Rob Myall
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Rob Myall
@robmyall.bsky.social
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Lead Programmer at Rebellion. Collector of cancelled TV. Fan of intfiction / sci-fi / urban fantasy / politics / beer.
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Finished a festive rewatch of Hawkeye (2021), possibly the best of the Disney+ MCU shows (although I've only watched up to Echo). Felt Renner was particularly grim this go around but the show absolutely lights up when Florence Pugh shows up so the last two episodes are brilliant.
Poster for Hawkeye (2021). A purple archery target covered in christmas lights, with a whole bunch of people in the central ring. Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) and Kate Bishop (Hailee Steinfeld) are centered, with Yelena (Florence Pugh) smaller to their left and Lucky / Pizza Dog (a golden retriever in a santa hat) to their right. Echo (Alaqua Cox) is directly below them looking moody, with Kazi (Fra Fee) skulking over her right shoulder and Eleanor Bishop (Vera Farmiga) and Jack Duquesne (Tony Dalton) to her left. 3 indistinct members of the Tracksuit Mafia are to her right. Below Echo are the Marvel Studios logo, the hawkeye title in stylised lower case, and "Original series Now streaming only on Disney+"
December 9, 2025 at 7:46 PM
2005's Kitchen Confidential really should have done better. It's an astonishingly good cast and can occasionally be very funny, but it looks like Fox decided baseball was more important than generating an audience and killed it without a decent chance.
DVD cover art for 2005's Kitchen Confidential. Jack Bourdain (played by Bradley Cooper) fills the left hand side. He's in chef's whites and is stroking his chin. On the right we have a lazy susan with 5 of the other cast members standing on it (and about one third the height of Jack). From left to right - Jim (John Francis Daley) holding a carrot and looking apprehensive, Mimi (Bonnie Somerville) with arms folded, Steven (Owain Yeoman) holding a large knife by handle and tip, Tanya (Jaime King), and Seth (Nicholas Brendon). Above the 5's head is the series title, and around the edge of the lazy susan it says "The Complete Series". At the top of the cover is the text "A most delicious comedy from the creator of 'Sex And The City'".
October 14, 2025 at 5:15 PM
2012's BBC/Cinemax spy thriller Hunted fails to give any answers and other than hoping her memories come back Melissa George spends more time caring for a young boy than actually looking for answers. What's there is fun, but it needed more time to actually answer some of the outstanding questions.
Publicity artwork for 2012's "Hunted" with a close-up of Melissa George's face, in profile, peering down to the left from the top right of the image. A gun (which she's presumably holding) points up from bottom center to middle left). At the top of the artwork in yellow text "A Cinemax Original Series". Above the muzzle of the gun "Never Make An Agent The Enemy". Across the bottom the title HUNTED in slightly horizontally glitchy letters plus a smaller callout "From Frank Spotnitz, writer/producer of The X-Files"
October 12, 2025 at 5:04 PM
2025's Pulse makes a really strange stylistic choice - the lead has a panic attack as the trigger for a flashback - that's probably the last thing you want from a doctor in charge of an emergency room. The medical drama's fine but the relationship stuff's pretty bad. Not recommended.
Artwork for Pulse (2025). The title's in white letters at the bottom, and above that are two doctors treating a patient. The patient's in shadow at the bottom. To the left is Danny Simms (Willa Fitzgerald), a blonde woman in blue hospital scrubs and with a stethoscope in her ears. To the right is Xander Phillips (Colin Woodell) also in blue scrubs.
August 25, 2025 at 5:35 PM
Doctor Odyssey's certainly trashier than I usually watch, but the episode-of-the-week theming and leaning into the daftest of cruise ship plots mean it's pretty fun. The central love triangle does drag in places and a non-existent Season 2 would need to flip the ship but I enjoyed it nonetheless.
Poster art for Doctor Odyssey (TV series, 2024). Dr Max Bankman (Joshua Jackson) sits centrally on a sun lounger in front of a swimming pool on the top deck of a cruise ship (the titular Odyssey). To his left stand Nurse Avery Morgan (Phillipa Soo) and Nurse Tristant Silva (Sean Teale) and to his right stands Captain Robert Massey (Don Johnson). At the top it says "From 9-1-1 Executive Producer Ryan Murphy", "Doctor Odyssey" and "Big Deck Energy", and below them "Series Premier Thurs Sept 26", the ABC logo, and "Stream on Hulu"
July 13, 2025 at 6:45 PM
2013's Ironside isn't very good. It's an okay detective procedural, but the lead is deliberately unlikeable and a pretty terrible cop (the flashbacks have more than a little corruption, coerced confessions and flat out framing of people), and the fact he's in a wheelchair is barely noticed.
