Third-episode verdict: Justice

I liked the first episode of Justice. Fresh TV from the House of Bruckheimer, it was a touch more CSI: Miami than CSI – the kind of show where no one just has a meeting, they have to stand up the whole time, shout and have handheld cameras swung between them – but it was new and different. Do I like it now, three episodes in?

Yes, I do. It’s toned down the CSI: Miami stupidity and still continues to offer some incisive views on law as practised in big media cases in the US. Victor Garber’s Ron Trott is a fantastic piece of haminess. And you’re never sure who you’re supposed to be rooting for.

There’s still little characterisation going on – although as is the case with many third episodes, characters started throwing out random bits of background history to give the illusion of characterisation:

“Like I tell my son, never get caught in a compromising position with an inebriated woman.”

“Your son’s five years old”

“It’s never too early to start telling them.”

But that’s no bad thing at this early stage, as long as the plots remain strong, which they do. The fact we’re dealing with defence attorneys rather than prosecutors remains a relatively novel twist, particularly since we’re never sure until the end if the defendant is guilty or innocent. The third episode had a particularly interesting development on that score, which I won’t spoil anyone by revealing. The fact they’re also quite a sleazy bunch is equally novel, although I’m sure Boston Legal fans would disagree.

All in all, I’d say keep watching (or start watching come October if you’re in the UK) Justice since slick and glossy it might be, it’s still smart in the areas that count.

Here’s a YouTube vid for you. It’s the first seven minutes from the pilot episode and gives you a fair idea of what the show’s like if you haven’t watched it yet.

Other TV news from last week

Other interesting nuggets of news that popped up last week that weren’t about Doctor Who.

  • Thanks to overwhelmingly fantastic critical reaction, The Wire‘s been picked up for a fifth season, despite getting less than 2 million viewers for its first episode. This final season will look at the mass media; given The Wire‘s co-creator used to be a journalist on the Baltimore Sun, it should at least be authentic.
  • Psych has been picked up for a second season and The Dead Zone‘s back for a sixth
  • Windfall has been cancelled
  • James Cromwell, the ‘dad’ of that adorable pig called Babe, is to be killing-machine Jack Bauer’s dad in 24. There’s versatility for you.
  • FX in the UK has picked up Showtime’s Brotherhood. To counteract people forward-winding through ads, the network plans to create commercials for the show that feature the same image for 30 seconds. Silly plan or not, I do recommend watching Brotherhood if you can. Despite my luke-warm first and third episode reviews, Brotherhood is now firmly on my weekly viewing schedule, thanks to a compelling cast and its look into the shady world of local politics.
  • Thank God CSI doesn’t feature on-screen episode titles, or there are going to be a few raised eyebrows in Britain when Fannysmackin’ airs
  • My prediction that alternative DVD commentaries were going to be a growing market appears to be bearing fruit, judging by the arrival of Quick Stop’s additions to the range.
  • Aaron Sorkin answers critics who suggest that Studio 60 is based on his life by saying they’re right – up to a point. Interestingly, he used to date Kristin Chenoweth, who played the squeaky deputy press secretary in The West Wing and is a devoted Christian.

And finally, just in case you wanted to know what The Hanso Foundation is and what all those numbers mean in Lost, someone’s assembled all the video clips from The Lost Experience (which, my street urchins tell me, is some kind of online game thing). Press the Play button to find out what’s up.

News

Things Doctor Who-y that happened while I was on holiday

This is all old news, but just in case you missed it, here’s a rundown on the top Who stories of last week:

Sarah Jane’s back… again, in another Doctor Who spin-off… again
Sarah Jane SmithThe Beeb has finally confirmed that The Sarah Jane Adventures will be happening. Lis Sladen’s back as (almost) everybody’s favourite old-school Who assistant, complete with helpful investigative teenage neighbour. K9 will appear in the first episode, a 60-minute special, but won’t be in the rest of the series. Has a hint of Dark Season to it, don’t you think?

