Halloween Onscreen

Since it's All Hallows Eve, I thought I should take a (sort of) traditional path and give kudos to kick ass costumes on the small screen.

Best Existential Costume... Oz, come on down!

Always understated in his approach, Oz from Buffy The Vampire Slayer pretty much won the costume pool with his low key portrayal of God (ie, a stick-on nametag). Sometimes, less really is more. It didn't hurt that his gf was dressed as Joan of Arc... To be fair, Xander came in a close second, with his snazzy ensemble.

Buffy: Like the tux, Xander.

Xander: Bond. James Bond. Insurance, you know, in case we get turned into our costumes again. I'm going for cool, secret agent guy.

Buffy: I hate to break it to you, but you'll probably end up cool head waiter guy.

Xander: As long as I'm cool and wield some kind of power...

Buffy, Season 4, Episode 4.

Best Random Costume... Cassie, come on down!

New teen supernatural show The Secret Circle is about a bunch of witches. The crew put together some fantastic set design for the onscreen Halloween party. (Serious thumbs up). All of the characters wore costumes that matched an aspect of their character's personalities, except the main actress... who attended her Halloween party as a bee.

Yes, you read that right. It was totally bee-zarre (sorry). I'm guessing that in this still shot, she's actually on the phone to the producer, just confirming that she is, in fact, meant to appear in a pivotal episode dressed as a bug??

Best Lame Costume... Chandler, come on down!

Some people say Ross's effort as a 'Sputnik' (part potato, part Russian satellite) was the lamest Halloween outfit on Friends, but I beg to differ. Chandler as a pink bunny? Truly sad. Everyone knows he's always desperate to appear more manly, yet his girlfriend goes ahead and hires him a pink rabbit outfit. Way to emasculate.

Best Meta Costume... Castle, come on down!

The character Castle tries on a 'Space Cowboy' costume. His daughter in the show complains he wore the same outfit the previous year.

What makes this AWESOME is that actor Nathan Fillion, who plays Castle, used to be in the cult tv show Firefly. This costume is actually what his character Mal wore on Firefly. There's one for the fans.

Best Memory of a TV Costume... Brenda and Dylan, come on down!

Remember Ye Olde Days, when we thought this crew were the height of teen sophistication? Dylan and Brenda as Bonnie and Clyde looked sensational. (As a PG rated Spelling effort, the script kind of glossed over B&C's murderous habits). All I really remember is being in awe of Shannon Doherty's style.

Best Undead Costume... Sheldon, come on down!

Sheldon kicks some Halloween ass in the latest episode of The Big Bang Theory. After a number of failed trickster moments, eventually he dresses up as a zombie and comes bursting out of the couch. (Yes, he's actually lying in the framework). "Bazinga Punk", indeed.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Kids These Days

Two sitcoms for teenagers, with girls in the lead roles, recently hit tv screens. So how do Awkward and Suburgatory compare to Ye Teen Shows of Olde?

What I learnt from the first season of Awkward is, never let teenagers out of the house. Simple as that. This could be a knee jerk reaction to the main character losing her virginity in the opening scenes of the pilot. At summer camp. In a supply cupboard. (Cue parental wincing. To clarify, I don't have kids, but this made me empathise with in-house Powers That Be).

The show lives up to its name, especially the sex scenes. Our protagonist is desperately in love with the school's alpha dude. Unfortunately, he seems as dense as a pile of bricks. To add insult to injury, he hides the fact they're involved from his oh so trendy friends.

What a star.

Frankly, it's all a bit, Lay Back and Think of England. In some of the early sex scenes, it's almost like Jenna's being assaulted. She just grits her teeth and lies there, occasionally fake-smiling when he remembers to look in the general direction of her face.

It's almost disturbing, especially when the script implies she really enjoyed the sex. Ah... are you sure?? It seemed more that she liked the idea of a popular guy banging her, but NOT the actual banging (excuse the blunt language, I'm trying to work in some lingo to connect with the kool kidzzz of 2day LMFAO).

