Cult TV Blog

I had probably better apologise in advance because this post is bound to be even less focussed than usual. I had several posts in mind but none of them has happened because I concluded that it was high time to do something about my laptop. It was an excellent machine, running with no hitches at all, user-friendly, and as fast as lightning, just with the slight problem that the case kept coming apart. This wasn't covered by the warranty from the large (VERY large, and familiar to anyone in the UK because of its red signs) second-hand dealer I bought it from, so I got a man in town to mend it and when it looked like it was coming apart again, sold it back to them before it actually came apart again. And this is how, despite having been very happy with them for years, I'm slightly shocked that they bought that load of rubbish off me. I bought another off them because the credit they gave me couldn't be refused and even though the Dell one I bought wasn't advertised as such...

Regular readers will notice that I've commented a few times recently that this blog isn't always representative of what I'm actually watching. This is mainly because I like to do one blog post for one episode of a show, but of course doing it that way is much slower than we ever view TV, requiring as it does at least a little reading round, etc. This post is therefore an experiment to try to do a blog post which represents the TV which is going in through my eyes and ears and running around in my head, to see whether I like this format of post. I will simply write about what I have been viewing, and in this case comment on some episodes which have been in my mind as possible blog posts but probably won't hatch. I have watched my way through Series 9 of The X-Files again. There are two episodes which I was comsidering making blog posts but probably now won't. The first was Improbable, which is an absolute joy because it introduces the subject of numerology to the wor...

This is an unusual episode of Get Smart because it doesn't have the chief or 99, so it's just 86 and Hymie - according to IMDB the only episode where this is the case. The basic plot is that KAOS, because the robot Hymie is the only thing which gives CONTROL the edge over them, has invented another robot to destroy Hymie. We have all the usual CONTROL chaos going on. However the main, er, human interest in this episode for me personally is that Hymie isn't actually as robotic as you would think. He has emotions and at one point goes to kiss Max, which Max has to explain men don't do. So how is Hymie a man??? He feels rather resentful that max never invites him to his club, saying that they are unwelcoming to his sort. Max makes the excuse that he'd just never thought he'd play golf. This reflects exactly the sort of situation where we assume something about someone else or just don't think they would 'fit in' in a particular setting. Hymie is also a ...

High time we had some more Get Smart and this one's wonderful. The plot is quite simple: the head CONTROL scientist is murdered on Smart's watch, and it turns out he wasn't really responsible for his discoveries at all. The rest of the show is working out who The Mysterious Dr T is. What makes this one so excellent is that you get the distinct impression that the sciptwriter and cast approached it as fun and it absolutely sparkles. I have no way of knowing that this was actually their perception but it actually seems to come across when viewing the show - I know this is completely subjective, but if you watch it with this in mind you can see what I mean. In fact perhaps this is how TV should always be made! There is the additional aspect that CONTROL compete with KAOS for Dr T and so there is a bigger role than usual for Siegfried. He and Smart spark off each other in a way they don't usually. Again, this is a completely subjective view but this one just feels very diff...

weeks ago I posted here about a first-series episode of Get Smart, and the post seemed very popular, at least to judge by the comments. The way I discovered that the series was available was this: I saw the whole boxed set in the HMV shop round the corner from me and it stirred a memory of the show. I simply had to have seen it because it seemed so familiar, but I had little recollection of it, so I only bought the series 1 set online as a taster to see if I woud like it again. I did and as my Christmas present to myself have duly bought the whole series as a boxed set (in region 2 format, obviously). I also managed to get it on ebay for £20 less than the normal retail price which is around the £50 mark. The set includes all 138 episodes on 25 discs, with 8 hours of bonus footage and features. I see from the box that the run time is 3964 minutes, which is 66 hours of Get Smart. I've started early but I don't think I will have exhausted it by Christmas day! Some of the online re...

I had forgotten about this show, when I came across the bosed set in the HMV shop just round the corner, and the face of Maxwell Smart brought back memories. It is not surprising that I had forgotten it, because I can't remember reading about this show on the cult TV blogosphere ever. It is also not one mentioned in the books. Which is odd, considering it is very much out of the same world which gave birth to so many of the shows I write about here - The Avengers, Danger Man, and, especially, The Man from UNCLE. Nonethless I must have watched this show before, because I remember it. I have been unable to find UK broadcast dates, but suspect that I was very young, but suspect that it was around the same time that I was a huge fan of Mission Impossible and The Man from UNCLE, and as I remember my younger self loved Get Max equally. I have a feeling that this show's lack of presence in the TV blogosphere (as surfed my me, that is) is because it is a relative lightweight in compari...