Oh gawd 'elp us guv'nor. It's the supernatural Hollyoaks and no mistake. Still the Times said it was the British Buffy the other day, so who am I to disagree.

It's rubbish but I'll watch it anyhow. To think Sky wanted this show picked up in the States.

Simon | September 18, 21:26 CET

Oh God Hollyoaks. I think I must be the only person under 25 who really doesnt enjoy it. Loathes it even. The only reason i ever watched it before was for Laila Rouass, but then she left (or ascended to a better TV show as the term might be) and so not even the beautiful Lisa Hunter could save it for me.

Surely 'Hex' is better than 'Hollyoaks'?

Apocalypse | September 18, 21:44 CET

This is an ATTEMPT to make a British Buffy. I actually did a bit of early publicity work on this when Sky first comissioned it, they basically picked it up for the reason they needed to fill the gap of Buffy (it had left a huge ratings gap on Sky One). However I stopped covering it when it became clear they didn't, frankly, have a clue.

They lacked money badly. I mean, I think the entire first season had the same budget of one early Buffy episode. They also lacked seriously talented writers.

There are some good concepts they actually have, but they haven't quite got the concept of taking teen problems and wrapping them in demon metaphors really. They tried, at least.

I'll watch tonights episode to see if they've been given proper writers and a better budget..

gossi | September 18, 21:52 CET

Sadly I'm thinking the same thing, the 1st season annoyed the hell out of me, but I still watched it to the end and unless I'm out tonight I'll probably end up giving it another go.

Paul_Rocks | September 18, 21:53 CET

Hex was awful. Why subject yourself to it Simon? ;)

Grounded | September 18, 21:55 CET

The thing that got me... The hairstyles. I mean, seriously. Did the hairdresser perhaps have a little too much crack before coming to work that day?

And then dead girl who constantly ate Walkers crisps all day. Shes dead but she's hungry? And she can use crisp machines in full view of everybody?

I had issues with it, clearly.

gossi | September 18, 21:55 CET

I don't think it is fair to call it rubbish. Certainly Sky intended it as an exploitation series, complete with partial nudity, but the writers seems to be trying to do the best work that they can under those circumstances.

For instance Thelma was obviously intended to be lesbian sidekick as a 'copy' of Willow. However the writer has turned her devotion to the decidedly heterosexual Cassie, particularly when Cassie is under demonic influence, into a genuine tragedy.

Despite its flaws it remains a better series than the BBC's 'Strange' which had an excellent cast but very lack lustre writing.

technovamp | September 18, 21:56 CET

It's either that or JAG.

The trouble with Hex that it tried to be the great white hope of British genre shows and it failed miserable. I'll admit during the middle of the first series (not season - this is the UK remember) that the show was getting very watchable but it crashed and burned by the end.

Simon | September 18, 22:49 CET

I gave Hex a chance, I really did. It had decent production values, the acting seemed good but that script... Every single chance for conflict and drama was wasted. When she got her powers it was "Oh, okay. Now I can set people on fire" and that was it. When Thelma died we saw a few seconds of Cassie crying and then it cut to the funeral (a week later?) and Thelma was there as a ghost and everything was fine! I could almost hear Joss watching it and shouting "Where's the pain?!" at the screen.

It had all the ingredients but just needed a good script. I had many discussions on the Hex forum on imdb about this at the start of the series and everything that happened after just confirmed my opinion. Hex isn't second-rate Buffy, it's second-rate Charmed.

zz9 | September 18, 23:37 CET

Hex isn't second-rate Buffy, it's second-rate Charmed.

Youch! Harsh but fair I'm sure. Mind you I've never seen the show and don't intend to from that review. Maybe they should put that on the DVD's? Splashed right across the front cover.
Oh yea, they actually want ppl to buy DVD's nowadays.
Silly Nix.

nixygirl | September 19, 00:07 CET

I enjoyed the show, and for this reason: there is no more Buffy. I've come to terms that the Jossverse on TV is gone, and that there will never be any other show that can come close to it, especially in that genre. It saddens me a lot, because I love what Joss created. But there really isn't much else on TV these days that has to do with the supernatural. So I have to settle. I hate having to lower my standards, but if I don't then there will be no TV in my life, and that's something I can't let happen. So I watch Hex, and I have high hopes for this season. I mean it's not American TV, and I can't expect it to be. But you know, it's not horrible, it's good. You just have to give it a chance.

