This is going to be a nice longish comprehensive blog post because I've been ignoring the internet of late in favour of my very new xbox 360. I only got two gifts this year from my family for christmas and those were the Xbox and Rock Band 2. Now, a good friend of mine is baffled that I picked it up instead of Guitar Hero World Tour but Rock Band was the first to introduce the multiple instruments and I've wanted it for over a year now. I've never played GH World Tour but I'm fairly certain that I couldn't love it as much as I love my RB.

Also RB got the rights to the Beatles Songs and that should put it over the top no questions asked.

I did get around to some television though - I've been checking out a few British Tv Shows/finally catching up on some other shows. Here is the run down:

New Shows:

Demons: I have only seen one episode of this new show off of ITV and it is kind of terrible. I think I may keep watching but it falls under the guilty pleasure if any pleasure category. The premise is a retelling of the Dracula Story with Van Helsing but set in modern times with the sole heir of the Van Helsing line finally realising that there are dark things in the shadows and that he has to kill them.

The Good: The actors are hot, the special effects are wizard, and it has some potential

The Bad: the writing is not very good, the plot was a little clunky with massive holes, and my least favourite thing about it is that the protagonist is supposed to kill without thought. I think I've watched too many shows like Buffy where there are some demons who are mostly good except for some kitten eating ways and of the terrible ones - some are redeemable. So I can't get behind this - kill all demons no matter what mentality. It's too black and white.

The Verdict: I give it two more shots before I give up on it entirely

Britannia High: Now this was new in October 08 but I just got around to watching it because of my dear cousins. This is a British version of High School Musical meets Fame (heavier on the high school musical part). It stars Mitch Hewer from Skins which is why I watched it in the first place.

(Jez is the one on the far right)

The Good: The Character Jez (funnily enough not played by Mitch Hewer), its camp factor

The Bad: the writing, the music, the other characters...everything?

The Verdict: This show is utter drek - why can I not stop watching it?

Leverage: This is a new American show from the TNT network. I like to call it Robin Hood meets the Italian Job. Every week this group pulls off a heist against some bad person who can't be touched by the law. They'll rob them or make it so that the law can touch them or both. Good Bad Guys doing Good albeit Illegal things in order to screw over the Big Bad Man.

the Good: Great Cast, fast paced - well written, HUGELY entertaining

the Bad: completely unbelievable

The Verdict: I'll tune into this every week and even start a letter campaign to TNT if they don't renew it which I think they will because its been doing well in the ratings...I think.

Not so New but New For Me!:

Spooks (aka MI-5): I watched the first season sometime last year and liked it but it fell by the wayside. I finally got around to scoring seasons 2-5. I've watched them all in 2 weeks. I'm officially hooked. I said earlier that he is in season 7 and part of the serial watching was to get to season 7 but that quickly became only a bonus. Spooks is a great series.

The Good: Great cast (even if it's always changing), great writing, interesting plots (I especially love the ones where they have to deal with the US), they kill off characters (yay! Realism!). This is just a great show if you are into spys and hunting down terrorists. It's not just a Uk version of 24 though. They have covert undercover operations that require subtlety - a word I'm not sure Jack Bauer has ever heard of.

The Bad: Don't get attached to characters too much because they will be killed, or exiled, or leave because the job is just too much (Boo! Realism).

The Verdict: Watch this show. I love it I really do. Some times the plots aren't all that realistic but it makes up for it in many subtle ways. For instance, they have news reports after the fact where the press is skewering MI-5 for not doing enough and you've just watched the team nearly all die preventing one of the largest attacks England has ever seen. Or they'll save the day and there is nothing about it on the news. Subtleties like that which make me love this series rather then just enjoy it.

Shameless: This is another UK series that has been around awhile (since 2004 methinks). I started watching it from the recommendation of the person who works at my local video store and because it has JAMES freaking McAVOY in it!!! The show follows the functionally dysfunctional Gallagher family (as functional as you can get with an absentee mother and an alcoholic dead beat father). It's one of the funniest shows I've ever seen and the choice of characters is just brilliant if you ask me. There are 6 kids and they are all as different as night and day and yet you can still feel that they are a family and do love eachother immensely.

The Good: Inspired Cast, great writing, hilarious. The community they are in are really quite shameless as the title of the show would suggest. I've seen the first two seasons and am smitten.

The Bad: ...I can't think of anything actually. You will probably hate the father but I wouldn't replace him at all.

Verdict: Watch it now!!!

Blackpool: This is another oldish British series from 2004. It was only six episodes but that's exactly how many episodes it took to tell the story. Now there are parts of this show that I loved and parts that irked me and parts that baffled me. I've been meaning to see it forever but had a lot of trouble finding it until just last week.

The premise: A man, Ripley Holden, opens an arcade with the hope of turning it into a Casino Hotel. Soon after the opening though a man is found murdered in it. A DI is pulled in from elsewhere to solve it setting off this chain of events that destroys Holden's personal and professional life.

The Good: David Tennant, great storyline with not completely obvious plot twists. It was a murder mystery that had me pretty confident at who did it but gave me enough doubt that I was never sure I was all that right. It also got really grey making you love the villains and hate the hero and then love the hero but hate the villain. My sympathies flip-flopped throughout the entire series.

The Maybe Good Maybe Bad: This show is a little bit like a musical. In that popular songs were played and the characters sang along to them and danced like it was an actual musical number. Sometimes it was done really well and other times it wasn't. So sometimes it seemed like a great idea and other times it left me cringing.

The Bad: Somethings were really obvious - like I called them in the first 5 minutes. One thing that irked me was that Ripley Holden gets immensely sanctimonious over the actions of his wife when he has no right to and he's never put into his place about it. It bothered me and it left the ending a little bit hollow for me but the ending is still immensely satisfying.

The Verdict: it's only 6 episodes and if you like David Tennant or interesting murder mysteries or even musicals then I suggest watching it. I don't know if I'd pay to own the dvds but still worth watching if it's on reruns or you are like me and download illegally all the time.

Those are the Shows I've been primarily watching these past couple of weeks. I hope you all had a great holidays and that the return to work/school is going well. What did you get for the holidays? What new shows are you excited about? What are your thoughts on any of the shows I've been watching? How many more questions can I ask before it becomes ridiculous? You let me know!

Cheers, Peace, and Tony Danza,

Sheeplikeme