Last night we watched the last two episodes of The West Wing. I was streaming with tears throughout the last episode – not because anything really bad happens but just because of the moving storylines and acting.

It’s sad that it’s over because I think The West Wing is probably the most consistently best written, acted, and made TV series I’ve seen.

There’s a new series starting soon called Studio 60 that’s by the same people, and stars Matt Perry (who was brilliant in his few appearances in West Wing) and the ace Bradley Whitford. We saw a trailer for it last night and it looks like the actor who played Danny in West Wing is also in there, which is good news. So fingers-crossed that it’s as good a series.

And if you haven’t seen The West Wing, you really should. But make sure you start from the beginning and concentrate or you won’t have a clue what’s going on!

I’ve just been watching Pompeii Live! on Channel 5. The Radio Times describes it as “a two-hour visit to the preserved city, wandering into bits never seen before by the public. Should be gripping.”.

‘Should’ being the operative word.

What a complete waste of an opportunity. Pompeii and Herculaneum are somewhere that I’d really love to go some time. So Pompeii Live! sounded worth watching…though I was a bit dubious about the title…

For a start, why does a programme about Pompeii need to be live? It’s been there nearly 2000 years – what’s going to happen in a couple of hours this evening that can’t be pre-recorded? Short of Vesuvius going off behind Peter Snow’s head while he’s on air. And I don’t think they can count on that.

Peter Snow isn’t too bad, though he doesn’t look very comfortable. Edwina Silver is irritating and patronising; she keeps ’summarising’ what the experts say (for us dumb viewers) but what she comes out with is less coherent, and her ad libbing is pretty poor. Both of them are overdoing the excitment.

What they’re seeing is exciting, but we don’t need breathless, sweaty, live presenters to get that point across.

Which Doctor (from Doctor Who) Are You?

You are the seventh Doctor! Warm and friendly to those around you, your manner can take a dark turn at times. Those who cross your path have significant reason to fear, as your morality is a bit more liquid then might make some comfortable. However, you are not human, and behind those clever eyes a new scheme is brewing. The responsibility of protecting the universe lies on your shoulders. How can you help it if no one understands?
Take this quiz!

One of those opinions that I’ve felt the need to share recently is how underwhelmed I was at Channel 4’s new comedy, The IT Crowd.

Tony downloaded the first episode the week before it aired. The only time I laughed was during the end credits when Tony suggested hopefully: “Maybe it’ll get better?”.

I have to admit that we have watched each episode since but mainly because it’s on directly before the excellent My Name Is Earl (\o/ Jason Lee). The IT Crowd has got very marginly better in subsequent episodes but, in general, the writing is terrible, the characters one-dimensional, the plots predictable, and the jokes unoriginal. Nothing like as good as Spaced or The Office, say.