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So much for saving the best for last...

In actual fact, the finale "Love on the Danube" instalment "Kissing Stars" might boast the ever-reliable Brendan Penny (of "Chesapeake Shores" fame, not to mention many other Hallmark classics), but the famous actor falling in love with the everyday girl has been done to death in too many movies previously, and not even Penny's presence (nor the spectacular European scenery) can elevate it.

It didn't help that his chemistry with Sarah Power moved between 'weak' and 'non-existent'. Compare Power and Penny to Dan Jeannotte and Jessica Sipos from the previous "Love on the Danube" movie to see what I mean.

Hallmark's latest trilogy unfortunately bows out with more of a whimper than a bang. Was hoping for more.

Max is right place right time at home when his mom accidentally starts a fire in the kitchen. He douses it with water...but the problem is, it was a gas fire, as the instantly-suspicious Sherriff Valenti quickly points out to Mrs Evans (Mary Ellen Trainor, most famous for being the long suffering police psychologist in "Lethal Weapon").

Faced with a lot of questions that can't easily be answered without the shocking truth - "Guess what, mom and dad? We're aliens" - Max, Isabel and Michael talk amongst themselves about the possibility of telling Mr and Mrs Evans the truth and the ramifications of that.

A good episode that illustrates the tightrope the three aliens are balancing precariously on day in, day out and the affect it has on all their personalities and their relationships with each other and everyone else.

Another episode where we learn - courtesy of a visit to River Dog - more about our favourite Czechoslovakians' backstory.

Not without drama, though: Michael falls deeply ill after heading out to see River Dog, and for a time his life hangs in the balance.

The Liz/Max romance last less than one whole episode. One date, ruined by Michael's illness, and they are - at least for the moment - not a couple because Max doesn't want to hurt Liz if the same thing that happened to Michael happens to him. Something tells me they'll be back together before long. The chemistry between Shiri Appleby and Jason Behr is too good to waste.

1999 and a December heat wave in New Mexico? "Roswell" is ahead of it's climate change time!

The freak hot snap has gotten everyone all hot and bothered. Especially Michael and Maria. Not to mention Sheriff Valenti and Maria's mother. It's even making Liz think that a relationship with Max isn't out of the question. After all, if Michael and Maria can figure it out...

Thankfully, we come to the end - or at least near the end - of the 'Alex doesn't know that Max, Michael and Isabel are aliens' saga. Colin Hanks is brilliant in the jail scene where he gives Valenti a piece of his sixteen-year-old mind. Very amusing stuff.

And finally - FINALLY - what "Roswell" has been building up to since it's second minute of existence: Max and Liz give into their feelings. Something tells me it won't be all smooth sailing from here, but the show has finally delivered on so much 'will they, won't they' promise.

Some great moments in this episode.

Max and Liz head out into the New Mexico desert to do something fun and normal and end up crashing. Max is unconscious, headed to hospital and it's all hands on deck to make sure the doctors don't get a look at his bloodwork.

At the same time, Topolsky's team (later revealed to be FBI) are after Max's blood sample, too.

Liz convinces Alex to swap blood samples. Poor old Alex doesn't understand why, and think Liz and Maria and the others are into drugs. Nonetheless, he helps uncover Topolsky's real job and it seems like she is going to leave town, her cover blown.

Alex gives Liz one last chance to tell him the truth, but she can't.

Directed by Star Trek's Jonathan Frakes "River Dog" is a really strong and very revelatory episode which starts with Max, Liz, Michael, Maria and Isabel making a quick getaway from Texas, just before Agent (formerly Guidance Counsellor) Topolsky can get to them. (The cliffhanger at the end of last episode is resolved fairly easily, after all the build-up.) On Topolsky: it turns out she is working for the taskforce being run by Richard Schiff's Agent Stevens.

Whilst making their escape, Isabel grabs a pendant that holds some familiarity to her and that leads Max and Liz to an Indian reservation where an native elder named River Dog sheds more light on our favourite Czechoslovakians.

