Life On Mars is actually quite good

My parents have been raving about the time-travelling detective series Life On Mars for ages, so I agreed to watch the first episode of the second season last night. And you know what? It was brilliant.

Life On Mars, for those who don't know, is about a detective who is hit by a car in 2006, and wakes up to find himself in 1973. Throughout the series, he struggles to adapt to his new surroundings while trying to persuade his fellow cops to use his modern-day techniques.

The entire show has a great 70s atmosphere - and although I don't know what the 70s were like, I can certainly imagine it being like this. The police are rough and ruthless, balking at the idea of thoroughly investigating a crime scene, women are forced to put up with endless sexism and some people even have afros. ^_^

But there's another side to Life On Mars, which the adverts seem to skip around: it's actually quite dark. Not only are the stories based around fluffy topics such as corruption high in the police force, but the character himself often questions his own sanity. The show's intro sums it up perfectly: "am I mad, in a coma or back in time?".

If you have a Doctor Who or Torchwood-shaped hole in your TV schedule at the moment like me, Life On Mars is the perfect replacement. And even if you're not, it's a damn good drama.

Ps. I didn't manage to get this blog post out in time for the episode tonight - unfortunately, there isn't another episode for two weeks!

The Simpsons Movie? Pah!

So I was in watching Night At The Museum on Saturday (2 stars/5) and there was a trailer for the legendary Simpsons Movie. There was a time when I watched Simpsons religiously, at 6 every evening.



First off, I have to comment on that "proud to be ugly... in full 3D" bit. Sure, older epsiodes may look like pretty ugly, but newer episodes are as clean as the CGI bunny. And that crane is so obviously done with CGI (like the Futurama rocket).

Anyhoo, the Simpsons jumped the shark years back - I only realised when Channel 4 bought the rights to it just how far the programme had sunk. Every episode contains a celebrity cameo, and they're not even well thought out these days (although the Michael Jackson episode was genius).

The saddest thing is that the Simpsons has lost touch with its roots, and is only a cash cow for Fox these days. The movie will just be more of the same, and from the look of this trailer, not funny in the least. But hey, Family Guy and Futurama are much better anyway.

I love Simon Amstell

True fact: I used to watch Popworld on Channel 4 every Saturday morning. It was one of the very few television programmes I watch it religiously. Why? This man on the right, Simon Amstell.

Simon Amstell's "thing" is to poke fun at celebrities, specifically those in the music business - therefore, Popworld was the perfect show for him, with A/B-list celebs dropping in for an interview each week.

While most music programmes treat their guests like gods, Simon Amstell and Miquita Oliver were brave enough to tease the Kooks' frontman about his ex, Katie Melua, and to make Britney Spears walk out of an interview.

They left the show almost a year ago (to be replaced by the inferior Alexes). Thankfully the BBC noticed his genius and signed him up for Never Mind The Buzzcocks, which has replaced Popworld on my short list of must-watch programmes.

Ps. Don't believe me? Check out Simon Amstell at the 2005 Brit Awards.