Honourable Mentions Part 1

And here's the first of two Honourable Mentions list for some of my favourite TV characters. In order of show, alphabetically of course ...

Nora Montgomery (Lily Rabe) - American Horror Story

This show might not be teeming with sympathetic characters but apart from Moira, Nora is one of them that came pretty close to it. I might not have liked what her and husband were doing to make extra money but I did feel for her losing her child and she was one of the nicer ghosts on the show. Plus I'm pleased the show has secured the wonderful Lily Rabe for the second season, even if she'll be playing a different character.

Dexter Morgan (Michael C. Hall) - Dexter

I could've kicked myself for not including Dexter in my 40 rundown, which is partly why I'm doing an Honourable Mentions list. How I love this complicated serial killer so much. Michael C. Hall certainly knows how to make Dexter both menacing and sympathetic in equal measure that you almost hope he would never get caught. Then the end of Season 6 happened.

Chandler Bing (Matthew Perry) - Friends

Friends has always been a strange show for me because while I always/mostly watched it, I was never actually addicted to it. It was fun and had a great series finale but I never was that obsessed with it compared to a lot of shows. In terms of characters, I did find Chandler to be the most consistently amusing of the bunch so he makes the list here.

Callie Torres (Sara Ramirez) - Grey's Anatomy

Yeah, the usual 'I have a love/hate dynamic with this show' spiel from me but the one consistency is that I love Callie and I've loved her evolution throughout the last few seasons. Plus her relationship with Arizona is wonderful to watch. Definitely one thing that Shonda Rimes has nailed perfectly with this show.

Ian Gallagher (Gerard Kearns) - Shameless

I'll admit it - with the exception of Frank and Monica, there isn't a Gallagher I dislike but Ian was wonderful for the seven series he was on the show. A wonderfully written, consistently interesting character not overdefined by his sexuality but neither was his sexuality underplayed either. We need more gay characters like Ian on UK telly right now.

Part 2 of the Honourable Lists will be up on Friday.

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Going Underground

It may be St Patrick's Day but here's a TV blog for you ...

Desperate Housewives: Why is it when Susan has good intentions she seems to make matters worse? Of course it would take her to go and visit Alejandro's family and draw more suspicion on the girls. Still, Bree's method of dealing with things doesn't seem to be much better either, thanks to Renee's advice being taken the wrong way. At least Lynette and Gabby actually acknowledged some of their shortcomings and it seems we're finally getting close to meeting the person who has been sending Bree the mystery letters.

Grey's Anatomy: My love/hate relationship with this show is still pretty prominent and the most recent 'what if' episode cemented that. Granted it was one of the show's better episodes and the idea of a world with Meredith/Alex and Callie/Owen as couples is interestingly bizarre but usually these type of episodes have some kind of a point to them but the only thing I got from this is that Meredith's mother is irritating in any reality and no-one wants to see a meek and timid version of Bailey. Still, nice that Addison made her annual visit though she was wasted in this one.
Homeland: I am loving this show. Maybe not on the same level as Obama apparently but it's certainly delivering on the hype it's generated with Carrie's methods for trying to find out if Brody has been turned taking some interesting steps. Now that there's an interaction between the pair of them, I can't wait to see what happens next.

Shameless: Ever since Mickey and Carl's respective exits from the show, I've become a little less interested in this but I did catch the finale where most of the cast were stuck underground and it was a decent episode. That being said, it still feels like this show is just going through the motions nowadays and while characters like Ruby, Gloria and Dominic have been decent additions, I still think it's time for this show to come to it's natural end.

Skins: Okay, talk about an improvement. Even with Alo's episode having the plot of him being charged with sleeping with a minor was better than what we've had in previous weeks. However, Liv's episode hit an all time high in terms of quality that even the plot where she imagined being seriously ill made some narrative sense. On the flipside, Franky is becoming increasingly detestable and the return of Matty isn't helping matters. It'd also be nice if Mini told Alo that he's going to be a father as well. Here's hoping the last two episodes are a belter.

The Vampire Diaries: Again, this season is packing in some of the best moments of television. I loved the backstory for the Originals and while I predicted that even Michael wouldn't be enough to take Klaus out during homecoming, I did massively enjoy the turnaround with Stefan getting his own back on Klaus for using him as a puppet for the last few months. If Klaus still has to be on this show, it's nice to see him get outsmarted every now and then. As for the growing bond with Damon and Elena - eh, not a shipper but it's not bothering me as much as the growing distance between Tyler and Caroline.

Upstairs Downstairs: I'm struggling with this show to be honest. The characters aren't strong enough, storylines like Blanche/Portia's affair petered out too quickly and the war backdrop doesn't seem to work here as well as it did in Downton Abbey and I couldn't care less if either Hallam or Agnes cheat on each other because it's so bloody hard to care for them as a couple. I'll watch the last two episodes but if this gets a third run, I don't think I'll be watching.

- Revenge has finally snagged a UK broadcaster. E4 will air the series later in the year.
- Grimm has been renewed for a second season, while Luck has been cancelled due to the death of three horses.
- Desperate Housewives have revealed that it's Mike who was the unfortunate casualty.
- Matthew Rhys and Keri Russell will play a spy couple in The Americans, an FX program based during the Cold War.
- Once Upon A Time will premiere on Channel 5 from April 1st at 9pm.
- Freema Agyeman has been cast as Larissa, the mentor of Carrie Bradshaw in the upcoming series, The Carrie Diaries.

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