Poster art for Ironside (2013). At the top are the words "His Team. His Town. His Rules. Ironside". At the bottom are the NBC peacock tail logo and the words "New York's Toughest Detective." In the center are four cast members on dark blue twilight skyline with a single lit up skyscraper top. Blair Underwood as Underside is just left of center and forward of the other 3, a short-bearded black man seated in a leather jacket, blue vest and a police badge around his neck. On the right are Pablo Schreiber (Virgil) and Neal Bledsoe (Teddy), his subordinates, standing and scruffy looking. On the left is Brent Sexton (Gary Stanton), Ironside's former partner, in profile as if he's about to walk out of frame, face turned to the camera and looking pensive.
June 10, 2025 at 5:44 PM
2024's Generation Z really doesn't manage to stick the ending. Too many threads left hanging to satisfy and no clear direction for a second season to pick up on them. The apocalypse itself feels like it speedruns the collapse of civilisation so I can't even recommend it for the basic zombie premise.
4 unhappy looking teenagers stand on the roof of a bright yellow camper van on the blu-ray cover of Generation Z (2024). Above their heads it says "Created, Written, and Directed by Ben Wheatley". At their feet is the title with an enlarged letter Z. Behind them are some misty woods. Robert Lindsay sits in the driving seat and the side panels of the van are splashed with blood. In the foreground, beside the van, sit four old age pensioners, dancing, laughing, feasting on a torn-off forearm and generally enjoying themselves. Below them is the caption "They're old, they're angry and they want to eat you!", the D for Dazzler logo, "2 Disc Set" and a BBFC 15 rating.
May 27, 2025 at 7:22 PM
Rewatched 2008's Bonekickers. A completely daft road trip through the obvious archeological myths - Knights Templars, Joan of Arc, Excalibur - ignoring any historical (or archaeological) accuracy. The cast do their best with the nonsense, but I struggle to see a second season from these bones.
"Bonekickers" DVD cover art. The 4 main characters are centered in front of what looks like an ancient tomb or stone Roman baths and a big glowing light. From left to right they are Gugu Mbatha-Raw in profile, hands in pockets, Adrian Lester holding a torch, Julie Graham with her arms folded, and Hugh Bonneville in a broad brimmed hat. The top right of the cover has "ITV DVD" followed by the actors names (in starring order, Julie Graham first). Below the names is the title, "Bonekickers" (with a cross inside the letter O) and under that is a subheading "History Is Now". Below the actors and wildly over-illuminated is "From the creators of 'Life On Mars'". At the bottom, there's 15 age rating logos for UK and Ireland, two quotes from reviews ("Action Packed" from the Daily Telegraph, and "Great Escapist Fun" from The Observer"), the DVD Video logo, and "As seen on BBC".
May 26, 2025 at 1:52 PM
Peter Kyle, Science Secretary being a credulous moron who thinks a fabrication machine can help him do his ministerial job! Pity the FoI request didn't also ask for how much time civil servants then had to waste correcting the nonsense ChatGPT made up for him.

www.theguardian.com/politics/liv...
Excerpt from the Guardian live UK politics blog: (in italics, quoting from Chris Stokel-Walker's New Scientist article) These records show that Kyle asked ChatGPT to explain why the UK's small and medium business (SMB) community has been so slow to adopt AI. ChatGPT returned a 10-point list of problems hindering adoption, including sections on "Limited Awareness and Understanding", "Regulatory and Ethical Concerns" and "Lack of Government or Institutional Support". (in regular font as Guardian editorial on the article) Stokel-Walker says Kyle also used ChatGPT to give advice on what podcasts he should appear on to reach an audience appropriate to his ministerial responsibilities, and to define scientific terms like antimatter, quantum and digital inclusion.
March 13, 2025 at 2:44 PM
Red Eye (2024) really needed to be sillier. It's still completely daft (4 people, and a dog, are dead and you still won't land the plane, Captain?!), but it manages to get nowhere close to the laughable heights of Nightsleeper, BBC's 2024 entry in "daft thriller on a vehicle that can't stop".
Bluray cover for "Red Eye (2024)", with the two main cast members standing in the aisle of an aircraft. Dr Matthew Nolan (Richard Armitage), a dark haired, bearded man is on the left, handcuffed in a turquoise suit jacket and zip top purple undershirt/jumper thing. DC Hana Lee (Jing Lusi), a shorter Chinese woman in navy jacket, pale blue round neck vest and police credentials visible at her waist, stands on the right. At the top the caption "The Cabin Pressure Is Rising" (with Rising in red, the rest white), "Red Eye" (with Red in red) across their chests, and "237 Passengers 1 Assassin" at the bottom. A D (Dazzler) logo sits bottom left, and a 15 BBFC rating sits bottom right.