Luckily, our heroine finds her SELF RESPECT as the season progresses. She even watches 16 Candles on her sixteenth birthday (props to the writer's for introducing a new generation to John Hughes' films).

Television continues to embrace recycling. Here it's with a reconstructed Lane from Gilmore Girls. As in, the Korean best friend in dark framed glasses with uber-strict parents and a love of alternative music. There's also more than a hint of Dharma from Dharma and Greg in the kooky hippy counsellor.

Overall, the premise is pretty hilarious, in a dark kind of way. Jenna's sent an awful anonymous letter, detailing the reasons her life sucks, point by point. She falls over in the bathroom and through a clumsy chain of events, ends up with both a cast and counsellor.

Kinda like a Heather, Jenna had no intention of killing herself, but the not-suicide attempt defines her reputation, much to our heroine's chagrin. She even has a stalker who makes a killing (okay, bad pun) selling JENNA LIVES tshirts at school.

Awkward, much?

Suburgatory is still in the early stages of production, so audiences should cut the show some slack. The lead teen actress looks a little like Emma Stone, who both look a little like Lindsay Lohan. (Apparently Hollywood has a type).

The series is obnoxiously pro New York. I get that our family unit aren't enjoying suburban life, but even the Big Apple's home to a few worms. The pair of them should just slip on their I ❤ NY tshirts and shut up already...

The trailer implies some cutting edge wit, but the script's a tad heavy handed. (Think of someone trying to tell a good joke, with bad delivery). Plastic people are a pretty easy targets, though. You've got to do something clever, material-wise, to avoid clunky scenes. So far, the show's a bit hit and miss. I mean, making fun of shallow mall rats... not really a comic challenge, is it?

Now and again Suburgatory bypasses the obvious turn down Jaded Road for an unexpected jaunt through Sweetness Lane. Yes, it humanises stereotypes. Some may scoff, but I like the unexpected gentleness.

It does spook me that the obnoxious guy Elton from Clueless is now old enough to be playing a dad role. This makes me feel one hundred thousand years old. Even scarier is the sight of Wash from Firefly, all tanned, buff'd and blonde... Worse than Reavers.

What I like about both shows are the pro dad angles. It's not often the most approachable parent in a thc show is Papa. Rather than authoritarian, there's a hint of the Full House vibe going on. Nice touch.

Our lead misfits are both pale, so apparently not being tanned is de rigour in outcast circles. A sassy mouth and world weary sarcasm are also must-haves, hiding a certain vulnerability.Thumbs up for the obvious intelligence (ALWAYS good to see in female protagonists).

Kind heartedness is nice onscreen, especially when expressed toward the underdog. Surrounded by social piranhas, the key to surviving high school, apparently, is a) finding the other victims in the crowd, b) teaming up to tough out the rest of your sentence and c) suffering in solidarity.

A lust for sporty meat heads seems a recurring theme on both shows. But in Suburgatory, Tessa overcomes her desires by pretty much dismissing them (after a brief indulgence), while Jenna moves on to date the nice best friend (plenty of opportunity for future drama there).

Overall, I think Awkward and Suburgatory are worth checking out, especially if you're a teen girl. For the rest of us, they're like David Attenborough documentaries focusing on young homosapiens. Not quite golden, there's still a definite sheen.

For all their faults, these new shows are pretty sophisticated in comparison to the teen shows I was raised on. Being Australian, I grew up with the Henderson Kids:

MY, HOW TIMES HAVE CHANGED...

Buffy-Ingenuity=Ringer

Boy, did Sarah Michelle Gellar choose the wrong vehicle for her comeback or what? Yes, Buffy's back, but it's not pretty. Frankly, the best SMG's new tv show can hope for is a REALLY early cancellation.

I thought maybe it was just the pilot. I considered the idea that I was terribly biased on account of the Buffy love. I tried to step back and pretend SMG had never swung a stake in Sunnydale.

In short, I focused on being open to the slayer's new project. I mean, there's only one Joss Whedon. The chances of SMG hooking up with a production team as awesome as her old crew were pretty slim.

