Friday’s news from outside the law

Film

British TV

US TV

US TV

Review: The Unit 3×1

The Unit

In the US: Tuesdays, 9pm et/pt, CBS

In the UK: Probably Bravo or Virgin 1

Characters re-cast: 0

Major characters gotten rid of: 0

Major new characters: 0

Format change percentage: 50%

Number of families running America still its independence: Five

There’s a general assumption that the mainly excellent Bourne films have been a good thing. They made the Bond producers think twice about producing another piece of mindless rubbish; instead, they made the only slightly mindless Casino Royale.

Yet they appear to have had rather a bad effect of The Unit. Essentially a tale about the US’s Delta special forces group (with names changed to give the plots a certain leeway), The Unit trod a thin line between being a spy show and being a show about the army. While it could be escapist at times, it did try to attain certain levels of realism and it did this best when it focused on the army side of the characters.

But the surprisingly bad influence of Jason Bourne has finally had an effect on The Unit – and his fingerprints are all over the first episode of the third season, right down to the music, and they haven’t been planted this time.

Continue reading “Review: The Unit 3×1”

US TV

Review: House 4.1

House

In the US: Tuesdays, 9/8c, Fox

In the UK: Five, Five US, Hallmark, whenever they get round to it and have finished butchering the theme tune

Characters re-cast: 0

Major characters gotten rid of: Three (for now)

Major new characters: 30

Format change percentage: 30%

Number of deerstalkers worn: One invisible one

Oh dear. Another disappointment. That wasn’t very good.

With House’s staff having left for pastures new at the end of the third season, the temptation would have been to bring them all back in this season opener. That wouldn’t have been very realistic but it would at least have made it more interesting. Because it turns out that Holmes without his Watsons (even if he has his Wilson), just isn’t as interesting.

Wilson might be more interesting, Cuddy might be more interesting. But House without someone to insult is just a puzzle solver.

Continue reading “Review: House 4.1”

US TV

Review: CSI: Miami 6.1

CSI Miami

In the US: Mondays, 10pm, CBS

In the UK: Five, Five US, Living, etc, whenever they get round to it

Characters re-cast: 0

Major characters gotten rid of: 0

Major new characters: 0.5

Format change percentage: 15%

New relatives: 1

Behold the Carusobot. All hail the Carusobot. It has returned. It stands at odd angles. It delivers bad lines slowly and oddly. It stands still and expects the whole world to move around it.

It is a miracle of modern science.

Compared to last season’s opener, which was a true idiot fest, albeit an extremely glossy action-packed piece of rubbish, CSI: Miami‘s sixth season opener was far more subdued and nowhere near as stupid. That’s not to say it wasn’t stupid at all, because it clearly was. It’s just lost a certain je ne sais quoi, a certain CSI: Miami-ish quality.

Continue reading “Review: CSI: Miami 6.1”

News

Thursday’s “one man can make a difference” news

Knight Rider

Doctor Who

Film

Theatre



British TV

  • GMTV fined £2m over phone line scandal
  • Decided not to watch ITV1? Now you can decide not to watch it again an hour later: Michael Grade is considering ITV1+1
  • Channel 4 ratings at 15-year low

US TV