Month: September 2006

US TV

Review: CSI 7.1

22 September 2006 Rob Buckley 4 Comments

CSI Cirque du Soleil

In the US: Thursdays, 9pm ET/PT, CBS

In the UK: In the usual places from January.

Characters re-cast: 0

Major characters gotten rid of: 0

Major new characters: 0, but Louise Lombard is in the credits now

Format change percentage: 0%, unless you count Sara and Grissom acknowledging their love

Beards lost: 1

Is it really over six years since CSI started? It doesn’t seem possible, does it? Yet here we are on season seven. Doesn’t time fly?

The original CSI has always been the greatest of the three franchises. It’s smarter, has better characters, better characterisations, better plots, better dialogue. Better everything really. And at least the forensic science is somewhere close to being true and it’s not seen as some kind of magic that can prove all things.

Enough. Rant over. The best is back, but can the champ still knock out the opposition?

Oh yes. It’s the end of round one and the others are on the floor in a stupor.

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US TV

Review: Six Degrees

22 September 2006 Rob Buckley 6 Comments

Six Degrees

In the US: Thursdays, 10/9c, ABC

In the UK: ITV1 from early in 2007, with repeats on ITV2.

You all watch Lost, right? So what do you love about it? The mystery? The weirdness? The romance?

Oh. You love the flashbacks, where it turns out that everyone really knew everyone else before they got on the island? And you’d really love a show that’s exactly like Lost‘s flashbacks?

Well, here you go. Have Six Degrees. And guess what: it’s by the creator of Lost, JJ Abrams.

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Third episode verdict: Happy Hour

22 September 2006 Rob Buckley 2 Comments

Not much’s changed since the first episode of this one, which didn’t overly impress me. It didn’t help that Fox showed episode two and episode three out of order, resulting in some very odd behaviours for the characters.

I do kind of like it. As mentioned, there’s an inner sadness to most of the characters that does make you feel sorry for them and if you forget the laughter track, it’s actually an interesting drama with occasional comedic moments. But as a sitcom, it’s really not very good.

Avoid if you’re looking for laughs; watch if you want to see the tears of supposed clowns.

US TV

Review: The Wire 4.1-4.2

22 September 2006 Rob Buckley Post a comment

The Wire

In the US: Sundays, 10pm ET/PT, HBO

In the UK: Coming to FX later in the year.

Characters re-cast: 0

Major characters gotten rid of: 0 since last season’s cull

Major new characters: Dozens. Really.

Format change percentage: 75%

A new season of The Wire is always a disconcerting time for fans. What’s it going to be about this year? Who’s going to be in it from the regulars? The first season was a relatively simple affair: cops chasing drug dealers, although as always with The Wire, it’s never that simple. Season two flipped that round completely and turned it into a cops investigating the demise of working class life in once-industrial cities. Then season three started to look at the politics of policing as well as the politics of the police.

Now season four is dealing with the public education system and local politics. As with all seasons of The Wire, it’s is a slow-burn long-term plot with sub-plots that can only pay off episodes later. And it’s a cracker.

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