What have you been watching this week (w/e June 25)

Lots of new shows in the US, and I’ve Memphis Beat, Boston Med, Rookie Blue and Rubicon still to watch, as well as the second ep of the uninspiring Hot in Cleveland. Otherwise, here’s what I’ve been watching:

  • Burn Notice: Still a week behind, but last week’s was a bit throwaway and lacked Robert Wisdom. All the tradecraft stuff was fun, but Jesse grates and the relationships among the regulars and their development appears to have been put on hold in favour of Jesse’s development.
  • Leverage: I was so unenthused by the first episode that I actually gave up on the idea of writing a review. Woo hoo, “Sophie” is back, but the first episode felt like a by the numbers bit of plot mechanics to get the show back to its standard format, with the same old tricks being used time and again. The arrival of the Italians is an interesting move although doesn’t look like its going to affect every episode. The second episode, a slight riff on Gross Point Blank was a lot better though, with the chemistry between the regulars returning and something looking like character development manifesting as well. There were also some new tricks that look like they were cribbed from a Derren Brown show, but hey I’m not complaining and it’s always good to see Arye Gross getting work.
  • Royal Pains: Pretty painful stuff – a Royal Pains/WWE Raw crossover with one of the WWE’s wrestlers playing the star of some really, really dreadful movies that for some reason, everyone in the Hamptons likes. The one redeeming feature was the arrival of Anastasia Griffith from Trauma as (spoiler)Boris’s new concierge doctor. Nice to see they’re making Evan less of a tit, too.

But what have you been watching?

As always, no spoilers unless you’re going to use the <spoiler> </spoiler> tags, please. If you’ve reviewed something on your blog, you can put a link to it here rather than repeat yourself (although too many links and you might get killed by the spam filter).

Classic TV

Lost Gems: The Green Hornet (1966)

The Green Hornet

Back in the 60s when Batman was at the height of its popularity, the ABC network looked around for a similar superhero show to cash in on Batman‘s success. They hit upon an old radio programme, The Green Hornet, about newspaper proprietor Britt Reid who pretends to be the eponymous masked criminal so that he can stop actual criminals.

The producers soon cast Van Williams as Reid, but that was actually the least important bit of casting on the show. One notable aspect of the story format was that Reid was assisted in his fight against crime by his Asian man-servant, Kato. The producers looked far and wide before eventually landing upon a little known Hong Kong movie star for the coveted role.

That star was Bruce Lee.

As a result of that casting, The Green Hornet became possibly the only show in history where nobody really gave a toss about the lead character. The only character anyone was interested in was Kato, thanks to Bruce Lee’s incredible martial arts prowess. In Hong Kong, The Green Hornet was actually called The Kato Show.

Unfortunately, it was a short-lived show, lasting only a season. The fact that rather than camp and cheesy, the producers opted for straight-laced probably didn’t help, but having a dull lead character really didn’t help either.

Nevertheless, The Green Hornet‘s legacy lives on. Chinese martial artist Jet Li (best known here from Lethal Weapon 4) did more or less an entire film in the Kato costume, and Kill Bill Volume 1‘s massed fight scene sees “the Crazy 88” all wearing Kato masks. And in 2011, Seth Rogen (Knocked Up) and Asian martial arts star Jay Chou will be starring in a movie version of The Green Hornet.

Here then, for your delectation is the weird old title sequence of The Green Hornet, a clip of the show’s most famous fight scene, followed by an absolute treat – Bruce Lee’s original screentest for the show, which shows you simply how impressive a man he was.

Sitting Tennant

Friday’s Sitting Tennant (week 25, 2010)

dreamer-easy's Sitting Tennant

Erin C's Sitting Tennant

Rullsenberg's Sitting Tennant

Sister Chastity's Sitting Tennant

Toby's Sitting Tennant

Hot, isn’t it?

  1. Rullsenberg, Erin C: 165
  2. Sister Chastity: 145
  3. Toby: 120
  4. Rachel: 90
  5. Sabine: 65
  6. Karen: 35
  7. dreamer-easy: 15
  8. Dawn: 10
  9. kellyann06: 5

Don’t forget Tuesday’s caption competition.

Got a picture of David Tennant sitting, lying down or in some indeterminate state in between? Then leave a link to it below or email me and if it’s judged suitable, it will appear in the “Sitting Tennant” gallery. Don’t forget to include your name in the filename so I don’t get mixed up about who sent it to me.

The best pic in the stash each week will appear on Monday and get ten points; the runners up will appear on Friday (one per person who sends one in) and get five points.

You can also enter the witty and amusing captions league table by commenting on Monday’s Sitting Tennant photo, the best caption getting 10 points, everyone who contributes getting five points.

Friday’s “Love Bites dumps” news

Doctor Who

Film

British TV

US TV

US TV

Review: The Gates 1×1

In the US: Sundays, 10/9c, ABC

‘Gated communities’ are a largely US phenomenon that haven’t quite caught on over here yet. The idea is to build a whole load of houses and ‘McMansions’, together with shops, schools and other important facilities in a nice area away from not-so-nice areas – then stick a great big fence round it. The aim is to stop bad people turning up, stealing things, killing people and so on, by keeping them out of the community altogether.

There’s an obvious flaw in this plan: what if the evil’s already inside the community? What are they going to do then to protect themselves against the witches, vampires and werewolves then, huh?

Yes, you read that right: witches, vampires and werewolves. Oh, but hang on, turns out that maybe the witches, vampires and werewolves might create their own gated community to keep the humans out. Because, you know, monsters have issues, too.

Continue reading “Review: The Gates 1×1”