The return of Dexter!

Just a short post today, just to remind everyone that we're just days away from the opening episode of the new season of Dexter! Now, if you've never seen Dexter then all I can say us get on Netflix immediately! There you'll find all the old seasons and just immerse yourself! Honestly, Dexter is one of those shows I just can't recommend enough. The seasons are perhaps too short for some peoples' liking (typically 12 episodes each) but you get a whole hour for each one and absolutely zero filler. Add to that the fact that the plots are always devilishly clever and the acting is just superb. Really, really looking forward to seeing what the new season has to offer!

Glee - Season 4: Opening Thoughts

So I've just finished watching the second episode of Glee season 4, and so far I'm actually really impressed. For anyone that doesn't know me,
let me just say that I'm a BIG fan of this show, and as such I came into season 4 with very high expectations, so for it meet my expectations hopefully
says it all. But, just to be thorough, I'll say a little more.

Fans of Glee will know that the last 3 seasons have mostly revolved around the hopes and dreams of a plucky group of high school students, but obviously
no one stays in high school forever, so at the end of the last season the writers decided to have a lot of the characters graduate and move off to college.
That meant that coming into season 4 there were always going to be some big shoes to fill, and so far they've managed introduced 2 new characters to the Glee club (the beautiful Marley Rose, played by Melissa Benoist, and the fearless Jake Puckerman, played by Jacob Artist), both of whom
are, as you'd expect, fantastic singers, and so far I've been pretty impressed by Benoist's performance as the shy new girl from a poor background.

Other new additions to the cast include Brody, the upper classman at NYADA (yes, the show is continuing to follow the adventures of Rachel (and a few of the other McKinley alumni)
 after graduation, which is a nice touch) who is played by Dean Geyer (you may have seen him in Terra Nova last year), and Cassandra July, NYADA's super strict dance coach, played by Kate Hudson.

Rookie Blue - Season 3 Conclusions

A few weeks ago we reached the end of season 3 of Rookie Blue, which has become one of my favourite shows of late. That said, the summer line up isn't what it once was; These days I mostly just look forward to this and True Blood, but, Rookie Blue is one of those great shows you can just pick up whenever you feel like it, and for me it always has a certain feel-good factor.

For those readers who aren't familiar Rookie Blue is a Canadian police drama following the lives of five or so recent recruits to the force, highlighting their various victories as well as defeats. There's a certain amount of character progression per season, but each episode is otherwise entirely self-contained.

So what about season 3? What was different? For me this season felt slightly darker and more serious than the previous 2, and crucially the writers showed us they're not afraid to get rid of main characters. Now I've read mixed reactions to that, but personally I'm glad to see the show mature a bit and almost grow into itself. And unsurprisingly the show has been renewed for a 4th season, expected to begin in June/July 2013.

Blast from the Past: Episode 1: Prison Break

Hey all. So I'm going to try something a little different today. This will hopefully be the first in a long line of "Blast from the Past" articles in which I discuss TV shows from yesteryear.

This week it's Prison Break. For anyone that didn't catch this show while it was airing let me briefly summarise. It all starts off with a man, Micheal Scofield (played by Wentworth Miller) who has been struggling for the past 3 years to prove the innocence of his brother, Lincoln Burrows (played by Dominic ...), who was arrested for the supposed murder of the vice president's brother, and is due to be given the death penalty. Unfortunately for Scofield, every time he gets closer to the truth something or someone intervenes to stop him and now Lincoln's time is almost up and his sentence is beyond appeal. But all is not lost, because by day Scofield works as a structural engineer and as it happens the firm he works for designed and built the prison his brother is being held in, giving him unique access to the blueprints. Armed with these schematics and a keen intellect Scofield devises an elaborate escape plan and promptly gets himself incarcerated in the same facility for a rather feebly attempted armed robbery.

From here on the plot expands to encompass a myriad of new characters, most of which are fellow inmates at the prison, meanwhile the audience is led on a merry chase as Scofield's plan continually goes from triumph to disaster.

Now I'm not quite whether this a good or bad thing. Perhaps it's writing genius because it certainly kept me on the edge of my seat the whole time, though it did become a little tiring.

But what about after season 1? Well I'll try to discuss this as best I can without spoiling it for anyone. Prison Break ran for a total of 4 seasons, with all but season 3 containing around 25 episodes. Season 3 was sadly cut short by the writers strike and so only has about half as many episodes, and I'm afraid to say it does suffer for it. However it's still good enough to keep you on the edge of your seat, and those that persevere will be rewarded with a significant return to form in season 4, and a well written finale too (thankfully this was one of those shows that knew when to quit and did so gracefully rather than being abruptly axed by its network).