A very tense episode as Michael basically kidnaps Maria and forces her to drive them down 285 South to Marathon, Texas where the dome he has been seeing in his dreams (and drawing in art class) is located. Max, Isabel and Liz head off in hot pursuit. On their tail is Kyle Valenti and his dad, the sheriff, has figured out where they are all headed, too. And someone is hot on his tail, too.

Some good scenes between Michael and Maria who, despite everything, aren't too dissimilar in regards to their familial situation. It doesn't take a Rhodes scholar to figure out the writers are intent on making them a couple at some point.

Speaking of couples... Max and Liz continue tiptoeing around the obvious.

"285 South" is a cliffhanger episode. Maybe it was a mid-season finale back in the day, but just when things get really interesting, we get the "to be continued..." graphic on the screen.

Can't wait to see where this goes.

The big reveal in "Missing" is that Ms Topolsky is far from just your average guidance counsellor. She's actually a federal agent, attached to some alien-hunting taskforce, which we find out when she learns that Liz's diary has gone missing. With a long line of suspects, Maria and Liz try to figure out who stole it, and get it back before it's contents can be disseminated.

(Something about Julie Benz's character has been off from the start. I don't remember her reveal from watching nearly a quarter of a century ago (!) but it certainly makes for an interesting development. Suddenly, Sheriff Valenti isn't the biggest worry Max, Michael and Isabel have.)

I wondered how long it would be before the diary became a big focal point of the show, considering Liz has narrated each episode's open and close whilst writing in it.

With all the secrecy around Roswell's friendly "Czechoslovakians", it seems to me a pretty risky thing for Liz to be writing everything that happens to her in a journal. If it falls into the wrong hands...

(From a TV point of view, Shiri Appleby narrating her inner thoughts is a clever way to hear first-hand how Liz is feeling about her new Czechoslovakian-influenced normal)

A Liz episode. Her beloved Grandma Claudia arrives in town for a visit. Everyone loves Grandma Claudia.

At the same time, a traumatic incident convinces Max that he has to return to laying low, and that means not spending any time with Liz. That plan doesn't last long, and the episode ends with the soon-to-be star-crossed-lovers - c'mon, this isn't a spoiler alert; it's so obvious at this point - growing closer than ever.

Shiri Appleby was particularly good in this episode. She does vulnerable very well.

Maria is looking after the Crashdown. Her needing to ask Isabel for help waiting tables is probably the best scene of the entire episode. Isabel saying she's not really a service-oriented person is hilarious.

The first episode where we really get an idea - thanks largely to Isabel - of what the aliens (or Czechoslovakians, as Liz and Maria have taken to calling them) can do. Their quote-unquote talents are quite...varied.

The scenes between Isabel and Maria, polar opposite characters, are very amusing. Well-written and very well acted by Katherine Heigl and Majandra Delfino.

The slow burn will-they-won't-they between Max and Liz, who is still kind-of dating Sherriff Valenti's son, Kyle, continues. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that relationship ain't gonna last. And I think we all know what's in store for M and L.

On Max and Liz: I'm sure, back in the day, there were many magazine column inches and web forums devoted to whether they were going to get together or not.

(Also, a few episodes in, I can see why I crushed hard on Shiri Appleby when this show was released.)

Still loving William Sadler's performance as the sheriff. Different to seeing him as the bad guy in "Die Hard 2" and "Hard to Kill", but similar to his cameo as McGarrett's dad in the new "Hawaii Five-0", where he didn't cross over with Julie Benz who plays Topolsky on "Roswell".

(The first episode of "Roswell" to feature Dido's anthemic "Here With Me" during the opening credits, which, at least to me, has become synonymous with the show)

There are secrets everywhere in "The Morning After", which picks up soon after the events of Roswell's pilot episode.

Michael is obsessed with finding out whether there are other aliens out there, and seems ready to pack up his life (such as it is, with a barely-present foster father) in Roswell at a moment's notice.

