It is not something I generally broadcast but in my 20s I was diagnosed with depression and had chats with head doctors and a period of time on anti-depressants. It wasn’t the best time of my life but I got better. I’ve been a might too cheerful for my own good for a while now. Having suffered like Van Gogh (though certainly not to the same extent) I can say what the BBC did was actually very important and incredibly sensitive. Anyone who has been or is depressed (diagnosed or otherwise) will have seen bits of themselves in that portrayal of Van Gogh. People with depression often don’t realise they need help or those that do often don’t believe they deserve it. Depression is an illness that sabotages a person ability to get help. Indeed had my mother had not told me I need to go see a doctor I wouldn’t have sort out treatment. Those not being treated might be prompted by that message to see a doctor.

Those who have been depressed will have found that ending will have affected them a great deal. Fuck, it made me cry. Unless you have been there and felt so utterly worthless and have been unable to see any future that is not pure misery you cannot begin to understand being shown you are not in such a definitive way would mean. Unless suicide has felt like an (or even the only) option you won’t understand. Airing that message might help those who have been depressed deal with their emotions. Indeed it might also have prevented some from having a relapse.

However not every one is Van Gogh. Not everyone gets to be great some of us are just normal. So while this episode would have resonated in a good way to people who have recovered from depression it would have an entirely the opposite effect on people who are depressed. Especially if they are undiagnosed or untreated. The message someone who is depressed could take from watching that episode is “You are actually worthless because you are not awesome like Van Gogh. There is no hope for you”. You don’t need to be a psychiatrist to understand that kind of thinking isn’t a good thing to reinforce in the minds of people who are depressed. Indeed for someone who is already far gone that could be the straw that break the camels back. That message by the BBC at the end could have saved lives.

So that simple little message that didn’t affect your lives at all, took you 10 seconds to hear and that you are now bitching about on the internet could have changed or saved someone’s life. Think about that. It seems to be the general public’s attitude to mental illness hasn’t moved on a great deal since Van Gogh’s time. Why not think for a moment instead of being so petulant and selfish.

Anyway…

Bones

Starting to stray dangerously close to the thing that ruined Moonlighting and it starting to retread old ground a little too much. That being said I still enjoy the show. Partly because the elder of the Deschanel sisters really does it for me and partly because they lots of cool special effect computer stuff. They did manage to add some new life by continually swapping out the Zac roll with one of those from last season that were angling for his job after Zac was put in a mental hospital. I hope really hope they get Brennan and Booth together next season and wrap the show up.

Caprica

Great show all round and probably the best take on the whole science and philosophy of AI on film or TV for a good while. About the only thing that links the show to BSG is a few people and place names and the shows odd theological perspective.  There is little to fault the show really as it well, written, well acted, well paced and has a nice polish to it. Basically it is the exact opposite of V.

Castle

I love this show I really do. It really isn’t helping my man crush on Nathan Fillian. Still it has Katic to keep me on straight and narrow.  It is a pretty formulaic show with the odd plot arc and in many ways is the same show as Bones. However Fillian’s enthusiasm for… well… everything really gives this show a fun vibe.  It not high brow stuff and it very light and fluffy. Probably the most consistent show of year. Constantly fantastic that is.

Chuck

Like Dave I don’t like the Shaw character nor I am impressed by Routh’s acting ability. However he was much better when he came back as the out and out bad guy for the finale. The quality of the episode plots was a bit spotty but the show continues to be one of the most honest and fun shows on TV. One of the strengths of this show is because it always finds itself on the verge of cancellation. They wrap up plots at the end of the season and it has to reinvent itself each time it gets renewed. This keeps it all fresh and new feeling. I’d imagine without the constant impending doom this show could have become quite samey. And Yvonne Strahovski. Nuff said.

Community

Excellent first season. Takes the ensemble losers group trope and hangs the worlds biggest lampshade on it. Unabashed mickey take of sitcoms while being a sitcom. Riffs on every TV and film trope and cliche there is. Airs opposite Glee in the states so its a wonder it gets enough viewers to stay on air. Its a testament to how cynically funny it is that it survives. If you don’t watch it then it is something to pick up during the TV anaemic summer.

