The Rambles of Neil Monnery

I am a huge fan of the TV show The Voice. However like most shows I do prefer the American version so I thought I’d put together my favourite ten auditions from The Voice over the four seasons so far (although none of the top ten are from season one). Looking down this list I think it is pretty clear that there is a certain type of vocal I enjoy and that is quirky female voices.

I also much prefer the US judges and the way they hardly communicate with each other during the audition itself. They are busy listening to the vocal and aren’t asking each other if they are going to go. Also it is clear that doing a song I personally like – and doing it well – helps, for example with Cassadee Pope and Sarah Simmons.

So here we are. My top ten The Voice USA auditions so far…

10. Monique Abbadie

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9. Tony Lucca

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8. The Line – I’m afraid only the vocals and not video I have found.

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7. Melanie Martinez

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6. Caitlin Michele

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5. Charlotte Sometimes

Charlotte Sometimes – Apolpgize – The Voice… by IdolxMuzic

4. The Morgan Twins

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3. Cassadee Pope

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2. Juliet Simms

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1. Sarah Simmons

Sarah Simmons – The Voice Auditions (S4 Week 1) by IdolxMuzic

Just as a bonus my favourite so far of the UK version is clearly Leah McFall. Yep yet another quirky voice. I know what I like at least…

Leah McFall

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No advert should ever make a grown man cry. It’s just a stupid advert. Adverts are not real. However here I am constantly refreshing a YouTube video and every time I well up as it is such so perfect.

The Super Bowl was last night and as you know it is not just about the actual game – the adverts are kinda important too. Companies spend millions not only on the advertising space but also on the actual adverts (and the think tanks beforehand) in an attempt to find an advert that will resonate with the viewers. Anheuser-Busch nailed it last night with their Budweiser brand and their advert about a man and a horse. You can see the advert below and to watch full screen please click here

From nailing the background track which was the wonderful and haunting Landslide by Fleetwood Mac to the storyline itself. It was just sheer perfection in an advert. It wasn’t about beer it was about emotion and it is the advert everyone is talking about today. I noticed Yahoo wrote today the following about this ad:

OH COME ON. Are you kidding me? Super Bowl commercials aren’t supposed to make you cry! They’re supposed to make you laugh or cringe or go reload your plate. This? This ad makes you want to call your parents, hug your kids, and maybe just buy a horse. Flat-out winner out of the gate. Going to be a lot of people dabbing their eyes with cocktail napkins when this one airs.

Exactly. This was the slam dunk winner. I don’t drink and if I did it certainly wouldn’t be Budweiser but if I did then I’d go out and buy a crate just on the strength of the advert. Yes I know Budweiser has no effect on the bond between you and your loved ones – whether they be human or animal – but I do know that the name Budweiser would go in my head when I went to buy some beer if that is the type of thing I did.

Brand identity is just as important as taste in this market and suddenly after dips in sales the brand of Budweiser is sky high once again. If you ask people in the States today what they think of Budweiser they’ll say different things today than they did yesterday. They’ll say far nicer things. Just wonderful and emotive.

As for the other adverts it wasn’t a vintage year but the farmer advert for Dodge Ram Trucks was pretty striking and the Best Buy advert with Amy Poehler was also very good (both embedded below) but that Budweiser advert won the Super Bowl adverts and in all honesty it wasn’t even close.

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It might not scan as well as How do you solve a problem like Maria? but the BBC have a problem and they know it. The news today from the BBC that they have dropped Colin Murray as host of MOTD2 and replaced him with Mark Chapman shows that they are ready to tinker with the franchise in an attempt to restore it to its former glory. The problem though isn’t just with the Sunday version which has never been the same since Adrian Chiles but the flagship Saturday show is now lagging behind Sky in terms of quality analysis.

Sky have the best pundits and the best presentation team. Even if you takeaway their live coverage which is fronted by Ed Chamberlin, David Jones or Jeff Stelling with a pundit team including the likes of Gary Neville, Jamie Redknapp and Graeme Souness, Sky still has the better highlights show. So lets compare MOTD with Goals on Sunday which is the direct comparison.

