1849 - Orphan Black: season one

I'm going to be completely honest and say that I started watching this film for two reasons:
1) Patriotic Pride: I always try to give Canadian shows the benefit of the doubt
2) A friend of mine is on the writing staff.
But both of the above only buys you really one episode for sure, and the rest have to be earned by the show itself.  I was waiting with baited breath for each new episode.  The show follows the story of a group of women who learn that they are clones of one another - but the big question remains - why?!
Each episode brings us deeper and deeper into the world and the lives of the characters themselves - and it moves at such a cocky pace that you wonder just what the hell they're saving for the swim back.  The writing is pretty fearless in this regard and has no problem putting it's characters into terrible situations.  All of this is already a recipe for a pretty decent show - but then you throw in a powerhouse performance by Tatiana Maslany as all of the clones, and well, then you've got something absolutely special.  From the british street punk, to the suburban mom, token lesbian lab rat, and bat-shit-insane one, Maslany must be exhausted doing all these character so perfectly well and unique.  I can only imagine she's got a team to help her keep it straight.
I want to go into so much detail about so many things - but it's so much better for you to discover it on it's own.  The first season is ten episodes and it's already been confirmed to be coming back (thank you, TV gods!), so if you're a fan of sci-fi at all, or even just enjoy a fun thriller, or better yet - a phenomenal performance, then please get yourself in gear and catch up.
And for you Canadians, this is absolutely something you can be proud of.  Watch it.  Make it happen!

1679 - Life's Too Short: season one

I think that it goes without saying that Merchant and Gervais are two of the most inspiring people working in comedy today.  Their first two series The Office and Extras are near perfect - especially their finales. I was ridiculously excited to see this new series, the title alone along with the concept was a lot of fun, and the idea that Merchant and Gervais would be playing themselves.  It's their usual awkward humour, and it's probably never more awkward than it is here.  And I know that I'm echoing this from other reviewers, but it really does feel that Warwick has been asked to turn himself into the next David Brent (which he does wonderfully).  You're never rooting for him so much as you're excited to see just how terribly he's going to mess up whatever situation he's in.  Or when something good happens, how bad it's going to become shortly thanks to karma.  I can't imagine that in real life that Davis is anything even close to the asshole he plays on the show, but he's quite terrible here, and it ultimately makes me wonder if this show isn't just about amusing the creators themselves... all you need to do is watch some one of the behind the scenes videos to see how enjoyable it is for Gervais to watch Warwick doing uncomfortable things.  And it's not unlike their reality series An Idiot Abroad, where he admits to the show being about him really like watching him put his friend in terrible situations.  Given that another season on this series has already been announced it might be far too early to write it off, but given where and how it ends I'm just not sure where it can and will go, and sadly, I'm not sure I care.  Unlike Extras and The Office there aren't any characters here who I actually like and want to root for, instead it's more like slowing down to watch a car wreck - which is fine the first time through, but hard to talk yourself into going back for a second glance.  The Huffington Post put it quite well:

There were laughs of course, and by the standards of average TV sitcoms Life's Too Short was excellent. But Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant will never be measured against the standards of average TV sitcoms - nor would they wish to be. The Office and Extras, particularly the denouements, made comedy into something stirring and beautiful and new.
In the end the disappointing thing about Life's Too Short wasn't that the falling out of cars and not reaching door bells felt like exploitation - it's that they felt like the freshest ideas on offer.

So if you love Gervais and Merchant then you'll want to give this a go, but it's far from their best work. 

1662 - Steve Jobs: Billion Dollar Hippy

Having been an Apple nerd for as long as I even knew that it was an option to be so, I know the history of the company, the great quotes, etc... so I wanted to watch this to see if there was anything new, some amazing new insight...
Not so much.  The tv-doc often yadda-yadda's through what appear to be some of the more interesting aspects of the stories, and ultimately it only feels like the coles notes.  Never really focusing on anything, outside of the theory that it's that he kept to his hippy roots that made him the success that he was - and perhaps that's true - but it's no big amazing moment to reveal such a thing.
If you're a casual Jobs admirer than this might interest you and give you more to learn about - but if you're an Apple nerd chances are that you already know more of the stuff that they discuss in here.  Not a terribly television documentary, but nothing amazing - mostly feels like they're cashing in.

1624 - Coupling: series one

I'm extremely late to this, but luckily the BBC does short seasons so it won't take much to get through the entire catalog.  Those that know me know that I'm a big fan of anything to do with relationships - and this series is a dozy in that way.  Kind of a riskier British version of Friends, really.  It's frank about the relationship between men and women, attacking both sexes with equal ferocity, creating much laughter and much "I know exactly what you mean..."
The cast is quite enjoyable, and despite the very broad tone I found it working for it as opposed to against it.  It's a simple service that allows itself to function well and run a slew of different topics for relationships and couples and explore them from six unique perspectives.  This series (UK version of seasons) covered a wonderful width of topic that was quite delightful.  It's got a tame feel to it, but underneath it's pretty open minded even if being a tad bit dirty.  It doesn't pull any punches when it comes to sex and relationships and it's all the better for it.
If you've got netflix and you like shows about people and the battle of the sexes, you could do a lot worse than this.  I highly recommend it.

1537 - Jamie Oliver's School Dinners

My wife found this on netflix, and so we quickly breezed through this short, but wonderful, series that follows Jamie Oliver as he attempts to transform the school dinner program in the UK, from unhealthy fast food garbage, to well balanced meals. 
Food is pretty important to us in our house.  We like to know where our food comes from.  We read labels.  We buy local as much as we can.  We support farmers who treat their animals well.  We pay extra for it, of course, but for us it's worth it - and we can see the difference it makes in our son's life.  I imagine that this is where Jamie got the idea for this program is through looking at his own children and then thinking of the children throughout the rest of Great Britain. 
The documentary series is refreshing in how candid Jamie is about the process, he's frustrated, he's overjoyed.  We get to see all the ups and downs and he doesn't shelter himself from the problems in his personal life (or the problems that the press is trying to invent).  His goal is to prove that he can create a system that's healthier, but doesn't cost more, so that if the gov't says no to a nationwide change - its simply because they don't care.
It's been a long time since I've been in high school so I can't really speak on state of our system - although our food was closer to the fast food offerings than it was to what Jamie was trying to push through.  So hopefully we're making a change for the better as well. 
At one point in the series Jamie talks about the idea that it took some time for the public to become aware of the dangers of smoking, and several other things we know to be bad for us.  Food seems to be the next big-ticket-item, and people like Jamie are fighting the good fight.  Food is such a tough battle though as it's very personal to people - it's cultural - it's social - it's personal - we put this stuff inside of us - a lot!  And some of us put a lot of it inside of us :)  I speak from experience, being a larger man myself.  I like food.  And although the vast majority of stuff I eat is pretty damn healthy, you don't have to push me hard to get something is flavour focused over health.  I'd like to think I'm getting better - but it's a love/hate relationship I have with food: More love than hate though, luckily :) 
This is on netflix.  It's four episodes.  Check it out - and if you have kids, then it's must-see-television and make them sit in with you.  They'll probably enjoy it as much as you will.