Six Geese a-Laying

The goose that laid the golden oeufs. The golden eggs of which I speak are TV proggies.

In yesterday's Guardian, or maybe today's, the time drift lends confusion sometimes, Richard Vine whets the British TV appetite by reviewing some shows that will be on screens in the New Year.

His first pick is Ugly Betty. I have mentioned this show several times, but it was very engaging indeed and I'm glad that C4 have picked it up, particularly as this is a terrestrial channel and means that all will be able to fall in love with our heroine. The only thing that niggles me a bit is that whilst I have given mention to the writer of the article, it's fairly obvious that he in turn gets all his info from my blog since he has made almost the exact same points that I have, but hasn't mentioned me. Bad form Ricardo.

'Heroes', which is to be shown on BBC2, is also something we have really enjoyed. It is hard to keep up with all the different characters and their strengths, but very satisfying doing so. I think my favourite is the Japanese guy, Hiro Nakamura, because of his continual facial expression of excitement and wonder and the way he spits out Japanese like so many pellets from a gun, although for all I know this is the way all Japanese is spoken.
A series which started here at the same time as Heroes, but which doesn't make it to the list, is 'Six Degrees'. Another show with fascinating and inter-connected characters. It hasn't actually been cancelled here, but simply suspended until the New Year. I anxiously await its return.

'Jericho' has been picked up by the Hallmark channel and very appropriate in my opinion. Hallmark in Britain is one of the lesser cable channels. I haven't been able to persevere with this one, if something doesn't engage me I have to have some really good reason to continue watching.

'The Lost Room', to be shown on Sky One, was a three part mini-series. Luckily for me, Kevin had recorded all three parts before I sat down to watch it because it was the equivalent of a book you can't put down.

I hadn't noticed at first, but in his write-up of this show, Richard Vine also mentions that 'Dexter' is to be shown later in the year. This was my absolute favourite from this year and so glad to see that eventually it will be shown in Britain. So creepy, so compelling. So good.

Finally, 'Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip'. We have also enjoyed this show about the making of an SNL-type show. It is rich and multi-layered although I may have to kill the irritating wet-christian, the type that makes Christianity look like some kind of playground for the feeble-minded.
But Matthew Perry is great in this, a good transition for him. He is able to maintain his dry humour while playing a serious role.

But I must add a few more eggs to the basket, I don't know whether any of these shows have been on in Britain or whether they will be seen at some point, but other programmes that I have greatly enjoyed this year and so to look out for (did I type that out loud?) have been 'Entourage', now in its third series but we only discovered it this year, 'How I Met your Mother', nice to see Allyson Hannigan back and in something this good, 'Always Sunny in Philadelphia', quirky comedy that had us glued and Danny de Vito to boot, and '30 Rock', a half-hour comedy by Tina Fey with a similar theme to 'Studio 60'. Alec Baldwin is the draw in this, he is just excellent as the bizarre studio boss.

On the other side of the coin, we have been entertained by BBC series that have long since shown in Britain, the best of which has been 'Life on Mars' and we are looking forward to getting the new series of it which Brits will see early in the New Year I believe, but probably autumn by the time we get it.