Goals on Sunday is fronted by Ben Shepherd and the legend that is Chris Kamara. The show is two hours long (including adverts) so in terms of time on screen it is pretty similar to MOTD which is often one and a half hours with no adverts although GoS also shows the goals from the lower leagues and SPL. Goals on Sunday has a rotation of guests which is usually two people either still involved or involved in football in the past.

They talk about their careers and analyse the games which Chris Kamara leads. They get far more in depth than their MOTD counterparts and the show seems far more informative than MOTD. Along with being more informative it also doesn’t get stale due to the guests being different week in, week out so the perspectives are always different. The guests also have the scope to talk about events in their footballing pasts leading to funny stories like Ray Parlour calling Gareth Southgate ‘big nose’ and then being sold by him a couple of weeks later and of course the many accidental swear words which is only funny to see the presenters reactions.

Match of the Day has become stagnant. We know the names, the voices and the faces. They have become complacent and whilst I have no issue with Gary Lineker per se I do feel that everything seems all old boys club. I can’t remember the last time two of the panelists on MOTD argued with one another but we get it on Sky a lot with the likes of Souness, Neville and Redknapp disagreeing quite openly.

I’d love to see MOTD become the place for football highlights once more and I suppose if you just want the highlights it does the job but you never feel like you’ve learned anything after watching, where as with Goals on Sunday you do feel that you’ve learned and been entertained.

Now as Colin Murray has been ditched for Mark Chapman (who is in a similar mold) it seems like a relatively pointless move for me. MOTD needs a proper revamp as papering over the cracks just isn’t doing the job. I do wonder if James Richardson has ever been approached or even has any interest but I think his style of presenting would go down very well on MOTD2 and personally I’d love him to front football as a whole but the BBC would never go down that route…or would they…?

No. No they wouldn’t and that my friends is a shame for all of us.

As for pundits Alan Hansen was the man. The important word there is was. He’s become lazy and the rest of the BBC lot have never really offered any insight. They aren’t going to attract any of the Sky lot over and losing Lee Dixon was a blow so they need to find a fresh face whose willing to put the work in and not rest on their laurels with lazy cliches. Who that person is I don’t know but Matt Holland is criminally underused. Smart and puts the work in. If the BBC want to blow up MOTD and make it good again Matt Holland wouldn’t be a bad place to start…

Hi All,

Well I suppose later today as it is now Paddy returns with the next season of the dating show Take Me Out. Apologies that it has taken me a while to get the photos uploaded and live on the blog but I’ve actually, shockingly had a life this week. It is lucky I’m sitting down when typing that I know. Luckily it’s only the first week of 2013 and I’m positive my social life will dissipate over the coming days and weeks (although I’m already busy tomorrow, Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and next Saturday) crazy – it’s like I’m a normal regular person who actually does things and doesn’t just sit in on his own like a pathetic loser. Yeah…as if…*whistles*

Anyway you aren’t here to read about my life. The fact I was in a politics AGM for two and a half hours tonight means little to you. Nor does the fact that I’m commentating on Southend v Brentford tomorrow. You want photos of girls who are appearing on Take Me Out Season Five that starts this Saturday night on ITV1 at the late time of 8:45 compared to its pre-Christmas 7PM slot before The X Factor.

Personally just from looks my early favourites are (in alphabetical order) Daisy, Jodie, Lolly, Lucy-May, Naomi and Naz but as always personalities will shine through as they always do. I have noticed the press photos seem to show two different sets but I assume ITV aren’t yanking our chain with the press photos they’ve sent out. Hopefully you all enjoy the show. Most of the girls are on twitter so if you want to interact with them they’ll do so. I’ve found in the past couple of years they’ve in general been pretty approachable as long as you aren’t being totally weird.

