MISFITS, 5.2 – episode two

written by Howard Overman | directed by William McGregor

Most series of Misfits include an episode focusing on one of the lead character's parents, and it was high time we met the two people responsible for a reprobate like Rudy (Joseph Gilgun). Implausibly, he's tricked them into believing he's made a success of himself, while actually being a delinquent on community service in their own neighbourhood. I didn't buy that for a second, although one of the few surprises was realising Rudy comes from a decent middle-class family.

BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER, 4.20 – 'The Yoko Factor' & ANGEL, 1.20 – 'War Zone'

Adam (to Spike): You feel smothered. Trapped like an animal. Pure in its ferocity, unable to actualise the urges within. Clinging to one truth. Like a flame struggling to burn within an enclosed glass. That a beast this powerful cannot be contained. Inevitably it will break free and savage the land again. I will make you whole again. Make you savage.

There were things I loved about "THE YOKO FACTOR" and things I found fun but awkwardly inserted. It felt like a patchwork episode of ideas. I liked the core one of Spike (James Marsters) manipulating the gang to benefit his new master, Adam (George Hertzberg), by fanning an ember of discontent and sitting back to watch the Scoobies' group dynamic erupt into flames. Buffy (Sarah Michelle Gellar) may be the superhuman Slayer, but she's always derived her true strength from her friends, their camaraderie, and simple teamwork. It was fitting that Spike, unable to directly attack anyone because of the chip implanted in his brain by The Initiative, should be the one to surreptitiously tip the odds of winning in Adam's favour. While I've enjoyed the comedy antics of Spike adapting to a civilised human existence as Xander's (Nicholas Brendon) room-mate, de-fanged and derided by the gang he once hunted, it's about time he got back to being the bad guy.

THE X-FILES, 1.2 – 'Deep Throat' - uncanny ufology

★★☆☆

Mulder and Scully investigate the kidnapping of a test pilot who worked at an Air Force Base allegedly containing technology of alien origin...

Second episodes of US TV dramas tend to underscore the show's concept and its character dynamics, for those who missed the first episode. DEEP THROAT consequently played in the same sandpit as The X-Files' pilot, with a continuing interest in ufology and a concept revolving around a mysterious disappearance. It lacked the moodiness of the show's premiere (perhaps because there was no spooky forests), but I found this a more satisfying hour because the story felt sharper and it's already clear Chris Carter had a master plan that's beginning to make itself known.

Finale review: THE WRONG MANS

BBC2's hit comedy-thriller The Wrong Mans finished on Tuesday evening, and a second series is all but assured after writers/stars James Corden and Mathew Baynton tweeted as much:

Hiatus report: MARVEL'S AGENTS OF S.H.I.E.L.D - season 1, episode 1-5

I've been watching Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D since it began, but after five episodes it still isn't working for me. The best episode has been "Eye Spy" (the one where a former SHIELD agent was being forced to steal by an unseen handler via a high-tech eye implant), and part of the reason was how that idea felt fresh and intriguing. It also had some cool scenes, like the excellent teaser where identical red-masked men carried metal briefcases onto a subway train only to be slaughtered by the aforementioned reluctant thief.

HOMELAND, 3.5 – 'The Yoga Play'

written by Patrick Harbinson | directed by Clark Johnson

Last week's twist certainly split audiences, but I wouldn't say down the middle. Some loved it for how unexpected it was and how it instantly improved Carrie (Claire Danes) and Saul's (Mandy Patinkin) relationship; others thought it was poorly conceived and didn't hold water when you re-watched key scenes from the previous episodes (mainly ones where Carrie was alone and still "in character" for the benefit of nobody but the audience at home). Most people, myself included, seem to have responded with mixed feelings—appreciative of a twist that largely worked, while aware it wasn't as convincing as perhaps intended.

TV Picks: 28 October – 3 November 2013 (American Horror Story, Big Bang Theory, Dracula, Drifters, Escape Artist, Ripper Street, Strike Back, etc.)

Below are my picks of the most notable TV shows returning/premiering on UK screens this week...

Chatrick: ALAN CARR - CHATTY MAN; THE GRAHAM NORTON SHOW; THE JONATHAN ROSS SHOW

left-to-right: Norton, Ross & Carr; brothers-in-chat

British chat shows don't elicit much discussion online, where the genre is dominated by US late-night talk shows. That's a shame, because US talk shows are almost interchangeable and their formats haven't changed much since the 1970s, while UK chat shows tend to experiment more. I also find them more enjoyable because they're (a) less scripted (no "pre-interviews"), (b) ply guests with booze, (c) don't drag on all year, and (d) the guests are allowed to swear (which tends to please Americans in particular).

