'Holy shit!!'- The Walking Dead

Holy shit indeed season 3 of the Walking Dead has come back to our televisions in both the UK and the USA through the beauty of FX. AMC’s hit TV show based on comics written by Robert Kirkman has been a huge success and one of my favourite programmes, as well as graphic novels. The series starts with an intense opening as the group are trying to find a safe house to stay at, of course this is not so easy with an ongoing pursuit from zombies. The opening scenes of the new series are intense to say the least, none of the characters speak for the first 10 minutes, there is just a lot of killing and suspense music; from the start I was on edge. This suspense was held throughout the episode, I was on the edge of my seat with my hands covering my eyes waiting for the impending doom to sweep over the characters and for all of them to die (which of course doesn’t happen).

The episode see’s Rick find a prison, where all the inmates are zombies. The first task is for the group to get into the yard and make it safe to stay in, I must emphasise this episode contains a lot of over kill, and is not for the squeamish. As well as the zombie slaughtering there is also a lot of tension within the group itself, particularly between Rick and his pregnant wife Lori. I have to say I am not super keen on the relationships between the characters, particularly these two as there always seems to be an extra bit of added drama, which in my opinion is unnecessary and not key to the zombie storyline. As the episode progresses and the team explore further into the prison the tension builds even further, the music builds up and each turn of the corner gradually gets more and more traumatic, until inevitably we find the zombies. But for me this wasn’t the shock, of course in a zombie programme the characters will run into zombies, the shock came from bumping into other living prisoners! Hershel loses his leg after being bitten by a zombie (obviously the only answer is for Rick to cut it off with an axe!) and as he’s bleeding out on the floor, the camera pans to several dark shadows, who I assumed to be more zombies, but no its living prisoners. The episode ends on one of the prisoners saying ‘Holy shit’ and that’s how I felt at the end of the episode…Holy shit!!

'TV the opiate of the people'

Title taken from Edward R Murrow, who borrowed it from the following saying ‘religion is the opium of the people’ from Karl Marx. This makes television comparable to religion and lets face it who doesn’t worship their TV on a daily basis.

What do all these quotes mean?! I friend of mine upon reading this blog commented on the quotes I use at the start of each post, it suddenly dawned upon me that I have never explained myself and what these quotes mean. Firstly lets start with the title of the blog ‘Television the triumph of the machine over people’, this quote was taken from Fred Allen a US radio comedian (1894-1956). I chose this to be the title of the blog as we often watch films, or television programmes or read articles about the idea of machines taking over the world, think about, I Robot, Dr Who, The Matrix, Terminator and many more. What seems to be a genuine fear amongst people, Allen claimed has already happened with the invention of television. This idea fascinates me as I believe, although perhaps Allen said this way before his time, in this day and age television is slowly taking over more and more of our lives. It is used to form routine, think of daily soaps, used as a babysitter when mum needs some piece and quiet, used as a recipe book, think of shows like the Great British Bake Off, I even used it to help improve my French (which as it turns out wasn’t a great idea and still received a U at A-level). TV is more and more integrated into our daily lives and I believe that Fred Allen was correct ‘Television (is) the triumph of the machine over people’ which is why I found it apt that a blog writing about TV should have such a title.

The other quotes I have used are taken from each of the TV episodes which I discuss in each article. The first article written takes a quote from 30 Rock which is my favourite TV show (my ambition in life is to be Kenneth). I chose this quote, ‘If I could push a button and five people in the world would die, but I’d get free cable for life, I’d do it’, I chose this as it made me laugh, and is something I can relate to. It’s the sheer honesty that makes you laugh, but also made me question my own morals…I think I would do that (wouldn’t you?)! The following article about SOA ‘I ain’t no Spiderman nigga’ was the most memorable quote for me from the new series so was very appropriate for an article about the series. I particularly enjoyed this line as it came after a quote from Spiderman and required this knowledge to find it funny, I felt like it was a joke specifically aimed at me, and I enjoyed that! ‘Its better to carry a tune than to carry a grudge’ was taken from Modern Family and was one of my favourite quotes from Cam; it seems almost philosophical in a funny way. A strange outlook on life, but I found it particularly humorous because of the character of Cam who is always melodramatic and over the top. ‘Why kill a man when you can kill an idea’ was taken from Homeland and again was one of the quotes that particularly stuck with me. I found this quote quite chilling as it was said by a terrorist who has reportedly killed thousands of people. I chose this to go with the Homeland article as for me it sums up the show, nothing is predictable. The final quote ‘In that life I have no future, only distraction’ is taken from SOA and again it summed up the episode for me…nothing happened I saw the episode purely as distraction.

So there we have it...and from now on I have learnt my lesson and will tell you what each quotation means as part of the article!