Richard Schiff's FBI agent returns to tell Sherriff Valenti that there was no blood found on Liz's uniform from the Crashdown shooting. But all documentation relating to the incident is being confiscated anyway, and Valenti smells a rat.

So does Liz: she's convinced that the new teacher, Ms Topolsky (Julie Benz) is some sort of alien hunter because she is interested in Michael's home life, but it turns out she's just the new guidance counsellor and Brendan Fehr's Michael is definitely the sort of wayward kid who could do with some guidance.

A very dramatic opening to three seasons of the teen sci-fi drama. This show was huge when I was in high school. Creator Jason Katims has given us Dawson's Creek meets X-Files! (I had a huge crush on Shiri Appleby at the time, and I'm willing to bet I wasn't alone!

Liz Parker is just a girl, working at the Crashdown Cafe in Roswell, New Mexico when a disagreement between two patrons goes awry, a gun is fired and Liz, wrong place at the wrong time, is shot.

Or is she?

Thanks to the timely intervention by quiet, brooding Max Evans, there's no sign of blood or a bullet hole when the proverbial dust settles.

"Roswell" sets off at breakneck pace from there. Liz and her best friend Maria are brought into the dangerous world of Max, his sister Isabel and their friend Michael who are from up there. Not Canada, but out of space. They came down decades earlier and - thanks to being frozen in some alien fashion - are now students at West Roswell High. Max is head over heels in love with Liz.

The incident earns the group the ire of Sheriff Jim Valenti whose father apparently earned a reputation as a bit of an alien nut back in the day. Valenti smells a rat with the Crashdown shooting and is convinced something alien-related happened.

William Sadler does a great job as the "bad" sheriff. He's just doing his job and following the leads, but to Max and co. He's the bad guy.

"Pilot" features appearances by The West Wing's Richard Schiff as a shadowy federal agent and Star Trek's Jonathan Frakes (presumably as himself, at the Crashdown Festival), who is also an executive producer.

The chemistry between Shiri Appleby's Liz and Jason Behr's Max is off the charts right from the beginning. The couple is perfectly cast.

Who knew there was a radar station near Aidensfield? There seems to be one of everything around the North Yorkshire Moors.

"Face Value" is a very 60's episode, with people protesting nuclear disarmament "ban the bomb!" and some of the locals certain the radar station is responsible for whatever problem they are having. A charismatic politician with a big mouth and a knack for involving the press is at the centre of all the events - Kate knows him from her days in London, pre-Nick, and clashes with Sergeant Blaketon, though not as explosively as in previous instances, and she still manages to find the time to help the police once again. With the protest and an influx of people, trouble isn't too far away. Nick and the others are very busy. Greengrass finds (another) way that isn't exactly above board to make some quick money, this time (and not for the first time) to the detriment of Lord Ashfordly. Kate begins her tenure as Dr Ferrenby's surgery partner, however her consultation rooms aren't quite what she expected.

A much less depressing episode than the last one, "Old, New, Borrowed, Blue" (notable for it being the first appearance by Rupert Vansittart as Lord Ashfordly) features PC Rowan and others on the hunt for a silver burglar who perversely likes to tidy the houses he burgles. Rowan is also trying to figure out the nefarious dealings of the alleged saintly Miss Stirling, and there is plenty of nefarious dealings courtesy of Claude Jeremiah Greengrass - a truly brilliant character brought brilliantly to life by Bill Maynard, facial expressions and all - who never shies away from a chance to make some quick money. On this occasion, he uses the wedding of Alan Maskell and Sandra to do so. The first "Heartbeat" wedding is definitely one for the books. And by the end of the episode, Kate makes a decision about whether she'll partner with Dr Ferrenby or take the hospital job she has been eyeing off.

