January's been a busy month of blogging, with many TV shows returning to the airwaves (Being Human, Chuck, Dollhouse, Heroes, Fringe, Survivors) and more on the way (24, Mad Men). I'm coping so far. I've also started doing a few "open threads" (QI, 8 Out Of 10 Cats) which proved popular enough to continue with, but we'll see how things progress. A few other shows will get the open thread treatment in the weeks to come (Mock The Week? Any others?), but continuation depends solely on response. So, if you want to inspire some discussion on a TV show that doesn't usually get tackled here, please get involved to start the ball rolling.
You may have noticed that my annual Sexiest Women On TV 2009 list hasn't been posted yet. I know, 2009 seems like months ago now. It's still on schedule to go up in January (as is "tradition"), but to be honest I've been too busy to give it my full attention. I've just been chipping away at it in spare half-hours, and trawling the 'net for photos (oh, it's a hard life*) It's quite a tricky thing to write without sounding pervy, too, and we wouldn't want that. SWOT will be bigger than previous years (57 entries), which makes it more of an undertaking, too.
I've been watching a lot of films recently, many of which don't get reviewed here because I don't have time. That said, Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen, G.I Joe: The Rise Of Cobra, The Taking Of Pelham 123 and Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs will definitely go up at some stage. As mentioned recently, other reviews I may just "Twitter-review" online, which is possibly a good incentive to follow me. Possibly. Incidentally, my brother saw Avatar in December and gave it 2/5, but he saw it again a few weeks ago and gave it 4/5. Maybe it's a grower for those who came away disappointed by the story/characters but wowed by the effects/3D?
My decision to split Friday's Box Office Charts into two separate posts (At The Movies on Friday, Box Office Charts on Wednesdays) appears to have been a masterstroke, even if I do say so myself. Far more people are reading At The Movies over the weekend, and I'm pleased to see more comments in both posts, too. I have no idea why splitting this feature into two parts has worked so well (I only did it to spread my workload), but that's been a nice side benefit. Thanks to all.
I'm also really enjoying Celebrity Big Brother this year. I've not even missed an episode, which hasn't happened for years. I was disappointed my "Week One" recap of house events didn't seem to go down well, but to be honest it's always been true that Big Brother-related posts don't seem to find an audience here. I guess there are just too many ways for people to have a natter about house events online. On the flipside, my recent review of the awful Persuasionists has attracted a huge amount of hits, so maybe I should concentrate on terrible sitcoms if I want to build some traffic...
Also, Disqus are asking for feedback regarding features users would like to see added to their comments system. I've suggested "spoiler tags" that turn selected text invisible, so people can leave comments without any fear of ruining surprises for people. If you have any suggestions, let me know, and I'll pass your thoughts along to the Disqus team.
Finally, there could be some delays getting reviews uploaded here today and tomorrow, but stay tuned for reviews of Glee 1.3 and Human Target's pilot. For those who have been asking on Twitter, I will be reviewing 24 season 8 at the UK-pace, and it returns to Sky1 this Sunday (24 Jan) -- so expect my review next Monday morning.
* Is anyone else disappointed that most celebrity fansites use the same templates? Sites are a lot slicker and attractive these days, for sure, but I miss the individuality of homemade sites we used to have pre-Web 2.0. But, okay, it's not time to go back to GeoCities, I agree.
Tuesday 19 January 2010