'In that life I have no future, all I have is distraction'- Jax Teller (SOA)

After my previous homage to all things Sons of Anarchy I regrettably have to say that season 5 is lagging a little bit. Although only on episode 5, with an opener as good as the first few episodes I would have expected something a little more…shall we say special of episodes 4 and 5. I have to firstly admit for me episode 4 was a tear jerker, the funeral of Opie was pretty sad towards the end; however nothing especially memorable happened and sadly episode 5 followed in the same suit. Although there was a shooting, it was not a particularly memorable character that got shot, and until this episode I forgot she had even existed. I feel like, or at least I am hoping that this is a big build up towards the police and the sons teaming together to create some kind of ultimate force…failing that it should be building up to something. Little things happened that could lead to big things in a later episode, and I am all for them fabricating an epic story line (or at least a good one!) but from the way they opened this season I have to say I was expecting a little more. I was a little disappointed with this episode, however with the return of the Irish and the cartel perhaps as I say big things are yet to come.

'Why kill a man when you can kill an idea'- Nazir (Homeland)

So I have to be honest its never appealed to me and not something that I actually wanted to watch, but with everyone going on and on about it…and season 2 starting on channel 4, I decided it was about time to watch Homeland. Firstly I should point out I am only up to episode 7 of season 1, and I have to say, for me it wasn’t living up to the hype, that is until episode 5. Now I am 100% hooked I care about the characters, and they intrigue me…I want to know what happens between Saul and his wife, what is really going on with Sergeant Brody, and if Carrie will manage to keep her job for the rest of the series!

I wouldn’t say so much that the show had a slow start, but more that it didn’t really appeal to me. There wasn’t much mystery in it, you knew from the start who the bad guy was, and for me it was purely a matter of time before the CIA caught him; it initially appeared to me as a prolonged episode of CSI, which to be honest has been over done. However mid way through season 1, and everything I was almost certain of has changed, it’s been one twist after another. The characters I was sure I knew aren’t what they initially seemed, and the past two episodes have ended on cliff a hanger, which of course has meant I have had to watch the next one. I am now addicted I cannot wait for the next episode, to see what’s going to happen and how the previous cliff hanger will be resolved. That being said I have been sat here writing for far too long…on to episode 8!

'Its better to carry a tune than a grudge'- Cam Tucker (Modern Family)

With Sky1 showing the first episode of the new season of Modern Family last Sunday, I feel now is a very appropriate time to discuss, what is in my opinion, the most original comedy to come out of the US since Arrested Development. I realise that this is a bold claim to make however I feel that Modern Family is a brilliant show, one to rival other comedies coming from America at the moment.

For those of you reading who haven’t yet seen Modern Family I would say shut down your internet get over to Sky 1 and start watching the repeats which are doubtlessly currently being aired. However if you are unsure, don’t have access to Sky, or if I am mistaken about the show being on, I will briefly summarise the plot of the series. As hinted at through the title, the series is about a ‘Modern Family’, it doesn’t just focus on the nuclear family unit but also the wider family. It does this by representing each nuclear family separately (so they can have their own story lines) and then brings them all together. Firstly we have the Dunphy’s they represent the traditional family; with a mum (Claire), dad (Phil) and three children (Haley, Alex and Luke). With the children going through various stages of the teenage years, the dad in denial about his age and still acting like a child, and the mum up-tight trying to keep the whole family in order, this traditional family unit provide a lot of unexpected comedy for the show. The second family are the (Delgado-) Pritchett’s this is the multi-cultural family; with dad (Jay), mum/ second wife (Gloria) and son/ stepson (Manny). But, as I previously mentioned the families are all connected, and Jay is Claire’s dad and therefore the grandfather to the first family. His wife Gloria provides much of the comedy from this family (one of my favourite episodes focuses around her getting a karaoke machine) she is Columbian and often uses her culture and background to convince Jay to do wacky things, it is also worth mentioning she is at least half his age. The third and final family are the Pritchett and Tucker’s they are the gay family; with dad (Mitchell), dad (Cameron), and adopted daughter (Lily). Mitchell is the son of Jay and brother of Claire. Much of the humour  for this family comes from Cameron who is flamboyant, over the top and eccentric, for him life is a show and we as the audience get an insight as to how not everything always goes the way Cameron plans. So that is a very basic structure of the plot of Modern Family, however for those of you who have not seen the show it may sound like a typical dysfunctional family comedy. Although strictly speaking that is true, where I believe the show is completely original and portrays true comic genius is through the style of which it has been filmed. It is shot almost as a documentary where the characters each have time to talk directly to the audience; this is particularly clever as we directly receive the characters point of view, it is in these candid moments that they make comments about each other and we get to know their agendas.