Some of these early Heartbeat episodes have been quite bleak and "Nowt But a Prank" is probably the bleakest of the lot. It's good storytelling, if depressing at times, with the events between two men in conflict dating right back to the Second World War, and very well acted by all involved. (Paul Copley, later of "Hornblower" and "Downtown Abbey" fame stars as Mr Radcliffe.) Speaking of wars, there was a time during this episode when it seemed that Kate and Sergeant Blaketon might take up the cudgels against one another. Talk about an immovable object versus an un stoppable force. Great scenes between Niamh Cusack and Derek Fowlds. On the lighter side, the scenes between Ventress and Bellamy at the station were very amusing. The Egg Man strikes back, indeed. This is quality television.

Whilst Kate earns the enmity of some stuck-in-their-ways locals who believe her talking with Alan Maskell's fiancé about contraception is a major deal - I guess it was in the English countryside in the 1960's! - Nick is busy chasing after an arsonist setting fire to barns in the area and corralling a spirited horse named Apollo whose owner refuses to secure it properly. Lord Ashfordly's property is the scene of a major poaching incident and Claude Greengrass presents himself as a witness to those criminal events. The more scenes between Bill Maynard's Greengrass and Derek Fowlds' Sergeant Blaketon the better. They are incredibly entertaining, no matter the scenario. Also, probably the most screen time Bellamy and Ventress have had thus far.

There are a bunch of good 90's softcore movies (where the acting is passable and there is some sort of coherent plot - "Friend of the Family" or "Play Time" or "Temptations", to name just three standouts) and then there is this kind: "I'm Watching You" isn't good, even by the lax standards I normally apply to these sorts of movies.

What little plot there is could charitably be called "nonsensical", someone's attempt at the kind of dark erotic crime/murder/revenge-type movie you might have seen someone like Michael Douglas star in around the same time. Needless to say, it fails miserably.

Of course, there were plenty of sex scenes. So many, in fact, that at times the plot developments seemed shoehorned in just to separate the times the cast is naked. I've seen better scenes in these movies, too.

...but the rest of "Passport to Love" oscillated between cringey and scarcely-beleivable, with some pretty unpleasant characters popping up here and there, adding to my distate.

I really liked Shae Robbins in the "Destined at Christmas" movies she did for GAC Family, and watched "Passport for Love" only because she was in it.

Unfortunately, her performance wasn't enough to save this movie. It didn't help that Mason Mac, the male lead that I've never seen or heard of before, delivered a subpar performance. The chemistry between them was less than zero. Mr Mac should watch Robbins in the "Destined" films to see how it's done.

Some of the international locales were very exotic, but like Shae Robbins' performance, not enough to rescue the film from the doldrums of mediocrity. Fair to say that most of these non-Christmas GAC Family films are ordinary to terrible.

Four stars for the movie, an extra one for the scenery and Shae Robbins. And that's me being very generous...

I might be biased, because I'm a huge fan of the enchanting Jessica Siposs (best known for her role in Hallmark's excellent "Chesapeake Shores"), who is brilliant in everything she is in.

"Love on The Danube Royal Getaway" is no exception.

Sippos' chemistry with co-star Dan Jeannotte is superb, and it helps to make up for the incredibly formulaic, tick-the-boxes royal-themed movie - commoner meets royal from some poorly-named country where everyone has an English accent, but doesn't know that he/she is royal - that Hallmark, for better or worse, is known for.

Overall isn't from the top shelf of that genre, but the combination of Siposs and Jeannotte elevates it higher than it probably deserves.

The on-location shoot also helps. The European scenery, for the second "Danube" movie is very spectacular. Further support for my assertion that the best Hallmark movies are those shot on-location.

Catherine Disher of "The Good Witch" fame reprises her bit-part from the first movie. As does Mark Holden as the ship's captain.

(The first of a trilogy of films set on European cruise boats to launch the Hallmark + streaming service)

To be honest, "Love on the Danube - Love Song" moved along at what could charitably be called a gentle pace and there really wasn't a whole lot of drama. It's a feel-good story with a spectacular European backdrop.

Wes Brown is a reliable Hallmark star. I could name a half-dozen of his appearances, and he's always very good. I'd not seen Nazneen Contractor before, but she does a good job in this movie. However, the scenery is arguably the real star of the show. Good to see Hallmark filming on location. It makes a huge difference and more often than not results in a much better movie, from an atmospheric standpoint.

