Year: 2006

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.

Continue reading “Review: The Wire 4.1-4.2”

Third episode verdict: ‘Til Death

22 September 2006 Rob Buckley 1 Comment

I was waiting for the green shoots of comedy to emerge from the distinctly average pilot. Unfortunately, it looks as if someone has come along, planted some uranium pellets and some salt around the green shoots and killed all greenery in a 100 mile radius. There’s still a few laughs per episode and if you found Everybody Loves Raymond endlessly entertaining, you’ll probably love it, but I’d recommend everyone else to stay away unless they have a nice lead-lined suit to keep them going.

The Unit – it does get better

22 September 2006 Rob Buckley Post a comment

Turns out, as hoped, that the first episode of the new season of The Unit was a blip: the third episode, The Kill Zone, is an absolute cracker. Loads of adrenaline on The Unit side, coupled with some interesting political comments on the home front, with the US army’s policies towards next of kin, funeral payments, etc, put under the microscope.

And yes, it was written by Lynn Mamet. Should be airing October 3rd in the US, which is when season one begins airing on Bravo in the UK, coincidentally.

US TV

Stewie gives Earl bad advice for his DVD boxset

21 September 2006 Rob Buckley 4 Comments

Stewie GriffinWhen asked to create some original material for the first My Name is Earl box set, creator Greg Garcia decided to reshoot the pilot as Bad Karma, in which Earl gets set on the path of evil karma rather than good.

But who would provide Earl with this bad piece of advice?

Stewie Griffin from Family Guy!

“If someone dares to hurt you, you hunt them down and beat them like a dog. Sweet, sweet vengeance!”

Read all about it over at the Los Angeles Times.