If you want to leave your comments and views on the girls then please feel free. It is always good to see what others think of the show and certainly who are everybody’s favourites and this year you can comment on each girl individually under the photograph if you click on it as it’ll open up a new page but it is time to stop with the waffling and you know what that means…take it away Paddy…

Bring on the Girls…

Alanna

Alanna

Cherry

Cherry

Chloe

Chloe

Chloe W

Chloe W

Daisy

Daisy

Daniella

Daniella Gabriella

Dannii

Dannii

Emma

Emma

Gemma G

Gemma G

Gemma

Gemma

Jacqui

Jacqui

Jo

Jo

Jodie

Jodie

Keli

Keli

Kim

Kim

Lauren

Lauren

Lily

Lily

Lolly

Lolly

Lucy-May

Lucy-May

Lynsey

Lynsey

Megan

Megan

Miki

Miki

Naomi

Naomi

Natasha

Natasha

Naz

Naz

Nikita

Nikita

Pinky

Pinky

Robyn

Robyn

Tasha

Tasha

Thuy

Thuy

As always all the photos are Copyright Thames TV and ITV

The BBC and Sky have started to make announcements about their coverage of Formula 1 for the 2013 season. Sky basically have announced that it is very much status quo. David Croft & Martin Brundle remain as the voice and face of the sport as expected. Simon Lazenby keeps his spot as presenter despite criticism. Damon Hill and Antony Davidson remain and Johnny Herbert returns to the channel after joining early in 2012 and becoming a firm favourite. Georgie Thompson stays as well and Ted Kravitz leads the pit team with Natalie Pinkham getting drivers interviews. So as expected Sky very much have kept with its team from 2012 with only Herbert added to the opening race team and he had become a mainstay since early in 2012.

Over at the BBC though decisions had to be made as Jake Humphrey quit the BBC to become the face of Football on BT Vision. Well they’ve made their first decision as surprisingly Suzi Perry has replaced him as the anchor. Most thought Lee McKensie would be promoted but they’ve gone for Suzi Perry – who has worked on Moto GP for the channel although she quit that role in part because of the excess travel involved – so coming back to do F1 doesn’t make a whole lot of sense but of course presenting Moto GP and F1 is two very different things – with two very different salaries.

No word yet from the BBC on whether Eddie Jordan and David Coulthard will be returning but with Sky having named their line-up there doesn’t seem to be room for them unless they went to a three-man booth and personally I wouldn’t like to see that.

The other thing we now know is which channel will be showing which races. The full calendar is below:

17 March Australian Grand Prix – Sky
24 March Malaysian Grand Prix – Sky
14 April Chinese Grand Prix – BBC/Sky
21 April Bahrain Grand Prix – Sky
12 May Spanish Grand Prix – BBC/Sky
26 May Monaco Grand Prix – Sky
09 June Canadian Grand Prix – BBC/Sky
30 June British Grand Prix – BBC/Sky
7 July German Grand Prix = Sky
21 July ‘A.N. Other European Grand Prix – BBC/Sky
28 July Hungarian Grand Prix – Sky
25 August Belgian Grand Prix – BBC/Sky
08 September Italian Grand Prix – BBC/Sky
22 September Singapore Grand Prix – Sky
06 October Korean Grand Prix – Sky
13 October Japanese Grand Prix – BBC/Sky
27 October Indian Grand Prix – BBC/Sky
03 November Abu Dhabi Grand Prix – Sky
17 November United States Grand Prix – Sky
24 November Brazilian Grand Prix – BBC/Sky

The biggest difference is that the BBC have used their first three picks on Britain and Brazil again but Monaco has gone with Canada having gone to the Beeb. An interesting choice as the Canadian Grand Prix has long been one of the very best and is held in prime-time. The Italian GP also goes to the BBC this time around (guessing Australia, USA, Monaco were Sky’s first three picks) but overall you’d probably say that the BBC are getting a better quality of race this time around.

The July 21 race is expected to be either Turkey or possibly a return of either the Austrian or French Grand Prix. I’d love to see the Austrian race return as I think the A1 Ring brought us a few really good races as the track as several really good overtaking opportunities. This race has been added to the calendar because the second race in the United States (New Jersey) has been postponed until 2014.

Last year was a thriller for Formula 1 fans and if next year can be as good then we’ll be in for a fantastic year of Motorsport. Whether you watch on the Beeb or on Sky the coverage should be some of the very best in the world.

