Homeland - Series 2 Teasers

Showtime, the US television network, has released some teaser videos for their worldwide smash, Homeland.

We at TV Style love this show and really hope that the second series lives up to the first and our expectations.

Take a look at the first teaser clip below and let us know your thoughts.

Desperate Housewives Finale Review (contains spoilers)

After 8 years Desperate Housewives has finally left our screens forever and the finale was everything we had hoped for. We had a birth, a death and a wedding and it definitely ended with a  "happily ever after" feel about it.

There were elements that were ridiculously far fetched but this was a show that jumped 10 years into the future a few seasons ago so after that we will pretty much forgive it for anything. The journey to the wedding when Julie's water breaks went a little bit too far however, we know Renee is heartless but is anyone really that self involved to dismiss that a friend's daughter is in labour to shop for a new wedding dress?

The rest of the episode however was heart warming and lovely, and the little montage with Karen dying, Julie giving birth and the Scavo's racing to the hospital was brilliantly cheesy and we thoroughly enjoyed it. 

We had a tear in our eye when Tom and Lynette got back together and what a great ending for Lynette getting her dream job as CEO for the US division of Katherine's successful food company. It's fantastic that she got the challenge you felt she always craved.

Carlos and Gabby were as comical as ever and we laughed out loud when Carlos employed the attractive lady gardener in response to Gabby's neglect. What a perfect finish that she ends up with her own personal shopper show and a mansion in California. 

Bree also had a happy ending after the ordeal of her grueling and revealing trial, she ends up marrying her lawyer Trip and starts a successful career in politics.

We were only sorry not to see how Susan's future panned out, it would have been nice to see a happy outlook given how tragic things have been for her. We were also shocked to see all the ghosts at the end and how many people had died on the lane, what a dangerous place to live!

All in all it was a superb ending to a brilliant show, and although it had run it's course we will be sad to see it go. We'll miss you.

TV news this week

We have the last ever episode of Desperate Housewives on E4 tonight at 10pm. We have been watching this from series 1 and although it's probably time it ended we will be gutted to see it go. See our review on this later in the week

The season finale of Madmen will be airing on Sky Atlantic on Tuesday at 9pm. This show has somehow passed us by but we'll be sure to go back and take a look at some point.

The recent series of Lewis is being released on DVD tomorrow and we will be counting the days until the seventh series next year.

Euro 2012 started on Friday and will be taking up a lot of evening airtime on BBC1 and ITV1. If you're not a footie fan then we have recommended some other shows to watch this week in our TV suggestions blog.

Big Brother 13 apparently started last week on Channel 5. This isn't something we will be wasting our time on but the Radio Times website has a daily blog of the events.
Just for reference, it's not that we never liked Big Brother, there were even special "Big Brother Entrance Night" parties with Cheese and Pineapple on sticks back in the day, but now feel that it's run its course and we'll be looking elsewhere for our entertainment.

Steven Spielberg's sci-fi second series of Falling Skies has a UK air date of the 3rd July on FX.

We are keeping our eye on Sky Atlantic at the moment, they have recently announced Brand X with Russel Brand along with other comedy shows by Steve Coogan and Kathy Burke. We are also really excited about the new crime drama FaclÓn, with Marton Csokas and the brilliant Emilia Fox. We think Sky Atlantic could give BBC1 and ITV a run for their money for quality television if these shows are as good as we hope they'll be.

What's on TV this week?

Euro 2012 has now started (in case you weren't already aware!) which is taking up a large amount of evening airtime on BBC1 and ITV1 so you don't tend to have much going up against the football, but we've found a few picks for you whether you're interested in the football or not...

Tonight we have the last ever episode of Desperate Housewives after 8 seasons, so be sure to tune in for this one. It's been a great series so far with a roller-coaster ride of highs and lows so keep a look out for our review on this later in the week.

