CNN runs a very good article – Matthew Perry, a good thing on ‘Wing’ – about how The West Wing is as good, if not better, after the series creator and producer, Aaron Sorkin, departed from the series since last season.

I was worried that the dialogue quality would suffer but that is not the case, and I enjoy this new ‘style’ just as much. It is not better or worse, just different.

At last someone expresses in words what I feel about the American version of Coupling and how unfunny it is. How come American TV producers never learn that British humors do not transfer well across the Atlantic when they are not played out by British actors? Advise to anyone who are remotely interested in Coupling: buy the DVD and watch the British version.

Leah and I have been catching up with our TiVo recordings. We watched the first 3 episodes of Jamie’s Kitchen and they were hugely entertaining. Remember that this series was shot more than an year ago before Rocco’s The Restaurant on NBC.

The promise of Jamie’s Kitchen was to open up a new non-profit restaurant in London but only used a group of 15 unemployed, untrained teenagers. He had to pick them from thousands of hopeful and then spent the next 12 months training them into first class chefs. To put it in perspective, a normal cutlery college course runs the usual 3 years so Jamie Oliver was really compressing the learning schedule for these teenagers.

After 3 episodes, I think Rocco had it easy! He had a bunch of professional chefs and semi-professional waiters. Jamie had to contend with cooks that were so green and untrained that Rocco probably won’t touch them with a barge pole!

It was also very disheartening to see some of those lucky teenagers throwing away the opportunity of their life time by not turning up to their training. How many times in ones life that a great chef (or any professionals) offers to train you up to international standard for free? If I were offered that when I was in my teens, I would grab it with both arms (and legs). Sadly it also reminded me of my school days in Britain where a fair portion of my classmates were just like that. No drive, no ambition, not a care in the world but not in the good way. Looking back really make me appreciate what I’ve achieved myself.

Kill Bill must be the best action movie of the year. QT obviously has not lost his touch after six years. The fight scenes are one of the best, especially after those CG Neos in Matrix: Reloaded. And of course there is something romantic about using samurai swords instead of lead bullets. Sure the movie is violent but it is more on the stylish side than gruesome. The inclusion of the anime part is genius to say the least. Though I think not all audience will appreciate that but my Asian background definitely allows me to enjoy the stylistic expression of QT through anime.

I can say with certainty that Kill Bill will do extremely good in the box office in Japan and Asia. Come on, a beautiful blonde woman wielding a samurai sword in massive fight scene? The Japanese may even classify the movie as porn!

Oh and did I mention the soundtracks? They are so cool that I am actually tempted to go into a record store and buy a CD! You may not think this is a big deal but it must have been over a year since I last physically buy a CD. Shame iTunes Music Store does not carry Kill Bill’s soundtracks yet. Otherwise it will save me a trip to the shop and allows me to give RIAA the two fingers salute.

Can’t wait till volume 2 in February next year.

Enterprise: Kind of OK. Hate the new theme song style. Not inspiring at all.
The West Wing: Decent. Up to expectation. John Goodman is indeed ‘very presidential’.
ER: So so. Nice to see more nationalities in the series (or any US TV series, period).
CSI: Great cliffhanger! And it is not in the last episode of the season.
Friends: Funny enough, considering it is in its tenth season.
Coupling: Premiered last Thursday. I didn’t watch it as it clashed with CSI. But I know for a fact that it won’t be as good as the original British series, so not much point watching it…