Big Brother

Big Brother 13

Aired   5 June 2012

In this first episode all the contestants entered the house, Deana was selected to enter as the first housemate and was rewarded with immunity from the first eviction. She then had to nominate three other housemates to go into the elimination round based on her first impressions.  She nominated Conor, Victoria and Lydia. They then had to wait 4 days to hear the results from the public’s voting.

I do not particularly enjoy shows like this although if I happen to somehow catch it two or maybe three times I tend to stick with them. But I usually think shows like these are quite ridiculous, I like things like Expedition Robinson or MTV’s The Challenge (my biggest guilty pleasure tv show) better. You still have a bunch of usually mentally deranged people together in one house/situation but they have to do a whole lot more than what they have to do on Big Brother. But I guess the English love it since this is series 13 and they also have a celebrity edition of which the tenth series aired in 2012. 

All geared up

Top Gear

Aired: 29 jan 2012

The presenters Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May all went to italy for a supercar shootout featuring the Lamborghine Aventador, the McLaren MP4-12C and the Noble M600. All really beautiful cars. They start of their trip at a test track, the Nardo test track, apparantly it is so massive it can be seen from space. After this they drive to Rome, and even in the extremely madness filled centre of Rome. They then head to another track, the Imola circuit. A track that is so challenging apparantly even some F1 drivers felt embarrassed driving badly on them.

In the studio they look forward to some car highlights that’s to come in 2012.

Although I am not a big car enthousiast, although I would not ever decline a Mercedes SLK Roadster, I quite enjoyed watching Top Gear. This is probably one of the qualities of the show, you even enjoy watching it without being obsessed with cars. One of their best moments ever was went they got Helen Mirren on a race track trying to make it across as fast as possible.  

Dr Who :-)

Dr Who Christmas Special “The Snowmen”

Aired: 25 dec 2012

We find the Doctor living in 1982 London. He is still sad over losing his friends and doesn’t care what happens in the world, not even when he learns that snow is turning into rather vicious snowmen. Clara, a local barmaid, is intrugued by the doctor, and in good Dr Who spirit, soon he is intrigued by her when he finds out she also works as a governess caring for Captain Latimer’s two children. Together they battle agains Dr Simeon, who has known the snowmen since he was a child. Also in good Dr Who spirit, he is shocked to find out he already met Clara once and there is no doubt he will again.

First things first, I felt I needed to include Dr Who in these blogs because, besides it being absolutely brilliant, most English people will fall off their seats if you tell them you have never seen a single episode. However I am just catching up, late to the hype I guess, and I am stuck dreading the final David Tennant two part episode as I love him to bits and pieces as the Doctor and I don’t want him to leave. (yes I agree that this is quite embarrasing but I can’t help it) So for me to watch this episode already was horrible although I quite enjoyed Matt Smith so I guess I’ll get over myself soon and watch David’s final moments.

Oh and one more thing, I love the tradition of having Christmas Specials in the UK of a lot of popular shows.  

Eastenders

Eastenders

Aired 14 jan 2013

Eastenders is a british soap opera that has been on the air since 1985. It, like any other soap opera has many storylines. So it is hard to summarize it in 100 words.

A couple of people are in a “who loves who now?” situation as Irate worries that Ayesha has a crush on AJ, but her crush is on Masood who thinks this is somekind of grief displacement and he lies about it to Irate.

Abi is feeling poorly and stressed about her exams. Lauren is worried that Tanya missed a appointment at the hospital and they get into an argument about it. Lauren then tries to find a private place for her and Joey to make out. She steels someones keys for it and Dot walks in on them appalled.

And lots more happened with a engangement ring, Roxy gets on Kat’s nerves and she resigns in the end.

Lots more happened but it is quite difficult to summarize a soap opera if you only see one episode and don’t know what the hell is going on. Still felt this would be a good show to watch as it has been on the air since 1985 and has become an institution on its own, just like we have ‘goede tijden, slechte tijden’. I don’t particulary enjoy soap opera so this one wasn’t for me. 

The Quiz that should never diet

The Big Fat Quiz Of The Year.

Aired 30 dec 2012

This year the three teams consisted of Jack Whitehall and James Corden, Russel Howard and Jonathan Ross and the last team was Richard Ayoade and Gabby Logan battled for the ultimate victory. They all tried to answer questions about the past year and some gave the actual answers and some not so much. Jack and James even set up getting a pizza delivered with some wine. In the end Richard and Gabby won, but not because of Richard’s answers. Lots of other famous people asked bonus round questions as well.

I love this show, seen every single one of them for the past couple of years and they always come up with the silliest answers. I loved that Jack and James scored almost no points and ordered in a pizza. It was also quite funny to see Richard give ridiculous answers while Gabby made a different colomn to put the right answers in. I would love the producers if they ever made a BFQOTY with David Tennant, Richard Ayoade, Jonathan Ross, Jack Whitehall, Russel Brand and Noel Fielding. That would be the funniest thing ever.

Further it is full of information about the past year in Great Britain so you learn a lot about the culture and events of that year. 

Graham Norton New Years Eve

The Graham Norton Show – New Years Eve special.

Aired 31 dec 2012 Comedy Central.

The first guests of the show are Tom Cruise and Rosamund Pike, the stars of the movie ‘Jack Reacher’. They talk about the movie and about Tom doing his own stunts. He declares he was always running around being up to no good.

One of the other guest is Hugh Jackman who talks about his new movie “Les Miserables. Billy Christal talks about his new movie Parental Guidance. John Grisham tells about his good cause for which he cycled, rowed and ran from Paris to London. P!nk performs at the end of the show.

I think Graham Norton is really funny and I always enjoy watching his show, for me this one was particular nice as I love both Hugh Jackman and ‘Les Miserables’, both the stage show and the movie. So it was nice to have these two things talked about in a show I already think was funny. English humor is always good and I think a show like this explains a lot about what makes an englishman laugh.