Best and Worst TV Moments of 2010

Here is a collection of the best and worst TV moments of 2010, including some of the more ridiculous moments thrown in for good measure. Also replay some of the moments that has helped shape this years television, good and bad.

 

THE BEST

Matt Smith as the Doctor in Doctor Who. Bowties, diranamos and fezs. I think we were all mourning the departure of the wonderful David Tennant but Smith has won us over with his charm, wit and pure Britishness.

The Vic goes bang! We all love the Queen Vic and we loved it's landlady, Peggy Mitchell even more. Both bowed out in September as Barbara Windsor left the show after sixteen years as our favourite Eastend girl. A fitting end to one of Britain's Soaps best. 

The death of my beloved Renee Walker played by Annie Wersching. As 24's Jack Bauer was coming to the end of his reign as the hardest guy on TV, he finally got his happy ending. But it didn't last and Renee was shot, dying on the operating table as they battled to save her life. I think we all wanted to see them run off into the hardcore sunset together.

Lol gets her revenge on her wicked father for years of abuse and the rape of her friend Trev in Shane Meadow's compelling short series This is England '86. The series was a wonderful continuation of the film This is England that was packed full of so many moments I couldn't count them all on my fingers.

That heartbreaking and soul crushing scene when soul mates, Sun and Jin died together as the submarine sank in LOST thanks to that dastardly Man in Black. After being separated for so long, their touching reunion was cut short. RIP Kwons.

We finally said a fine farewell to the Gene genie in Ashes to Ashes in a perfect ending that revealed all our dying questions. As Alex finally accepted her fate, Gene fought off the devil himself, Keats in spectacular fashion.

Steven Moffat's Sherlock. Come on, it was TV gold!

THE WORST

Corrie's 50th anniversary was a disaster for the all wrong reasons. An awfully structured episode ended in a badly shot tram crash which was frankly ruined by tacky special effects and painful overacting. Their neighbours on the Square always did do explosions better than the lot on the cobbles.


Those dodgy vampire sex scenes from True Blood. Don't get me started on the homosexual scenes with Alexander Skarsgard...trying to push boundaries are we HBO? If you've not seen them before, check out this fucked up scene from Season Three, not for the fate hearted or any youngsters, so beware!

Bigbrother UK. I thought they'd go out with a bang. Having not watched it since the early days, I held out hope that they could turn it around. How wrong I was! Hopefully, the show will stay buried. 


Heroes bowed out so quietly no one even noticed. I hadn't even realised the show was cancelled and I almost wish I hadn't made the effort to find the last season of the show (which I decided not to watch first time round). With Claire revealing her powers to the world, we were left rather underwhelmed by the whole experience. It's shame really, Season One showed such potential.

THE RIDICULOUS

LOST is well known for it's crazy concepts but this one really takes the biscuit. In the final season, Sun loses her ability to speak English, while retaining the ability to write in and understand the language after hitting her head in "The Package". We just about bought the smoke monster, the polar bear and the time shifts but this was the final straw; come on LOST, seriously!?

I never have been a fan of daytime television, let alone American daytime television. If I never saw Oprah again, I'd be more than happy but the most ridiculous moment in the shows history comes this year when she revealed that "YOUR ALL GOING TO AUSTRALIA!" Oh please, if I wanted some old woman shouting hysterically out at me, I'd go home to my mother!

Chris Chibnall bought the Silurians back to Doctor Who. WHY? By far the worst episodes of Series 5; next time Chibnall, tell the Moff your out of your depth and run along back to RTD and write more crap episodes for Torchwood!

Box Office Successes and Failures

It's been a pretty slow year for the film industry this year, particularly after last years massive box office success, Avatar took over seven hundred million pounds despite the ambiguous production values rumoured to be in the region of two hundred and eighty million dollars. It's going to be a very difficult task to even compete with Cameron's grossing triumph but Hollywood had a bloody good go at giving Avatar a run for it's money.

 

 HARRY POTTER STARS: DANIEL RADCLIFFE, EMMA WATSON, RUPERT GRINT.