In 2012 Modern Family won a Golden Globe for ‘best television series’ and its easy to see why, with its originality, comical genius, and investigation into a ‘normal’ family I hope to see it on our TV screens for many years to come. I for one cannot wait to see what season 4 has in store for us; with Haley eventually off to college, Cam and Mitch trying to fill the hole which was suppose to be filled with a new baby, and Gloria potentially pregnant…either way we know its going to be good! With the series kick starting last Sunday (7/10/12) with a typically funny episode, the show is off to a good start. So for all of you that are yet to watch Modern Family I would suggest that you start now because you are seriously missing out! Hopefully season 4 will live up to the fans (and my) high expectations, watch this space to follow how the story lines progress!  

'I ain't no Spiderman nigga' -Sons of Anarchy

I claim to do no justice for Sons of Anarchy and I have doubtlessly missed out key storylines, this is by no means meant to fill you in on every detail of the past 4 seasons and is only to be read as a summary.

**spoiler alert**

After 5 seasons the writers of Sons of Anarchy still maintain the ability to shock their audience. It was this season of Sons that inspired me to write this blog, as it showed me that television is far from predictable. The episode in question was called Laying the Pipe, and it had me utterly breathless from beginning to end. The shock of the events that unfolded within this episode are something which I will discuss later; for now however I will state that it is this episode that reminded me that Sons is one of the best shows currently on our televisions. This article will look back over the past 5 seasons of Sons of Anarchy focussing on its highs and lows, in order to show you why I believe it is one of the finest programmes that we will see on our television in 2012.

For those of you who have never heard of or seen Sons of Anarchy it focuses on the lives of a motorcycle club in a small town called Charming. The club protect the town from crime, and in return the town and the police allow the club to have free reign. This is the basic premise of the series; of course it’s not as black and white as it may seem, what with internal problems in the club and various gang wars with other clubs the sons often find themselves running into trouble. They are presented as a family, perhaps the most dysfunctional family on television but a family none the less, and at the heart of this club is an actual family. The family running the club consists of Clay Morrow (President), Jax Teller (Vice President), and Gemma Teller-Morrow (Clay’s ‘old lady’ and Jax’s mum). Each character from this family plays a vital role throughout the entire series, be that through Gemma’s manipulation, Clay’s control and need for power, or Jax’s search for the truth. It is these three characters which control and dictate the lives of everyone else in the series.

Season 1 begins with a bang, the audience are thrown right into the action as we discover that this isn’t an ordinary motorcycle club, and in fact the gang deals guns. Naturally this is not the only story line seen in this episode, as I mentioned before the show is about a dysfunctional family, and the opening is no exception; Jax’s drugged up ex-wife has to have an emergency C-section, which threatens the life of their child. As you can see even from the first episode the lives of these characters are fast paced and chaotic, and even now show no signs of slowing down or conforming to being orderly. As the series develops we see that the gang is involved with the IRA as well as other gangs, and their life style is threatened by these people. There is also disarray within the personal lives of these characters, inner turmoil with the club, threats from members turning and reporting to the police, as well as romantic interests all makes the audience very invested in the characters. On top of all these problems the club is being followed by the ATF and various other policing bodies. The series begins with murder, crime, tragedy, romance, action and at times flairs of comedy. From its very beginning the show outlines the lives of these characters and it immediately draws in the audience, we are emotionally involved in the lives of these people.

Season 2 sees a new threat to the club and focuses on racist groups supporting the idea of white power; these groups seek to remove the sons from Charming. They attempt to get rid of the club in any way possible, starting with a personal attack on the club, they kidnap Gemma and gang rape her. This effectively grabs your attention and again puts you on edge for the rest of the season. For me this was one of the most disturbing episodes of the series to date, I watched it late at night alone, it was such a moving episode that it made me uncomfortable; I came away from watching and felt as though I had been personally violated. This highlights the power that the scriptwriters have over the audience, even though the character of Gemma is a bitch it was still horrifying to watch and I still sympathised with her. I was even shocked that something so brutal could be shown on television- this brutality is shown throughout the seasons of the programme and is still shocking to me now. Also in this season the club moves into the porn industry and this causes tensions between Clay and Jax as well as romantic issues for a lot of the characters. The club are still under watch of the ATF and members are frequently in and out of prison. Tensions build between the IRA, the ATF and the club, and I am unable to do this particular storyline justice, however I can state that the series ends with Jax’s son being kidnapped.

