Around the dial

For the first entry of the new year, we'll start at Cult TV Blog, where John reviews "Home Cooking," an episode of the 1980s series Unnatural Causes full of nasty little twists and turns. It's available on YouTube, and John's description makes it sound well worth checking out.

We'll stick with British TV for the next item, which comes from Paul at Drunk TV. It's the DVD box set The Steve Coogan Collection, with highlights from some of his best-known creations, including the Alan Partridge character. Perhaps something else I should be looking at.

At The Lucky Strike Papers, Andrew shares a couple of nice examples of recent classic television questions—er, answers—on Jeopardy. It's always nice to see someone keeping the institutional memories alive!

And speaking of institutional memories, at Cult TV Lounge, it's a review of 2022 cult TV viewing, including introductions to Simon & Simon, Decoy, Miami Vice and other series. As much as I enjoy discovering new pleasures, it's almost as much fun to read about the discoveries others make.

JB takes a look back at January 2, 1977 at The Hits Just Keep on Comin'. I remember most of the events he talks about, and it's nice to bring back some of those memories. I wonder, 50 years from today, what memories people will choose to bring back.

At Classic Film and TV Corner, Maddy's entry in the What a Character! Blogathon is on the Japanese actor Takashi Shimura. Thanks to the Criterion Channel, I've actually seen several of his collaborations with Kurosawa, including Stray Dog and Scandal, movies that ought to be more familiar here. Maybe that' a cue as to what we should watch this weekend. TV