Nurse Jackie - Sky Atlantic.

So we are coming to the end of Nurse Jackie Season 3 on Sky Atlantic and I have to say it’s great to watch the show on a channel that treats it with the respect it deserves. It’s no longer shown late on a Saturday night and there’s certainly no chance of it being bumped for ‘book week’ or the golf. But I have to say as much as I love the show, and I really, really love it, Nurse Jackie is starting to annoy me. I still think it’s as funny as ever, entertaining as ever and strong as ever but I worry how long Nurse Jackie can continue with the way it’s going.


We’re currently three seasons in and Jackie is still an addict yet no one has a clue who she really is. At the end of last season we saw Kevin and Dr O Hara confront her about her addiction, but besides from a few comments here and there it’s been pretty much swept under the table. Yes her colleagues know that she’s married with children and a couple of them know she had an affair with Eddie but it’s not exactly ground breaking stuff, and, as far back as season, 1 we saw that Male nurse Sam knew she was an addict (just like him) but they never mention that either.

It feels like something has to happen before the end of the season otherwise we’re just watching a normal show set in a hospital, albeit a very good show set in a hospital but still nothing we’ve not seen before. If something serious doesn’t happen to Jackie before the last few episodes are out, then her being a drug addict is hardly even worth mentioning any more.

Thankfully we’ve a little drama in the fact that she now has a drug dealer and he seems determined to ruin her. But a couple of episodes back he mentioned that she’s nowhere near rock bottom, so what does that mean? How many more episodes/season do we have left of Jackie popping pills with nobody noticing?

Don’t get me wrong, I love a show/film where nothing much happens. My favourite show is Mad Men and my one of my favourite films is Adventureland. I mean you don’t get much slower then that! But with Nurse Jackie you get the feeling something SHOULD be happening and it’s not. I worry the show runners and producers are afraid of taking a big risk by having her exposed as a drug addict, which would completely change the whole dynamic of the show. But if Nurse Jackie is continue being as good as it is, something big needs to happen and by big I’m thinking we either need to see Jackie in AA, breaking up with her husband or having some kind of drug overdose. It’s a bit dramatic but that’s what this show needs right now. If that doesn’t happen and doesn’t happen by the end of the season then I don’t know what the future holds for Nurse Jackie, which is a shame because it is excellent.

Thankfully what it does have going for it is a great cast. Perhaps one of the best casts out there. Each character is strong and funny in their own way and I would be happy to watch the show whether Jackie was a drug addict or not. But Nurse Jackie needs to figure out where it's going and soon.

The Borgias - Another Bonk, Blood & Stab In The Back Show.

The first episodes of The Borgias, with its endless rounds of voting, and covert dealings, seemed more like an average afternoon at F.I.F.A. than 15th century Rome. But then again, F.I.F.A. make the Borgia's look like the Waltons.

Yes, the show looks fantastic and has a strong cast, headed by Jeremy Irons, whose performance is not a million miles away from his Scar in The Lion King. But the trouble with The Borgias is where is its unique selling point? This whole blood, sex, and treachery, costume drama has almost become its own genre over the past seven or so years. Starting, really, with Deadwood and then Rome through to The Tudors, Spartacus and all brought beautifully together earlier this year with Game of Thrones. And now The Borgias, but like I said, where is its u.s.p.? Perhaps the answer is that it doesn't have one and both opening episodes did have that 'seen it all before' feel to them.

Of the above list, The Borgias is probably closest to The Tudors, and I think we all know how dull that could get at times. But it always had a high profile execution to look forward to and no show ever did executions better than The Tudors. Problem is, we're very familiar with this kind of bonk, blood, stab in the back, stuff. So these days, it has to really do something special to both catch and hold our attention. Spartacus does it by ramming the sex and gore at us, then sneaking the storyline underneath so you become hooked, but not too sure how. Game of Thrones went about it by combining all the elements and then balancing them magnificently.

Unlike the others, Game of Thrones does have the advantage of being based on a series of bestsellers, so knows where it is going. Something you hesitate to say about The Borgias, which looks like it will trundle along The Tudors path, but minus the excellent set piece executions.

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Boardwalk Empire - Good But Not Great.

So I’ve just seen the advert for Boardwalk Empire season 2 and maybe it's just me but I'm really not that bothered whether it returns or not.

I mean is there anyone out there who can honestly say, hand on heart, that Boardwalk Empire is their favorite show and they can't wait for it too start in a few weeks? Anyone...

Don’t get me wrong I enjoyed the first season. When I was watching it I wasn’t bored and I was into the story but I didn’t long for it during the week and when the season ended I didn’t care. Under no circumstances did the season finale or for that matter the season in general, leave me wanting more and it definitely didn’t have me thinking about it for days on end not like say Dexter.

And now this new advert for season 2 is out and it just leaves me feeling a little bit 'meh'. They've clearly tried their best to build up suspense and make it as thrilling as possible but it just comes off a little average. Which I think may be my problem with Boardwalk Empire, it’s an average show with an extraordinary budget. And if you took away the budget I’m not sure what sort of show you would have, well one without Steve Buscemi that’s for sure.

See, compared to everything else out there Boardwalk Empire just doesn’t match up. It's good but not as good as Dexter. Buscemi is good but not as good as Bryan Cranston in Breaking Bad. The atmosphere is tense but not as tense as The Killing. The set is good but not as good as Mad Men.

