I watch a LOT of television, or to be more accurate, I watch an awful lot of television series but I watch them mostly on dvd so I don't catch any of those pesky advert things. Generally I watch the American stuff although I've recently picked up a few more UK series which seem to be adopting the similar production values. I'll watch pretty much anything that doesn't involve members of the public or celebrities, although I tend not to watch sitcoms either at the moment.

Angels in America

This cleared the board at most of the tv awards last year, although there may not have been much competition in the mini-series category. The story focusses on how several lives are affected by HIV and the idea of what America is in the 1980s. The characters are intriguing, particularly the more unpredicatable characters and pairings which show how conflicting attitudes can get along, sometimes all in one person. The cast is superb, from big names like Al Pacino and Meryl Streep to the relative unknowns filling most of the roles. However I felt it was actually let down by the Angels which were overwritten and overacted (possibly intentionally, but it just didn't work for me). I felt that the preaching aspects were over-done, by forcing ideas at me it lost some of its impact, some very interesting statements were made about AIDS and homosexuality, but they weren't made in the rants or the proclamations from on high, but in the quiet character moments. The line which I remember most from the whole 6 hours was a throw away by Belize - "I live in America, I don't have to love it"

Television Series