Expectations now seriously lowered, I watched two more episodes...

...and the best I can say is, there's a very talented cast going to waste on some seriously mediocre scriptwriting, more's the pity.

I honestly gave Ringer a fair chance. Really I did. Unfortunately, Buffy: The After Years is atrocious. Well, to be fair, the first episode was atrocious. From then on, the show moved forward to merely awful. (As Xander would say, "Yay??").

Gellar plays an ex junkie stripper. Oh, and she has a really rich identical twin sister (as you do). The pilot's so cliche-ridden you might want to wear protective headgear because there's only so many times you can be slapped in the face with a tv stereotype.

Gellar Twin #1 is a witness in police protection, complete with wooden FBI guy who says lame and predictable lines about putting the bad guy behind bars blah, blah, blah.

We start off at Alcoholics Anonymous, where Gellar convincingly non-portrays her character (ie shows us how ill-cast she is to play an ex-junkie stripper).

I also loved how the authorities 'hide' their star witness at a cheap motel, complete with a plain clothes cop sitting guard outside her room 24/7. CAUSE THAT'S NOT WEIRD OR BOUND TO DRAW SUSPICION.

Now on the run, having wigged out on the witness thing, Twin #1 goes to see Twin #2. This is an uncomfortable and weird scene 'cause the twins have history. Or herstory. Maybe herstories??

Also, I can see that Twin #1 is going to be the better person, despite her dodgy past. How do I know this? Because she wears her hair down a la naturale. Hence, she is now the good twin. (I've watched enough bad television to recognise the signs).

Suddenly, FOR NO REASON, they take a boat ride together without changing into, I don't know, boat riding kind of clothes?? Or is that boat more of a mini-yacht?? (Frankly, I'm not rich enough to tell the difference). Back to my oh-so-important point. Shouldn't they be wearing bathers, maybe? Or even kaftans?

Note: The above was meant to read, "take a boat ride together in the studio". MY EYES. (Did I mention I'm sensitive to low grade effects?)

Twin #1 wakes up on the boat/yacht whatever (obviously after being drugged, but frankly EVERYTHING about this story is brutally obvious at this point) and Twin #2 is gone, her clothes floating in the ocean. Naturally (as naturally as twinkies growing on trees), Twin #1 becomes Twin #2.

Now we get to watch Twin #1 stagger around pretending to be Twin #2. To pull this off, she needs to figure out who her friends/family are. There's also a lot of convoluted soapie-esque group dynamics etc, because these people are rich Americans. Everyone who's anyone knows this automatically translates into DRAMAH DARLING.

It's true. Loaded US of A citizens have affairs all the time and scheme a lot, because, hello, who hasn't seen popular documentary series Gossip Girl? (She is everyone's favourite voiceover-er and KINDA like the U.S. version of David Attenborough).

SHOCKINGLY (by which I mean, not shocking in any way), it turns out rich twin is not dead but pulling some kind of complex ruse. Frankly, it's hard to care as she is a two-dimensional caricature of Wealthy Types, ie standoffish/scheming/self-absorbed/wandering around in a lot of bling.

And get this- she hits the (fake?) European streets in disguise. By which I mean, A BIG HAT AND DARK GLASSES.

The plot thickens (or should I say congeals, becoming more sluggish, glugg-y and generally inconsumable), when someone tries to kill the rich twin. Keeping in mind it's actually the poor twin pretending to be the rich twin, but nobody knows that. Except the other twin, I guess?...

...Frankly, I can't even pretend to care anymore.

Oh, there's a dead body Twin-One-being-Twin-Two worries about for a whole episode, which is dull. The FBI agent continues to hang around, supposedly looking for Twin #1, but really, I think he just ❤s New York. This character borders on farcical btw. He also wears more eyeliner than your average teen emo.

