Yo - this wont be too long a piece as I'm feeling deflated and pissed off at the moment. Partly because it's raining and is due to rain most of the weekend - greatly annoying as I'm going to a festival again for the first time in 8 years and I didn't want to have to contend with mud and wet and cold. Urgh. But largely because I'm feeling disenchanted AND discombobulated - plus various other 'disses' you can add in yourselve - as it looks like I've wound up in a new job that sounds better on paper, but seems to now be affording me fuck all to do.

As Geeky T and Saltydog would be the first to tell you, I'm as fond of dicking around and watching stuff/ surfing the web whilst pretending to do work with the best of them, but I'd reached a point where I actually wanted to be challenged and gain some meaningful responsibility. And whether or not it's down to budget cuts/ imminent takeover / recession looming (and yes, I should be damn grateful I have a job and hope to god I don't get made redundant), I feel like I'm sat here twiddling my thumbs and not learning or doing anything. Anyway - have resolved to take the initiative next week and try to work out how I can improve the situation for myself rather than just whinging.

So, what have I been doing? Well, I've been slowly working my way through Season 4 of Medium since the BBC never bothered to air it, and which I still think is great and vastly underrated. Patricia Arquette is lovely and beguiling, and it's the most affectionate, understated but marvellous portrait of family life I can think of. Well, at least one in which one parent is visited by dead people in her dreams and her daughters are also inclined to spooky visions and mind-reading. I think it's fair to say there has been a satisfying improvement in providing more of an overarching story arc to reward ardent viewers since former Lost writer Javier Grillo-Marxuach took over as showrunner aka exec producer, although each episode has its own mystery so you don't have to watch it obsessively to follow what goes on.

Which brings me to my other recommendation - The Middleman. Created by the aforementioned Grillo-Marxuach and based on his series of comic books of the same name, it airs on ABC Family in the US, which means it's family friendly viewing - so nothing particularly scary or obscene or adult about it. However, it's smart and witty, with its tongue firmly in its cheek, and peppered with knowing pop culture references. In essence, it's about a young female artist recruited by a secret agency to fight against evil forces. So sort of a telly Men In Black but quirky and cool. You can read some of Grillo-Marxuach's comments about it in this online piece and watch the trailer below (if you look around, there are full length eps online, but I aint posting them here. Not til I get made redundant at least).



At this stage, I have no idea when or if it will come to the UK, but if it does, I would imagine it would potentially air on the BBC as part of their youth programming (as with Kyle XY, another ABC Family show) or possibly on Trouble. But I think it's fab and as someone in their late twenties, I'm not ashamed to say that if this is kids telly, I'm absolutely still a fan.