"Love Song" benefits from an on-location shoot and two well-cast leads. Brown and Contractor have good chemistry, which is 80% of the battle won with these Hallmark movies.

Maybe the best season finale that "Chicago Med" has ever produced. The episode had all the things you want from a season finale: drama, shocking reveals, bittersweet goodbyes, happy endings and sad ones, and a very-welcome cameo from an old and friendly face. Well-written, well-acted drama. Loved every second.

"Does One Door Close and Another One Open?" closed the door on a very strong season, and probably the show's most tumultuous. The characters we know and love (and sometimes hate) have really been put through the ringer.

The old guard is starting to shrink, isn't it? Counting the earlier departures of Ethan and April, three original characters who were there on day dot have ridden off into the sunset.

Considering the added levels of uncertainty around the future direction of Gaffney Chicago Med and it's doctors, nurses and support staff, Season Nine has great potential. Can't wait!

An episode that left me wanting more.

The changes coming to Gaffney Chicago Med spearheaded by Jack Dayton, who is planning a live operation in the 2.0 ED, mean that some of the core staff members are at least exploring other opportunities. There is good news for Dr. Archer...and then possibly some bad news to come in the next episode. We meet Dr. Abrams' wife and they receive some surprising news. Dr. Marcel also receives some surprising news from Dayton, and when Will and Dr. Song dig deeper on his behalf, they uncover a piece of information that might change everything. It sets up what is going to possibly be one of the best "One Chicago" season finale episodes we've seen.

A particularly well written and acted episode that - as good shows so often do - hit me right in the feels. "Chicago Med" doesn't always get it perfect, when it it does, episodes like "The Winds of Change Are Starting to Blow" are the result.

As the title would suggest, there is a lot of change afoot at Gaffney Chicago Med, thanks to it's enigmatic new owner, but also on the personal front for the doctors and staff.

Some of our favourites go through the emotional wringer, there are some weird and wonderful medical issues...and an ending that definitely tugs on the heart strings.

The upcoming two episodes that will round out Med's eighth season promise to be very interesting indeed.

The backdrop to "Look Closely and You Might Hear the Truth" is the proposed conversion of Gaffney Chicago Med to a for-profit hospital, an idea spearheaded by Jack Dayton. There is politicking going on behind the scenes ahead of an important board meeting that will decide the fate of the hospital, and when one of the board members who would vote to maintain the status quo falls ill, emergency surgery seems the only way to save the hospital. Elsewhere, Dr Archer and Dr Asher clash personally and professionally, and Dr Charles has a deaf patient who is hearing voices in his head. Another fascinating episode playing out in the board room and the emergency department,

Yes, "Tora! Tora! Tora!" is a better Pearl Harbor film.

Yes, it was ridiculous they shoehorned the Doolittle Raid into the movie so America scored a victory - five months of real time covered in about five minutes of film.

Yes, "Pearl Harbor" was chock-full of historical inaccuracies.

Yes, the acting from all and sundry was wooden (putting it mildly), the characters were cliched beyond words and the plot was predictable as all get-out. (Who couldn't see, like, everything coming?) Not to mention unbelievable at (many) times.

Despite all of that, Pearl Harbor was thoroughly entertaining.

The Japanese attack sequences, though admittedly full of historical inaccuracies, was spectacular. Michael Bay can do big-time action sequences in his sleep. He's the best. The GOAT, if you will. This sort of thing is right in his wheelhouse, and he doesn't let the side down.

Hans Zimmer's score was brilliant. Faith Hill's anthemic "There You'll Be" was good, too.

The visuals from start to finish were epic, whether it was New York City, the Battle of Britain, the Pearl Harbor Raid, the Doolittle Raid or any scene featuring planes and Kate Beckinsale.

Check your credulity at the door. Just enjoy one of the better all-in war blockbusters ever made. Then watch "Tora! Tora! Tora!" or read a good book on Pearl Harbor and the Doolittle Raids.