Friday 8 August 2008

Summer reflections and a new horizon

Friday 8 August 2008
I thought it might be handy to let readers know the status and general direction of DMD, for the foreseeable future...

Well, the end of summer is approaching, so next month will see a marked increase in TV reviews (primarily from the US -- with returning series like Dexter and Prison Break, and new shows like Fringe and True Blood). God, it's gonna get busy! My poor fingers. Why have I never had RSI?

In the meantime, Bonekickers and Lab Rats are the only home-grown shows I've been reviewing regularly. Yes, it's that bad. Well, to be honest I find Lab Rats quite a comfortable viewing experience. Episode 5's review will be published this weekend, as I missed it yesterday and will have to iPlayer it.

Both of those shows finish next week, though -- so I'm hoping to start reviewing Spooks: Code 9. The early buzz is bad, but we'll see. I never got into Spooks (too much of a 24 knockoff for me), so maybe this yoof version, set in a speculative future after a nuke destroys half of London, will click with me. Or not. The brand-expanding show premieres this Sunday on BBC Three.

The Middleman was my summer choice for a niche review, as it's only airing in the US. I realize I'm 2 episodes behind with my reviews, but such is the way of things. It's not an awful show, it's just very "take it or leave it". I just can't get enthused enough to write a review every week, on the dot.

I've intentionally avoided reviewing Mad Men's second season (currently airing every Sunday in the US on AMC). I love the show, but I actually enjoyed the ritual of sitting down to watch it on BBC Four even more. It was like "the old days", watching something broadcast to the nation. Wow, so retro. I can wait for the Beeb to get around to showing it this winter. Don't spoil anything for me!

FX have apparently picked up the UK rights to Breaking Bad, the US drama starring Bryan Cranston (Malcolm In The Middle) as a terminally ill teacher who decides to become a drug dealer to provide for his family. I've seen the first 2 episodes and... colour me very impressed, so far. I've even reviewed them, but I'll only publish when the series airs in the UK. Now that's blogging discipline!

The number of movie reviews increased over the summer (to cover the dip in TV reviews), so I hope you've been enjoying that. It's just a shame I don't have the time or money to visit the cinema every week. Blame the credit crunch. Hopefully people are enjoying the retro reviews (focusing on the 1980s), too. I've already reflected on Airplane!, Ghostbusters and Back To The Future. Keep checking back for more. My plans may change, but I'm hoping to get all retrospective on The Karate Kid, Innerspace, Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, Gremlins and others.

My TV Week columns at Newslite.tv have been popular, which is nice. I try and cover TV shows that I don't review regularly here, or summarize my thoughts on a whole series. I didn't want to just echo exactly what's already available on DMD, so hopefully I'm succeeding. It seems to be going well, anyway.

As always, thanks to everyone who takes the time to read DMD -- and particularly if you comment on my posts. As fellow bloggers will know, getting comments is the only way to really gauge if people are reading and enjoying your content. Web-stats just tell you people load your pages. They may just be after a photo of Tricia Helfer, or their visit may be entirely accidental! So, please, comment if you can. Just once, even. Oh, and link to me in Bloglines, Pageflakes, etc. That's always good.

Thank you, everyone.