Well, it got a little better, but not a lot. We’re three episodes into Warehouse 13 – aka The X-Files meets Raiders of the Lost Ark meets Friday The 13th: The Series – and nothing very remarkable has happened. The characters are gelling a bit better than in the first episode, and there’s a slightly interesting arc around a possible warehouse break-in, but the plots are very so-so, the dialogue is only average and everything, of course, ends nicely by the end of the episode.
If you like shows like Eureka, you’ll probably like this, but if you’re looking for something more challenging, you’re going to have to look elsewhere.
Carusometer rating: 3 Rob’s prediction: Will probably last as long as Eureka, but really shouldn’t
There are probably ten things you shouldn’t do before watching ABC Family’s remake of 10 Things I Hate About You but the main one that comes to mind is watch the original movie. After watching the first episode, I decided I’d buy a copy of the movie off iTunes and give it a re-watch. And it’s bloody brilliant: it’s literally laugh-a-minute, very clever, has great performances, and even follows The Taming of the Shrew quite closely. Go get yourself a copy right now to see what I mean.
The TV series, while not bad, throws away most of the things that made the movie so distinct, including the whole The Taming of the Shrew plot and any references to books (seriously). Now we just have two sisters, one a bit smart and indie, the other a bit dumb and popular, whose dad is ridiculously over-protective. It’s funnyish in an OTT way – the dad even makes the sisters submit to urine tests when they get back from nights out to make sure they haven’t been drinking/taking drugs – and Lindsey Shaw is really good. But it’s essentially just another high school comedy with a cast over-acting for all they’re worth.
If you don’t mind relatively obvious, high school comedies with some very slow-burn, obvious romances, 10 Things isn’t bad, and Kat, the smart indie sister, is at least a decent role-model. But given its pedigree, I’d have hoped for something a whole lot better.
Carusometer ratings: 3 Rob’s prediction: It won’t ever excel or reach any heights, but I imagine it’ll last a season at least
A little while ago, we were musing on the lack of romantic couples on TV – and the even greater lack of couples who remain romantic once they get together.
Yet, it was not always so. Cast your mind back to The Thin Man series and you have great chemistry between a married couple; indeed, in the world of crime-fighting, TV has had many such couples, including Jonathan and Jennifer in Hart to Hart, the less than PC-titled McMillan and Wife, the now-obscure but once highly rated Wilde Alliance, and James Bolan and Barbara Flynn in The Beiderbecke Affair et al.
Comedy-drama Tucker’s Witch, from CBS c.1982, featured another crime-fighting married couple, although as the title suggests, “with a twist”. Rick and Amanda Tucker are married private investigators. However, Amanda discovers that she’s inherited her grandmother’s powers of witchcraft, which as she learns more about them, either help or hinder them in their investigations.
The show starred Tim Matheson, best known now as the vice-president in The West Wing, but then known for series such as The Quest and the movie Animal House. Joining him was Catherine Hicks, who’s probably best known as the whale-loving scientist in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home. It was one of those series that ITV used to chuck out at 1.30pm on a Tuesday afternoon for some reason, and I really liked it, although I have minimal memories of actual plots. Oh well.
Incidentally, the pilot back when the show was called The Good Witch of Laurel Canyon, starred Art Hingle and Kim Cattrall from Sex and the City. However, following her ‘locker room scene’ in Porkies, CBS ordered her part recast. Which is odd.
As are the titles, which really seemed to love that cat.
Today, Ali Larter is being a bit blurry and shaky in a camcordered trailer for Heroes: Redemption (aka Volume Five/the start of season four), which is due to start on September 21st on NBC in the US. Do I need to point out that there be spoilers? In case you missed it at the end of season three, here’s how she came back.
