Flixens: Movies, DVDs, TV, comic books and pop culture for women. The boys shouldn't have all the fun.

Hello everyone... Nina here to present another installment of "Across the Pond," Dominique Taylor's semi-regular column focusing on the UK entertainment scene.  This week, Dominique has a seasonal rant about the lack of quality Halloween programming, a subject near and dear to my heart...

Like Halloween Never Happened

By Dominique Taylor

Halloween may have come and gone, but that does not remove the bitter taste in my mouth left from the sad excuse that was Halloween TV in the UK.  Does anyone else remember the days of an entire weekend dedicated to witches, vampires and anything that went bump in the night?  Does it not create a warm glow in your stomach when you think back to afternoons at home with your pumpkin watching family-friendly films like Hocus Pocus?  Do you not fondly remember the fear as a child that you might just watch the telly a little too late on October the 31st and be traumatised for life by the image of a blood-drenched creature of the night?

It’s not that the films have to be good, they just need to be there.  You know things aren’t right when no one is even showing Halloween!  My idea is simply show the first instalment of any horror franchise and you cannot go wrong, just with Nightmare on Elm Street, Friday the 13th, Poltergeist and the aforementioned, you’ve made up around 8 hours.  Throw in some classics: Beetlejuice, Witches of Eastwick; mix in some kiddies films: Harry Potter, The Curse of the Were Rabbit; and then season with chillers like Psycho and Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? and you’ve got a gorgeous goo of bottled terror.  And even then I know I’ve missed loads!

So just for fun, or maybe even to post to some TV execs for next year, I’d love to hear everyone’s most beloved Horror movies if you had control of the Halloween schedule from midday till 2.  I know it’s gone, but I’m way too angry to let this go.

Like Cinephile, I too have become strangely addicted to Showtime's Dexter, the serial killer who kills serial killers.  Leather Lass' description is as follows:

"This Showtime show isn't getting a lot of attention, but it's worth a peek.  David Hall of Six Feet Under plays the titular Dexter.  By day he is a blood splatter specialist for Miami PD, but he spends his evenings as a serial killer.  But it's okay really because he's a serial killer who only kills serial killers.  Thanks to an astute foster dad, Dexter was put on the right track early in life to use his destructive tendencies to take out a few of his own.  This show is creepy fun with lots of bloody and sudden cuts to the face and decapitated heads.  Yes!  It's that good."

This is the place to discuss all the gory details!

This is the place to be to discuss CBS' new drama Jericho, which some people seem to love while others feel it's wearing out it's welcome.

What's your opinion?

Just recently we had the radioactive rain that didn't seem to harm anyone in the town, but if you were unlucky enough to be just a few miles out, you became a hideous apocolyptic mutant freak, at Death's door.

And what of the mysterious Mr. Hawkins, who has the unfortunate role of being the only black person in town while at the same time being seemingly sinister?

And what about Skeet Ulrich?  Will Johnny Depp EVER get his DNA back?!?

Okay, space cadets... this is the place to discuss the greatest show on TV right now, Sci Fi Channel's Battlestar Galactica.

This show is simply an amazing reboot of the original Battlestar Galactica on ABC in the late 70s, what was once the most expensive show ever produced for TV, complete with late-70s disco cheese.  The BSG upgrade takes all of the major elements of the original and twists them on their head, giving us one of the most compelling dramas on TV.

Spoilers may abound... like... Adama is a CYLON!!

Or maybe not.

Either way, this is the place to chat it up, BSG style!

Monday nights... that means it's time for NBC's Heroes, the network's most successful new show this year.

Love it?  Hate it?  Ambivalent?  Like the concept but hate the acting?  Ahem.

This is the place to discuss your thoughts on each episode as it airs.  Expect spoilers, for those of you tuning into the discussion without having seen the most recent episode, so read at your own risk.

When last we tuned in, Claire had awakened on the coroner's table, in the midst of a full autopsy... chest carved open... I have no doubt her healing factor will easily patch up that bit of nastiness.  I'm more curious as to how she'll get out of there without raising any eyebrows!

Everyone is watching this program, even me! LOST is a show about people stranded on an island, but more importantly it is a show that is constantly being discussed by millions of people all over the world.

The third season premiered last wednesday in North America, and perhaps I am not the only one who was disappointed at first. Luckily the second episode was a large improvement, but I am still not convinced by this season.

Nina was quite disgusted by the first episode, but completely adored this past wednesday's episode. "I'm back IN!" she said. I don't know what the other Flixens think, but I suspect that they also follow this show.

Well I don't want to write much in the body of the article, but I would like to thank seekshelter for pushing us to do this:

Here is a space for all of you (and us) to discuss the television series LOST. Be warned, there will be heavy spoilers in the comments section below, so if you are not fully up to date with the show, perhaps you want to wait before reading people's comments. And please, everyone, try to leave spoilers out of your headings, as those will be seen by everyone in the column to your right.

Do you love or hate Lost?

Are you a Jack or Sawyer person? Or someone else (Jin for me please :) ) ?

How much do you hate or love The Others?

Co-creator JJ Abrams recently said that for Season 3, the show will focus more on the characters rather than on the mysteries of the island. Will this decision lead to the failure of Lost?

Those are just suggestions, please feel free to discuss/question any aspect of the show!

Hi everyone! Miss me?  Sorry I've been away so long.

Anyway, i'm not much for explanations... So there.

So, how nicely coincidental that I get to watch both Studio 60 and 30 Rock one day before the Americans do.  I don't get how that works, but hey, I'm not complaining.

So... There's a lot of hype surrounding the new sitcom written by and starring SNL alumnus Tina Fey.  How is it?

It's good.

It's not great, but it's good.

I watched it and I couldn't help compare it to Studio 60, which I'm not totally taken with either... I couldn't help but wonder if the network executives asked Fey to push 30 Rock more into the realm of the absurd so that it is enough of a contrast to Studio 60 that audiences won't feel like they're watching two shows on the same subject.  Which they are... Essentially.

Take away all the self importance of Studio 60, the cool shots, the dark lighting, add some "real" jokes, some "comedy music" and you've got 30 Rock.

Tina Fey is outstanding.  Alec Baldwin is the best thing on the show, and Tracy Morgan actually proves that he's funny.  The rest of the actors are forgettable, but their parts were pretty small... They didn't have a lot to work with.

What I loved the most about the show was that it wasn't afraid to poke fun at itself.  The sketches within the show aren't trying to be funny, they stink.  And the audience (within the show) eats them up.  Tracy Morgan is a hackneyed "Jamie Foxx" type whom America loves.  The show plays off this well... They're clearly mocking today's audience, and how low the bar has been set for comedy.

What I didn't like about the show was the fact that the tone was far too silly.  It plays like a half hour sketch.  There's no emotional investment in any of the characters.

Ideally, Aaron Sorkin and Tina Fey should have sit down together and found a happy medium, because the things that don't work in Studio 60 work in 30 Rock, and vice versa.

Still, it's a solid show, and NBC is proving that they're on top of their game when it comes to half hour comedy.

And thank god, there's no laugh track.