Tomorrow we have the first England game of Euro 2012 against France. Coverage starts at 4pm on ITV1 with kick off at 5pm.
Also in England's group Ukraine take on Sweden at 7pm, kick off at 7:45 on BBC1.

The Walking Dead continues on channel 5 at 10pm as does Dexter on FX

Tuesday we have Greece v Czech Republic on ITV1 at 4:30, kick off 5pm.

In the same group we then have Poland v Russia on ITV1 at 7:20. kick off 7:45 but if you want a break from the football Silk continues with their penultimate episode at 9pm on BBC1.
At 9pm on Sky Atlantic we have the season finale of Mad Men, somehow this series has passed us by but we're sure we'll go back and take a look.

On Wednesday Denmark take on Portugal and after their surprise win against Holland this could be a good one on ITV1 4:30, kick off 5pm.

We then have old rivals Holland v Germany at 7pm on BBC1, kick off at 7:45. Both of these teams have been tipped for the tournament (including by one of our writers here) so expect to see a hard fought grudge match with an evil glint in the eye.

Speaking of horror shows, (nice link, don't you think?) we won't be tuning in for Bedlam this week (read our review to find out why) but if you enjoyed it's jumps and scares last week it will be aired on Sky Living at 10pm.

The US version of The Killing continues on Channel 4 at 10:30.

On Thursday we have Italy v Croatia playing on BBC1 at 4:45, kick off 5pm and over on ITV1 Spain play the Republic of Ireland at 7:15, kick off 7:45.
If you're fed up of football there is another chance to see Wonders of the Solar System on BBC4 at 8pm with the brilliant Professor Brian Cox. If you didn't catch it first time around it's well worth a look even if you're not a space raider as it's beautifully shot and shows the BBC at its finest.

How I Met Your Mother is on E4 at 8:30, will Robin return Ted's love? Straight after we have 2 Broken Girls.

Prisoners of War continues on Sky Arts 1 at 9:30, the Israeli drama that US hit series, Homeland was based on.

On Friday Ukraine play France at 4:30 on ITV1, kick off 5pm.
It's then England's second game of the Euros against Sweden on BBC1 at 7pm, kick off 7:45.

If you fancy a laugh (not at our national football team) then tune in for Jimmy Carr's 8 out of 10 cats on Channel 4 at 10pm.

Bedlam - Review of Series 2, Episode 1

This was our first experience of Bedlam as we missed series 1 but it didn’t take us long to catch up. 

Our first, and over-riding impression of Bedlam is that it felt very teeny, a sort of ‘Nightmare on Hollyoaks’ which is probably why Lacey Turner was cast for the role of Ellie in the second series of this Sky Living drama. As a popular former teenage actress from Eastenders we think she will more than likely bring a lot of viewers with her. Turner's portrayal of the frightened and confused Ellie was actually very believable and was probably the best thing about the show.

We are not sure if it was the writer's intention but none of the other characters were particularly likeable. The two housemates Dan and Max were very wooden and badly acted giving neither any redeeming qualities.

Hugo Speer's character, Warren, the owner of Bedlam Heights and his daughter Kate had conflicting views on what to do with the building but we didn't really like either character enough to care. This may well have come from the fact that we haven’t seen the first series but it feels as though both characters are there to lend some weak background to keeping Bedlam Heights, a refurbished mental hospital.

So far this might all seem quite negative but we did jump a couple of times and the show actually offers a great deal of potential. It is well shot and has a quality feel but unfortunately you feel like you’ve seen it all before.

The whole episode was full of clichés and in particular when Turner's character, Ellie, grabs a torch and decides to search around a creepy old building in the middle of the night we were literally shouting at the TV - while hiding behind our cushion of course!

We can only really describe Bedlam as okay, there was nothing especially wrong with it and if you're after horror ‘light’ then this is for you. We don't think we'll be tuning in next week but to be fair, we are not their target market.

Huffpost TV comments on Sorkin’s Studio 60 – A Bit Harsh?

