TV review: Torchwood: Children of Earth

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Last week, BBC America aired the five-part Torchwood mini-series, Children of Earth. It begins a short while after season 2 ends. The team hasn't forgotten their fallen members, but they are moving on. As always, there is another alien force threatening the earth. This time around, it's the 456, an unknown alien race that appeared 44 years earlier and have returned, speaking through the children of the world.

The show is a lot grittier than what we are used to. Gwen loses hope. One of the team members dies. Jack is forced to do something pretty evil. Meanwhile, society around them is falling into ruin. I really did love the show, even though every episode feels like "how else can we screw over Jack..." and Jack doesn't come out of the ordeal unscathed. He comes out very broken. I would love to see another season of Torchwood, especially in light of everything they've gone through. However, it doesn't seem like it would be possible. Most of the team is dead and those that are left are scattered. Where can they go from here?

TV review: Being Human

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I watched a lot of BBC America this past week. This includes the Sunday night season premiere of Being Human. The commercials had me interested from the get-go so I greedily tuned in.

The show itself is a little weird. Basically, a werewolf, a vampire and a ghost end up as roommates. The werewolf (George) and the vampire (Mitchell) had an established friendship before the show begins. Anna the ghost, however, already occupies the house they are going to rent. It is where she died. George and Mitchell also work together at the local hospital. The hospital had an isolation room where George could spend his "time of the month" and, well, we all know why vampires like hospitals. Though Mitchell is more of the 'I don't drink human blood' type of vampire so he tries to keep the blood-sucking type away from the patients.

While I think the show has a good premise and has potential, the first episode had a bit too much information shoved into it. Instead of taking the time to introduce our main characters and their quirks, they felt the need to introduce all of the side characters up-front. For example, Lauren (another vampire) could have waited an episode or two before coming into the fold. I understand why the writers wanted to shove as much information at us as possible. After all, you never really know how long your show will last. But too much information at once isn't good either. Let the story unfold on its own. If the show gets canceled before everything is revealed, then perhaps it wasn't a very good story to begin with. However, I think this IS a good story and could use the sprinkling of information well.

1 vs 100 on Xbox Live

My husband and I have been playing 1 vs 100 on the Xbox 360. Despite a lot of people saying it was awesome, I was skeptical. I expected the typical online gamers to ruin it. Luckily, I was completely wrong. The game is awesome. For those of you that don't know what 1 vs 100 is, it's basically a trivia game. On certain "live primetime" days, you can win prizes. From what I understand, the prizes are mostly Xbox Live credits, but the last time we played, they were giving away copies of Braid. Anyway, on the live days, you have the opportunity to either be "The One" or in "The Mob." The One tries to outlive The Mob, If you answer a question wrong, you're out. Whoever is left (The One or however many Mob members) wins.

During non-live days, you can still play. There just aren't any prizes. But you do rack up points that the game uses to determine who will be The One and who will be in The Mob. So playing on non-live days is really beneficial. We're not playing much this week due to the Torchwood mini-series, but we'll be back next week!

Game review: Diner Town Tycoon

I really wanted to get the memory of Mr. Biscuits out of my head. So I downloaded Diner Town Tycoon. Diner Dash has rarely let me down. And this is no different. Well, I lie. The gameplay is completely different, but it's much more enjoyable! Instead of waiting on tables, you are trying to stop the evil Grub Burger from taking over your town. You start off with one restaurant, where you control what dishes are being served and how much they cost. It is your job to make sure you have enough ingredients for each dish so you can feed the hungry hoards that populate your town. As you try to keep your restaurant afloat, there are daily goals for you to accomplish. With each goal reached, Grub Burger loses their hold on the people.

I found myself completely mesmerized by Diner Dash Tycoon. I expected the traditional 'run around serving tables' game, but was surprised by how different and innovative this version was. There was a little bit of Diner Dash (each customer has specific tastes) mixed with a little bit of the 'Tycoon' games (the game view looks over the town as a whole instead of focusing on one business). If only I had more thumbs to put up for it!

Game review: Mr. Biscuits: The Case of the Ocean Pearl

It's been quite some time since I've played a hidden object game. I really was hoping that the time away from them would refresh my mind and save me from the tedious task the developers continue to present. Unfortunately, Mr. Biscuits: The Case of the Ocean Pearl is truly an awful game. The actual hidden object part isn't too bad. However, in order to progress the storyline, you need to find a mini Mr. Biscuits (a dog) in each scene. If you don't find him, you don't get the next clue to solve the murder of the dog's owner. It truly is annoying. I had hoped that the dog would be a cute little Scooby-Doo-type addition. Sadly, it is not. You can just skip right past this one.

TV review: Michael & Michael Have Issues

Michael-and-michael-have-issues Last night was the debut of Michael & Michael Have Issues on Comedy Central. I am a huge fan of Michael Ian Black and I have been since he was on The State way back in 1993. So I was definitely looking forward to the new show.

There is no real plot to the show other than Michael Ian Black ("Black") and Michael Showalter ("Sho") butt heads at every opportunity they get. If Sho says something is awesome, Black has to say it sucks. This first episode had the Michaels fighting over an article in a high school newspaper that Greg the Intern was writing. Black didn't want to be interviewed but Sho did. Sho went behind Black's back and...let's just say it devolved into a bare-chested pseudo-fight on the front lawn of Black's house. Absolutely hysterical. I can't wait until next week's episode.