Boardwalk Empire The Complete First Season
Blu-ray l DVD
CREATOR: Terence Winter
DIRECTORS: Martin Scorsese, Timothy Van Patten, Allen Coulter, Jeremy Podeswa, Alan Taylor, Brian Kirk, Brad Anderson, Simon Cellan-Jones
WRITERS: Terence Winter, Lawrence Konner, Margaret Nagle, Timothy Van Patten, Howard Korder, Paul Simms, Meg Jackson, Steve Kornacki
STARRING: Steve Buscemi, Michael Pitt, Kelly Macdonald, Michael Shannon, Shea Whigham, Aleksa Palladino, Michael Stuhlbarg, Stephen Graham, Vincent Piazza, Gretchen Mol, Paz de la Huerta, Michael Kenneth Williams, Dabney Coleman
HBO Studios
RELEASE DATE: January 10, 2012

TV has evolved to exciting heights with the arrival and ever-thriving world of no-restriction shows. Shows that are on pay cable channels and can be as gritty and realistic as necessary to tell their stories, often times getting away with more than most movies can even get away with.

We the TV-viewing audience are in love with these types of shows, and though there are many great options out there on various channels, no one does them quite like HBO. [...]

Christmas time has come and gone, and with the festive season, as always, we received the gift of a Doctor Who Christmas Special for 2011. The Doctor (Matt Smith) finds himself indebted to Madge Arwell (Claire Skinner), a mother from World War II-era England, for saving his life. The Doctor, after learning that her husband is missing and presumed dead during the war, decides to help provide the best Christmas ever to Madge and her children.

In his effort, he uses technology from TARDIS to create a Christmas present that is, in fact, a dimensional portal to another planet called Androzani Major. Unfortunately one of the children sneak into the present early and begin exploring the world… the Doctor follows only to find that this planet of Christmas trees is not only in risk, but so is Madge and her children [...]

We bid farewell to the wonderful Elisabeth Sladen, as The Sarah Jane Adventures concludes, with a story that includes an odd CEO of a big tech corporation that Sarah Jane and her companions must investigate. With some underhanded references to modern tech companies, we soon learn that the company is nothing more than a front for something far more sinister and disturbing.

During TARDISblend 45, we review the events of The Man Who Never Was, and pay tribute to Elisabeth Sladen in final adventure in the Whoniverse. Later we make a few recommendations for people to check out, both in earlier Sarah Jane episodes, and in the era of Classic Doctor Who.

All this and more on the latest TARDISblend! [...]

Elisabeth Sladen may be gone, but she is not forgotten, as her final episodes of The Sarah Jane Adventures are released at long last. The fifth and final series begins with a strange knock on the door in the middle of the night, in which Sarah Jane finds an infant abandoned at her doorstep.

Naming the baby Sky, she soon discovers this child has the strange ability to conduct and absorb energy, causing havoc across the area. But Sarah Jane is convinced that Sky was brought to her for a reason – and it turns out that it is central to a galactic war between two civilizations who have now brought their battles to Earth [...]

American Horror Story
Season 1, Episode 1 – Pilot
Directed by Ryan Murphy
Written by Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk
Starring Connie Britton, Dylan McDermott, Taissa Farmiga, Jessica Lange, Jamie Brewer, Frances Conroy, Evan Peters, Denis O’Hare
FX
Air Date: Wednesday, October 5, 2011 10pm

American Horror Story, the new series from Glee creators Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk, seems to be heading in a potentially interesting direction if the pilot episode is anything to go by. But I won’t be going along with them.

First off I’m not exactly the biggest fan of Murphy (whose other crimes against pop culture include creating Nip/Tuck and writing and directing Eat, Pray, Love) or any members of the American Horror Story cast, including Dylan McDermott, Connie Britton (although she was good on Spin City and Friday Night Lights), and Jessica Lange. It’s a mixed bag of overrated talent that grates my nerves whenever any of them are on screen and it doesn’t help the actors that the characters they play are unsympathetic and the material dull and pretentious. By the way, this is supposed to be a haunted house story [...]

