In the US: Fridays, 10/9c, NBC
He’s a neo-con Supreme Court judge! His late dad’s a famous liberal! He feels guilty so jacks it all in to become a crusading lawyer, fighting to change the law and he’s going to make himself some enemies! He’s Jimmy Smits and he’s an Outlaw!
And we’ve seen it all before.
In the US: Thursdays, 9/8c, The CW
In the UK: Living. Starts October. Available on iTunes
La Femme Nikita is probably one of the most influential French movies of the last couple of decades or so. It got remade in the US with Bridget Fonda, it span off a TV series with Peta Wilson and now The CW is spinning off another TV series called Nikita. But it’s also influential in other terms: you can look to shows ranging from VR.5 to Covert Affairs to even Buffy to see the descendants of Nikita – the kick-ass heroine who has a potentially romantic relationship with her less action-packed but still strong, emotionally shut down male ‘handler’.
The plot of the original movie, followed by all the other versions, is that a female junkie is arrested committing a robbery. She’s sent to prison and while there is told that the government has taken an interest in her and want her to join their top-secret agency. She agrees and after faking her death, she’s taught not only how to be a spy and fight the bad guys with potentially unethical techniques, she learns how to be a Lady rather than a common street thug. After a while, ‘Nikita’ as they call her decides she wants to leave ‘Division’ and has to escape from her new bosses, helped by the handler who’s grown to love her (‘Michael’).
Now the last TV series, despite the escapism, was clearly for adults: it was masterminded by neo-con Joel Surnow before he went on to co-create 24 and enjoys many of the same attitudes, concepts of how terrorists operate and what our responses should be. There was frequent torture and murder. It was still obviously escapist, and made 24 look realistic in comparison, but it was clearly a show with some real guts.
But the new Nikita is on The CW, which is best known as the home of Smallville, America’s Next Top Model, Gossip Girl, 90210, Privileged, Life Unexpected and a whole variety of teenage/young adult programming (Supernatural being the strange exception).
So how are we going to get teenagers into this? Well, the answer here is that this Nikita instead of recreating the movie carries on a few years later. Nikita, now played by Maggie Q, is still on the run but has now decided to get her revenge on Division. Meanwhile, Division is still recruiting – and guess what: it’s got a whole bunch of new teenage girl recruits.
Following on from last week’s ‘immensely’ successful look at some rare 1960s TV title sequences, I thought I’d have a look at another batch, this time of 15 rarer intros from both the 50s and 60s.
For your delight, here are:
In Canada: Sundays, 9pm ET/PT, Showcase
Fantasy books – don’t you just love them? They’re so deep.
Oh, follow me down to the land of Nerry-Nu,
Where the Bibbug Tree is to be found.
WIth a hey nonny nonny, the twiddle beast sings
And the fairies do dance in the round.
Actually, not that I’m biased, but “meaningless guff with sub-adult characterisation and obvious symbolism designed to tap into the ids of the repressed and introverted” would pretty much sum up 90% of it. I’m looking at you here Vampire Diaries and Twilight in particular. Yes, yes, I know Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Being Human, etc. But 90% of it.
Maybe that’s why I can’t take Lost Girl at all seriously. Obviously “young adult” fare that pretends to be for an older audience, this sees a young woman (she’s really not a girl, despite the title) with strange powers discover that the reason her parents always told her sex was bad was because she’s a succubus and her kiss can kill. So she goes wandering from place to place until she comes across a young street waif and a Chris Martin-alike vampire cop and discovers who she really is, that sex isn’t all bad, she isn’t really alone and that she’s really, really important.
Are you spotting the sub-text yet?
NBC’s excellent Community is due back on US screens next week (get a move on, UK), and the marketing bandwagon is shifting into gear. Because let’s face it, it’s up against The Big Bang Theory this year so it might not be long for this world (although this is NBC, the home of low-rated but excellent comedy shows, so you never know).
Fortunately, the bandwagon is giving us some clips to enjoy. So fasten your seatbelt and enjoy these marvellous highlights of the first season, Chevy Chase being interviewed by series creator Dan Harmon and some outtakes.
Season 1 Remix
Continue reading “Community fun and games – outtakes, interviews and more”
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