Surprisingly, the seventh installment of Harry Potter failed to reclaim the highest grossing crown like it's five preceding films, despite the lack of real rivals, with the possible exception of the third Toy Story which was yesterday announced as the highest grossing film of 2010. While in the past, Potter has had to contend with films such as Pirates of the Caribeen, the Dark Knight, Lord of the Rings and of course Avatar, this year has been a rather low key period for Hollywood. With animated films taking centre stage with Toy Story 3, the final Shrek movie, the unexpectedly successful Despicable Me and other 3D releases such as Megamind and How To Train Your Dragon dominating our cinemas, Potter was expected to take back the number one spot having last achieved it back in 2001 with the Sorcerer's Stone.

But it wasn't meant to be. 

Another surprise was the success of Christopher Nolan's Inception starring Leonardo DiCaprio, taking almost nine hundred million at the book office just infront of Shrek Forever After which came in at number five with just over seven hundred million. Alice in Wonderland didn't do as well as Disney would of liked, coming in with just over three hundred and thirty million and as it cost over two hundred million to make excluding publicity expenses, isn't as much as they would of been anticipating I'm sure.

But perhaps the biggest disappointments were from some of last years most bankable actors. Johnny Depp who came in at number two last year may have had reasonable success with Alice of the Wonderland in March, but his Winter blockbuster The Tourist alongside Hollywood's most reliable female Angelina Jolie, will be lucky to make half of what was spent on it. Matt Damon also suffered this year, Green Zone which was released in March made only a third of the films production costs while his October movie, Hereafter should do slightly better as the film only cost Warner Brothers fifty million.

But of course the biggest success of 2010, is Toy Story 3. The final part of Pixar's animated adventure raked in just over a billion dollars, which is about six hundred and eighty million to us Brits and the film has been tipped to pick up Best Animated Picture at the Academy Awards while some have even suggested it deserves to walk away with the Best Picture. They're is always a first for everything! 

And it certainly was a good year for animated films, Despicable Me, with $539m came in eighth and How to Train Your Dragon with $493m rounded off the top ten. Other animated flicks such as Megamind and Tangled have also done well, despite being released around the time of the seventh Harry Potter and the slightly more successful Despicable Me which was boosted by an all star cast including Steve Carrell, Julie Andrews, Jason Segel and Russell Brand.

Alice in Wonderland managed to clinch the second spot in the list just tilting over the billion pound mark with Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part One coming in at number three. Whether or not the two deserved to even be in the top three is another matter. The other films to make the top 10 were vampire romance Twilight Eclipse, in sixth spot with $693m, Robert Downey Jnr. as the Ironman in his superhero sequel Iron Man 2, came in seventh place with $622m, and fantasy remake Clash of the Titans, just managed to scrap into the top ten, coming in at nine with just shy of half a billion.

Spotlight #6

Look at me keeping up this blogging thing - without further ado, here is Spotlight #6.

MISFITS

This fantastic C4 series ended it's second season run with a Christmas special last night in spectacular style. Perhaps an acquired taste, Misfits starring Robert Sheehan, Iwan Rheon, Antonia Thomas, Nathan Stewart-Jarrett and Lauren Socha, has rounded up quite a following and won the BAFTA for Best Drama this year as well as being renewed for a full third season by Channel Four.

The dark comedy about five young offenders who discover they have superpowers. Nathan (Sheehan) is immortal, Kelly (Socha) can read minds, Curtis (Stewart-Jarrett) has the ability to rewind time, Simon (Rheon) can turn himself invisible while Alisha (Thomas) sends anyone who touches her into a sexual frenzy.

As usual, C4 pushes boundaries and breaks our expectations. Witty and crude Nathan is the highlight with his inspired one liners and Season Two's unexpected romance between reserved Simon and glamorous Alisha was particularly interesting.

A definite recommendation for anyone who loves contemporary dramas such as Skins, the Inbetweeners or Shameless.

Why The X Factor Has Lost It's Credibility

 

THE JUDGES: SIMON COWELL, CHERYL COLE, DANNII MINOGUE & LOUIS WALSH.

The X Factor was created in 2004 in a bid to find new musical talent for the dying British music industry. In a time where we all listened to artists born and bred in the States, shows such as Pop Idol, Pop Stars and the X Factor were seen as the way forward for the British music industry. Produced by music mogul Simon Cowell, who headed up the series as a judge alongside Boyzone and Westlife manger Louis Walsh and manager of Ozzy Osbourne, wife Sharon. The introduction of ex Aussie artist Dannii Minogue led to Osbourne's exit at the end of the Series 4, her replacement Popstars: The Rivals winner - Girls Aloud singer, Cheryl Cole was introduced in Series 5 and quickly won the hearts of many across the country. The problem? What exactly does she know about music?

