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...

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 ...

The Melbourne International Comedy Festival has kicked off for another year, and I was lucky enough to be able to get tickets to so many amazing comedians that I wanted to see. So I've decided to review all the shows I see, and to include some general comedy festival tips as well (scroll to the end for those!). Today, Celia Pacquola! One of the first things I noticed when entering the Comedy Theatre is that there seemed to be a lot of people there that were old enough to be my grandparents. Mentioning this to my husband, he said he had also noticed this, then, looking concerned for the row of older women who had sat beside us, asked 'Does she swear a lot?'. I realised that they must have seen her on one of her TV shows on the ABC and, not having seen any of Celia's stand-up myself, hoped they weren't in for an unpleasant surprise. So Celia isn't a crude comedian by any means, but perhaps laser hair removal and sex tapes aren't topics that Grandm...

I have just been reading recaps of all the episodes of season two, because unlike most of the shows I watch, This Is Us is drip-fed to us weekly, and I can't just binge it all in a few days, and oh my god so much has happened this season! Fans of the show have been tuning in, waiting desperately for the episode that will show us how Jack died. Knowing it's been a long time coming, from the hints that have been gradually revealed to us, it wasn't a shock, but heartbreaking all the same. We have felt the effects of Jack's death, as his family carry it into with them in their lives, but it was interesting to see how they handled it in the moment.  This season we have also been through so many other big moments with the Pearsons, including Randall and Beth's decision to become foster parents, Kevin's downward spiral and breakdown, which for me, was one of the hardest moments to watch. There is a scene where the culmination of all the grief and feelings...

What happens after we die? If we're good do we go to heaven, to be reunited with our grandparents and childhood pets? And if we're bad, head down to hell to be tortured in a fiery landscape for all eternity? Or are heaven and hell not generic places, but our own personal versions of those ideas? Hell being a place where Skrillex and Jamiroquai are played loudly on repeat forever, while in heaven chocolate makes you thin, and you are surrounded by golden retriever puppies, or whatever your particular dreams may be. Maybe we just get reincarnated, destined to live forever in a variety of forms, hopefully becoming better each time. Or then again, maybe it's just a big void, and when we die we get buried, then just decompose in the ground. The Good Place assumes that there are two options, the Good Place, and the Bad Place. After a selfish life with no regard for the feelings of others, Eleanor Shellstrop (Kristen Bell) was headed for the Bad Place when, due to an error, w...

I'm not much of a reality show fan, usually only using it as inspiration for sarcastic and witty observational tweets, with some exceptions of course. Queer Eye is definitely one of those exceptions. Having watched the original series all those years ago, I thought I knew what I was in for when I tuned in to the new Netflix revival, after seeing people raving about it on Twitter. A group of trendy gay guys swoop in and change a clueless straight guy's life with a haircut and a new outfit, fun is had, tears are shed. Well I don't know how well I remember the last series, but the new one is so much more than I expected. It has all the fun of your typical makeover/renovation/cooking show, but with a little extra thrown in as well. Of course, all of your usual reality shows have the 'make or break' moment, when the camera pans in to the contestant, on the verge of tears, as they tell the story of how they beat the odds and triumphed over adversity just to be in t...

You may have noticed that I have a love for cartoons designed for adult audiences. I think that animation intended for an adult demographic is highly under-valued as a medium. This seems to be changing a bit as it becomes more popular, with shows such as Bojack Horseman and movies like Sausage Party hitting our screens. While shows like South Park and Family Guy have been around for years, it seems like now more than ever we're seeing more variety, and an increased popularity of this form. I decided to check out Rick and Morty when I saw that it was on Netflix. I'd heard mentions of it here and there, the general consensus being that it was funny. After watching the first episode, I was like yeah, ok, that was kind of weird, kind of funny. I definitely wanted to keep watching, because of the hype and I wanted to see what else there was to it. A few episodes in and I was hooked. There are only 21 episodes, so it didn't take me long to get through the first two seasons. ...