On telly this week

[Link Prime]

Ricky Gervais' Derek is on right now on C4...should be a bit of craic...

I switched over after ten minutes. I like Gervais, but this was pretty poor stuff.

I agree Richmond, wasn't up to scratch- only one laugh out load moment in the 2nd half (when they were looking for signatures on the street).
It won't be appointment TV, but I wouldnt switch it off if I couldnt find the remote...

[JamesC]

Ricky Gervais' Derek is on right now on C4...should be a bit of craic...

I switched over after ten minutes. I like Gervais, but this was pretty poor stuff.

I agree Richmond, wasn't up to scratch- only one laugh out load moment in the 2nd half (when they were looking for signatures on the street).
It won't be appointment TV, but I wouldnt switch it off if I couldnt find the remote...

I thought the trailers looked embarrassingly bad but then I caught about 2 minutes and was just stunned at how bad Ricky Gervais's performance was. He can't act (unless he's playing himself) anyway but this was just like a kid doing a 'spacker' impression in the playground.
Can't believe this shit got commissioned. 

[radiator]

Yep, I thought Derek was pretty painful. Really overly smalttzy and delivered with all the subtlety of a sledgehammer. The care home manager especially just feels like a completely one-dimensional 'good guy'. It feels uncomfortable, because it feels like Gervais' apology for making fun of disabled people. The line about autism feels like a direct rejection of criticism to the pilot, and to be honest his justification for his schtick (ie making fun of minorities and the disabled) that it's making fun of our ATTITUDES about minorities and disabilities - has been looking distinctly shaky over the last few years.

For a while I just couldn't tell if it was even supposed to be funny, and what gags there were - the line about the skip - were so obvious and predictable. The only time I raised a smile was when Karl was on screen - he just has an innate likability and charm.

Gervais has been coasting for a long time now, how much longer can he get away with it? To my mind, the only good things he has ever done are The Office and the podcasts, which were only occasionally entertaining. This wasn't quite as terrible as the offensively shit Life's Too Short, but it wasn't very good either. Won't be watching any more.

[Spikes]

Predators is on Film4 tomorrow. Lets see if i can remember to watch it, this time.

[Dandontdare]

KHAAAAAAAAAAAN!

[Link Prime]

KHAAAAAAAAAAAN!

Ha, couldn't resist rewatching this today while convalescing on my cosy couch.
Still the best Trek movie EVER.

[Daveycandlish]

True dat.

[Hawkmumbler]

KHAAAAAAAAAAAN!

And a damn good death threat precieding this fine meme, also.

[IAMTHESYSTEM]

The Terminator.

The SCI FY Channel.

Tonight...9.00 P.M

[Link Prime]

The Terminator.

The SCI FY Channel.

Tonight...9.00 P.M

I'll be Back playin Skyrim

[Spikes]

Always had a slightly romantic view of rail travel, so really enjoying this series The Railway: Keeping Britain on Track.
Last nights episode was from Leeds station. Which ive travelled to and from more times than i could possibly remember, but i dont recall it ever being quite this rowdy..

[Link Prime]

Too late for anyone that doesn't have '+1', but one of the absolute best horrors of recent times- 'The House of The Devil' is on Horror Channel tonight.
Highly recommended viewing.

[Frank]

I've just finished The Queen of Versailles, which showed as part of the latest series of Storyville on BBC Four. I started off thinking it would just be sneering at the vulgarity of folk who think Louis Quatorze and fake tits the size of watermelons are the height of sophistication, but it walks a very fine line between depicting them as subject to the same problems as everyone else and allowing your mind free reign to boggle at the fantastic otherness of their lives and the way they conceive the world.

As soon as the recession hits the film becomes something else entirely, and the aftermath of the credit crunch offers a memorable scene where the wife has to hire a rental car and asks the bemused clerk for the name of her driver. Their (relative) hardships lead her to what might be the key philosophical line of the film and a useful way of understanding what happened to the world's financial systems - "I'm not a stupid person, but when you don't have all the information it can make you look stupid".

It's been a great series, and if you look along the bottom of that link you can still watch all the episodes so far - I really enjoyed the one about Anonymous and the aforementioned The House I Live In. Licence fee well spent.

[Spikes]

After last months Russian extravaganza, TV goes all Meteortastic tonight.
Ch4 8.00-9.00pm Fireball from Space.
BBC2 9.00-10.00pm The truth about Meteors.

[Definitely Not Mister Pops]

Lemmy: The Movie* is on BBC4 now. It'll probably be on iplayer.

It's a common misconception that Lemmy is a bass guitarist, when in fact he is actually the worlds greatest rhythm guitarist. He just happens to be holding a bass. Normal guitar strings are too flimsy for our Lemmy.

*although I believe the original title was Lemmy: 49% Bastard, 51% Motherfucker