Lost – Season 4

Archived review

Now this is more like it. Perhaps the most surprising thing I've seen this year is Lost's return to form, given how a lot of people had given up on the show for laying on the questions without answering any. The best thing that happened to this show was last year's announcement of an end date, as it brought about the need to have a sense of purpose to everything that follows as the show hurtles towards its end in two years' time. The second best thing to happen was the new storytelling format that has permanently shaken things up. Through the inventive use of revealing flash forwards (that ends, one presumes, with the timeline shifting about three years forwards to establish us back in our 'present' day…confusing I know!), we now know of several people who actually make it off the island and how they managed it.

This is one show that last year's writers' strike didn't manage to screw up; In fact it helped a great deal. The season, admittedly only planned to consist of 16 episodes anyway, was cut down to a leaner 14 episodes and the lack of space for 'filler' material made for one of the most tightly-plotted, consistently intriguing and 'complete' seasons of any show I can think of. The writers even managed to pull off things that they had previously got wrong. After the embarrassing inclusion of the useless characters Nikki and Paulo in the third season (and their subsequent deaths, admittedly an entertaining admission of error), I was concerned to hear of the introduction of a whopping four new characters this year, particularly since there would be even less screentime to give to them. However, unlike previous additions, these guys played central to the whole rescue storyline and made a good impression straight away. Chopper pilot Frank and Oxford physicist Dan (Faraday, not Warren) particularly shone, especially in the fantastic time-travel episode The Constant.

Have there been faults? Surprisingly, I can't recall that many. Clearly flashbacks have gotten a bit stale, and the few episodes that reverted back to this format were generally weaker (although gotta love the misdirection in the Jin/Sun episode!). There was also one completely embarrassing 'action' scene where faceless survivor after faceless survivor idiotically run out into gunfire and get mown down, but this blunder was more than made up for by the fantastic fight scene between Sayid and Keamy in the finale. In fact, in a review that is tracking the show's evolution rather than the show itself, it would be easy to overlook the consistently amazing production values this show has; Even the weaker episodes can be enjoyable for Michael Giacchino's rousing score and the exotic Hawaiian locations. It is without a doubt the prettiest show on television, and a must watch in HD. I'm clearly looking forward to this show's return next year. Like the first season, my anticipation also comes with the slight concern of 'How can you top that?' and in truth, they probably won't be able to. Then again, Lost has been anything but predictable.

How I Met Your Mother – Seasons 1-3

Archived review

Traditional live-audience sitcoms seemed pretty much dead and buried when Friends made its final bow a few years ago, and perhaps with good reason. They're inherently cheesy. How can a show forced to make every other sentence come attached with a punchline not seem corny? Which is why I'm surprised I enjoy this old school comedy about twentysomething New Yorkers so much. Because it is corny. It's all about a normal guy called Ted trying to find love in the big city when it seems like everyone else is already settling down. He's sappy and romantic and when unsuccessful he will always get by with the help of his friends. Aaaawww.

Fortunately, the way the show is presented is a saving grace. Told through future-Ted telling his future kids all about his crazy younger self, it gives potential to be a bit outside-the-box when it comes to linear storytelling. Like Scrubs before it, although not as excessively, there's room for little flashbacks and fantasy sequences that do a lot to help keep things feeling fresh and unlike any of the other traditional sitcoms out there.

Crucially the cast is a good one and is never outshadowed by the star power of Alyson Hannigan, the reason I tried out the show in the first place, but it's very much an ensemble piece. Having said that, suit wearing hedonist Barney is starting to outshine the other characters with his catchphrases and great comic delivery, so bravo to the impressive performance put on by Neil Patrick Harris in this role (woah, déjà vu!). In terms of what I've seen, season 2 was the funniest so far, but all of it has been pretty decent. This is me signing out, and hoping that Sarah Chalke is indeed the titular 'mother' of the piece, and that Ted does eventually marry her. If not, can I?

The Big Bang Theory – Season 1

Archived review

A live-audience sitcom about a bunch of nerdy physicists being nerdy physicists has a number of dangerous factors that could make it an embarrassing failure. There's a danger that the jokes revert to making fun of one-dimensional stereotypes unaware of how ridiculous they are as they whine about the Star Wars prequels or argue incessantly about Kirk-vs-Picard (pointless, by the way. It's obviously Picard.). There's a danger that the dialogue is so highly esoteric that only Stephen Hawking and his mum would find any appreciation in it. And there's also a danger that, being an American show, it would feature a stupidly good-looking cast and thus seem completely unrealistic. The Big Bang Theory actually succumbs to all these faults, in varying degrees…Yet somehow, it still works. Why? Because.

Firstly, because they're not all completely unaware. Whilst Sheldon, a socially-retarded genius with probably about 15 behavioural conditions (and perhaps the greatest such ridiculous comic creation since Niles Crane), thinks that he is right and the rest of the world is not only wrong but irrelevant, protagonist Leonard provides a welcome counterpoint. When Leonard falls in love with outrageously-hot-in-a-wholesome-American-way literal-girl-next-door Penny (Kaley Cuoco from 8 Simple Rules and Charmed), he tries his best, admittedly failing most of the time, to lessen his nerdish tendencies and become the kind of man he thinks she might like. He's extremely sweet but undeniably inexperienced, and when asked by Penny after a particular display of kindness why all guys can't be like him, his knowingly bittersweet response is that if all guys were like him, the human race would become extinct. Their expected first date happens unexpectedly quickly, by the end of the strike-shortened first season. It'll be interesting to see how, or even if, their relationship progresses next year.

And yes, some of the show's more physics-y based jokes are incomprehensible to the average viewer, but that's often the point. It's the comic delivery of the lines that are accessible to everyone; Even if you can't understand what they're talking about, it's the way they get heated up and aggressive that makes the show easy to enjoy by everyone. Recommended for anyone with an inner nerd, and clearly anyone with an outer nerd such as myself.

30 Rock – Seasons 1 & 2

Archived review

Let me get this straight; Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip was a good show. It had an unfulfilled potential to be a great show. Yet as I was watching it, it seems strange that there was a similarly-themed show that started airing at exactly the same time and that was addressing all the problems I had with Studio 60's overblown sense of importance, and I didn't even know it. Well, I'm caught up with two seasons of 30 Rock now, and I'm very glad I did. It's one of the strangest comedies I've seen, being a complete hotpot of different styles. At times clever political satire, at times touching-without-being-schmaltzy drama, and often a refreshingly silly concoction of irreverence and slapstick, 30 Rock primarily gets it so right by making anything game and not taking itself at all seriously, even when it's trying to make a serious point.

It helps to have one of the better ensembles of recent years, with Tracy Morgan and Jack McBrayer in particular shining as ridiculously black Tracy Jordan and ridiculously white Kenneth respectively. The real stars however are Tina Fey and Alec Baldwin who have such a great mostly-platonic camaraderie between them, and whose creative differences really make the show interesting. In portraying sketch show producer Liz Lemon, Fey provides the necessary stable grounding of a relatively sane person in an insane environment, but like Scrubs' JD before her, has enough funny quirks to make her character very memorable indeed (particularly her tastes in both men and food). Speaking of memorable, however… Alec Baldwin is amazing. Having surprisingly not seen him in much else, yet knowing of his reputation as a serious actor, I wasn't expecting to find him as Godlike as he's turned out to be, but everything he says as uber-capable executive extraordinaire is solid gold. Watch this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QTj47rcuM-4 to see what I mean. Genius.

This is another show I can't wait to see back on the screen again, and definitely still has a lot of life in it. Baldwin roolz!