Dominatio Per Malum

There is nothing worth watching anymore.

Not since Battlestar Galactica goes for its midseason break, teasing us with the frakking awesome OMG OMG OMG episode 410, aptly titled “Revelations”. Ok, so there won’t be new episodes of BSG until 2009, which is downright disturbing. Having said that, season 4 has been a blast so far. It started abit slowly, but definately began to regain momentum around Ep 406. In fact, Ep 407 “Guess What’s Coming To Dinner” gets my vote for the best episode this season for a tautly directed episode which pushed all the right buttons. From then on it was sheer awesomeness culminating in the jaw-dropping midseason finale that poses more questions than it answers.

But now, there is nothing left to watch. House, Lost, Dexter , Heroes do not have any more new episodes so right now we stand in the wasteland of TV boringness.

So i give other series a try… with mixed results.

First up is Torchwood, a critically acclaimed sci-fi spin-off of Dr Who. I survived 7 episodes which ranged from passably mediocre to downright cheesy before giving up the show. Verdict: Totally overrated. Some episodes were downright lousy.

So next we progress to Sex and the City, that highly rated HBO drama. It did not start well, with a pilot episode that was really, really bad and features way too much voice over narrations and breaking the fourth wall. But upon the advice of a friend that “it gets better”, i have persevered until Season 2. Well yes, it does get better and as the characters become more developed the show does become more engaging. But, it doesn’t make the cut. The episodes become generally repetitive, almost predictable and most damning of all the characters are such slim caricatures that they feel one-dimensional even after 2 seasons. For a show that feature 4 leading female characters, the leads were bland and were saved only by the sharp writing and sometimes risque dialogue. Even Battlestar Galactica’s female cast is more interesting, and BSG is an ensemble show. To me SATC represents entertainment of the 90s, capturing a world where the most interesting thing that captures the American attention is Lewinsky-gate. BSG is a reflection of a post 9/11 world of darker realities and moral dilemmas. In fact, the most poignant sequences of SATC are the shots which reflect a different America, where people carry clunky handphones and the camera pans over the World Trade Center. Overall, SATC caters to the audience of the 90s who might be entertained by such lightweight female angst. But the world has moved on, and SATC just doesn’t cut it.

The last show i tried was The Office (US version) and it was mildly amusing. By that i mean i didn’t laugh at all during the whole show. In other words, a failure. I’d very much rather watch Monty Python reruns than a middling comedy routine. Such as for example this classic MP sketch:

So now, i despair in the wasteland of mediocre television. Is that any TV series that is so frakking awesome that i should watch?