Dexter

Still the best thing on TV. Adding Lithgow to the cast was a stroke of genius. He needs to do more TV. On the flip side they need to do something more for season 4 than Dexter versus the serial killer again. Other than that hope they can keep it coming.

Doctor Who

Not quite finished but there are only a handful of episodes left now. This season has been far the best since the shows rebirth. Not that previous seasons have been bad just that this one has been totally awesome. With a complete new team and lacking the Davies’ self indulgent excesses the show has become smaller, tighter and greatly improved. Matt Smith is a revelation! The new Doctors have all been superior actors to any of that had the job in old Who but Matt Smith is the first one not only out act but out Doctor the likes of Tom Baker. As far as I am concerned Smith is the Doctor. Appropriate that a Smith should be that good. Karen Gillan is the hottest companion since well I was able to appreciate the Doctor’s assistants in that way.

Flashforward

Fantastic concept with a patchy implementation. Like Android mobile phones. Started off with a good head of steam which was killed first by a long mid-season break and then by a number of uneventful episodes. I wanted to love it but it never really hit the heights I expected from it. Should have been the show to replace Lost but went the Heroes route instead.

Fringe

This show continued to improve on itself over the previous season. Which is good because it was no slough in the first place. It truly is X-Files for the 21st century. Worth watching if only for John Nobles fantastic portrayal of the brain addled Walter Bishop. More focus on the plot arc this year gave the show a more consistent feeling. The finale has Leonard Nimoy’s final appearance on TV or in cinema so a worthy fan watch for Trekkies.

Heroes

Thank fuck that is over.

House

Mixed season. Wished it has stayed as dark as it started but they seem determined to cure House of his Houseness. It kind of lost me part way through but Hugh Laurie’s perfomance kept me coming back.

How I met your Mother

Show has lost its way and is a shadow of its former self. Barney being the only real reason to watch. I again concur with Dave and think this needs to be wrapped up next season or it is in danger of outstaying its welcome.

Lost

It finally ended! This final season actually answered a lot of questions as did the finale. The finale was more of an emotional and character wrap up than a check list of answers and some things never got addressed. The finale was a bit of a marmite episode with me on the loving it side. Still the show’s done now and it all it really amounted to was the trials and tribulations of some people trapped on a weird island. That and the somewhat anvilicious moral about what’s important in life (people) and what’s not (numbers). The fans still don’t get that.

Smallville

What? I like Smallville, leave me the fuck alone! Considerably picked up quality wise this season. And Welling’s Clark Kent is now well on his way to becoming the hero he is supposed to be. The tights are now play! Stabbed with a blue Kryptonite dagger in the finale will Kal El die? Will he heck. If the Christ on the cross fall from the Daily Planet roof didn’t drive that point home they really can’t do another season without him can they? Season 10 looks to be the final season so I expect to see the end of the blur nonsense and the birth of Superman.

Spartacus: Blood and Sand

Gladiator meets 300 by way of softcore porn. What more could you possibly want from a TV show? Bloody and violent and beautifully stylised. Well acted and Lucy Lawless gets her boobs out. Again what more could you possibly want from a TV show. Actually every woman in the cast is butt nekkid at some point in most episodes. And in a triumph of equality so do the men. If starring at Dr. Manhattan’s big blue penis made you uncomfortable (snigger) don’t watch this show. Other than Spartacus every character in this show is totally expendable. Seriously people die, a lot. The second season proper will be delayed because the lead has had to be treated for cancer but a prequel mini-series is supposed to be being filmed to keep people interested.

I’m Spartacus! Sorry. I can’t help myself. I do it at least once per episode.

Stargate: Universe

Dark, depressing and none of the characters in it would be the first choice to be on first contact missions. Unfairly criticised for being sexist because the fanboys wanted a better stick to beat it with than just “its not Stargate SG1″. And to answer Dave’s query Chloe and the other two got back because they were repeatedly trying to dial into destiny so when the sabotage caused it to drop out of FTL they got a connection. Simples. Though they probably should have used her as bait to get past the dinosaur on that one planet. Good show and its nice to see the seedier less comedic side of the Stargate errrr Universe.

The Big Bang Theory

As ever Sheldon is worth the price of admission on his own but the show fell a bit flat with the Leonard/Penny relationship. Seems to retrieved some of its flavour since they broke up. Mmmm Kaley Cuoco. [dribble].