I’ve been thinking for a few days to do a post on Christmas Adverts but I will do a quick one now just for the Boots adverts. They have done one main advert with clips of several stories which is 1m long and then they have done shorter 30s ads delving slightly deeper into all of the stories which I happen to think has been most spiffing. I really enjoyed the housemate finds love one as it reminded me of a situation I was in not that long ago. I also really fancy the ginger girl in it but then can someone point out a ginger girl who I know that I don’t fancy? Answers on a postcard…

So anyway here are all the Boots Christmas adverts for 2012 starting with the main one and then working our way through the other stories. I hope they bring a little smile to your face just like they did to me.

Main Ad.

Getting mum back out on to the dating scene.

Perfume for mum.

Girls go travelling.

First Shave (short)

The awesome one – housemate finds love.

Behind the scenes.

Well I know they made me smile and for a brief moment become less of a grinch. Don’t worry I’ll be back to my grinchy ways soon enough.

PS: If any advertising executives are reading I am available to star in TV adverts alongside women of the ginger haired persuasion. I probably wouldn’t haggle too much over fees just FYI…

So Nadine Dorries thinks that female MPs are jealous of her does she? I mean why stop there and why doesn’t she just admit the truth that the whole human race are jealous and wish they led her life. You see the thing is we often rail against those who we are secretly jealous of. I mean who wouldn’t want to be Ryan Clark or Christopher Maloney? We all wish that we were in TOWIE or Geordie Shore don’t we? We would love our semi-fake lives planted all over the newspapers whilst people with brains laughed at us behind our backs? Jealousy is a strange and cruel mistress (if there are any of them reading – please send me an e-mail) but yes we all wish we were Nadine. Let us look at the reasons we all wish we were Nadine…

First of all who wouldn’t want to be able to take time off work to go on a Z-list celebrity show and get paid for both jobs? I mean seriously. If my bosses were down with me going and eating kangaroo bollocks whilst Eric Bristow regales me with tales about how he was a great darts player then I’d be so there and so would all of you be too.

On a similar line wouldn’t it be awesome to basically get sacked by your boss but still keep your job? That is what Nadine has managed to do. That is pure genius.

Remember she has been able to publicly slag off her bosses relentlessly and basically kept getting away with it. We all dream of dissing our bosses (well not me obviously – mine is great – actually he is – I get on very well with the guy I report to) but in general many of us would love to just diss our superiors and basically get no ramifications. It took her actually going on a TV show and missing work for her to get a bit of a bollocking (but keep her job).

Also wouldn’t you like to go on national TV to further your political campaign – in her case on abortion? Who here wouldn’t want to go on national TV and get exposure for our causes? The fact that she got no exposure for it is neither here nor there – she thought she was actually going to be able to use this as a platform for her cause.

Wouldn’t it be amazing to be told by the general public that you were the worst Z-list celebrity on a TV show? Deep down you can take comfort knowing that Christopher Maloney is still in the X Factor so surely the public know nothing. The public voted Ella Henderson out so that means that the public vote out the ones they like – yes that is it.

I would also love to live in a world where I wasn’t sure which home was actually my main residence. I mean who wouldn’t want a life where someone asked them where they lived they had to take a few seconds to think – not to think of an excuse but to think of which address is actually your home. A life we can all only aspire to.

When like me you write a blog you generally write what you like but when you are an MP you are surely tied into the truth but not Nadine. Oh no. In her own words ‘My blog is 70% fiction and 30% fact. It is written as a tool to enable my constituents to know me better and to reassure them of my commitment to Mid Bedfordshire. I rely heavily on poetic licence and frequently replace one place name/event/fact with another.’ How awesome is that? She can basically say the majority of what she writes is made up but it’s ok. I want to live in a world where that is true.

With a Z-list TV appearance behind her she now has the world as her oyster – well when I say world – I mean reality TV shows and other TV appearances. She’ll be on TV a lot folks. Get used to that. The only reason for her not to be on TV a lot would be if she quit her role as an MP and moved to Australia. Wouldn’t that be a turn up…(ellipsis left there for effect and a nod and a wink). I mean who wouldn’t want to move to Australia…(yep same thing).