February 11, 2025 at 8:11 PM
Watching one of the more unusual Christmas movies on my list tonight - 1961's Cash On Demand. Hammer produced a taut little thriller with Peter Cushing in the Scrooge-like bank manager role. His nervousness vs Andre Morell's suave bank robber is great, and the near-realtime plot is extremely tight.
Movie poster art for Cash On Demand (1961). The top third is a set of stairs descending left to right (top part dark with brickwork, the lower a flat grey) with text "HOW TO ROB A BANK..." above the stairs and "and get away with it?" on the stairs. The lower two thirds have a white background and are filled with the legs of a running man (blue trousers, white socks, yellow shoes) carrying two briefcases (upper body cut off). A shocked looking woman in a blue-gray dress stands at the lower left, and the title "CASH ON DEMAND" in red text sit at the bottom with the first letters (COD) outlined in black.
December 22, 2024 at 7:26 PM
Nostalgia clearly made more of this than there actually was. 1992's Virtual Murder only aired the once on the BBC and I have fond memories of it, but the show's fairly generic "quirky mystery". But why does a university Psychology professor keep having to solve mysteries?
Cover art for "Virtual Murder" (1992). The top half is a pale beige with the silhouette of two people, the world Virtual in embossed scrollwork, and the word Murder in a more modern red font. The bottom half is a picture of the two leads - Dr John Cornelius (Nicholas Clay), a curly brown-haired man in a black bow tie and suit, and Samantha Valentine (Kim Thomson), a redhead in a green dress wearing long beaded black earrings - close together, as if about to kiss.
December 11, 2024 at 5:26 PM
Starting the festive season with the traditional Christmas movie:
A black poster with the top right triangle filled with the Los Angeles skyline, the Nakatomi Tower (with rooftop exploding and a helicopter circling) and John McClane's face. Below these in red text is the title "DIE HARD" in capitals.
December 1, 2024 at 6:32 PM
Most of my go-tos have already come up in this (VR5, Brimstone, Prey, Strange Luck below), Cupid's going to be far too well known, and Now And Again and Wolf Lake have DVD releases, so we'll have to go extra obscure with 1998's Mercy Point.

bsky.app/profile/loki...
Poster art for "Mercy Point (1998)". The top third is a starfield with a central white circle with a black medical plus symbol in it and the text "Mercy Point" written across. The bottom two thirds is a shot of 6 cast members, 5 seated in a row (from left, Brian McNamara, Alexandra Wilson, Maria Del Mar, Joe Morton and Gay Thomas Wilson) with one perched behind them (Julia Pennington), dressed in medical scrubs or white labcoats.
November 22, 2024 at 11:22 AM
King And Maxwell (2013) doesn't really work. The stars have the lighthearted, buddy-cop banter, but we encounter them already as a partnership when the series opens and never get to understand why these two are working together! I just don't get why they're both there, especially at the end.
Cover Art for "King & Maxwell" on DVD. The cover's divided into 6 photo frames, two above the series title (the left showing a closeup of titular characers and the right a closeup of FBI Agent Rigby deep in thought), and four below in two columns. The left column is a mid-range shot of King holding a newspaper, followed by a small box with the names of the actors (Rebecca Romihn and Jon Tenney), followed by a small shot of someone making a speech from a podium with an agent to their right (possibly Joan Dillinger, but the art's too blurry to be sure). Right right column is a closeup of Maxwell holding a gun, and a longshot of King and Maxwell in a cemetary.
November 17, 2024 at 6:45 PM
Because third time's the charm? Mine would be the repeatedly short lived Cupid (1998 and 2009), which would also be on its third outing.
Cupid (1998) TV show poster, with Jeremy Piven as Trevor Hale and Paula Marshall as Dr Claire Allen on a red background with white title text. Cupid (2009) TV show poster with Bobby Cannavale as Trevor Pierce holding an arrow with a quiver visible over his shoulder. He reclines on a red background with white "Cupid" writing above him.
November 11, 2024 at 10:18 AM
2022's The Imperfects feels like an urban fantasy show. A banshee, a siren and a chupacabra vs a whole bunch of mad scientists and their experiments? Maybe a bit too much government agent nonsense, but it's entertaining for its 10 episode run. Only weakness is leaving itself too open for season 2.