ATLANTIS, 1.5 – 'White Lies'

This isn't a review, per se, because I didn't make it through "White Lies" without fast-forwarding the last twenty-minutes. It was monumentally dull and Atlantis is still showing no signs of answering the bigger questions in my head. Is Mark Addy playing the Hercules of legend, whose father was Zeus? If not, does he, or did he, have amazing strength at any point? If not, why the hell have they included a character called Hercules and set up pointless expectations? Is Pythagoras ever going to do anything worthwhile? Is he as intelligent as his real-life inspiration? If so, can we see that demonstrated, please? And why have they avoided exploiting the inherent fun of Jason being a time-traveller from thousands of years in the future? It's beginning to feel like the show's first scene, with Jason sucked through an underwater 'time-hole' didn't actually happen. And is this the Jason of legend, who will lead the Argonauts on a quest for the Golden Fleece one day? Even that's not clear, although I suspect so. Does he expect so?

Pilot: NBC & Sky Living's DRACULA

What's it about? Yet another re-imagining of Bram Stoker's seminal horror novel Dracula from 1897, this time with Dracula (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) posing as American entrepreneur Alexander Grayson—a scientist keen to bring free wireless electricity to London, as part of a plan to ruin a cartel of wealthy businessmen with a vested interest in traditional energy. Oh, who are also his sworn enemies The Order of the Dragon.

STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION, 1.1 – 'Encounter at Farpoint'

Stardate: 41153.7 – 41174.2. While travelling to a spaceport called Farpoint, created by the Bandi people of Deneb IV, the USS Enterprise is snared and Captain Picard's forced to stand trial for humanity's crimes by an omnipotent being known as "Q"...

In the late-1980s, Star Trek was in resurgence thanks to the successful feature-films starring the cast of the 1960s TV series. 1986's The Voyage Home had just earned $133m worldwide (making it that year's fifth biggest box-office hit), so it was little wonder that Paramount approached Gene Roddenberry about creating a new TV series. The result was Star Trek: The Next Generation, which moved the story 78-years into the future and populated a new USS Enterprise with a different crew. The feature-length pilot, "Encounter at Farpoint", is far from indicative of what this Emmy-winning sci-fi drama would become in its prime, and most fans regard the first two seasons as especially weak compared to the subsequent five, but in re-watching this opening adventure I was surprised it wasn't awful.

BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER, 4.19 – 'New Moon Rising' & ANGEL, 1.19 – 'Sanctuary'

Willow: I don't know. I just... life was starting to get so good again, and... you're a big part of that. And here comes the thing I wanted most of all, and... I don't know what to do. I want to know, but I don't.
Tara: Do what makes you happy.

A welcome return for Oz (Seth Green), considering the actor left the show earlier in the season and, in so doing, disrupted a planned love-triangle storyline that had to be rushed through in a few episodes. I haven't spent subsequent weeks wondering what Oz is up to, or lamenting the loss of his relationship with Willow (Alyson Hannigan) on the show, but "NEW MOON RISING" felt more necessary than I was expecting it to. It put the seal on the Willow/Oz romance in fine style, with a touching and rewarding story from Marti Noxon.

HOMELAND, 3.4 – 'Game On'

written by James Yoshimura & Alex Gansa | directed by David Nutter

It's been an uninspired start to the third season of Homeland, so we perhaps should have guessed they'd pull a twist on us—and one that evoked memories of a similar one from 24's third season (a show many of Homeland's creative team worked on). "Game On" was tedious for about 90% of the time—with far too much emphasis on Carrie (Claire Danes) struggling to get out of the psychiatric ward, and Dana (Morgan Saylor) helping boyfriend Leo (Sam Underwood) break out of hospital for a date. The writers don't seem to realise Dana was only interesting in season 1 because of her relationship with her father, and that Carrie's struggle with mental health is an aspect of the show that stopped feeling dramatic a long time ago.

MISFITS, 5.1 – episode one

written by Howard Overman | directed by William McGregory

It's fair to say E4's Misfits has had mixed success following a slow hemorrhaging of its original cast between series 2 and 4. It coped surprisingly well in series 3 (replacing Robert Sheehan's foul-mouthed Irishman with Joe Gilgun's foul-mouthed northerner), but series 4 definitely suffered from the departure of too many characters. Howard Overman now admits series 4 was the show's weakest year to date, but pins some of the blame on matters beyond his control. I'm guessing that key amongst them was Lauren Socha leaving the show off-screen, forcing him to introduce so many newcomers that year there wasn't enough time for a decent underlying story. Misfits devolved into a string of episodes where its crudity and unruliness became too overbearing, and much of the imagination and faintly satirical insight into Britain's disaffected youth fell by the wayside.

