Premiering April 1st on HBO, the second season of the medieval Game Of Thrones is set to take centre stage on the cable channel now sitting dangerously low on front-running talent. Based on book two of George R.R. Martin‘s A Song of Ice And Fire series, a star cast return with fans anticipating a run of 10 more boundary-pushing episodes.

Check out this exclusive clip for from The Cleveland Show: Season 2 extras, and win the boxset on DVD after the jump!

To celebrate the release of The Cleveland Show: Season 2, out on DVD this coming Monday, we’re giving you the chance to win one of three copies for yourself. To be in with a chance of winning simply answer the following question:

The Cleveland Show is a spin-off of which popular animated series?

A. Family Guy
B. Sharky And George
C. Bob’s Burgers

To enter, simply follow us on Twitter here and @reply us the correct answer. Deadline 05/02/12.

This past week two shows stood out on paper, despite both being examples of well-trodden TV genres. One showed, remarkably, that innovation isn’t always necessary when there’s a foundation of real quality, the other fell miserably flat.

Call the Midwife (Episode 1, available on BBC iPlayer until Sun 26 Feb 2012) (above)

When I previewed Call the Midwife, I noted that the most prominent danger for any period drama is an excess of sentimentality. Sadly this one walked straight into the trap, emerging steeped in syrupy smugness. Smugness, one might think, is the last thing you’d expect to get from a show about post-war midwives fighting to help the downtrodden of East London – surely it’s sad, surely the message of hope in the face of adversity is magical to behold? Wrong. It can be very subtle, just a whisper of back-slapping on the breeze, but there is a definite sense of self-satisfaction emanating from this tired portrayal of ‘common folk’. It could best be described as a sense of having done something noble and worthy just by showing their tribulations, like some sort of atonement for enjoying the fruits of modernity on the back of years of other people’s hardships. Whatever you want to call it, it pervades every facet of Call the Midwife, from the facial expressions of the dismayed posh girl to the premature baby saved by nothing more than happy thoughts and love. This goes hand-in-hand with a stark lack of believability (I’ll be careful not to say realism, not being an expert on post-war Londoners). Programme makers frequently struggle to depict the ‘common folk’ in a believable way, as ITV’s Downton Abbey showed.

Without getting into that very different period piece too much, the huge downside was the portrayal of the servants and house staff – a working class accent (cockney or default northern, or sometimes the rare Cornish) seems to be forever tied to an innate silliness and frivolity in characters in programmes such as these. The opening scene of Call the Midwife features an immediate immersion-breaker of this nature, with two women engaged in fisticuffs. I’m sure this sort of thing used to happen, perhaps Jennifer Worth (on whose memoirs the show is based) even witnessed this exact fight, but there was something jarringly unconvincing about the bloodthirsty onlookers screaming “come on, fight, fight” in exaggerated cockney accents. I am willing to admit that all of these complaints could be filed as pet hates. However, this would only be an issue if the meat of the plot stood up well, which it sadly does not. Some babies are born against the odds, a posh girl learns that some people are poor, and it is strongly suggested that wishing really hard is an adequate substitute for proper medical care. Just what you’d expect from programme makers who believe this sort of unimaginative sickliness is an adequate substitute for trying.

Earthflight (Episode 4, available on BBC iPlayer until Thu 9 Feb 2012)

Coming off the back of the phenomenal Frozen Planet is no enviable task. Especially not for a nature show with an undoubtedly smaller budget and no David Attenborough. In spite of this, however, Earthflight somehow manages to stand up in its own right. I say somehow, but the reason is clear: focus. Frozen Planet focused on seasons and environments, tackling a particular landscape at a particular time and exploring it broadly. This worked excellently with the stunning visuals and the epic drawl of Attenborough’s voiceover work. Earthflight, on the other hand, is very simply a show about birds. Granted each episode centres on a different continent, but the subject matter feels tighter and more concentrated. This is no bad thing, as it provides a sense of purpose that compensates for the (only slightly) less grandiose presentation and packaging. There are still stunning shots of mysterious and breathtaking environs, complete with cleverly worked music that adds to the emotions with commendable subtlety. And of course the level of factual detail the show goes into keeps it interesting beyond just sound and visuals. The only real snagging point is the voiceover work of David Tennant. I realise this may seem petty, but nature shows have the good fortune of their material being readily provided for them; issues of presentation are what they must ultimately be judged on.