Also she’s had an affair. You can’t get much hotter than that. A passionate steamy affair with a married man. We all want that don’t we? (not with a married man for me obviously – that would be a turn up).

Would you want to basically ruin the career you had worked so hard for just to get a bit of TV money and infamy for a couple of years before sitting back and thinking ‘what the hell did I do all that for?’ well Nadine has that now. Her career as an MP is all but over come 2015 and what will she do next? I’m looking forward to her appearance on the ‘Celebrity Jelly Wrestling’ show with Ann Widdecombe. It’s going to be an epic. This is the type of thing she has opened herself up to. I mean wouldn’t we all want to have these types of doors open to us?

So yes we are all (rightly) extremely jealous of her. It is either that or we are all laughing at someone who is in the process of destroying her career that she worked so hard for so she could get her fifteen minutes of fame but it couldn’t be that at all…could it? It couldn’t be someone selling their soul for a few dollars and a few TV appearances…could it? It couldn’t be that her actions have led to MPs getting an (even) worse name could it? No way could it be any of those things.

Deep down all of us – and certainly female MPs wished they had been on a Z-list celebrity show whilst they were meant to be working. Whilst Nadine was sleeping in a jungle in front of TV cameras most female MPs were working and going home to their families and sleeping in a bed with a nice thick duvet. Yeah Nadine certainly got the best of them…

Last night I was flicking through the TV channels and found the university challenge episode of The Young Ones and it is still as funny as ever. I started thinking about whether any sitcom had seen such a plethora of comedic talent in one episode and I struggled to think of one. The next thing I wondered about was whether this was the best sitcom episode I had ever seen and I really think that it just might be.

I’ll start with the obvious University Challenge scene which might be one of the most remembered scenes of that era of sitcoms and the most remembered of the show full stop. The whole having one university above one another is how I thought it really was on the University Challenge set for many years and when I found out that it wasn’t I was quite shocked. Vyvyan getting bored and kicking through the floor to knock Ben Elton’s character out still makes me laugh out loud and I know it’s coming but every single time it gets me. Neil’s desperate need for the toilet and the fact it was seeping out is gold and you know Vyvyan would really be pissed off at Mike for answering the questions from The Daily Mirror Book of Facts.

However despite this scene being all sorts of awesome it doesn’t save the episode as it just enhances it. The scene with Smith & Jones as they enter the TV studios is wonderful as Vyvyan tries to trick Jones that his pet is actually a ferret called Bacon Sandwich. The way they mistake Smith’s character for Bambi from the Disney movies is clever and well played and the message that Neil left for them saying they would be late. Wonderful writing and acting.

The train journey scenes with Neil cramming and Rick saying he knew everything about crop rotation despite knowing nothing and Vyvyan tearing a fiver in half and giving the other half to Mike are clever and witty and we haven’t even got to Vyvyan decapitating himself by sticking his head out of a moving train along with Rick’s joke directly to the camera/viewers about British Rail. All of it good but I loved the race to the station scene even more with Motorhead playing Ace of Spades as our four heroes run to get the train. The camera following Rick as he tries to steal a newspaper and Rick seeing the cameras and slying going back and paying for it. Vyvyan walking up to a kiosk and stuffing a whole cake it his mouth as the British Rail clerk tries not to laugh. Rick checking the time on his watch whilst holding a glass of wine in the same hand only to pour it down himself and Neil getting photos at a photo-me booth. All terrific.

Of course the episode starts off with the boys deciding to go to the launderette to do cleaning for the first time in three years and they manage to trick a washing machine into opening believing they are also washing Felicity Kendal’s underwear. Very clever writing and the acting was first rate throughout the whole thing. Even the students of Footlights College in their car to the filming was clever and witty.