ATLANTIS, 1.4 – 'Twist of Fate'

written by Richard McBrien | directed by Alice Troughton

This was the worst episode yet, which isn't surprising. A lot of new shows tend to bury the weak hours mid-series. More worryingly, after a month on-air it's clear Atlantis is a creative misfire for a number of reasons, which I'll outline below:

Trailer: The BBC's DOCTOR WHO 50th Anniversary

I'm playing catchup, so forgive me for posting a video I'm sure everyone's seen (and mostly likely freeze-framed to death already), but embedded above is the fancy 'bullet time' BBC trailer celebrating the Doctor Who 50th anniversary event - feature-length 3D special 'The Day of The Doctor' with Matt Smith joined by David Tennant in the TARDIS. I think it does a good job of building a sense of occasion, and it seems the titular "day" is something momentous that affects all incarnations of The Doctor, so that's cool. What does everyone make of it?

The long weekend

That was an unscheduled long weekend break, but I'm back later today and the catchup begins. So please have patience as blogging gets back to normal over the next few days.

TV Picks: 21-27 October 2013 (Ambassadors, Arrow, Boardwalk Empire, Elementary, The Meaning of Monty Python, Misfits, etc.)

Below are my picks of the most notable TV shows returning/premiering on UK screens this week...

NBC reviving failed zombie pilot BABYLON FIELDS

Old TV pilots don't often come back from the dead, but that's ironically what's happening with CBS's zombie drama Babylon Fields. The original pilot was made for the 2007/08 season by Michael Cuesta (Dexter), Gerald Cuesta and Michael Atkinson, and concerned the dead coming back to life and trying to resume their lives in the small-town of Babylon. The show wasn't given a season order, but after being released online it's bubbled away as a curio amongst horror and zombie aficionados.

Clearly in awe of the success The Walking Dead's been having over on AMC (season 4's premiere pulled in a staggering 16m viewers), NBC have decided to bring CBS's Babylon Fields back as a full series. The Cuesta brothers and Atkinson are back to direct/write, but it's likely many of the roles will be recast because a new first episode will be filmed. But I hope they manage to get Ray Stevenson and Amber Tamblyn involved again.

GLEE to end after sixth season. The fat lady's clearing her throat.

Fox's musical high school comedy Glee is drawing to an end, with co-creator Ryan Murphy confirming next year's sixth season will be its last.

Ryan Murphy, speaking at a Paley Center event in Los Angeles:

"The final year of the show, which will be next year, was designed around Rachel and Cory [Monteith]/Finn's story. I always knew that, I always knew how it would end. I knew what the last shot was--he was in it. I knew what the last line was--she said it to him. So when a tragedy like that happens you sort of have to pause and figure out what you want to do, so we're figuring that out now. I have a good idea. I'm going to tell the studio and the network [in a week] how after Cory's unfortunate passing we can end the show that I think is very satisfactory. And kind of in his honour, which I love."

Pilot: HBO's HELLO LADIES

What's it about? Hello Ladies is a half-hour comedy about an English geek working in Los Angeles as a web designer, who has catastrophic bad luck with the many beautiful women he encounters.

BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER, 4.18 – 'Where the Wild Things Are' & ANGEL, 1.18 - 'Five By Five'

Xander: So, with Buffy and Riley having... you know, acts of nakedness around the clock lately, maybe they set something free... like a big, bursting poltergasm.

We did the 'haunted fraternity' thing in the Halloween episode, but it's back in a sexier form for "WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE"; an episode that also lifted the odd idea from Angel's "Rm w/a Vu".

After four seasons and with a spin-off now also devouring story ideas, my guess is more instalments will begin to feel very samey from this point onwards, but I'm hopefully wrong.

Tracey Forbes was behind the god-awful "Beer Bad", then redeemed herself with the enjoyable "Something Blue", but departs Buffy the Vampire Slayer on a downer with the ill-conceived "Where the Wild Things Are" (even the title's a head-scratcher, unless it was meant to loosely explain why the haunted house became overgrown with creepers near the end). In this episode, it's made very clear that Buffy (Sarah Michelle Gellar) and Riley (Marc Blucas) are at it likes rabbits—which is understandable, given they're both fine specimens of their respective genders. I sometimes wonder how they find time to fight the forces of darkness.

