What I watched this week: 1st-8th January 2012

As part of my new year's plans to spread my journalistic wings in 2012, I am aiming to introduce a weekly TV blog. Whether or not I will keep up with this, only time will tell, but here goes:

Of course the big TV news of the week was Pat's death in Eastenders. In a bizarre seventy miunte long episode, the long standing matriarch of Albert Square passed away amongst her nearest and dearest, and Janine and her son David. The peaceful manner in which she died was somewhat unexpected,and definitely out of character-when her impending death was announced a few months back, fans of the show were surely imagining explosive death scenes to match the ferocity of the character. Yet somehow the quiet and sudden passing made it all the more poignant-the infamous closing credit 'duff-duffs' were even toned down to mark the occasion.Following this episode was the inevitable Goodbye Pat special. The rest of the week's episodes were devoted to Pat's family, Denise and Phil's feud and the Amira-Syed-Christian love triangle, which is getting a bit old now.


Next up was Absolutely Fabulous, the second of the three specials. The start lacked humour, but this was soon rectified by a combination of Bubbles' impressions of Liz Hurley and Patsy threatening to "have you clapping between movements for the rest of your life" (not sure how they got away without any complaints to Ofcom for that one). Further intrigue grows around the subject of Saffy's daughter in Africa-we don't yet know how old she is, or even if her name is Lola or Jane...will we meet her in the third of the three specials, centred around the olympics? The comedy timing was, as always, spot on throughout. The only complaint is that these episodes are only 30 minutes each.

Hacks was a bizarre, but not entirely successful, satirical take on the News of the World phone hacking scandal, although of course all characters and plotlines were entirely fictitious etc.

Eternal Law was of particular interest, being filmed in York. It's hard to be objective about a TV programme when you're spotting all the places you know whilst watching it, but other than the interest of familiarity, there was not much gripping about this airy fairy (or should that be angelic?) drama. The opening scene was reminiscent of Doctor Who, but it went downhill from there. It was hard to feel anything towards the characters, as they were just not developed enough in this opening episode. That said, the second episode is probably worth a watch, to see if it improves at all.

Hustle was meant to be broadcast on Friday night, but hasn't appeared on iPlayer. Anyone know anything of it's whereabouts?

Wild at Heart regraced our screens on Sunday evening, but this most heartwarming of dramas has a new, chilling factor. With two scenes of trailing blood, a dead body floating in the water and a rogue tiger. this is not the family drama we used to know and love. Combine the horror scenes with the predictability of the storylines, such as Danny lying about his new job and Alice finding out, you realise it's only the humour of Fatani's fear of being at Leopard's Den at night, reminiscent of an episode of Sccoby Doo, that saved the episode. Bring back the whole family and make it back into the show it was!

The Queen's Bodyguard is the new sitcom featuring David Jason as a blundering protection agent for the royal family. More of a guilty pleasure than a must see drama, it's occasionally funny, but mostly cringeworthy and highly predictable. Plus it's hard to shake off the character of Del Boy while you're watching David Jason playing a similarly bumbling character.

High hopes and expectations

2012 is going to be a career orientated year for me. Fingers (and all other bodily protrusions) crossed, I will graduate in July, and until just a few days ago when we hopped across the border into 2012, that seemed like ions away. Now, however, it is only 5 months until exams etc. are done. That's only 5 months of long days in library and nights danced away in Reflex until I have to be a real adult in the real world (she wrote, whilst tucked up on the sofa at 3pm, watching Glee and drinking hot chocolate). So I have formulated a sort-of-plan to help me on my chosen career path of magazine journalism, and I'm hoping that by putting out into a public(ish) forum like this, it will help me to stick to it

• Post to this blog as much as possible; So far so good, but hey, we're only 5 days in. Watch this space...
• By the end of January I aim to have organised some sort of work experience, preferably in a national magazine. Ideally I would like to work in a mainstream monthly women's magazine such as Cosmopolitan, Glamour or Company. I will be applying for work experience with all of these, in the features department or similar (doesn't hurt to try, although I doubt I have enough experience yet for publications such as these to consider me), and will also apply to a whole handful of magazines. Again, watch this space
• By the end of 2012 I will have pitched (hopefully successfully) a feature idea to a well-known magazine ( got a couple of ideas at the moment, but the actual pitch is going to have to wait until after graduation, when I have the odd moment a day to breathe)
• Get some experience in multimedia journalism-video vox pops etc.
• I also aim to expand the repertoire of publications that I write for. 

How do you know (Brooks, 2010)

*SPOILERS GALORE*

This attempt at a deep, life-exploring romantic story is thorougly unsucessful, which is frustrating considering the combined talent of the cast: Jack Nicholson, Paul Rudd, Owen Wilson, Reese Witherspoon.

The character of Lisa (Witherspoon) begins as a sexy, independent young woman, however the character, and the plot of the film, lose all credibility when she stays with her awful (sort of) boyfriend Matty (Wilson). Yes, he's hot, and yes, he's rich, but very few women would put up with their relationship. And so Witherspoon is boxed into the same old sickly-sweet, pretty-blonde character that rose her to fame in Legally Blonde.

The plot is hard work, not because it's hard to follow. In fact quite the opposite. But because it's hard to fathom why half of the scenes are necessary. From the moment George (Rudd) phones Lisa to cancel a date that they weren't going on (yes, it's that sort of film), it was clear through their thoroughly separate storylines that they would get together at the end.

Overall this is a dull, unrewarding film. However, there is one saving grace: anyone who thought that Owen Wilson and Jennifer Aniston were a hot couple in Marley & Me can sit back and watch the screen melt under the heat of Owen Wilson and Reese Witherspoon sharing on-screen time in How do you know.