I really do think this was in my opinion the zen of sitcom episodes. The Young Ones was one of the great shows and really spoke to a generation (clearly I am not of that generation) but it is one of the few sitcoms that really has stood the test of time. It makes it all the more upsetting that Ade Edmondson and Rik Mayall weren’t able to complete their proposed Hooligan’s Island project. That could have been something pretty special.

If you have never seen ‘Bambi’ of The Young Ones then please enjoy the following…

14 years ago the BBC lost cricket coverage to Channel 4 in a move that stunned everyone and in all honesty heralded the end of the BBC being the natural home for many of our top sporting events. The decision to switch coverage away from the BBC caught many off-guard and in the end it did spell the end of cricket as a Free To Air sport. However the move itself was not a bad one as Channel Four showed that when they really want something then they can really go for it.

As a long standing cricket fan this change didn’t mean a lot to me as heck I was only 15 years old. Looking back though I can see how Channel Four really developed the sport for the armchair viewer. The early magazine show was clearly aimed at the younger generation and it was extremely successful. The BBC had covered the sport but had never tried to engage with the next generation of fans. They never tried to keep up with technological advances. They had their core audience and had no desire to grow it. Channel Four saw it differently.

They brought about the snickometer which showed us viewers at home whether a batsman had nicked the ball to the slips. They also brought about the red zone to show if a ball pitched in line on LBW appeals and hawk eye technology to show where a ball would have gone after an LBW appeal. This was all pretty exciting and futuristic stuff compared to what we were used to as fans and I think we can safely say it heightened our enjoyment of the game.

Desktop Richie was also a favourite allowing cricket fans to keep u to date on the scores from the PCs. Basically in the space of a handful of years cricket had gone from a sport that hadn’t moved on technologically at all for what 15 years and having two cameras at either end so you always saw the batter face on to being arguably one of the most modern sports for the TV audience in the world. Quite something when you come to think of the traditions of cricket.

When the deal was announcers Aggers said, “The quality of coverage that everyone in the world, I think, has aspired to as far as the BBC’s cricket coverage is concerned has come to an end at a stroke.” You can safely say he wasn’t a fan but I think it is very clear that Channel Four took the sport to heights that the BBC could only dream of.

Channel Four of course lucked out with the 2005 Ashes and their coverage was not only award winning it was just sensational. An amazing line-up of commentators (which to be fair Sky Sports have pretty much equalled but not bettered) by the end of their coverage saw the likes of Richie Benaud, Geoffrey Boycott, Michael Atherton, Barry Richards, Michael Slater, Ian Smith, Tony Greig, Mark Nicholas and Simon Hughes they had enough distinguished voices to really hit home and have that gravitas.

Sadly by this point they knew – as we all did – that the sport was disappearing to Sky permanently. A new Head of Sport was in place at Channel Four and he was no huge cricket fan unlike his predecessor. Sky spent the big money to bring the sport in full to them knowing it was the largest potential subscriber base behind football. Sky paid over the odds for it knowing that they would pretty much lose money on most of the deal except for the Ashes.

Sky have kicked on with their coverage and some of their features are extremely good. You won’t find me knocking Sky’s coverage (bar Nick Knight – he’s terrible) but there has been no quantum leap in coverage compared to when Channel Four took over the rights.

Since those days Channel Four stole the World Athletics Championships from the BBC and stunk up the joint so bad that the IAAF quickly gave the Beeb back the rights to the 2015 and 2017 events. However Channel Four got universal praise for their Paralympics coverage and have recently taken all the domestic Horse Racing coverage. They had worked hard on Horse Racing for the best part of a quarter of a century and most people will think their coverage is just as good as the Beeb’s and Clare Balding is even fronting it.

That decision though by the ECB 14 years ago today didn’t just change what channel we watched cricket on but it also signalled the end of the BBC being able to sit firmly on their hands in the belief that they would always get all the live sport they wanted. I know they lost Formula One to ITV two years before but the BBC never really cared about the sport. The cricket was the first time it had truly been stunned for live sport and ever since it has had to work far harder to keep what it has and develop not only the coverage but the sport itself and for that we should be incredibly thankful to Channel Four for.