Someone's pregnant (one of the twins, I mean). A baddy looking for Twin #1 tortures her AA sponsor. (Question: Why do TV shows these days always work in some torture porn? What is up with that?) Twin #2's sleeping with an international banker, or something, and doing something devious (I presume) while still being uber-posh, or something...

Wait a minute. Why am I watching this??

BUFFY- WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!?!

The point is, skip Ringer. Don't even dip your toes in. Put on a Buffy dvd on instead, or go for a walk. Clean the house, even. It's scarier than The Ring, that's for sure, but in a ver-y different way...

(Although kudos to whoever made the following trailer, it really hides the overall mediocrity of the material).

Who's that girl? It's Jess!

Fresh tv show New Girl, starring Zooey Deschanel, is a nice 'n light slice of sitcom fun.

Decent sitcoms are currently few and far between. Remember the good old days, when sitcoms weren't just about ugly chubby men with hot wives? Laughing along with Will & Grace, wincing at the embarrassing antics of the Seinfeld crew, shaking your head at Frasier's pomposity. And let's not forget Friends, the Holy Grail of hang out television.

Ensemble chemistry is key to any program's success, and New Girl offers a nicely balanced cast. The whole show revolves around indie darling Zooey Deschanel in the lead role of recent singleton Jess. Luckily, Deschanel is a dab hand at playing kooky and adorable, without the performance tipping over into saccharine.

Jess isn't chubby and plain but she is- weird. That's what makes her so loveable to viewers, but potentially unattractive to today's (tv) males, who prefer simpler sexual fare. Any girl with strange collecting habits, a penchant for fantasy or even a love of nanna-esque fashion will relate to Jess on some level.

Jess: A rebound? I don't know if I'm ready or not.
Schmidt: You're totally ready for it, I'll take you through the whole thing, I'll be like your guide.
Jess: Like Gandalf through Middle Earth?
Schmidt: Probably not like- okay, first of all, let's take the Lord Of The Ring references, lets put 'em in a deep, dark cave, where noone's gonna find them, ever.
Jess: Except Smeagol (whispers) He lives in a cave.
New Girl, Season 1, Episode 1.

Another loveable factor is Jess's obviously less-than-savvy sexual persona.

Jess: Woah, cute guy alert!
Schmidt: Okay Jess, game time, let's do this- you wanna forget about Spencer, you're gonna have to do some very, very bad things to that man right over there.
Jess: How bad??
Schidt: Real bad Jess. REAL BAD.
Jess: (pause) Like a makeout session, no tops?

New Girl, Season 1, Episode 1.

Sure, some writing moments are a tad mediocre, but there's also a lot of lighthearted laughs. Already, it's obvious the show's strength will be the closeknit bond shared by the four flatmates.

And let's be honest- sometimes you just want to mellow out on the couch and laugh. You don't want to think anymore, you don't want to worry about following intense, convoluted storylines, you don't want to be challenged... you just want to chillax. (Yes, I already feel bad about using that word).

So, say hello to Jess and her homies.

Just like in Friends, this crew care about each other right off the bat. Sometimes modern sitcoms overlook this vital element. In trying to be funny, the characters often become cruel and sarcastic. A sitcom without empathy can 'taste' like pizza base without yeast; flat and lifeless. New Girl looks like a return to an old fashioned but winning formula... in that, it has heart.

Similar to runaway bride Rachel in the first episode of Friends, Jess is desperate for a fresh start following a disastrous break up. But in a post-millenium twist, instead of crossing paths with the new crew at a coffee shop, Jess finds her soon-to-be clique on craigslist.

When I saw the trailer for New Girl, I wasn't sure about the male characters. They seemed like walking cliches. However, after catching the first episode, I have to admit I now adore each and every one of them!

Schmidt, played by Max Greenfield (yes, that's Veronica Mars' cop boyfriend), is desperate to be perceived as cool, dying to hook up with hot chicks and totally obsessed with the idea of Jess having model friends. As a result, he's constantly putting money in the apartment Douchebag Jar.

The scene where he high fives and yells street-esque lingo back and forward with another bunch of office workers at the local pub is such a sad attempt at white collar hipness, it's hilarious.