Spoiler Alerts go out to all listeners, for the season finale for Doctor Who Series 6 — The Wedding Of River Song — is here, and finds the Doctor (Matt Smith) stepping forward to face his ultimate destiny at the fixed point in time at Lake Silencio in Utah. But before he allows the Silence to accomplish their goals, he begins to investigate their motivations. The quest will bring him answers – and more questions [...]

As Series Six of Doctor Who begins to race to its conclusion, the Doctor (Matt Smith) is on the tail end of a 200-year journey since separating from companions Amy and Rory Williams (Karen Gillan and Arthur Darvill). Before taking the steps towards his deadly encounter with the Impossible Astronaut, Madame Kovarian (Frances Barber), and the Silents, the Time Lord decides to drop in on an old friend: Craig Owens (James Corden) [...]

Series Six of Doctor Who continues, with the Doctor (Matt Smith) and companions, Amy Pond (Karen Gillan) and Rory Williams (Arthur Darvill), arrive in a mysterious cliched 1980′s Earth hotel. But not everything is as it seems – the Doctor detects the scenery to be an imitation, and as they find other people in the hotel, they discover it is an unending labyrinth that shapeshifts and changes.

More significantly is that there seems to be a hotel room for each person, within which it contains their deepest and darkest fears. But beyond these bad dreams personified is a deeper evil, something feeding on more than just fear itself…

During TARDISblend 39, we review the events of The God Complex, and look at the unexpected closing of the show, which directly leads in to the next episode, Closing Time, featuring the return of Craig and Sophie Owen (James Corden and Daisy Haggard). [...]

New Girl
Series Premiere
Starring Zooey Deschanel, Jake M. Johnson, Max Greenfield, Damon Wayans Jr.
Written by Elizabeth Meriwether
Fox
Air date: Tuesday, September 20, 2011 9/8c

New Girl, the new sitcom from Fox, is the best new show of the TV season. Okay, that is a pretty bold statement. I have not seen any other show from the new Fall lineup, but if the preview that I saw of the pilot episode is an indicator of how the series will play out, then those other new shows will have to have to bring their A game to the table.

Right about now, I am sure you are wondering why this show is so great. Is the premise really that original? Well, no. The premise is pretty much a staple of in the landscape of TV sitcoms. A recently single girl, Jess (Zooey Deschanel), moves into an apartment with a group of guys she has nothing in common with [...]

Series Six of Doctor Who continues, and Team TARDIS find themselves on the mysterious world of Apalapucia, with the Doctor (Matt Smith) promising grand tours of gardens and mountains. However, the Doctor and Rory Williams (Arthur Darvill) find themselves separated from Amy Pond (Karen Gillan) – and it’s discovered they’re not only separated by distance, but by time itself as Amy is trapped in a faster and separate time stream.

In an effort to rescue Pond, The Doctor uses the TARDIS to track down Amy’s specific time stream – only for Rory to find that although their arrival was successful, Amy has been waiting 36 years to be rescued. Bitter and aged, the old Amy Pond proves to be a cunning warrior, with incredible skills in temporal technology. The unusual situation will position Rory into making some difficult decisions, and into facing some impossible realities.

During TARDISblend 39, we review the events of The Girl Who Waited, becoming one of the best episodes of the current season – perhaps second only to Neil Gaiman‘s The Doctor’s Wife. Written by Tom MacRae, the adventure flips the situations for many of the characters, as we see further hints of the Doctor’s darker side [...]

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The conclusion to Torchwood: Miracle Day has arrived, and finds the Torchwood team split into two groups – one heading to Shanghai, the other to Buenos Aires. They are tracking down the Triangle Families, and what they discover will lead them to the enigmatic Blessing.

Determined to remove their unethical hold on a newfound power, Torchwood makes their move against the Families – but the mission may cost them their lives this time, and for Captain Jack Harkness (John Barrowman), the cost may very well be in blood.

During TARDISblend 38, we review the events of The Blood Line, and examine the outcome of Miracle Day for the Torchwood team, particularly the impact on Rex Matheson (Mekhi Phifer). We look into many unanswered elements of the series, including the mysterious Blessing, and how it may tie in to certain creatures below the surface of the Earth encountered in Doctor Who [...]