It is rare that a TV show gets pilloried so robustly by most of the mainstream TV critics yet still sees substantial audience growth and recommissioning after just its pilot but HBO’s Newsroom shown over here as The Newsroom on Sky Atlantic did just that.

The season finale was this week and whilst not being as genuinely amazing as the pilot episode it rounded off a couple of plot lines whilst cleverly opening up a couple more for next year. The Newsroom grabbed my attention from the start and I’m not one that gets dragged into these American shows on Sky Atlantic. In fact this is the first one that I have given time to in my extremely busy TV schedule of reality TV shows and live sport. God that is depressing but strangely accurate.

Set in the newsroom of a cable news channel I was always going to give it a chance. I mean hello frustrated journalist here! Jeff Daniels is wonderful as Will McAvoy and brings a gravitas but also a charm and likeability factor. His world gets turned upside down when at Northwestern he is asked ‘Why is America the greatest country in the world?’ and he goes off on one because he thinks he sees his ex in the audience. It turns out that he did see his ex and soon to be new Executive Producer up there and it was without doubt one of the best (in my opinion) opening scenes of any show that I have watched. If you haven’t seen and would like to well YouTube is your friend…

The show has a bizarre series of sub-plots regarding love triangles (heck maybe even squares) including Will and his ex and her ex with whom she had cheated on with whilst with Will. Also Will’s former EP is dating another member of the newsroom but she falls in love with another member of the team who is then set up with her flatmate by her partner. Yes confusing but it makes sense if you have ever seen the show. The love plots do have some interest but aren’t a prevalent feature.

However the real dynamic that I feel brings the whole thing together is Sam Waterson’s character of Charlie Skinner. Skinner is the head of news and is a guy who wants to do the news the right way. He’s a smart man and brings a real quality to the show. Many of written that Aaron Sorkin has struggled writing roles for women and that does hold light once you look at this show. Of the three major female roles all are flawed to some degree but all are believable. The rise of Sloane Sabbath from nervous business guru to confident woman was believable. Maggie is believable in her love of Don but whilst deep down falling for Jim and as for Emily Mortimer’s portrayal of Mac the EP who deep down wants to get back with Will but also produce a great news show – all believable if flawed.

It opened to 2.1million viewers and the season finale cleared 3million. Not bad for a short ten episode run and showed substantial growth despite clear hatred from the media Just google ‘The Newsroom review’ and you’ll see a lot of positive bloggers and a lot of very negative newspaper TV critics. An interesting mix.

However the final episode of the run tied off all the unanswered questions neatly in a box – except for the two love storylines – which are open and we all know in TV land that Will and Mac will get back together one day and Jim and Maggie will get it on. Whether it happens soon or whether we have to wait in another matter altogether but it will happen. Well it had better…. Will, Mac and Charlie successfully blackmail their boss thus enabling Will to keep his job.

The scene at the hospital where Charlie and then Will realise that the only source knowing that he was high the night Osama Bin Laden was killed was him (from a phone call he’d made to Mac telling her that he was high but still loved her) but she never received it as her phone was hacked and the message deleted as a wonderful scene. Twice in the ten episode run we had that scene where suddenly the momentum kicked in and everything got going (also in episode one where Will threw out the run-down to lead with the BP oil spillage). If you haven’t seen the show but want to get an idea of what I mean think of Rocky II where Adrian wakes up from her coma and tells Rocky to win. Yes it was like that.

The attacks on the Tea Party by Will were finely delivered and the ending where we saw the girl who had first asked the question ‘why is America the greatest country in the world?’ applying for an internship because Will had motivated her was a very nice nod to the audience. Hopefully she’ll actually be a character in the second season but all in all despite clear plot flaws and not terrific writing of the female characters the show holds good. I won’t pine for it over the winter but when it returns next summer I’ll be more than ready to see what happens next and I have high hopes that the show could run for several years at a very high level.

PS: I think it may inspire me to rant about Jim/Maggie and Will/Mac and the whole true love thing. Seriously I know your are fictional characters but why can’t you be more open about your feelings but that is a question (for question read blog) for another day…