Annamaria | September 19, 00:10 CET

It always amazes me to see how many genre fans are willing to watch low-budget, hokey tripe just to get a fix. Now I say this being someone who watches but rarely likes Smallville (and believe me, despite the Marsters presence this year, I'm thinking of making an effort of giving up the guilty pleasure), so I understand how the thought process goes too.

But seriously, arguing that, "it's either that or [insert badly written drama or lame comedy here]" (or JAG, in Simon's case) makes me wonder if some of us are so addicted to fantasy and/or sci-fi that we've lost our heads. 'Cause y'know, when there's nothing good on TV, there're plenty of quality books & comics to read, movies and TV-on-DVD to see/buy/rent, and video games to play (well, those are more rare unfortunately). Not to mention the myriad other activities that don't involve staring at a screen or page.

Agh! Raaant!

*goes for a walk*

Kris | September 19, 00:20 CET

I'm watching Hex right now and it's seriously pissing me off. I mean, seriously.

It looks brilliant. They have good direction going on. The sets look fantastic. The musical score is fantastic. The lighting is great.

The problem? The script. It's absolutely appaulingly bad. It's a total waste of UK talent in many ways.

Edit to add: some of the sets and locations in this episode outshine Buffy at points. They've put a lot of effort in.

[ edited by gossi on 2005-09-18 22:35 ]

gossi | September 19, 00:34 CET

Ugh, there isn't such thing as the British Buffy and there probably never will be. Joss's work is much better than the majority of the horrible stuff we're exposed to on TV, including this.

Razor | September 19, 00:42 CET

Is the Joss connection just that it's a Buffy wannabe?

Don't know it, but I agree, there is nothing that can compare to Buffy.

Rogue Slayer | September 19, 01:58 CET

Well some of it was very good, for instant that evil angel thingy. But the script and acting was all over the place, so the doctor hangs dead from a ceiling and this isn't referred to in the rest of the episode? And nudity just for the sake of showing a bit of skin on telly.

Anyhow, that's our mention of Hex on the front page over for this year. Future episodes can be discussed over at our .org site once I have recovered my willpower in order to set up a topic area for it.

Simon | September 19, 02:32 CET

The only good thing about the show is Thelma... shes kind of a Willow and Xander in one, but she also has much more common sense than the Heroine. Heck, it should just be the Thelma show.

But what bothers me is that she can touch everything... she can even eat... but cant touch people? What?

cicatrixtwigs | September 19, 02:44 CET

It's either that or JAG.

Well currently we have Lost, and The Dead Zone just started S4 this week, so surely that just about does enough to satisfy the need for genre? Ok so it's not UK-made, but who are we kidding? - UK genre is usually cack.

*wonders if he should get the Sea of Souls dvd just to make sure...*

Grounded | September 19, 03:08 CET

In terms of plot that was certainly true but the one liners aren't too bad. I loved the summing up of the whole demonic possession and seduction plot from last year as "It's a pity your girlfriend couldn't keep her knickers on". It's very British and perversely proud of it.

I also felt they did a good job with Felix's character. I genuinely felt sympathetic to him as a person by the end of the episode. In contrast I've just watched a recording of 'Theshold', which is one of the big US network genre premieres for this year and I didn't feel there was a single real person in the whole two hours.

I do agree with cicatrixtwigs that; "Heck, it should just be the Thelma show".

technovamp | September 19, 03:35 CET

I must agree. The last two shows didn't make any sense whatsoever. Yes, I will watch the upcoming series, but I hope they'll have a story this time.

Madhatter | September 19, 04:48 CET

The main thing I love about Hex is that is spawned a particularly good fanfic by a friend of mine. That's the only reason I watched it at first. However, I also came to love Thelma and I think they should have had her on far more than they did. And as someone else said, the most frustrating thing about it was that it had such promise in so many departments (mood, lighting, sets, etc.) but then the scripts really failed to deliver.

[ edited by chickenbird on 2005-09-19 07:53 ]

chickenbird | September 19, 07:25 CET

They should hire some of the fan fic writers to run Hex. Yes, that's the ONLY time I'll be typing that in my lifetime.

gossi | September 19, 15:45 CET

Well I decided I would give it a go but when I went to do so one of my flatmates was watching something else and I cared so little I didn't even bother to ask if I could change the channel. I guess there's always the repeat but reading all the comments it doesn't sound like it's gotten any better this series so I guess I won't bother.

Paul_Rocks | September 19, 17:53 CET

I loved HEX. If anyone out there will be posting Season 2 episodes for download, let me know - I don't save and burn, I just watch. I'm in America and can't see it otherwise...THANKS!

Trishymouse | September 21, 00:23 CET