Series Six of Doctor Who continues, and begins with the Doctor receiving a mysterious message via the Psychic Paper asking to be “saved from the monsters.” Along with companions Amy Pond (Karen Gillan) and Rory Williams (Arthur Darvill), the trio trace the message to a multi-story set of flats in a council estate area of England, where they find the young boy who sent the plea of his fears across the cosmos: George (Jamie Oram).

But as the Doctor begins investigating the strange case of George, Amy, and Rory disappear and find themselves in a mysterious wooden Victorian home being chased by creepy “life-size” wooden dolls with malicious intents. The deeper the trio delve into the confusion, the more they discover the horrible truth: George’s monsters are real. But where are they coming from?

During TARDISblend 36, we review the events of Night Terrors, a return to form for writer Mark Gatiss. Within the episode itself, we look especially closely at Smith’s flawless performance as The Doctor, evoking elements of previous Doctors, in a manner that made it his own, looking upon the galaxy with the old eyes of a Time Lord [...]

Torchwood: Miracle Day continues and finds our heroes separated across the world, until one chance meeting with Oswald Danes (Bill Pullman) forces the team to reunite and begin to ask the tough question: What is The Blessing?

As they dig deeper, their questions will take them to separate poles of the Earth where they discover that the blood of Jack Harkness (John Barrowman) may have more to do with The Blessing and The Miracle than they previously had thought.

During TARDISblend 36, we review the events of The Gathering, and find ourselves less than enthused about the episode’s inclusion of elements unconnected to the Blessing and the Miracle, such as the Nazi-style Welsh police trackdown of Gwen Cooper’s (Eve Myles) father, Geraint (William Thomas).

Later, we deconstruct Oswald Danes’ arrival in Wales to confront Gwen, another aspect of the episode that felt somewhat out of place. We also discuss the significance of Jack’s blood thus far in the series, and speculate with some predictions on where this thread will go for the season finale.

Finally we throw in a few Classic Torchwood UK recommendations for new fans to check out, and find out what our listeners recently had to say about the podcasts. All this and more on the latest TARDISblend! [...]

Breaking Bad
Season Four, Episode 8 – Hermanos
Directed by Johan Renck
Written by Sam Catlin and George Mastras
Starring: Bryan Cranston, Anna Gunn, Aaron Paul, Dean Norris, Betsy Brandt, RJ Mitte, Bob Odenkirk, Giancarlo Esposito, Jonathan Banks, Steven Bauer, James Martinez, and Michael Sheets

Sangre por sangre.

Relationships have always been an important component of Breaking Bad, but a key aspect of these relationships are the blood ties that have formed over the course of the show. For good or for worse, our characters have formed connections due to the circumstances they find themselves caught in.

“Hermanos” is an episode that illustrates the full extent of these ties and the dangers that they can lead to.

Note: From here on out we’ll have to go full-on spoilers for this episode. You’ve been warned. [...]

Doctor Who returned last week for the second half of its Series Six run and after the break we’ve got a review of the highly anticipated “Let’s Kill Hitler.”

Doctor Who
Series 6, Episode Eight – Let’s Kill Hitler
Directed by Richard Senior
Written by Steven Moffat
Starring Matt Smith, Karen Gillan, Arthur Darvill, Alex Kingston, Nina Toussaint-White, Caitlin Blackwood, Maya Glace-Green, Ezekiel Wigglesworth, Philip Rham, Richard Dillane, Amy Cudden, Davood Ghadami, Ella Kenion, and Albert Welling
BBC America
Air date: August 27, 2011

“Let’s Kill Hitler” makes my brain hurt.

Mind you, it’s a good hurt, but much of the discussion on this episode will have to fall under our spoilers section due to the massive amount of plot that occurs in this episode. Yet, there’s still plenty of non-spoiler stuff to talk about for those that have yet to watch it [...]

Doctor Who is back, and the Time Lord (Matt Smith) returns to Earth following an unconventional summons from companions Amy Pond (Karen Gillan) and Rory Williams (Arthur Darvill) to find out his progress in locating their daughter. However, the reunion soon goes awry, as their childhood friend Mels (Nina Toussaint-White) hijacks the heroes and the TARDIS by gunpoint.

