I gave in, I succumbed to The Marvelous Mrs Maisel ! For many years my mother and sister have been imploring me to The Gilmore Girls. While they weren't the only to recommend it to me, they were my main beseechers, and while I never denied that what I had seen of it seemed to be well written with endearing characters, I just never found the time. 'There is too much other good TV I need to watch first' and 'I'll watch it one day when I retire' (along with learning to play a MMORPG) were among my favourite excuses. The 1950s period setting for the series, The Marvelous Mrs Maisel  intrigued me (Mad Men still has a lot to answer for), and when I realised it was from Amy Sherman-Palladino , the creator of Gilmore Girls , I knew I'd found an out to my Gilmore Girls shaming. Just eight episodes, released all at once on Amazon Prime would be easy to finish off. Little did I know just how easy it would be to consume. The Marvelous Mrs Maisel is a delightful con...

Why aren't you watching the NBC comedy 'The Good Place'? Don't you have friends who care enough to tell you about great shows on TV? Are you some sort of contrarian curmudgeon? In case you're wondering, it stars Ted Danson and Kristen Bell, the later of whom wakes up at the start of the series to find that she has died and is in 'the good place'. It's quickly revealed that there has been a clerical error, that she's there by mistake, and that she is actually a terrible person, and as such begins to cause terrible consequences for the perfect balance there. It's a great setup, but the writers do so much more with the premise than expected. Although ostensibly a sitcom, it borrows from modern box-set trend of having an overarching story and extended character development that you can't just drop down into the middle of (you'll need to start at the beginning), but it never feels leaden with plot. Mixing in a superb cast of supporting ...

What a surprising delight Brigsby Bear was. This 2017 creation of SNL alum Kyle Mooney, while fitting neatly into the quirky/indy mold, pulls at the heart-strings in unexpected ways. Without spoiling too much, it centres around the character of James, who has spent his entire life locked away from the world with nothing but the cheesy TV show 'Brigsby Bear' to keep him company. When he eventually emerges into the real world, all he want's is to see the next episode of his beloved show, and if one doesn't exist, perhaps he'll have to make it himself. This emotion comes from the characters around him, working out how to relate to James as he tries to fit back into the real world. There are some great performances from the whole supporting cast, including Greg Kinnear and Mark Hamill (which will be overshadowed by his role in Star Wars episode 8 this year). Ultimately, the film is something of an ode to the creative drive, and will leave you feeling inspired to follow ...