Far from being actively bad, Tennant’s effort is just average. This may partly be due to the unshakable knowledge that, like Morgan Freeman voicing March of the Penguins, he is reading a script and relaying information from others. I am not suggesting that Attenborough wings it from his own knowledge, but knowing about his expertise somehow adds gravity to the things he says. This makes you forget that you’re watching a TV show and instead get drawn into his mind, as if in some sort of beamed-to-the-brain personal lecture. This is not a question of accents either; Neil Oliver of the much-underrated Coast proves that a Scottish accent can work wonders in such situations. The real issue with Tennant is that he is an actor. Instead of a genuine passion for nature, what comes across is a guy trying to create the illusion of one. In doing this, his delivery becomes very creamy and Jackanory-esque, more suited to an advert for a high-end supermarket than a factual programme. But don’t let this put you off – the issues are incredibly minor in the grand scheme of things. Earthflight is still stunning, with unique features like on-board bird cameras adding to the experience and making it well worth trying if you’ve ever enjoyed a nature series before.

From the creator of In The Thick Of It and writer-director of In The Loop, things are looking up for HBO as Veep debuts April 22nd with Julia Louis-Dreyfus playing a senator who becomes the Vice President of the United States.

As I preview three very different TV shows premiering in early 2012, there is hope for real quality, but also a definite risk of things we’ve all seen before.

Luck, Sky Atlantic, February 2012 (above)

At first glance, particularly from the trailer, the writers of Luck seem to be going with the idea that it would be possible to make an HBO dark drama about pogs, given enough shouting, gruff voices and horror movie musical effects. This one happens to be about horse racing. Judging by the pilot, which was released over a month in advance, the show has promise in some regard, with attractively sparse visuals alongside a soundtrack that is genuinely stirring at times. The Hollywood cast (Dustin Hoffman, Nick Nolte et al) may attract some viewers, but doesn’t actually promise anything positive or negative in itself. The plot revolves around jockeys, gamblers and race-fixing horse owners, and is kick-started by a group of down-and-out gamblers falling into an unlikely big win. The true test, however, will be the direction the plot takes. All shows of this kind must sooner or later depart from their initial selling point. It may sound like a minor issue, but the overall quality of the final product hinges on how well this is done. The Wire evolved from cops and robbers and Breaking Bad improved hugely after leaving the goony teacher and stereotypical youth double act. At the other end of the spectrum, Entourage became a ridiculous mess by jerking too sharply away from the safe (though repetitive) theme of everyone working to get roles for the main character. Luck certainly has a broad enough character base and a rich enough setting to evolve. The main risk is that when the time comes to inevitably move away from rigging horse races, all that will remain is a basic and unoriginal gangland chess game, the audience rooting for the pawns with a slight feeling of déjà vu.

Call the Midwife, BBC1, 15 January 2012

With Miranda Hart in the co-lead role, most of the (limited) buzz about Call the Midwife has revolved around how she will handle the transition from silly comedy to anything that isn’t silly comedy. Whilst it might seem an unfair question, her inclusion does seem to be an attention-grabbing tactic. Anyway, leaving the cast aside, the six-part drama is based on the writings of Jennifer Worth, following a group of midwives in 1950s London. Not one for the squeamish, the actual birthing process is set to feature heavily, with two or more births per episode the figure currently circulating. The show’s appearance at this time is no coincidence; the wave of gritty, true-to-life dramas about recent British history has been borne along swiftly in recent months, with This is England ’88 only a few weeks old. There are twin traps gaping in front of any show that joins this bandwagon, the first being that it will mainly serve to inspire look-how-bad-they-had-it sentiments with a light smearing of be-thankful-for-what-we-have-now, and the second being the dreaded “celebration” of the national spirit and resilience. Being that the viewing majority actually responds well to these overdone themes, the producers can’t be blamed for billing the show as exactly these two things. The actual substance of Call the Midwife, however, could be very different – let’s hope for period accuracy without the need for primetime happy-ending syndrome.

