TV: Orange Is The New Black
As the third season arrives, it’s worth reflecting upon how far Orange Is The New Black has come. Initially, this was a flippant affair which only felt able to approach a women’s prison from the perspective of someone who, the implication was, didn’t really belong there. Piper was white, middle class and not without prospects. So she was our only way in. It’s matured impressively, and the season opener is a daringly downbeat affair with Mothers’ Day prompting all manner of black comedy and emotional upheaval. The show is now holding its own in the upper echelons of TV prison dramas.
Netflix
TV: Radio 1 Big Weekend
As Alan Partridge has been telling us for years, Norwich is where it’s at. The Canaries are back in the Premier League and even Snoop Dogg’s a fan if his performance at Radio 1’s Big Weekend show at Earlham Park is anything to go by. Elsewhere, look out for highlights and complete sets from Taylor Swift, Foo Fighters, Lethal Bizzle, Muse and many, many more.
Video: Rich Kids Go Shopping
If you’ve ever seethed impotently at the Rich Kids of Instagram Tumblr, this peculiar webseries will be another good workout for your scorn muscles. These short films focus on the spending habits of young people with more money and less imagination than you. They are a bland agglomeration of tuck-shop magnates, YouTube sensations and the beneficiaries of simple dumb luck, and they like buying mind-blowingly expensive cars, jewellery and, in one case, vintage toys. Perhaps not particularly cheering viewing as phase-two austerity begins, but weirdly addictive.
Video: Jerry Seinfeld’s Comedians In Cars Getting Coffee
“A giant iceberg of smugness,” reckons one guest, as the sixth season of Jerry Seinfeld’s mobile chatshow launches. As a description, it feels uncomfortably close to the mark, although Seinfeld’s lack of concern for everyman identification feels like his own weird version of honesty. This season’s self-regarding but insightful guests are Jim Carrey, Stephen Colbert, Steve Harvey, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Bill Maher and Trevor Noah.
comediansincarsgettingcoffee.com
TV: The Wire
It’s still the best TV show of all time. And if you doubt this, give The Wire another watch and fall in love with Kima, Bubbles, Omar, Bunk, Randy, Dukie and all the rest of them, all over again. The Wire was launched in HD back in January, and now Sky has made all five seasons available on its On Demand service. Trust us: you’ve forgotten quite how incredible this show is.
Sky On Demand
