I’ve discovered a new and exciting game you can play with pause button on the PVR: your own version of The Many Faces of John Campbell. It works with other TV presenters as well – I have high hopes for Mark Sainsbury – but is best with The Campbell. Carly Ryan and Jeremy Wells not so much.
Last year turned out to be the year of the PVR, which has totally ruined me for watching live television. It’s got to where I’ve found myself trying to fast-forward the ads when I’m watching something in real time – and then feeling unreasonably peeved when I can’t. D’oh!
Plus, so shortened has my attention span become that waiting three to four minutes for the ad break to be over is like an eternity and I’m inevitably flicking around between channels and miss the restart of my original programme.
Then there’s the recording everything in sight, stuff you’ll never find the time to watch but “looks interesting”, until the PVR is precariously saying “12% free”.
The damn thing isn’t perfect, though. We frequently have to do a “soft reboot” and I repeatedly missed the end of programmes until helpful readers pointed out that you can add extra recording time. Another weird one: occasionally I’ve set it to record and got two minutes of some other programme on a completely different channel – missed the final of ER, got Animal Planet. Say what? ER returns soon on a Wednesday night considerably sexed up by the addition of John Stamos, who seems like quite a cool guy and is also the Beach Boys’ drummer.
There’s some discussion on Throng about Shortland Street’s replacement Justine Jones, which was cutely referred to on Monday’s first ep of the season: “It’s a brand-new me,” was Justine2’s first line. Nice. The new Justine doesn’t seem quite bitchy enough, yet anyway, but I think we should give her the benefit of the doubt. It’s a tough call. Looking forward to the Mark/Maia/Tania/Jay love square this year. I still think that Mark and Maia will decide to make a baby the old-fashioned way. Maia will be so hyped up on hormones that she’ll just jump him. What’s the bet? Also hinted at: Alice and Craig. Yes.
Heroes is way fun, no? Except for the pompous voice-over. Bummer for the Indian guy who has to say portentous crap like “Where does it come from, this quest? This need to solve life’s mysteries when the simplest of questions can never be answered? Why are we here? What is the soul? Why do we dream?” Yada, yada. Just get on with the bending of space and time, thanks. And the flying. No surprises, Heroes has been picked up for another season.
Quite the British invasion of the Golden Globes. Funniest speech: Sacha Baron Cohen of course, closely followed by Hugh Laurie. The Brits so have it over the Americans when it comes to speeches, although Meryl Street and Warren Beatty were okay. Was Isaiah Washington missing from that cast line-up of Grey’s? TR Knight has talked about what happened on set Ellen. Makes you wonder how long Isaiah’s got. The frocks were really classy this year at the Globes, hardly an embarrassing one among them, although this one’s rubbish. And Ali Larter was showing an awful lot of breastbone.
Good news, fanboys and girls: Nathan Fillion has a new show; and the lovely Jane Espenson has penned an episode of Battlestar Galactica.