Crazy8

The 'forever' part of that gave me chills. One day this show will be used to torture people. Reading between the lines, it does seem like it's all about the money. The only silver lining is that there's bound to be some juicy gossip along the way, particularly as Necar Zadegan is a much better actress than Lisa Edelstein and it already seemed like they were starting to sideline Abby's character a little. There could be some SATC drama behind the scenes here. I'm still kind of speechless at the renewal. Of all the things NBCU could have thrown money at, they throw it at something that reinforces a sh*t load of sexist stereotypes and market it as something for intelligent women. I am amused Paul Adelstein has jumped ship. His character was crap, but I doubt he'll be the last to go.

I'm pretty surprised too, but it looks like they want it to run long enough for it to go into syndication so they can get the money back they ploughed into it. I DREAD to think how bad this show will be by Season 5. It was at the 'scraping the barrel for storylines' stage about mid-way through Season 1. I suppose it's good news for the actresses in terms of job security, but who'd want to be stuck on something this terrible for at least another 3 years?

Am I the only one who thought they might have Tina and Brett sleep together at some point after the end of this episode? Hope I'm wrong, because Season 2 has been even better than Season 1 so far. That'd be like setting off a nuclear bomb right in the middle of everybody's intertwined relationships. I don't hate Brett like other people seem to. He just hasn't had the real passion to focus on that Michelle had with the charter school up until he and Alex decided to think about staging the play they were working on when they were kids. I also think his involvement in the childcare situation took place off-screen mostly. At least that's what it sounded like. In many ways his storyline is running parallel to Tina's, in that they've only just realised what it is they want to do, and who they want to be.

I just read that Bravo are holding back on making a decision on this for a couple of months, which obviously means they're losing confidence in it. I know it has its fans, but if a show doesn't build on its audience from the first year, even though you threw even more money at it, then you can bet your ass it'll do worse still for a third season! There's no way GG2D is going to do for Bravo what Breaking Bad did for AMC. None of the major reviewers are paying it any attention. It's not winning any awards. It's losing loads of viewers from its decent lead-in. It's not even getting panned, it's just invisible. I'm damn sure they can find something way better from all the Pilot scripts that are floating around out there! Hell, I'm not even sure it's fair to keep the actors attached to this show, although I'd be happy to only see some of them (including Edelstein) in small parts in the future.

Ray is literally the only reason I watch the show now. The only other character I have any time for is Fran. It's weird because as a woman I can't identify with any of the female characters anymore.

God, I love this show! Every single character is so messed up, but I can't bring myself to hate a single one of them. It's like the 'Anti-Girls' for me. Alex's initial reaction to Tina's drunken crash said everything we needed to know, even though she did behave like a complete idiot during the party. Brett's vomit tsunami should also be a lesson to us all about having those deep and meaningful conversations when we're drunk.

This is probably being storyboarded by the writers right now for next season. I saw someone describe this show as feminist once and I wondered WTF they'd been smoking.

Out of curiosity I checked the finale out after pretty much ignoring it for most of the season and a few things occurred to me. The writing has gotten worse since I last watched, and the acting seems so... I don't know... maybe strained is the right word??? I said this a long time ago, but Edelstein is just not a lead. I feel bad for saying it because she seems nice enough, but it's like she sucks the air out of the room every time she enters a scene. I don't know if she's trying too hard or what, but it's weird and really stuck out to me even more after not watching for a while. I've had a look at the ratings and it was only the 44th most popular cable original on TV last night. For its season finale. I just don't understand the justification for keeping it on the air if Bravo do renew it for a third season when it regularly loses over a million viewers from its RHOBH lead-in. I get why the channel want to get into scripted, but this show is not the hit they wanted it to be and frankly it insults the intelligence of its target audience. It's hard to even hate-watch. They need to do better.

There's no way in hell that they're going to bring back Old Doctors for more than specials. It completely misses the point of what the show is, and its ability to reinvent itself. Half the time they have entertainment reporters who never watch what they're writing about. Really hope Capaldi doesn't leave with Moffat, but I suspect he probably will. Clara did stay at least one season too long, and I'd love to see what he's capable of bouncing off another actor. He was great alongside Alex Kingston during the Christmas Special.

You're probably right. My gut feeling about this is that they're ploughing all their money into the adaptation of the Pullman books and they want it to take DW's normal slot next year, because they're planning on slowly winding down production on the show. They nearly let it go after RTD and Tennant left. Two big, family-orientated fantasy shows is a lot for them, especially as their budgets have been slashed. Regardless of how I feel about Chibnall, and I'm really not over the moon about him getting the job, I don't think they intend to keep the show on much longer anyway. They're just waiting for something to replace it.

I think the only one I dreaded more was Gatiss. I will give Chibnall the benefit of the doubt, but I genuinely think this run of the show will be over by about 2020 now. Of course it'll be rebooted by 2025, but that's not the point.

Yeah, I'm not thrilled either. They had an opportunity to bring in fresh blood and they settled for Chibnall, who's at best a pretty pedestrian choice.

It's more of a case of the BBC not wanting to put the show up against big sporting events like the Olympics, which is really sensible. They didn't do it justice in the scheduling at all last year and as a consequence the ratings went down. I think they're gearing up to have Doctor Who going back to the Spring so they can have His Dark Materials take over in the Summer/Autumn. Can't say I'm too thrilled with Chibnall taking over. His Doctor Who eps were ok, but I never took to Torchwood at all. Broadchurch bored me to tears as well. I'll give him the benefit of the doubt, but I wish they'd been a bit more bold in their choice.

I never was one for the idea of having River as a full-time companion. You can have too much of a good thing. I'm expecting something big for when Moffat leaves though and that'll probably include returning characters. I'll be surprised if that doesn't include River in some way, shape or form. No idea if there'll be a Library fix-it, but let's face it, he can't help himself when it comes to her. Personally, I'm fine with that, as great an ending for her as this episode was. My friend had exactly the same problem with the last 2 seasons. Didn't gel with Capaldi at all, and then realised that the problem was actually Clara after this Christmas Special aired.

My gut feeling is that there might even be a long hiatus that lasts a few years after Moffat goes. There's a lot of change going on at the BBC at the moment and it's bound to signal more budget constraints, in spite of this being a flagship show. Frankly, whoever takes it on next is either going to have to have nerves of steel, or they're being completely naive. Either way, I'm convinced that if they employ an American showrunner that'll be the final nail in the coffin. Oh I never thought he was aiming for naturalism. That's not what I meant to say. For the World they inhabit, I think Moffat nails the character's voices, but like you said, it's a matter of personal taste. I think his 'style' is down to his sitcom background anyway. Personally, I thought the biggest problem with Series 9 was the over-reliance on two-parters. This Christmas Special demonstrated how much tighter a storyline can be if it's not stretched out unnecessarily over two episodes. Glad to hear they're not going there again in Series 10.