The softest personality in the group is Nick, played by Jake M. Johnson, whom I love already. The flashbacks of drunken phone calls to his ex, where he adopts international accents, are so CUTE. He's the softhearted, suffering type, and a bit of a scene stealer.

The final guy in the roommate trio, a fitness instructor/personal trainer played by Damon Wayans Jr, is a comedic gem. Nicknamed Coach, his inability to communicate with women is sure to pull a lot of laughs over the season. (Pull? Get it?).

Each of these characters gets some one-on-one time with Jess in the pilot (and no, not in THAT way). Deschanel offers fantastic onscreen efforts in every one of these scenes. Nick, Coach and Schmidt all click with Jess, in their own unique ways, boding well for the show.

There's also the inference of an established dynamic between the three men. For example, I love how Nick, when placed in the middle of a conflict between the other two more forceful personalities, regularly raises his hood and hides.

The most ANNOYING aspect of the first episode is actually the sloppy continuity. If continuity is your thing, this episode will probably drive you up the wall. Jess's hair has a life of its own. Her glasses move on and off her face between edits. Worse, once you pick up on it, you can't stop registering the constant visual glitches.

Like any new show, it's hard to tell if the humour will hang in there (in terms of quality). Sometimes tv writing can go haywire, especially in a sitcom. Trying for laughs can override storyline considerations, giving the material a forced feel.

Overall, New Girl isn't for cynics, or for lovers of hard-hitting television. The show will appeal to those who think being awkward is okay, who are happy to laugh at the lighthearted moments in life, and like the idea that a you can get through everyday dramas with the help of kindhearted friends.

Not to mention fans of Zooey Deschanel. (They're going to have a field day). However, if you can't stand the actress, maybe give the show a miss, because New Girl is definitely her vehicle.

Saved By The Twist

A tv drama about two girls who discover they were Switched At Birth takes on an even more thoughtful edge when it turns out one of the girls is deaf.

Firstly, I know nothing about deaf culture, so I should probably apologise in advance for any unintentional blunders. But that's one of the strengths of the show. It forces the audience to recognise their own ignorance, while igniting curiosity about a minority group that doesn't usually receive a lot of attention on television.

The ten debut episodes of S.A.B gives viewers some interesting perspectives, in relation to the deaf community, to mull over. (These have been drawn from my memory of the show, so apologies for any inaccuracies or misinterpretations).

Half a dozen points that stuck in my mind:

1. There are members of the deaf community who refuse to be labeled as disabled and would not take the opportunity to have their hearing (even partially) restored, as they don't consider themselves broken or deficient in any sense.

2. There are pockets of the deaf community who disapprove of deaf/hearing relationships because of the perceived inherent communication difficulties.

3. Some deaf people choose to vocalise words while signing. Others specifically choose not to, and have no interest in creating sounds from their vocal chords for the benefit of hearing people.

4. There are different levels and types of deafness.

5. Deaf culture includes deaf people who prefer to primarily socialise/work with other deaf people.

6. Even if a deaf person is a proficient lip reader, they can get lost in a group scenario because hearing people often forget to face them when talking, or people talk over each other, making it hard for them to clearly follow verbal banter in the room.

Just watching people sign constantly is also riveting. The idea that a language can be made up of hand motions is fascinating.

During an episode of Switched At Birth, two of the deaf characters, Daphne and Emmett, argue about their feelings for each other solely using sign language.

The scene was so impacting. Their conversation made me feel strange, as if I was somehow lacking. Without the words across the bottom of the screen, I would have no way of understanding what these people were saying.

The realisation was quite isolating. In summary, I felt kind of lost.

I guess it gave me an inkling of an idea how a deaf person who doesn't lip read might feel, watching two people speaking without being able to decipher any of the words. If it wasn't for the subtitling, that would be me during this scene. I would be completely out of the loop. Overall, it was an unsettling experience.

Of course, quality-wise, it's not all smooth sailing for this program. Even its saving graces can't atone for the predictable storylines and stilted dialogue.