Noel Fielding’s Luxury Comedy, E4, 26 January 2012

Last but not least, we have Noel Fielding’s Luxury Comedy. Though Fielding is by no means the finest comedian around, it is difficult to deny that he has a very sharp wit and an excellent eye for absurdist humour. He has performed admirably on Never Mind the Buzzcocks without the aid of Mighty Boosh co-star Julian Barratt, but this will be his first major series without his partner-in-crime. Like any show that is earmarked as quirky or alternative, Luxury Comedy has garnered some odd epithets. Chief among these is “the show is like biting into an aurora borealis sandwich”, which at first seems humiliating and cringeworthy, but then at second glance is actually amusing and, in a way, oddly informative. The format of the show is no less unusual, presented as a mixture of live action and animation, combining sitcom elements with the overall feel of a sketch show. Many of the specifics sound suspiciously Mighty Boosh-esque, particularly the fact that Fielding plays a comedy version of himself, living in a mystical jungle with talking animals. This is by no means a negative, but it does present the risk of this just being Mighty Boosh without the crucial comedy foil (imagine The Hitcher without the bit when he pisses on Howard Moon’s face). Then again playing to one’s strengths can be a wise move; it is the quality of the writing and the edge of the humour that will make or break this interesting prospect.

In today’s television world, it seems the network chiefs don’t know what they are doing. It started with NBC leaving one of the best shows on television Community of their mid-season schedule. Although while Community has some hope of returning next season, that is not the case for HBO shows Hung, How to Make It In America and Bored To Death, which all ended with questions unanswered. All of these half-hour comedies were cut to make room for new programming. The question is why?

Bored To Death starring heavy-hitters like Ted Danson, Jason Schwartzman, and the very funny Zach Galifinakis, was dealt a 25 percent loss in viewership, while Hung lost 50 percent viewership. Here is what I think happened, these shows pertain to a younger generation, and what does a younger generation do? They download instead of paying and supporting our favourite shows. We may not be able to get upset at HBO for that but here is what we can get upset about. Bored To Death was also trialled for week-early previews on their online streaming service HBO Go, which meant each episode effectively ‘leaked’ online before its official airdate.

HBO’s new show Enlightened is the worst performer out of every other show on their channel receiving only 250,000 viewers. So like normal networks you cancel that show. But HBO instead decided to renew it. While Enlightened managed to get their hands on a couple of Golden Globe nominations that doesn’t mean it’s actually any good, as proven by their “winners” in the past, and it seems the HBO big-wigs have had their heads falsely turned.

There are some reasons for fans of those shows to smile again though as the new upcoming comedies taking their timeslots show great promise. Ricky Gervais’ comedy Life’s Too Short and Girls from Judd Apatow (Knocked Up, The 40 Year Old Virgin) are both coming soon while 40 starring Ed Burns is on the horizon too. There’s also another title from the creator of Entourage and a new show for women from the creator of Sex in the City entitled Viagra Diaries.

What the reasoning for HBO making this unfortunate decision without so much as a curtain call remains a frustrating mystery. Let’s just hope we don’t have another catastrophic programming decision come the turn of the year 2013.

Premiering mid-February for a third and final season, probably a good thing as HBO would have only cancelled it in the run up to a fourth (hello Bored To Death, Hung and How To Make It In America), Eastbound & Down’s return sees baller Kenny Powers head back to the States to join South Carolina outfit the Myrtle Beach Mermen.

Seemingly a spin-off of Knowing by the creator of Heroes, Touch centres around an autistic and mute boy who is obsessed with numbers and can predict future events. Starring Kiefer Sutherland, Touch premieres March 19th.

In this exclusive clip from Boardwalk Empire: Season One’s DVD extras. Greg Antonacci takes to the streets of Chicago to delve into the hidden world of Prohibition speakeasies, introduces John Torrio, owner of the Four Deuces. Boardwalk Empire: Season One is out on DVD and Blu-ray January 9th and comes highly recommended.

A sequel to the best selling 1991 John Grisham novel and its 1993 film adaptation, The Firm, the show picks up on the story of Mitchell Y. McDeere and his family ten years on as a web of lies and secrets starts to unravel, placing Mitch and his family at great risk. The Firm debuts Jan. 8th on NBC, let’s hope it stands up to the source material.