The Mentalist

The serious man’s Psych continues to be a good show. Yet another show with great sexual tension between the two main characters. Though this tension is sometimes just tension. All the characters got a chance to grow this season each getting some stories that filled in their backgrounds a little. Though the show is still greatly about Jane’s search for Red John and it is beginning to drag the show and the main character down a bit. Also sometimes the crimes seem to take a back seat to the soap opera stuff. Amanda Righetti continues to be spankingly gorgeous. Somebody dye her hair black and cast her as Wonder Woman right now!

V

So very bad I can’t help but watch. It just seems to be trying so hard to be a good TV show and occasionally comes agonisingly close. Terrible special effects but the female cast is nice too look at. I guess the male cast is to if you are that way inclined. Perhaps I watch it just to get my Elizabeth Mitchell fix. Man this summary is making me seem incredibly shallow.

Isn’t it amazing how much TV you can watch when you have literally no life?

Pulse was boring and tediously predictable. Slow, plodding and unimpressive. An episode of Causality is more riveting. I actually took to reading Fark.com half way through it was that dull. Thankfully I had my iPad to hand. There is nothing remotely surprising let alone shocking in Pulse at all. Nothing. Even the final reveal was telegraphed to high heaven. I’ve seen gorier cartoons too. Call me cynical but I don’t consider people being squirted with a turkey-baster full of fake blood to be that gory. Supposedly this was a tense and dark show. It was certainly dark (the lights kept going out) but it was about as tense as my pectoral muscles.

And the characters? I wanted to reach into the screen and slap the characters senseless. Now I like a cast of unlike-able characters that do dumb stuff, I watch ‘Stargate: Universe’ after all but this was beyond the pail. For Doctors they all seemed to behave like the idiotic teens you see in 80s slasher flicks. Naturally everyone is gorgeous and is sleeping with everyone else. Is my annoyance of this a sign I am getting old or something? If you spot inconsistency in a patients chart and witness unrecorded treatments do you give the culprit time to fake the paperwork and corresponding computer data before you try to do anything? Really? Can junior doctors not use photocopiers? Naturally the somewhat petite female lead decides to investigate the goings on all by herself. And, oh my god, how funny is a trainee doctor with a blood phobia? Hilarious! Oh, how I laughed. Believable characters my sweaty arse.

It completely lacked any subtly at all. A section from my thought processes last night: Into the morgue we go. That medical circular saw seems conveniently placed on that table, doesn’t it? Oh no! A zombie! And he is attacking handsome-male-doctor-number-1. Oh no! Look an extreme close up of that medical saw and a mallet to the back of my head in case I missed it. Gee I wonder what it is going to happen when the whiny was-much-better-in-going-postal-on-sky doctor stops screaming…

This whole episode would have been the bit before the opening titles of a Fringe episode. But of then it would have had better acting, a more eventful plot, tension and some nice intro credits after it. Fringe would probably also have special effects that went beyond splashing red paint around, someone poking the underside of some stretched skin coloured latex and the occasional use of a butchers leftovers.

The cast is an inexplicably pretty bunch, as if this was some kind of US TV show. Why the pointless female nudity? Now I’m not usually one to complain about pointless female nudity and the actress involved was worth seeing in the buff but come on! Why the sex scene at all? Because it is BBC3 and we have to be edgy? Christ I hate it when people force me to take the same side as feminists and the Daily Mail. Not only that I would rather have seen Claire Foy in the nude (or that black dress from Going Postal mmmmm)  anyway. I guess she is a proper actress and above flashing her norks for my amusement. A flaw I find prevalent in so many women. Well I guess that takes care of any accusations that I’m not a chauvinist.

This is one of those TV shows that has been deemed good before anyone has seen it and this promptly exclaimed to be so once the critics got hold of it. It ain’t. Not unlike everyone decided Avatar was awesome before they even saw it. They should have spent the money on more ‘Being Human’ instead.

Twas utter crap. You will notice I didn’t cover the plot much. Well it is basically somebody is using a hospital to do unapproved medical testing. That about sums it up. I refuse to even give it the customary out of 5 rating. This is the last time I watch anything based on the opinions of TV critics and the last episode of Pulse I will watch. The fuckers made me waste time I could have used playing Red Dead Redemption.