It’s worth pointing out that that’s yet another series Russell T Davies is spreading himself thinly over. When’s he going to find time to sleep?


McGann’s the other official BBC Doctor

Paul McGann as the DoctorThe Eighth Doctor aka Paul McGann is to get his own original BBC7 series in the New Year. McGann’s Doctor is already a reasonably familiar presence on BBC7, thanks to airings of various of his Big Finish stories. This season of stories, however, will be originals and will feature Sheridan Smith from Two Pints of Lager… as his companion, rather than the delightful India Fisher as Edwardian adventuress Charley Pollard. They’ll still be produced by Big Finish, however, and enhanced versions will appear on CD later next year.

I’ll withhold judgement on the stories till I hear them (ooh, goodie, new things to review!) rather than “go knee jerk”, but having seen her filming Two Pints, I would say that Sheridan Smith is actually a pretty good actress (who doesn’t fluff her lines constantly like certain cast members) so could do well here. Why they’ve switched from India Fisher, though, I don’t know: pick your own conspiracy about Charley being too posh, etc for younger audiences to identify with or how it might annoy Conrad Westmaas if India Fisher got a solo companion role.

Most unlikeliest event in human history occurs


Janet FieldingJanet Fielding has agreed to narrate an audio book version of rubbish Peter Davison story Warriors of the Deep. Caroline John (Liz Shaw) and Katy Manning (Jo Grant) will be narrating Doctor Who and the Silurians and The Sea Devils as well, as part of the ‘Monsters on Earth’ limited edition CD.

I’ll tell you something: if you’ve never seen Janet Fielding go on at length about how Doctor Who is rubbish, anti-feminist, etc, in front of a mass of seething Whovians, you haven’t seen courage yet. Now she’s narrating one of the most awful stories she ever appeared in? Bizarre. Still, at least you won’t have to see the polystyrene sets and the Myrka in this version…

The week ahead

Well, I’m back from my vacation/my holiday/me hols (delete according to preferred dialect); yes, it did rain at various points, being Swansea, but it was also sunny. Hooray! I might blog about it over on my personal blog at some point. I might not though. Would anyone really be interested, I wonder?

Anyway, it’s going to be a busy week here on ‘The Medium is Not Enough’. The planned line-up includes:

  • A preview of Union Jackass, Al “Pub Landlord” Murray’s new US sitcom, airing on Fox in January (hopefully) and probably Sky One (or similar) in the UK shortly afterwards
  • Reviews of the first episodes of the new season of The Wire, Extras (if I can be arsed), Anne Heche’s new series Men in Trees and anything else that happens to air this week
  • Third-episode verdicts on ‘Til Death, Justice, Happy Hour and Standoff.
  • Plus generally sarcastic comments on TV news and anything else that happens this week.

However, I’m off to the Oktoberfest later today (it’s for business, honest guv’nor) and won’t be back till Wednesday afternoon, plus it’s going to be a busy post-holiday week anyway, so I have no idea exactly when I’m going to be able to squeeze all of this in. Fingers crossed, I will though.

News

Last one: Sun says DT has committed to another series of Doctor Who

David Tennant in an interesting hatI know, I know, I’m supposed to be on holiday, but…

Today’s issue of The Sun says that David Tennant has signed up for a third series of Doctor Who, asking for and getting the princely sum of £1 million for the series. However, it continues, that he absolutely won’t commit to another series after that.

Now, The Sun has been good in the past for insider info, although I suspect its accuracy varies according to the journalist writing each story – they’re a territorial lot at The Sun. But, how can this be, given that

  1. £1 million is what Eccles-cake got for the first series (allegedly) and the ratings have been better under DT than they were under CE;
  2. The fourth series hasn’t even been commissioned yet?

Were the Beeb waiting to see whether DT would sign on the dotted line before committing to another series? Surely, given Who‘s unique “let’s dump the star” capabilities, they wouldn’t have been that fussed.

Alternatively, maybe they thought they could keep DT’s asking price down if they didn’t commit themselves to another series. Theories on a postcard or stuck-down envelope to…