What follows is an unusual adventure that takes them to Nazi Germany in 1938, sets them face-to-face with Adolf Hitler (Albert Welling) and reunites them with River Song (Alex Kingston)

During TARDISblend 35, we review the events of Let’s Kill Hitler, and also look at Amy’s and Rory’s childhood relationship with the “new” character of Mels, and how it developed as they grew to adulthood. We discuss Hitler’s brief cameo and writer Steven Moffat‘s allusions and metaphors used in this episode about the character as well [...]

Torchwood: Miracle Day reaches into exciting revelations, as Captain Jack Harkness (John Barrowman) and his Torchwood team begin discovering answers to the Miracle, stemming back almost a hundred years, and connected to his previous relationship with Angelo Colasanto (Daniele Favilli).

But while the new Torchwood join forces with the CIA, Harkness unearths some surprising alien technology when they find out there is one other man who can face mortality as the rest of humanity deals with being immortal.

During TARDISblend 34, we review the events of End of the Road, examining how Jack Harkness himself is at the center behind the cause of Miracle Day. Meanwhile, we examine the new character developments of Jilly Kitzinger (Lauren Ambrose), and deconstruct how Oswald Danes (Bill Pullman) could be more connected to those who caused the Miracle than we previously thought [...]

Torchwood: Miracle Day continues, as the team work their way out of the Overflow Camps to get word out to the world of the horrific consequences of becoming a “Category One Patient”. Meanwhile, Captain Jack Harkness (John Barrowman) continues his investigation into those behind Miracle Day. Later, events transpire that pit Jack against Gwen Cooper (Eve Myles), while we discover more secrets behind the Miracle as Jack remembers dangerous choices from his past.

During TARDISblend 33, we review the events of The Middle Men and Immortal Sins, we discuss the surprising appearance of Mr. Winston Ghostbusters himself, Eddie Hudson, and the wonderful exposition scene he shared with John Barrowman.

We also look at Captain Jack’s problems when he tries to emulate the Doctor, as we examine the flashbacks in the recent episodes, and ponder the significance of the Triangle Group making their deal for his blood. Speaking of Captain Jack, we (inevitably) debate his sexuality – is he homosexual, bisexual, or omnisexual – because this IS important of course ;)

Finally we throw in a few Classic Torchwood UK recommendations for new fans to check out, and find out what our listeners recently had to say about the podcasts. All this and more on the latest TARDISblend! [...]

Torchwood: Miracle Day continues, as we find the governments of the world re-categorizing life. Gwen Cooper (Eve Myles) returns home to Wales to investigate the segregation of the ill and the injured into Overflow Camps, while the rest of Torchwood is joined by Doctor Vera Juarez (Arlene Tur) to investigate the American camps, under the guidance of Captain Jack Harkness (John Barrowman).

During TARDISblend 32, we review the events of The Categories Of Life, in which we drill down into many criticisms we have of the episode in addition to the series as a whole. We comment on Gwen’s return to and mission in Wales, and discuss the pivotal moments for the character of Vera Juarez during the episode.

Performances seemed a little off this time around, and even Bill Pullman wasn’t up to his usual best. We also look at some past Torchwood episodes, and make some new recommendations for some of the new fans out there.

All this and more on the latest TARDISblend! [...]

After a short break, the TARDISblend is back, as we take a look at the news for Doctor Who and Torchwood that came out of San Diego Comic-Con, and look at the most recent episodes of Torchwood: Miracle Day.

We cover the major news and information revealed to fans at San Diego Comic-Con 2011. From details about upcoming Torchwood episodes, to the big news revelations for Doctor Who, we discuss it all! Additionally we take a look at Matt Smith‘s appearance on the Craig Ferguson Show; and examine what may happen if Toby Jones returned as the Dream Lord.

As Miracle Day continues, the CIA team have captured the remaining members of Torchwood, Captain Jack Harkness (John Barrowman) and Gwen Cooper (Eve Myles). However, the CIA have turned against their own, attempting to wipe out any remnant of Torchwood, and Rex Matheson (Mekhi Pfifer) and Esther Drummond (Alexa Havins) find themselves uniting with the ones they have captured [...]