Many would also argue that fellow female, Dannii isn't a credible judge but her recent performance in Series 7 and her overall decent mentoring during her time on the show sets her apart from the under qualified Cheryl. Time and time again, Cheryl has made bad song choices, bad choice of artists (including the recent controversial decision to exclude Gamu) and general negligence, despite always being blessed with the strongest category, has highlighted her inability to properly mentor any up and coming artists.

But it's not just the weakness of Cheryl that is the issue. Louis Walsh's attitude towards the show since Osbourne's exit has exposed what a mockery the show has become. An individual who should know his fair share about the industry, is treating the show as a joke, choosing acts that have no talent (Wagner) or no potential success (Storm). His comments during the show are just as fake and insubstantial as fellow judge, Cheryl and his constant sniping at Cowell as neither entertaining nor useful. Never is any valid criticisms offered and the number of times he over praises an act is almost unbelievable. If I had a pound for every time that man said "he/she will go all the way", I'd be a rich man.

Not only are Cheryl and Louis useless but this year has seen an appearance of a unconstructive Simon Cowell. The one person you could always rely on, the man who would say exactly what we were all thinking, was Simon Cowell. But the last couple of series' he seems to have past that baton to Dannii Minogue and instead joins Cheryl and Louis in completely unsubstantial comments. While no one can fault his mentoring, the steady improvement made by One Direction highlights his ability to really work with an artist but it doesn't excuse the frustrating Saturday night he offers us when him and two of his other judges speak out of their asses.

But I really think the X factor has lost all credibility with all the rule changing, fixing and controversial politics. Why do the judges have any influence whether any act does through or not. Why can't the audience decide who goes through? Can't they follow a similar system to BBC's Strictly Come Dancing, where the judges scoring system are combined with audience votes? Acts like Katie Waissel and Wagner never should of progressed as far as they did.

Maybe it's about time Syco listened to what the audience really want? Perhaps Louis Walsh should just quit, he clearly doesn't take anything seriously? Hopefully the Americans will take Cheryl away too, then we can have a panel of real judges - more akin to that of American Idol. Who should be the judges on the next X Factor? Cast your votes in the sidebar on the right.

Could Student Fee Rise Make Things Worse?

IMAGE BY: Allvoices.com

Despite national protests against the proposed rise in student tuition fees, both the House of Commons and the House of Lords have approved plans to up fees to as much as nine grand a year. The major controversy that has united students in anger across the country is the betrayal by the Liberal Democrats who according to their own party policies are against a rise of students fees and despite party leader, Nick Clegg's election promise not to increase tuition fees, the party has joined the Conservatives in increasing the fees. Was the promise just a foil to get votes? Were the Lib Dems ever even serious about decreasing (or at least freezing) the university tuition fees?

But perhaps more importantly, will the increase actually help the countries financial situation at all?

While the government are safe guarding the poorest students, as those who gain free school meals are set to get the first two years free, the rest are set to suffer - including those who are not in any way financially supported by their parents. In fact those who will be set to receive a helping hand, are the lowest percentage of youngsters who go on to university, so in short, they won't be safeguarding anyone and some might say that it's just a crooked way of seemingly softening the blow.

By reputation, the Conservative party are seen to be made up of extremely rich men who are only interested in protecting themselves and those equally as well off. In a bid to change this public opinion, they have tried using strategies that will seem as if they do care about the working class but when in fact, those strategies and policies will only reach a very small fraction of the population. The main section of society, those considered to be the working class, will be left to struggle.

The other issue is that the rise in fees will invertedly discourage prospective students from going to university. This in turn will lead to a decline in university admissions, causing university's themselves to struggle financially and eventually leading to a decline in the quality of education on offer. At this currently time, England arguably as the best education system in the world; while not perfect, the country does offer a better standard than our rivals. But with this rise in fees, could cause a decline in quality. Not only this, but it could discourage our doctors, scientists, engineers and teachers of the future as the price of education will be to high.

With a lack of prospects and opportunities, the working class will get poorer, meaning more people will need financially support from the government and the mess left by the Labour government will seem like a distant paradise!

Overreaction? Maybe. But one thing is for certain, this isn't going to end well.