Cover art for "The Imperfects" (2022), with the 3 main cast members - Rhianna Jagpal center, Morgan Taylor Campbell left, and Iñaki Godoy right - with the show title (with backwards F) over the top. "Abnormally gifted" is at the top and "A Netflix Series" accompanies the title.
November 7, 2024 at 6:41 PM
2020's "Lincoln Rhyme: The Hunt For The Bone Collector" isn't terrible, but it's a bit of an uninspired adaptation and barring 3 core characters strays pretty far from the book. Definitely hurt by comparisons to the film. Certainly didn't hate it, but the cliffhanger ending was very silly.
Cover art for "Lincoln Rhyme: Hunt for the Bone Collector" with a profile of Lincoln Rhyme's head (Russell Hornsby) facing right, but with his skull, neck and shoulders replaced with a fade-in of Amelia Sachs (Arielle Kebbel) and a view across the Brooklyn Bridge to Manhattan, as well as a small inset "Bone Collector" in shadow.
October 24, 2024 at 10:14 PM
Not entirely clear why this got a reboot. "4400 (2021)" is a much darker show than the original, but it also suffers from a lack of focus. The original could always fall back on the basic "cop show" partnership at its core, whereas this tries to fill the same role with a pair of social workers.
DVD box for "4400 Season One" with the number 4400 in green digits on a black background vertically descending towards a large crowd of people (mostly silhouetted, with 4 or 5 cast members just about recognisable in the gloom).
October 20, 2024 at 1:46 PM
The Strange World Of Gurney Slade, was, baffling, made in 1960, and yet it feels like the sort of meta comedy Chris Morris and Charlie Brooker would be making 35+ years later. Episode 4's "comedy on trial" is particularly good, having predicted audiences of the time not "getting it."
Cover art for "Anthony Newley in The Strange World Of Gurney Slade" with objects falling through space (a mannequin's arm, an upright vacuum cleaner, a countersunk screw, a sign with 14 on it) and the actors head entering frame horizontally from the middle right. The Network logo is top left and a PG rating is bottom left.
October 14, 2024 at 7:46 PM
So Fallen London's Estival comes to a close. Less stressful than last year's "Horticultural" festival as at least the sky didn't fall on us again, and a nice tie-in to an Olympic year.

But this snippet from our last entry to the maze amused me no end. It really is the text I stay for!
An image of a tigers head with the text "A maze of twisty little nightmares, none alike..."
August 16, 2024 at 8:24 PM
Finished 2019's Perfect Harmony, another comedy that was cancelled because it was generally not funny. The singing's fine, but the jokes rarely land. But there was something here in Bradley Whitford's "grumpy old man", which he definitely needs another opportunity to show off with better material.
Cast image for Perfect Harmony (a comedy TV series from 2019), with Bradley Whitford in a suit in the center, surrounded by 5 other cast members in church choir robes, all in front of a stained glass window.
June 20, 2024 at 2:50 PM
The Winchesters was a weak Supernatural spin-off that still manages to make a strong callback to the original with its ending, and also to explain the glaring continuity errors. Unfortunately the leads aren't strong enough to carry this one and the CW buyout must have made it an easy cancellation.
Cover art for "The Winchesters" TV series with John Winchester (Drake Rodger) and Mary Campbell (Meg Donnelly) centered over a stormy graveyard. The series title in a slightly cracked font with a weird 6 pointed symbol filling the letter C is placed in front of them.
June 1, 2024 at 6:45 PM
Following a very similar plotline to New Amsterdam, 2014's Forever manages to be a lot more upbeat and has a lot more fun with the premise. It leaves "how will his partner take the news of his immortality?" hanging but wraps up all the other season threads so doesn't end on a sour note.
Poster art for ABC's "Forever" (2014) with a brooding Ioan Gruffudd (playing Dr. Henry Morgan) seated in front of a New York skyline. The title "Forever" and the tagline "Who says you only live once?" are superimposed across his chest.
May 20, 2024 at 6:48 PM
A break in election coverage meant I finished rewatching 2008's New Amsterdam. I still find Coster-Waldau far too passive in this lead role. Other than a couple of distant family members he doesn't seem to care about anything; he's not even plausibly involved with the love interest.
Poster art for 2008's New Amsterdam tv series. John Amsterdam (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau), a NY cop, descends subway stairs past broken yellow crime scene tape, with his partner (Eva Marquez, played by Zuleikha Robinson) at the top of the stairs behind him, framed by the New York skyline.
May 3, 2024 at 5:37 PM