Video: GAME OF THRONES - Bad Lip Reading (extended trailer)

You may seen videos from the Bad Lip Reading team before (where they re-dub footage with a bizarre, often hilarious, stream of verbal nonsense). They've just released a spoof Game of Thrones trailer, that re-imagines the HBO fantasy drama as a dumb comedy aimed at teenagers (Medieval Land Fun-Time World). The results are odd and occasionally very funny, although I think the joke's stretched at over five minutes. But it's worth a look, especially if you're a GoT fan.

Forget a flashy new director, DOCTOR WHO needs new writers!

The recent announcement that Ben Wheatley (Kill List, Sightseers) is going to direct two episodes of Doctor Who spread like wildfire on the internet, despite the fact Wheatley's far from a household name. (Ask your mum about her favourite moment from A Field in England to see what I mean.) But while it's interesting to see some excitement for a director joining the show (especially one with such a dark sensibility at the cinema), TV has always been a writer's medium. I'd be more excited if the BBC had announced another "celebrity writer", along the lines of Neil Gaiman or Richard Curtis (who both debuted with esteemed episodes "The Doctor's Wife" and "Vincent and The Doctor", respectively).

DAMAGES creators making the latest Netflix original drama series

Todd A. Kessler, Daniel Zelman and Glenn Kessler (co-creators of the FX/DirecTV legal drama Damages), have earned a 13-episode order for an original series to be produced by Sony Pictures TV and streamed exclusively on Netflix.

THE WALKING DEAD, 4.1 – '30 Days Without an Accident'

written by Scott M. Gimple | directed by Gregory Nicotero

The first two seasons of The Walking Dead were grossly overrated by its millions of viewers, but I found the third a significant improvement. The only thing that let it down was how AMC, fully aware they have a mega-hit on their hands, greedily increased the season order to 16 episodes and divided them with a frustrating four-month hiatus. It meant there wasn't enough material to fill the time; so almost everything in season 3's latter-half was a wheel-spinning bore ahead of a limp finale (lacking the resolution you expected considering the extra time investment).

HOMELAND, 3.3 – 'Tower of David'

written by Henry Bromell & William Bromell | directed by Clark Johnson

After a disappointing start to season 3, things start to take shape with "Tower of David"--ironically, by re-introducing Nicholas Brody (Damien Lewis), whose continuing presence is many people's top reason Homeland struggled last year. It's not that Brody's a bad character or that Lewis is a poor actor (quite the opposite!), but Homeland put too much emphasis on the romantic entanglement of Brody and Carrie (Claire Danes), when it would have been better to have him succeed in his original suicide-bombing. However, this episode was a grim and fascinating look at what Brody's life has become now he's the most wanted man on the planet; his hellish existence nicely paralleled in Carrie's own struggle in a psychiatric ward.

Ben Wheatley directing opening episodes of DOCTOR WHO's eighth series

British director Ben Wheatley is best-known for his 'modern-day folk horror' films like Kill List, Sightseers and A Field in England, but he'll be turning his hand to more family-friendly fare in 2014. Wheatley has agreed to helm the first two episodes of Doctor Who's eighth series next autumn (the first to star Peter Capaldi as the twelfth Doctor).

TV Picks: 14-20 October 2013 (Freshers, Gadget Show, Hello Ladies, Man Down, The Millers, The Paradise, Toast of London, The Tunnel, Veep, The Walking Dead, etc.)

Below are my picks of the most notable shows, premiering/returning to UK screens this week...

THE X-FILES, 1.1 - 'Pilot' - the truth is out there

★★☆☆

FBI agent Dana Scully is assigned to partner quirky FBI agent Fox Mulder, to investigate the disappearances of high school classmates in Oregon...

It's 20-years since The X-Files debuted on Fox, and today's date (13 October) is also notable, as creator Chris Carter's production company Ten Thirteen took its name from this day (his birthday). So what better time to look back at the pilot episode of a truly ground-breaking television show, that came to dominate the 1990s sci-fi genre?

Inspired by Chris Carter's love of Kolchak: The Night Stalker, watching The X-Files premiere also reminded me of the debt it owes to Twin Peaks (which David Duchovny also appeared in as a transvestite) and Silence of the Lambs. There's a permeating sense of mood to this pilot that would come to characterise the show, helped along by Mark Snow's omnipresent music (which wasn't the norm for television in the early-'90s), and that was very much the flavour of Twin Peaks a few years before. Lambs's heroine Clarice Starling was the basis for FBI agent Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson), and one feels that that Bureau backdrop was favoured because of its links to Thomas Harris's novels and successful use in, again, Twin Peaks. Fox Mulder (Duchovny) even has an comestible quirk (nibbling sunflower seeds) to rival Peaks' Agent Cooper's love of pie and coffee.

