of an ‘acceptable spoiler’. Because, as you probably figured out, a pretty enormous one managed to get to the transmission of the episode fully intact. At the advanced screening we were lucky enough to attend, Steven Moffat specifically requested said spoiler be kept under wraps, and fortunately, everyone complied....
Full disclosure: though I watch and am interested in a lot of TV, I have a genre leaning. For the most part, I am not interested in watching shows about rich people being evil or shows populated only by dudes. This is a list compiled of shows made by showrunners and writers who have proven themselves before, programs that seem to be doing something different from what else the vast TV landscape has to offer, and shows I have caught a sneak peek at (and can, therefore, vouch for) during Comic Cons or set visits over the past year....
12 Monkeys Season 2, Episode 3 The shift to the 1940’s could have been an awkward transition for 12 Monkeys with the potential to lose focus on the underlying conspiracy in favor of exploring the visual appeal of an historical era. That’s not to say it wasn’t fun to see Cassie and Cole in period attire, but thankfully the story stayed true to the mysterious goals of the Army of the 12 Monkeys, having now handed the baton to the farther-reaching Messengers, without getting distracted by the setting....
Thanks to idents, though, I’m reminded that production companies and channels are responsible for making TV and film happen, rather than magic and aliens. These little snippets of credit are sadly overlooked by a lot of people, yet they make fascinating viewing, if you’re me. Here, in no particular order, are 20 of my favourite TV and film idents. Some are creepy, some are nostalgic, and some are hilarious, but they’re all memorable in their own way....
