bookmark_borderBeep… boop… beep… boop

Finally watched the first two episodes of series seven of THE BEST TV SHOW ON … TV!!!

Yeah, Jack Bauer is back.

I don’t watch a huge amount of TV, although part of me wishes I did as I tend to miss out on some of the conversations over lunch in the office, but if I’m honest I get bored quiet quickly with most shows.

A good example would be Masterchef, I quite enjoy the idea but OH MY GOD, it’s a 15-20 minute programme that’s spun out to fill 30 minutes with tedious and repetitive…. no, I must stop. I can feel my blood pressure rising.

Ohhh which, whilst I remember, is doing fine thanks. Two pills every morning and I’m back down to normal levels.

I wonder if Jack ever has his blood pressure taken?

24 is a simple enough concept. Jack Bauer is a counter terrorist agent in the USA, and each series takes place in a single 24 hour timeframe. There are usually terrorists, agents, double agents, deadly weapons, life threatening situations and a the usual round of bluff and double bluff.

The first series was startling in it’s approach. Lots of fast cuts, short snappy dialogue and multi-layered plots. Frequently you’d be shown something just to keep you guessing, a suspicious look here, a hastily hidden file there. It was engrossing, entertaining and, of course, completely over the top and largely nonsense.

I’m a great believer in the suspension of disbelief for these such things. Be it a TV show or a movie, I’ll happily ignore gaping plot holes, and completely dismiss any notion that what I’m being shown is anything but the truth. It’s a good way to unwind and 24 moves swiftly enough that I can’t guess what’s going on and so it retains my interest.

Anyway, I’ve talked about all of this before so, I guess, I just wanted to say that Jack’s back and I’m a happy bunny!!

bookmark_borderHouse

No, this is not a post about bingo. It’s a post about an American TV show – House (official site which is crap, try TV Tome instead, mind the popups though).

Hugh Laurie – yes theHugh Laurie of “Fry and..”, “Jeeves and Wooster”, and … er… something else… (a guest appearance in Friends?) – plays Dr. Gregory House, an acerbic diagnostician, an American diagnostician at that, pay attention now, that bit of information is important.

Dr. House is, the central character of the show, heads up a team of young doctors in a clinic. He’s not interested in everyday complaints or everyday patients, preferring to take on challenging problems. He’s the diamond in the rough, the rogue doctor who everyone tolerates because he’s brilliant. In a rather schmaltzy piece of production he also has a limp, presumably so you feel some sympathy with this single minded, rude and determined man.

Laurie plays it well, never coming across as aggressive, merely emotionless – when faced with an outbreak in the maternity unit, he comes to the conclusion that they’ll have to use two babies as test cases, lest the other six die – and the rest of the cast seem adept. The first couple of episodes have been laying the back stories of the main characters and other than some “why the hell do they have to SHOW the graphic detail moments” on the operating table, it’s not been too bad.

The only slight problem will be if Laurie’s A-merry-can accent will start to grate. Took me a good 15 minutes of the first episode to get past it but after that it was barely noticeable.

I guess the main competitor will be ER but so far there is no romantic interest in House and I think it’s the better for it. It is still finding it’s feet, that’s for sure but is definitely in the black humour/drama category and has offered some good viewing already.

Not sure when it’ll hit terrestrial but when it does, give it a look.