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With America's present obsession with fairy tales (Grimm, Once Upon a Time, medical dramas (Bones, Greys etc...), Musicals (Smash) and Mad Men knock offs (Bomb girls, Pan Am), Hollywood has been scratching their heads at the sudden obsession with Brit exports such as Downton Abbey and Sherlock.

Coming into their own, Sherlock's sophomore season returned with a strong start. For those of you who are beginning to rash from all the waiting, the two stars will soon become household names after 2012 and be hard to miss. Benedict Cumberbatch (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, War Horse & the untitled Star Trek sequel) and Martin Freeman (Hobbit 1 & 2), can they go any bigger than that?

Similar to James McAvoy's launch from the excellent six part series State of Play, BBC has launched many careers into the Hollywood mainstream. Unlike most Hollywood folks, many thespians aren't afraid to occasionally play smaller, or roles on the small screen.

Helen Mirren (who has voiced interest to play the next Doctor Who)

Jonathan Rhys-Meyer (returned for the Tudors)

Sean Bean (Game of Thrones)

Cillian Murphy (The Silent City)

Kate Winslet & Guy Pierce (Mildred Pierce)

Alan Rickman (The boy in the Bubble/Seminar)

Just to name a few...

Not only does it showcase a level creative risk and humility, it proves that some actors.. no matter how high they rise... are willing to steer clear of Hollywood bullshit and keep their feet on the ground.

Cross your fingers that Sherlock will return for season 3...

The weight of choice

Perhaps it's the overload of information on the web or the ease of communication. The upcoming generations' greatest challenge will be filtering the sheer mass of possibilities. Many will feel immobile, scared stiff of taking a step in the wrong direction, caught in a web of choices that each lead toward a promised prize.

I've had a number of conversations recently, with many who are unhappy with their choices in life. Wishing for greener pastures, assured that their life was the wrong one, their missed opportunities irrecoverably ruining their potential for something greater. What does one say? Left squirming in a precarious position a number of times, I now keep my mouth firmly shut.

Why?

Simple. Blame. There is an expiry date when children can blame their parents, when wives or husbands can point fingers at one another, when you can stomp and whine and generally be a pain in the ass to everyone around you.

The answer? Just try. Think. Plan. Attempt. The very worst you can do is fail, and so long as you did things in moderation, all that you've lost was a little bit of pride, time, and hopefully not too much money.

Wrap up

The end of the year can be a terrible time. Seeing family you wish to avoid, summing up your mishaps and mistakes, emptiness, loneliness, and the deflated void you're left with, come January 2nd.

2012 promises to be quite an interesting year. For some, they believe it'll be the end of the earth itself, for those in the east, it's the lucky Chinese year of the dragon, but for most, it's just one more year that we have to worry about work, money, relationships, and health.

This April- May Michael Apted's acclaimed Up series documentary will return with 56 Up. An intriguing glimpse of varied English individuals, their struggles and triumphs as they age every seven years. It's a slow, almost surreal memory of a world that's been muffled by twitter, tabloids, new gadgets, media, advertising, and facebook.

If you ever feel old, and wish you were a decade younger, appreciate this... the freedom most of us experienced is rapidly vanishing for the next generation, and should not be taken lightly. Even if you can't see the light at the end of the tunnel, nothing lasts forever... eventually your day in the sun will come.

What did Steve Jobs say? Stay hungry, stay foolish.

A Face lift

Movies are dead. Words that no studio exec wants to hear. Is it true? Not sure.. all I hear around me is: "There's nothing worth seeing right now. I'd rather just watch a few re-runs at home." Sad isn't it?

The LINE UP of Fall 2011, 2012, 2013

Sandal flicks and the 300 look.

Immortals? Clash of the Titans? Prince of Persia? B-O-R-I-N-G! Heroes that are perfect, not funny.. I can't relate to them... at all. So why did 300 work? Well Gerald Butler doesn't look like them, he was married, was walking toward his death, and it was the FIRST of it's kind. Slow motion shots feel like a parody now. It's old.

Superheroes are dull

Unless they are drunk, cocky, brash, arrogant pricks. Which is why Iron man, Batman, and Thor are cool.

Aliens and Robots

Skyline, Battle L.A., Cowboys and Aliens, Rise of the Apes. Will I remember them later? Nope.

So what makes Avatar, and soon to be Prometheus and Robopocalypse buzz worthy? The director. Period.

Fairy dust

Hoping to sprinkle a little bit of magic dust from Alice and Wonderland, Hollywood is tapping into the huge vault of long dead writers of the past. Both versions of Snow White are a little obnoxious. Julia Roberts as the evil queen? Idiotic. The twilight girl battling horsemen? Stupid.

Right now I want to step back into history layered in reality. Which is why Anonymous, Tinker, Tailer, Soldier, Spy, and A Dangerous Method are on my list.

What would I like to see?

I must admit Noah's Ark could be interesting... Devil in the White City is fascinating.. a dark version of Atlantis? Arabian Nights from the view of the jaded pissed off genie? Whatever it is be different (ie no cheesy action slow mo shots), be personal, be worth $12.

Sherlock Returns

Benedict Cumberbatch (Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy) and Martin Freeman (The Hobbit) will finally return to the small screen as our dear neurotic but undeniably brilliant Sherlock in early 2012 on BBC.

If you can't wait, you can always discover old gems such as "State of Play" (and I don't mean the Russel Crowe version) in 2003. Directed by David Yates starring familiar faces such as Bill Nighy, James McAvoy, and Kelly Macdonald. John Simm shines as Cal McCaffrey in this six part series.

There's also the spectacularly popular second season of "Downton Abbey", the original sci-fi series "Torchwood", Matthew Macfadyen (Pride and Prejudice) in "Spooks", or the cancelled two season romp, "Life" starring Damien Lewis.

Lately television has proven to be more original, interesting and imaginative than most multi-million dollar movies. Tired of vampires and zombies? Angels are the new Vampire. Immortal, beautiful and dangerous, what else? Look for biblical huge epics in the next few years. Noah's Ark, the teen Angel trilogy Mortal Instruments, and Milton's Paradise Lost are just a few upcoming stories to grace the big screen.