We thought the recent comments made by Huffpost TV about Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip were a little harsh.  They tweted “Aaron Sorkin says he’s learned from “Studio 60” mistakes – we hope so for “The Newsroom’s” sake!” which confused us slightly as there was absolutely nothing wrong with Studio 60, it was a fantastic bit of television.

It always baffled us here at TV Style why the viewing figures were so poor and that it wasn’t commissioned for a second series. It was both entertaining and intelligently funny and the writing and acting were superb. Perhaps it was a little too clever for some viewers or maybe it was scheduling, but for some reason it was a failure.

Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip was based on the making of a weekly evening entertainment show similar to ‘Saturday Night Live’ in the US. The one thing we didn’t like about Studio 60 was the odd clip you got to see of the sketch show, it was dreadful and had us watching it from behind our cushion. With exception to those cringy moments it really was thoroughly enjoyable.

We are however, very excited about Sorkin’s new creation The Newsroom, based on the behind the scenes happenings of a fictitious US cable news channel. It’s due to air in the UK on Sky Atlantic this Autumn.

Lewis review - current series first episode (contains spoilers)

You might be wondering why it's taken us 3 weeks to review the first episode of the current series of Lewis. We're not just lazy, we have in fact been out of the country for a few weeks and this is the first opportunity we have had to watch and review it so apologies for the late review, it's not something we'll be making a habit of.

Before we start it's worth knowing that at TV Style, we are big fans of both Lewis and Morse and recently the brilliant Endeavour. We have even done the Morse walking tour in Oxford, where they refer to all 3 shows, and if you too are fans of Lewis and Morse we highly recommend it.

As usual this episode was beautifully shot and the relationship between Lewis and Hathaway was as comical and heart-warming as ever. Oxford provides such a scenic backdrop to this relaxing crime drama.


It had everything you would normally expect from a Lewis, the stunning cinematography, the believable acting and sedate story line where a botanical garden employee finds a body in the woods and Lewis and Hathaway are called to investigate.

If anything the plot felt a little too calm and lacked the twists and turns we've come to demand from an investigative drama. It was a little too predictable and didn't really keep us guessing, we did however think the flirtation between Hathaway and Liv, who found the body, felt both awkwardly funny and genuine, we were just disappointed that it stopped there.

The Miss Marple type character felt a little shoe-horned in and although entertaining, she was in fact the only link between the victim and one of the suspects. She had formed her own personal investigation into him as she felt her son was a victim too. Lewis initially dismissed her and wouldn't even listen to her which felt a little unbelievable as we would expect as a minimum that a junior officer would hear her out.

The life-long rivalry between the victim and his brother gave Lewis and Hathaway another obvious suspect, but when he himself is murdered it doesn't look as clear cut.

The conclusion was wrapped up a little too neatly, to the extent where it felt a bit Scooby Doo, the killer divulged everything the moment he was confronted and it was almost as if the producers had run out of time for the ending.

Most of these types of series have a proven method for each episode but some parts of this Lewis felt a little too formulaic. For example when Helena, the killer's lover and accomplice, has a suspicious look on her face after being interviewed by Lewis it automatically gave the impression she was a bit dodgy.

Although this wasn't our favourite Lewis it still gave us that warm and cosy feeling while watching it and we will always go back for more.

Recommended films on TV this week

If nothing grabs you on TV this week we have recommended some films that are showing.

Today on Universal at 1pm we have Flight of the Navigator, where a 12 year old boy jumps forward in time by 8 years due to an alien abduction. Very light entertainment that was a favourite of ours when we were kids.

At 4:10pm, Yesterday is showing Hope and Glory, a drama set in London during the second world war. 

Tonight BBC2 are showing the brilliant Prestige, a fantastic thriller based on 2 magicians set in 19th century England. Starring Hugh Jackman, Christian Bale, Michael Caine and Scarlett Johanson. 