Letterboxd: IRON MAN 3 (2013); THE TALL MAN (2012); BYZANTIUM (2013)

★★★ (out of five)

It achieves the intended improvement over IRON MAN 2, while being undeniably more satisfying than THE AVENGERS in terms of narrative (if not spectacle), but IRON MAN 3's in the odd position of being the best of its own trilogy and yet riddled with frustrations.

One of the biggest annoyances is how writer-director Shane Black bolts so many of his overused tropes onto this film (a sarcastic narrative, 'buddy dynamics', the Christmas backdrop), and yet Black's exalted dialogue fails to light up the screen. KISS, KISS, BANG, BANG is more quotable. Robert Downey Jr's fed the odd zinger along the way, but those expecting LETHAL WEAPON levels of verbal bliss will be sorely disappointed.

IRON MAN 3 latches onto the fun idea of taking away Tony Stark's riches and technology, to fight this instalment's villains using intellect and improv. This means the film's even more reliant on RDJ's smart-ass personality than ever before... but that's no bad thing. Stark's become one of the few superheroes where his everyday identity's infinitely more compelling than when he 'suits up'; and the franchise has about a zillion Iron Man substitutes anyway. Beyond Stark's best friend Rhodey (Don Cheadle) as War Machine/Iron Patriot, this entry introduces a whole menagerie of remote-controlled 'bots. It actually makes you wonder why Stark bothers risking life and limb by climbing into one of those tin cans.

ATLANTIS, 1.3 – 'A Boy of No Consequence'

written by Howard Overman | directed by Justin Molotnikov

It's week three and Jason's (Jack Donnelly) still a tedious drip, Pythagoras (Robert Emms) shows no sign of any personality, and Hercules (Mark Addy) continues to be the only person on the show with a pulse. At least they've made an effort to add some femininity to this curiously male-oriented show, by turning Medusa (Jemima Rooper) into a version of Gwen from Merlin. There's also a new villain in Heptarian (Oliver Walker), bad boy nephew of Queen Pasiphae (Sarah Parish) and suitor of Ariadne (Aiysha Hart), who makes a mortal enemy of Jason over an old man's broken cart. It's that kind of show.

GLEE, 5.3 – 'The Quarterback'

written by Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk & Ian Brennan | directed by Brad Falchuk

I stopped watching Glee early-season 4, and haven't kept up with the show since, but felt drawn to this episode as it's the long-awaited tribute to actor Cory Monteith—who sadly died of a drugs overdose shortly before production on season 5 started. I wasn't a particular fan of Monteith's character (the eponymous quarterback and notoriously awful dancer Finn), but he was a key part of Glee when I watched and it felt like the thing to do. It's also interesting to see how any television show deals with the untimely or unexpected death of a leading actor; but particularly Glee, seeing as it's often criticised for being bathetic.

Review: ARROW, 2.1 – 'City of Heroes'

written by Andrew Kreisberg & Marc Guggenheim | directed by John Behring

The CW's superhero drama Arrow was a big surprise last year; building on an entertaining pilot to became one of the best new US network shows in an admittedly weak season. And all this despite the usual issues trying to tell a half-serialised storyline over 23 hours, leading to a slack middle. Now it's back for seconds, more confident about its identity, its abilities, and aware there's a fan-base supporting it. (Although the 2.74 million people who watched this premiere live represent one of the lowest ratings in Arrow's history, which is a worry...)

Pilot: The CW's THE TOMORROW PEOPLE, 1.1 - 'Pilot'

What's it about? The Tomorrow People is a US remake of a cult British sci-fi drama of the same name, that originally airing on ITV between 1973 and 1979, before a revival between 1992 and 1995. The CW remake retains the core premise of outwardly normal young people "breaking out" (i.e. exhibiting psionic powers like telekinesis, telepathy and teleportation).

Review: FX's AMERICAN HORROR STORY: COVEN – 'Bitchcraft'

written by Ryan Murphy & Brad Falchuk | directed by Alfonso Gomez-Rejon

American Horror Story's first season was an increasingly tiresome collection of horror film clichés, while its asylum-set second was a fun but tiring mishmash of freakishness. Both had their ups and downs, but this FX drama's sheer bravado has proven to be an intoxicating cocktail. The ace up its sleeve (that prevents AHS outstaying its welcome like most Ryan Murphy shows) is that each season tells an entirely separate story with using largely the same actors in different roles. It can't be overstated how much this helps matters, and I'm pleased to report that the premiere of season 3 suggests the writers are closer to nailing what's possible with AHS.