"...random shoes..."

Ooh, it's been far too long between posts, so here's a sort of catch up on things. Admittedly mostly TV things, but...

Skins Season 3

It was a somewhat bold move to replace virtually the entire cast for season 3 - no Tony, Sid, Michelle... No Cassie. etc - with essentially just Effy being retained (though Pandora, a one episode character from Season 2 is now elevated to a cast regular). The overall feel of the episode was somewhat like each year's new Season of Grange Hill; only with much more of a turnover than that show. So, if we take the Grange Hill analogy a little further, we have said goodbye to Tucker Jenkins (Tony) and friends, now we say hello to Zammo McGuire (Cook) and friends...

Initial impressions of the new characters are mixed. Within minutes of the show starting I'd already decided that Cook is a cunt. Mind you, I spent the whole of Season 1 thinking Tony was a cunt, so plus ca change... The opening sequence of Freddie skateboarding down Park Street in Bristol (about half the external scenes in any given episode of Skins are shot in this area) set the tone perfectly, and was suitably over the top. Initially I thought he was a cunt, too, but mellowed to him as the episod went on. As soon as I saw JJ I though, fuck me, he's a cunt. And that didn't change. Though, he does show potential as the UK's answer to Jack Nance. 

And, ooh. Twins in their smalls. Marvellous. And get this, one of them's a good twin and one's an evil twin... now in what school based drama on CBBC did we see that before...? And only Skins could get away with knowingly calling a character Naomi Campbel, who is apparently a "rug muncher" who tried to get it on with the good twin. But, clearly, given her fact about herself she gave in class, "people tell lies about me", it's obvious that it's not her who's the lesbian it's the good twin. 

Um. Are there other new characters...? Obviously we still have Effy and Pandora, but they're old favourites. Ardal O'Hanlan's teacher who doesn't want to be a teacher was a masterstroke; he was playing totally against type and it took me a few minutes to actually realise it was him. Just great. 

As a season opener, set the task of introducing the new cast it was a pretty damn fine episode. It clearly wasn't as great as the show's peak (Season 1's Cassie episode), but it was good enough. Now let's see if they can keep it up.

Hustle Season 5

Within about, ooh, 30 seconds of the season starting it became obvious why Season 4 of the show suffered so badly. It needs Adrian Lester. From the moment he gave his first knowing look to camer you knew this was Hustle back on form. That Jamie Murray and Marc Warren aren't in it, and thus far Robert Vaughn's appearances are little more than cameos (he was even completely absent from episode 2) does not seem to matter in the slightest; Lester holds the show together. The show's plots continue to be ludicrous and over the top and entirely unrealistic, but that's part of the show's charm. The way how threads interlink can be marvellous; most notably in the third episode where you think you know everything that's gone on, but then suddenly there's another couple of twists to come. And it's just so entirely satisfying.

Lost Season 5

Two episodes in, and it remains the best show on the box. I love the way how the show keeps changing and renewing itself. Every Season has its own flavour and tone, and it is this constant change that helps keep the show fresh. These opening episodes don't let up; they constantly move things along. It's hard to see at this stage, for example, how Ben and Jack will get the rest of the Oceanic Six back to the island, or even if they are able to find the island as either the island, its inhabitants, or both, have become unstuck in time and are bouncing to and fro. The mysteries of this season are somewhat tantalising, and it will be interesting to see how they unfurl...

In other news:

• In Poland they have Cherry flavour Jaffa Cakes. Well, they're not actually Jaffa Cakes, but they're exactly the same type of cake. 
• It was very sad to hear the news of the death of Tony Hart; again via the medium of a FaceBook friend status update...
• Garry Bushell has a book out of his opinions. I understand the manuscript was written in green crayon.
• Tender Trap are doing a gig for the first time in a couple of years. Yay!