In the first few episodes, the show struggles because it tries so hard to accentuate the socio-demographic differences between the two families. Unfortunately, this leads to the characters coming across as borderline caricatures. Recovered alcoholic Latino single mother. Rich white nuclear couple with stay at home mother and spoilt children.

I felt the situation's complex and interesting enough without having to succumb to these kind of blunt storytelling ploys. Trying for their own Great Divide is unnecessary, and completely lacking in subtlety.

Actresses Constance Marie and Lea Thompson suffer the most because American television continues to have a problem portraying the modern mother onscreen. Both of these women are interesting and intelligent actresses who are full of life, yet their characters are so limited. It's not surprising their performances are hampered by the subpar writing on offer.

It's a common affliction in scripted family shows that gets really aggravating after a while. Married women are prone to heavy stereotyping. A stay at home mum often comes across as slightly moronic, only saved now and again by throw-away lines of supposed motherly wisdom. Single mothers have to say some variation of "I'm a battler, but I made it through, my kids come first" at least five times per episode. (Well, that's what it feels like!).

I think these two characters could be far better written, since the entire situation revolves around something that happened to them sixteen years ago. What's going on in their heads at this point would be phenomenal in its complexity.

Luckily, as the season unfolds, the writing becomes less starched. Peripheral characters prove more interesting. The parental figures display behaviour that hints at more complex character motivations.

My guess would be the next lot of episodes will offer some interesting insight into the father, while continuing to explore the whole dichotomy of nature versus nurture (ie biological parent versus parent who raised you).

One of the best scenes in the whole series takes place at the beginning of episode nine, when one of the girl's has a dream about what her life would be like if the switch had never taken place.

Weirdly, it never occurs to me that not only would the characters have grown up in totally different environments, they would have actually had each other's names?? And that instead of Daphne being deaf, it would have been Bay who lost her hearing (while being called by the other's name, of course).

The whole concept of being switched at birth suddenly becomes more real, and a whole lot more overwhelming.

The show is helped along in the early days by Blair Redford's guest appearance. Aside from the eye candy factor, he has a strong onscreen presence. He lifted 90210, and is currently appearing in The Lying Game. (Although I actually remember him from Passions back in the day!).

Katie LeClerc and Vanessa Marano both put in solid performances as the two teens forced to readjust. If Marano looks familiar, it's probably because you're a Gilmore Girls fan. (She played Luke's daughter April).

Finally, I'm just a sucker for a good romance that suggests a dash of star crossed lovers... here's to Emmett and Bay x

It's All About Controlling The Situation...

Welcome back Warehouse 13 and Haven, two kooky paranormal procedurals. I wish you'd both been on tv when I was a teenager.

Warehouse 13 is so much fun. Basically, there's a giant warehouse in Denver (go figure), where 'special' artifacts are stored. Each item has somehow become infused with an aspect of the owner's personality. Gems include:

-Jimi Hendrix's Guitar... releases lightning-like bolts of energy when played.

-Sylvia Plath's Typewriter... sucks then life right out of you.

-Mahatma Ghandi's Sandals... the wearer becomes so zen, their heart stops beating.

Yes, bit of an historical slant in there. Young 'uns can feel like they're learning something, and the know-it-alls get a chance to nod smugly (that would be me).

Warehouse 13 isn't a subtle program. There's a lot of quirky humour to offset the highly dramatic moments. The editing is sharply paced (you can almost imagine someone yelling, "move it along, move it along" in the edit suite). Sound effects are blunt and bold, almost old-fashioned. The show has that back-in-the-day Saturday movie matinee feel. Each episode scoops you up and takes you along for the ride that's always a rollicking adventure: a little like a fairground rollercoaster.

Our obligatory mismatched procedural pair are played by Joanne Kelly and Eddie McClintock. Both actors have been around the traps for years, bit part after bit part. (Kelly was brilliant as arrogant vampire Bianca in The Dresden Files, while McClintock's been around for so long, I remember him portraying Nina Van Horn's punk boyfriend in an episode of Just Shoot Me!). Suffice to say, these two consummate professionals play nicely off each other.

