Where To Next?

I. Am. In. Love. I have just discovered The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel and it is freaking brilliant. Luckily for me I am late to the party, as usual, so I can watch all three seasons without having to wait! I have just finished season one, and can't wait to get stuck into season two. I actually came across it as it was being advertised on Amazon Prime (Yes, hello Amazon, your ads are working on me, congratulations), and it seemed to be getting a lot of hype around awards season, so I thought I'd check it out. I really didn't know much about it before watching, just the vague idea that a 50's housewife was trying to be a stand-up comedian. I'm really interested in stand-up comedy so that drew me in, but that's really such a small part of the show, which is rich with strong, unique characters. Come for the comedy, stay for the characters! So first of all we have Miriam (Mrs. Maisel, if you will). Played wonderfully by Rachel Brosnahan, Miriam, Midge to her f...

Vegas, baby! So, I have no self control. Instead of rationing out the series I've been waiting forever for, I binged it all in one day. ONE DAY. I wasn't even sure if I was in the mood to watch it, but I started the first episode, thinking I would watch one or maybe two, then come back to it, but I couldn't stop and had to keep watching. Suddenly it was midnight and there were only two episodes left and well of course I had to finish them. I was left feeling so many feelings. Firstly, that kind of sickly sweet feeling you get when you have eaten all the chocolate, whoops (see, no self control) and realise there is none left. Unfortunately, unlike chocolate, you can't just go out and buy more. It's that devastating feeling of the end of an amazing night, where you are elated at what has transpired but also depressed because it's gone. I also got inspired to write, which I often get when I am immersed in an incredible story, and wish I had had a part in mak...

If, like me, you grew up watching The Simpsons, have valuable space in your brain taken up by memorising all the episodes, and absent-mindedly quote them on a daily basis, then this is the podcast for you. Hosted by Bob Mackey and Henry Gilbert, each episode of Talking Simpsons talks about an episode of The Simpsons (pretty self explanatory I guess!). Each episode goes into great detail about the plot of the episode, the jokes, and also what was going on in the world at the time. The guys also talk about the voice actors, writers, showrunners, and what influence they had during their time on the show. So, if you're interested in TV and comedy writing, you will find this really interesting, especially the episodes where they interview some of the people that worked on the show. If you're a big animation fan like the hosts, you'll also enjoy their discussion about that side of things, as they talk about the weird and wonderful moments of animation. Bob and Henry talk ...

Girls is a special show. It's special because the characters are flawed. It's not a matter of 'Oh, I'm so beautiful but I'm terrible at relationships' or 'I'm such a workaholic and I have trouble balancing work with my personal life'. There's no one-off episodes where someone sleeps with someone's ex-boyfriend but then apologises and they're besties again. Problems aren't solved by a saviour swooping in at the last minute. These characters have realistic flaws. Friendships are broken, addictions are managed, mistakes are made, repeatedly, people say and do the wrong things. Things don't work out how you want them to. It is an authentic look at life. Which is the reason people will either love it or hate it. It is also why the finale is the way it is. The second last episode saw the four girls reunite, in a less than ideal way. Hannah turns up to Shoshanna's apartment, only to see everyone else there, celebrating Shoshann...

The way people were talking about 13 Reasons Why all over the internet, I felt like I had to watch it. I saw the first episode and I knew I had to watch it. Hooking you in from the very beginning, 13 Reasons Why will make you want to call in sick to work just so you can binge-watch all the episodes. The series follows Clay Jensen, a high school student who has received a set of tapes from his classmate and friend, Hannah Baker. Hannah recently committed suicide, and on the tapes are the 13 reasons why. Each reason is a person Hannah knew, someone that hurt her in some way, and they each get their own tape. Hannah's plan for the tapes is for each person to hear them and pass them on to the next person. When they arrive on Clay's doorstep he struggles with his emotions as he listens to each tape. He feels the need to confront each person when he hears their tape, to question them, to make sense of it all, to try and make things right somehow. 13 Reasons Why is so captiv...