I had to keep reminding myself that I trust Joss Whedon to make great television shows out of unpromising-sounding premises while watching the trailer for his new show, “Dollhouse.”

“Buffy, the Vampire Slayer” is about a high school girl who slays vampires when she isn’t dating them, and “Firefly” is about cowboys in space in the future, so I think he might just be able to make “Dollhouse” work. The show is centered around a girl programmed to become different characters, from an assassin to a lover, without being conscious of the changes. Then she suddenly becomes aware, drama and conflict ensue, etc etc.

It sounds more like a movie (“Minority Report,” maybe?) than a TV show, and the show’s star, Eliza Dushku, is one of my least favorite actresses. You can watch her trying to act and it’s painful because she just can’t (watch what I mean in this clip.)

So, in order to get myself pumped up about this show, I’m repeating my new mantra: “I trust Joss Whedon, I trust Joss Whedon, I trust…” Well, you get the idea.

For years us British viewers have been bombarded with US shows that supposedly depict the lives of teenagers and British telly had never been able to compete…until now.

Skins exploded onto British television and into the consciousness of young viewers in late 2006 and early 2007. The raw energy, humour, wit, and intelligence of the show was unbelievable and never seen before. Skins deals with issues such as drugs, sexuality, race and the difficulties of growing up. It’s British youth culture to the max.

The fast-paced energy of Skins mimics the flow of hormones that surge in the blood of real teenagers. The issues and storylines are entertaining yet easy to relate to or emphasize with. The characters are far from the typical one-dimensional entity, with the writers really getting into the minds of the individual they have created, rather than simply having them ‘exist’. The episodes focus on one character, specifically on the issues they are battling with along with how they manage themselves in the real world. Read More »

I’m not the biggest fan of Grey’s Anatomy. I mean, I used to be. The first and second season had me at hello, and the finale where that hot dude asked Izzie to marry him and then kicked the bucket minutes before she walked into his room? Jesus. I was crying so hard my roommate started to panic.

But then I got busy, and the show got lame. Everyone started hooking up with everyone else (what? It’s a huge hospital. Branch out!), the dialogue got a little too quippy, and those endings with the sad folk-rock montages became old. I was over it.

Until just now. Home alone on a Friday night, swiffering the piles of cat hair off my floor (sounds cool, huh?), letting the TV talk to me on the background, I watched some catch-up episodes of Grey’s. Same old same old. Meredith looked pained, George looked cute and pained, McDreamy looked stubbled and pained, and everyone else told some jokes in between looking pained.

The episode in question, entitled “The Other Side of This Life”, was apparently the first look at the characters for the Addison Montgomery spin-off Private Practice. As I swiffered, I kept one eye on our insanely small TV and the other on the flying piles of dander until HE came on the screen. Read More »