Season 3 follows with the trail of Abel Jax’s son, they trace him to Belfast and the club reach out to another crew based there. This season for me got a little ridiculous as the club move over to Ireland, with an aim to fix things with the IRA and to find Abel. Although I didn’t particularly enjoy this season of Sons, as personally I found it all a little far fetched (more so than usual), I have to say the soundtrack for this season was brilliant. What it lacked in believability it made up for in music. Another crucial part of this season came from the introduction of the character Maureen Ashby, who had an affair with Jax’s father; this storyline creates another complication for the club. As the series continues more and more secrets are revealed about the Sons and Jax discovers things about his father and family. Maureen knows that John Teller was murdered and aims to tell Jax by sneaking letters into his bag. Once the crew leave Ireland the series improves again and sadly once more I can do the season no justice, many essential storylines have been left out, but I am hoping that this will encourage people to view Sons of Anarchy for themselves. Although season 3 is my least favourite of all of the seasons, there is a lot to be said for the story line, I felt as though the trip to Ireland seemed a bit off the mark, however the secrets revealed in Ireland are essential to the following seasons and were of great interest.

Season 4 opens on the club leaving prison, and to the realisation that Charming has changed a lot whilst they were locked up. Tara and Jax get engaged and Tara finds the letters from Maureen, Jax is yet to see them. Gemma learns that Tara has this information and tries to get rid of her. Meanwhile the club get involved in mulling cocaine for the cartel as well as running guns, as you can imagine things don’t run as smoothly as the club had planned. Pinney discovers that Gemma and Clay killed John Teller and threatens to tell the club, Clay kills him but blames the Niners, another gang in Charming, stating that it was black retaliation. Without revealing too much of the series I would state that this is the best season so far, a lot of major things happen to effect the club with the series culminating in Jax taking the gavel. The set up for the 5^th season left all of us in shock, anticipation and excitement, but surely season 5 cannot be as good as we all expect?

Season 5 and finally Jax is in charge, it’s only been 4 episodes so far and yet the series has been a rollercoaster of emotions. Now I come full circle, back to the episode that made me want to start blogging, the episode that has shocked all Sons of Anarchy fans episode 3 of season 5 Laying the Pipe. Prior to this episode we have seen Pope burn alive Tig’s daughter and as if that wasn’t traumatic enough to watch we see Tig’s reaction as he is forced to watch. We know that Pope has many men of importance on his payroll; judges, politicians and police. We know he is above the law, so surely when the club are imprisoned Pope can still get to them. Initially it appears not as the boys are protected through their links with the cartel, however when Jax is summoned by Pope we know that nothing good can follow. Pope demands that Tig’s rots in jail and a Son dies, Jax is to face the decision. Jax confides in Opie and the two search for a decision that will not result in death, I had every confidence that the two would find a solution. The guards gather and ask who is chosen, as Jax begins to speak Opie steps in and head-buts one of the guards. Opie is dragged away into a room with the rest of the sons looking through a window, he is beaten to death. Brutally murdered whilst the audience, and the sons look on helplessly. As I mentioned a the start of this piece I was breathless the entire episode, at times I was angry and found myself shouting at the TV I felt as though I was there in prison watching. The idea of watching and being watched appears to be a reoccurring theme in this season of Sons and I dread to think what else the writer have in store for us. The episode that followed was of Opies funeral, and although not much happened of substance I was emotional throughout. It is clear to see that the shit is about to hit the fan and I for one cannot wait to see what else season 5 has in store for us!

'If I could push a button and five people in the world would die, but I'd get free cable for life, I'd do it.' -Liz Lemon (30 Rock)

Television is something that on a daily basis we all come into contact to, whether that be through sitting down and watching a programme ourselves, or through walking in on our mothers getting their daily dosage of soaps. TV saturates our lives and that is why it is so important that we write about it and our understanding of it. Television is a shared experience, and it is through this blog that I intend to share my experience with you. TV can be shocking, inspiring, and controlling; it submerges its audience into a fantasy world and provides us with escapism from our daily lives. People turn to television for routine and security, knowing that Hollyoaks will be on at the same time everyday assures people. It provides distraction from our own problems by providing assurance that no matter what is going on with ourselves, we know that those living on Albert Square have got it much worse.

Firstly let me assure you that my references to British soaps in this introduction are the only time in which you will see them mentioned here. Much to my own disappointment I am whole heartedly more interested in American television than I am in British. My disappointment comes from the fact that firstly I am British, and secondly I spent the past 3 years at University studying film and television only to discover that in fact I prefer American content. Having said that this does not mean I will only look at such programming, I will of course be looking at British and American content. It is worth mentioning that I particularly have interest in HBO and my entire dissertation was built around the idea of HBO having a channel to broadcast from in Britain. My favourite shows on television at the minute are 30 Rock, Community, Sons of Anarchy, Game of Thrones and Boardwalk Empire; I tell you this purely so you can ascertain whether this blog will be of interest to you. My main aim of this is to keep me writing about a subject I have such interest in. I invite anyone who visits this site to write down their own opinions on what I have to say and in particular on the programmes of which I am reviewing. I hope that you find this site interesting and if you have any comments feel free to share them.

                                                                        Hayley Porter