DTT240991's Top Monthly Tweets

Here are again some more famous tweets from yours truly. If you’re as much of a fan as Twitter as I am, you try and keep your tweets as interesting or funny as possible, this month; I think that I've tweeted some more absolute corkers! Here are my favourite three for you non-Twitter birds:

DTT240991
isn't it funny when a guy has a ridiculous high pitched voice!? Plus a Cornish accent which is always interesting.

DTT240991
Bernard Matthews is dead. What's next? The Dairylea cow!?

DTT240991
I think I'm ever so slightly in love with Gwyneth Paltrow!

If you fancy following me on Twitter then go to my page here and click the lovely little "follow" button.

Spotlight #5

Having initially hating this artist, particularly due to her similarities to former X-Factor contestants Diana Vickers, I've now completely changed my mind - I eat my words - she is fantastic!

Ellie Goulding

This girl has completely blown me away over the last six months, particularly after her recent record, a cover of the Elton John classic, Your Song. You can watch her rendition below if you wish to check it out yourself. If not, then I highly suggest you get hold of her  Number #1 debut album Lights (Bright Lights) that includes her top ten hits Starry Eyed and her extraordinary singles The Writer, Guns and Horses and Under the Sheets. 


Her unique style is mesmerising and she is completely update. But don't take my word for it, check her out:

The Road Trip From Hell

 

DUE DATE (2010)

Starring Robert Downey Jnr and Zach Galifianakis

Directed by Todd Phillips

Todd Phillips and Zach Galifianakis reunite alongside Hollywood's iron man, Robert Downey Jnr in a tale about two men and dog travelling across the States to get home in time for the birth of Peter Highman's (Downey Jnr) child and as one can expect from a Phillips film, not everything goes to plan.

These two starkly different characters are forced together when Peter is thrown off a flight bound for his home in LA leaves him unable to get home alone. Desperate to get home, Peter is forced to accept a lift home from eccentric, jobless actor Ethan Tremblay (Zach Galifianakis) despite the fact that the clueless Tremblay is the whole reason he's left stranded at Atlanta Airport.

Robert Downey Jnr stands out in a role very different to any he's played previously unlike Galifianakis' Ethan Tremblay who resembles the character he played in The Hangover too much for my liking. But Downey Jnr's cold and conservative Peter Highman is hilarious and while unlikeable, is completely relatable. 

While comparisons can be made to both The Hangover, in style, and the plot from John Hughes' Planes, Trains and Automobiles - Due Date is more satisfying and is arguably on par with Phillips' 2009 hit. While the humour isn't quite as naturally contrived as The Hangover, the plot has more premise and the touching moments towards the end of the film leaves you with that fuzzy feeling. And in an age where absurd comedy is extremely popular, this film is a perfect example of why this style of comedy is in right now.

While it may not have received the critical acclaim it deserves, this movie is worth a watch, particular if your a fan of Phillips' style.

Matt Damon is the Informant

 

THE INFORMANT (2009)

Starring Matt Damon.

Directed by Steven Soderbergh.

This hilarious comedy starring Matt Damon is an extremely underrated hit from last year. Despite only grossing just over thirty three million dollars, this clever feature by quirky director, Steven Soderbergh had us laughing from start to finish.

But at it's core, this isn't a inherently funny story. Infact, its a saddening tale about a man who weaves a web lies that even fools himself. But Soderbergh does manage to the lighten mood by going down a rather different road than the book, written by Kurt Eichenwald, by basing the story around one of the best legal thrillers ever shown on screen. But we still do follow the true story of ex ADM employee Mark Whitacre as depicted by Eichenwald, through the untrustworthy narration that follows throughout the story.

The stand out performance is obviously the portrayal of Mark Whitacre by the fantastic, Matt Damon, who is usually known for his action roles and not for comedic ones. Although playing the role as a larger than life character, Damon managed at the same time to keep him human, relate-able and empathic. The supporting cast also do well, particularly Scott Bakula as FBI Agent Brian Shepard.

The voice over narration is the stand out highlight of the film as we enter into the mind of character of who himself, doesn't really know what's true and what isn't. Despite Whitacre's questionable decisions and dirty dealings, thanks to Damon's performance, we are able to sympathise with a man who at the end of it all, is just human. Not a villain, not a hero but just a human.