Tuesday 19 November 2013

Strictly Come Dancing

It is beginning to tighten up at the the top in Strictly Come Dancing, with all the lame celebs being eliminated apart from Mark Fenton. Hopefully now the concentration will be on dancing as a whole and not just it being entertaining - it is a competition.


The judging this year has deteriorating with really only Craig Revel Horwood performing as I would expect for a professional judge. The marking in general has been unjustifiably higher than normal and only Craig deducting for technical faulting. This has been disappointing as normally you rely on Len Goodman the traditionalist to mark on technique and dance step content, but no he has surprisingly switched camps and being high marking his favourites whilst totally ignoring the technique etc. This was clearly demonstrated with Dave Myers and this week with Mark Fenton.

Tens I think should be used sparingly and only awarded for a fault free dance which also entertained to a high standard. It is difficult for the non dancer to understand the difference, when 3 judges give tens yet Craig has identified mistakes or sub standard technique. Are the judges losing focus or are they to busy thinking up their witty or camp repartee for the post dance panel feedback.

The time will come when the BBC must change the judge line up again and this time casualty has to be Bruno Tonioli, his excessive camp and wide spread legs are too much to bear for another season. Who to replace Bruno? What about Anton DuBeke? This has to be his last season as a dancer. 

My favourite for the season is Sophie but perhaps it could be Patrick who can win the prized glitter ball.

Monday 18 November 2013

Person of Interest - Channel 5


Just got to be the best series on TV at the moment. A small team of people are protecting people from danger and death. The target people to be saved " a number" are selected by a computer once sponsored by the US government using networked resources of databases and CCTV. 

James Caviezel as John Reese an ex CIA operative recruited as the muscle in the team is fantastic, displaying ultra cool when under pressure. He works closely with Michael Emmerson playing Harold Finch ( Lost ), the inventor of the computer. They have roped in two city detectives to help them in their quest to protect the "numbers", building very interesting but different relationships with both detectives.

Now halfway through the second series the writers have introduced a great new character - a dog " Bear" who takes commands in the Dutch language. Graubaer’s Boker, dog actors name is a purebred Belgian Malinois that is well trained and extremely talented. The dog is providing Finch the confidence to face the outside world after a period of captivity.

Their methods may be unorthodox but they do deliver results and as the story revolves around " a number" it gives the writers plenty of scope for exciting and interesting episodes. Try it, it's on Channel 5.