30 ROCK
Comedy Central, Monday 10pm
“DealBreakers Talk Show” – 10/10
Right, this week’s “30 Rock” in a nutshell: Liz becomes Jenna, Frank becomes Liz and Tracy tries to become Whoopi Goldberg. Confused? You should be!
The promo for Liz’s ‘Deal Breakers’ talk show is being filmed and Liz grows an ego (that’s ego not egot – see later). After failing miserably at shooting the promo, and terrifying everyone when she stood in front of the HD camera (which turned Kenneth into a Muppet – sheer brilliance) Liz locked herself in her dressing room. Jack called on Jenna’s expertise in this area for help. Finally, it turned out Liz’s promo was used in the background of some dodgy TV drama.
Tracy bought some new bling with EGOT written on it. EGOT is for someone who has won an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony award. Tracy visited Whoopi Goldberg (an EGOT) and asked for advice, before trying to nick one of hers! It got me thinking what the British equivalent would be. The best I came up with was B O B NTA (Bafta, Olivier, BRIT and National Television award) – and I don’t think anyone has completed the B O B NTA yet!
Whilst Liz was shooting her promo, Frank was left in charge of the writers. He soon became Liz, right down to her walk, talk and erm cardigan. This definitely provided the most laughs this week, in what has been the highlight of a very entertaining season.
“Secret Santa” - 6/10
Sadly the second of the double-bill (2009 Christmas Special) was not a patch on the first episode, or even on Season 3’s Christmas special.
We saw Jack and Liz trying to get each other better presents, Jack fall in love with an old school friend Nancy Donovan (played by Julianne Moore), and the only real laughs came from Jenna’s realisation that Danny can sing better than her. I guess one out of two isn’t bad!
GLEE
E4, Monday 9pm
“Bad Reputation” – 8/10
So when the Glee kids put a video on YouTube of Sue Sylvester dancing to Olivia Newton-John’s “Physical” – the video becomes an online success and Sue becomes the joke of the school. But, when Sue gets a call from Olivia Newton-John, they end up posting another video online, of Sue & Olivia re-creating the original “Physical” video. This was definitely a highlight of the whole series, Olivia Newton-John was a great sport in her scene with Sue over the phone, emphasising how successful “Physical” was and how many records she’s sold. We need more guest stars like her in Glee.
The rest of the episode (as the title suggests) was about having a bad reputation. An example of which was Emma’s discovery that Will had ‘slept’ with April and kissed the coach of Vocal Adrenaline. Needless to say Sue’s influence on this lead to a great scene in the staff room when Emma announced Will’s conquests – the slut.
Rachel had a bad reputation as she came bottom off Quinn’s ‘G-List’ and promptly tried to become more of a slut. Rachel’s hilarious music video for “Run Joey Run”, with Finn, Puck & Jessie (really don’t like this character – why can’t Sue mock his awful hair?!) made the song peak at No.27 in the UK charts this week, which is surprising, as the original didn’t even chart in the UK.
“Total Eclipse Of The Heart” is an epic song. Fact. Throw in a group of love-struck teenagers, competing for each other’s affections and you get a great finish to this week’s “Glee” episode. Roll on next week.
FLASH FORWARD
Five, Monday 9pm
“Course Correction” - 7/10
This episode was written by Robert J. Sawyer who wrote the novel that “Flash Forward” is based on. Overall it was an enjoyable episode, with Demetri’s storyline the most fascinating, whilst the developments between Olivia and Lloyd were expected but still were quite surprising when they did finally kiss. Simon’s sister Annabelle being saved by Mark seemed a little rushed and as ever the Bryce/Nicole/Keiko narrative got in the way of the important issues, when Nicole chose not to tell Bryce she’d seen Keiko at the hospital.
Demetri’s narrative for this week involved the return of Agent Fiona Banks played by Alex Kingston - who after her recent exploits in “Doctor Who”, is quickly becoming ‘Queen of the Guest Star’. Their storyline surrounded Celia, who former FBI Agent Al Young was supposed to kill in a car accident (but he committed suicide to save her life). Demetri and Fiona were trying to track down a man who is murdering those who should’ve died by the day of the blackout. When he attempts to kill Celia, the Agent’s try to protect her, but ultimately Fiona accidentally runs poor Celia over (as predicted) and she dies. Does this now mean that either Demetri or Fiona have taken on Al’s timeline? A very intriguing development.
CORONATION STREET
ITV1, Monday 7:30pm to 9pm – 6/10
I don’t often watch Corrie, but I had to tune in to see the funeral of my favourite character: Blanche. The first episode focussed on the service and Deirdre discovered just how much her mum meant to everyone. However Blanche was soon forgotten in the second episode when the spotlight turned to Tracy’s return.
Luckily sandwiched between the two episodes was “Farewell Blanche” – a look back at the character and some of her best lines, “You look chipper, trod on snail?” to Tracy was probably one of the best! I’ll leave you with one of Blanche’s most recent quotes, but my personal favourite:
Blanche [to Grandson Simon]: Like Postman Pat, do you? So long as you remember it's a work of fiction. 'Early in the morning, when the day is dawning?' Your real Postman Pat rolls up around noon wearing a pair of shorts and his breakfast. And, if he's not chucking elastic bands like confetti, he'll be rifling through your birthday cards for ready cash, or leaving your valuables out on the step.
Nowt but propaganda, is this! And as for Mrs Goggins, she'd be cowering behind three-inch glass with a baseball bat under the counter... assuming that her post office hasn't been shut down, of course.
No comments:
Post a Comment