Tomorrow evening we have The Fugitive on ITV2 at 10pm,a thriller starring Harrison Ford, where a doctor is mistakenly accused of murdering his wife and then becomes a fugitive on the run from the police while trying to prove his innocence.

Thursday night we have The Time Travelers Wife on Film4 at 9pm. An adaptation from the best selling book written by Audrey Niffenegger, some viewers who have read the book might be disappointed with the screen version but it's still worth a watch. 

The British classic Notting Hill is on ITV2 on Friday evening at 9pm. Starring Hugh Grant and Julia Roberts, this is a romantic comedy where Grant's character, a Notting Hill book shop owner falls in love with a Hollywood movie star. If you're looking for a typical Hugh Grant rom-com then look no further.

ITV4 is showing The Krays at 10pm on Saturday night, a violent but brilliant fact based drama starring Martin and Gary Kemp. 

Finally on Sunday evening we have the lovely classic E.T. - The Extra Terrestrial on ITV2 at 8pm. This films needs no introduction and if it's has somehow passed you by we recommend it as a must see.

What we'll be watching this week

We have a good week of TV and we will busy watching something every evening.

Tonight we have the Jubilee Concert on BBC 1 that we will definitely be tuning in for, turning over to channel 5 at 10pm for The Walking Dead.

Tuesday evening we have the brilliant legal drama Silk at 9pm on BBC1 starring Rupert Penry-Jones and Maxine Peake.

One of our favourite shows here at TV Style is Oxford based drama Lewis, showing on Wednesday at 8pm on ITV1. We will be reviewing the first episode of this series later this week. We will also be watching the new series of Bedlam on Sky Living at 10pm starring Lacey Turner.

Thursday is comedy night with the hilarious How I Met Your Mother and new to E4 2 Broke Girls.

We have the start of Euro 2012 on Friday and although this is not something we will be reviewing you may see the odd comment here and there. We will also be tuning in to BBC2 for Episodes at 10pm.

TV news this week

Our very own Downton Abbey, if nominated for an Emmy, would be placed in the Outstanding Drama Series category this year competing against the likes of Homeland, Mad Men, The Killing and Boardwalk Empire. Fingers crossed!

Great news that Scott and Bailey will be returning for a third series on ITV. If you're yet to see series 2 the DVD box set is being released tomorrow. There's mixed opinion here at TV Style due to the "soapy" feel of some episodes but excellent story lines and superb acting keep us coming back for more.


Both Kidnap and Ransom and Above Suspicion have been axed by ITV. We watched both  series here at TV style and enjoyed them equally. The one thing we'll be glad to see the back of though is the relationship between Above Suspicion's characters Anna Travis and DCI Langton which always felt very forced, uncomfortable and frankly not at all believable.
Let's hope that they are replaced with 2 new great dramas rather than reality TV.


BBC4's Dirk Gently is another show to not be renewed. We caught a couple of episodes this series and deleted the rest from Sky Plus as it never left us wanting more.


Bedlam will be returning for a second series this Wednesday on Sky Living this time starring Lacey Turner. We didn't watch the first series but may give the second one a go and feel other may do the same purely because of her name.


And finally there was the very news that the star of Desperate Housewives and The West Wing, Kathy Joosten has died at the age of 72.

Welcome to TV Style

Hi,

This is a brand new blog to talk about, and give our opinion on, what's going on in the world of TV.

We'll be providing regular news updates to let you know what's new, what's good, what's bad and what you should keep a look out for.

We'll also be watching specific programmes every week and will let you know in advance what our plan is, that way you can join in and provide your opinion too.

We won't just be watching new programmes, TV has been around for a while now (thanks Mr Logie Baird) so there is a huge back catalogue of series, shows and episodes to review so we also welcome your opinion on these and any suggestions as to what we should be watching.

Thanks for reading and please get in touch to let us know what you think.

Team TV Style 


Twitter: @tvstyleuk