Supporting characters include Artie, who runs the warehouse and Leena, who runs the local bed and breakfast (she also reads people's auras and occasionally helps out at base camp). Then there's Claudia, the sassy teen techie genius who brings a youthful zest to the series.

A taste for those who've never caught the fun:

This season adds another agent to the Warehouse mix. Steve Jinks, aka Jinksy, is played by Aaron Ashmore. Jinksy is a gay Buddhist who can tell when people are lying just by looking at them. On his first assignment, the character admits to already missing his old enforcement job, ie, mainly the chance to shoot at things.

In a word, the new guy looks AWESOME, but I may be biased because of my inherent Ashmore love. Firstly, I'm a sucker for identical twins. (His brother is also an actor, Shawn Ashmore, and starred in the X-Men movies). Secondly, Aaron was great in both Smallville & Veronica Mars. He always gives the impression of quirky humour onscreen, a fitting energy for the Warehouse crew.

Haven is an odd little creature. I think of the show as being 'older' in tone than Warehouse 13, possibly because the material is a lot less lighthearted. The humour is subtle, more wry. Based on a Stephen King story, it chronicles the adventures of a town called Haven. Turns out some of the citizens aren't as normal as they might seem...

The program is shot in Nova Scotia, one of my favourite places. The location really adds to the visual impact, because it films quite coldly? The stormy skies, rough seas and grey days all help to create an uneasy atmosphere.

The story? FBI agent Audrey Parker (Emily Rose) comes to town on a case, and ends up staying. She joins the local PD, working the 'special' cases with partner Nathan Wuornos (Lucas Bryant). A lot of strange things happen in Haven, mostly because of the Troubled, a name given to citizens with particularly uncomfortable paranormal gifts.

The procedural partnership at the core of the series is definitely the strongest factor in Haven's favour. Rose and Bryant have so much chemistry onscreen. Their interaction alone is enough to make the show worth watching- not only because of the quality of their performances, but also because of the nuanced writing. These two characters are incredibly well-rounded.

Like Warehouse 13, you'll need to suspend some disbelief. For example, the first episode of season two sees Audrey and Nathan driving around with pieces of the (former) police chief in an esky. Before you think, YUCK, it was really a pile of rocks under the lid. He kind of broke down in an original way...

I'm not a fan of Eric Balfour, who plays Duke Crocker, the local no-gooder forced now and again (despite his natural instincts) to be a bit of a do-gooder. I remember when Balfour played Jessie, the first friend fatality in the original season of Buffy, way back in the day. He's passable here, but nothing to write home about. Haven's strength is definitely the leads.

The writing can be erratic, and some of the support cast is a bit subpar, but thematically, Haven is a lot more harrowing than Warehouse 13. There's murder, death, madness and regret constantly on the hop in Haven, which makes the episodes intense enough to overcome any clumsy production moments.

And even with its flaws, Haven is television storytelling worth watching. The series arcs, especially, catch your attention. As an audience member, you want to know why everyone's Troubled, who the hell the cult with the tatts are, and whether or not Audrey is actually her own mother (that's a quite clever ongoing series storyline, I must say).

The truth is, I'm not a fan of straightforward procedurals, but when the law-abiding stuff gets mixed up with the supernatural/paranormal, suddenly we're talking the television version of a successful souffle. What a recipe! All the law enforcement jargon manages to ground the edgier elements, stopping the material from floating off into the realm of the truly unbelievable (and therefore unrelatable).

Both shows are also set to kick butt on the guest star scale. This season Warehouse 13 gets its Trekkie on, with appearances from Kate Mulgrew, Jeri Ryan and Rene Auberjonois (That's Captain Janeway and Seven of Nine from Voyager, and Odo from Deep Space Nine, for the uninitiated). On Haven, expect to see WWE star Edge pop into town, as well as Jason Priestley, who will both act and direct.