Maybe I'm being unnecessarily harsh. Perhaps I’ll enjoy it just as much as everything else when it comes back on. I certainly don’t remember thinking this badly of it when I was watching it. Also, if I remember correctly, next season does have a couple of decent storylines coming up. Jimmy wanting to take out Nucky and that crazy actress Paz something or other being pregnant with the equally crazy policeman's baby. Anyway I hope Boardwalk Empire proves me completely wrong and plays a blinder next season. The video below is the new advert ,decide for yourself if I've gone a bit overboard.

Nurse Jackie To Sky Atlantic - Are The BBC Mental?

So it seems that in just one week non Sky viewers have lost two great shows, Glee and Nurse Jackie.

Sky Atlantic has poached the show from the BBC and will be showing season 3 from July 5^th. Just weeks after the second season finished on BBC 2.

Now I’m not going to go into the pros and cons of shows going behind pay walls. I did all that on Monday with Glee. But what I will question is why do the terrestrial channels not want good quality shows? Nurse Jackie is quite frankly one of the best half hour dramas on the TV (if you haven’t watched it go buy it on DVD immediately) and I don’t understand why they wouldn’t fight to keep it. Poor ratings has been sited as the reason the BBC didn’t renew it but they only have themselves to blame for that by putting it on at 10pm on a Saturday night.

Up until 6 months ago the BBC was home to Mad Men and Nurse Jackie. I mean it’s one thing giving up Nurse Jackie but they gave up Mad Men! It’s almost farcical. So instead of having two of the best shows in America on the BBC, we pay our license fee for endless episodes of Family Guy, Eastenders and My Family.

I didn’t really agree with Glee moving to Sky 1. I felt like you were taking a great show away from its core audience but with Nurse Jackie moving to Sky Atlantic, well I’m pleased! It now means we can watch the new series in two weeks time and it will be treated with the respect it deserves. Not taken off for ‘book week’ mid season. True story, one week it was taken off for Book Club the week after that taken off for the Golf. If it weren’t for Chris Lilly’s Angry Boys I would be demanding my license fee back!

Games Of Thrones - The Sopranos successor.

Who would have thought that Game of Thrones would turn out to be HBO's successor to The Sopranos and Deadwood? Well certainly not me.

It has all the tension and immanent betrayal that The Sopranos did so well. With the sudden bursts of shocking violence that was Deadwood's stock in trade, plus the menace of both. Add to that a little sword and sorcery, well a lot of sword actually, and you have a cracking adult drama.

I'm quite glad I haven't read the books. I looked at them in Waterstones recently and I could barely lift them, never mind read them. So all the shocks, and sudden deaths, will hit me squarely on the chin, and there have been plenty of both so far. It’s also written, and acted, with the requisite levels of conviction. All the various story strands are handled brilliantly, never rushing, which makes me think HBO are in for the long haul. Let's hope so. Although, will it still be called Game of Thrones when we get to the second book?

This might be the first series on Sky Atlantic that I actually want to see the second season of. Let's be honest would you really miss them if Boardwalk Empire or Bored to Death never came back?

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in Treatment - As dull as dish water or TV genius?

If I am to believe what I read, the viewing figures for season one of In Treatment made The Vanessa Show look like the X Factor final, but then again it was tucked away on Sky Arts. Now season two has arrived on the much snazzier Sky Atlantic.

Based on the Israeli show Be Tipul, (imagine how poor the ratings would be if they showed that) In Treatment centers on fifty something psychotherapist Paul Weston, immaculately played Gabriel Byrne. Each episode is basically a one to one with a patient. And we follow their progress, or lack of it, through the season. I can feel you yawning already. But what, at first, seems a stifling concept turns out to be quite the opposite. Put bluntly, In Treatment is one of the best shows on the telly. Character driven, the conversations are riveting, as secrets emerge and tables are turned. Often the spotlight falls on Paul Weston, who is a deeply flawed man, add to this In Treatment is one of the finest acted shows you will come across and you have the complete package.

But the only problem is that Sky Atlantic are showing it in double episodes, where as Sky Arts put out an episode a night (Monday- Friday). This enabled the season to flow. Meaning you were only a week away from each character returning, but that's a small quibble, at least it is back. I know I haven't put forward a great case for you to give In Treatment a go. That's one of the show's drawbacks I suppose, it sounds dry and dull until you watch it and find yourself hooked.

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UPDATE: In Treatment has been cancelled by HBO after three seasons. However there are some reports it could come back in a different format. Possibly just focusing on the main character Paul Weston.

Games of Thrones - Knives, Tits and Betrayal.

With Spartacus Gods of the Arena having just one episode left, I wondered where I would get my weekly fix of decapitations, gut slashing gore, and gratuitous nudity from. I need not have worried, Game of Thrones has arrived. And it has more than enough of all three to be going on with. It also has lots of castles, lots of funny names and enough Brit actors to populate a Harry Potter film. The cast is led by the first rate Sean Bean, who can play this kind of fantasy stuff standing on his head. I won't bother you with the story, because there wasn't much in this first episode, it was too busy introducing the large cast of characters. I'll admit I was a tad lost at times, but thankfully not Dune lost. I'm sure the plot will thicken nicely over the coming weeks.

My one niggling worry is that Game of Thrones looks like a bit of a gamble. And, if it doesn't pay off, it could find itself in the same HBO abyss that Deadwood and Carnivale ended up. I hope not, I really don't want to have to read the house brick sized paperbacks to find out how it all ended. That said, Game of Thrones looks great, is well acted, and is worth a look. Plus it will help no end with the Spartacus cold turkey.

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