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Time for a third-episode verdict on Fox’s The Good Guys, in which Colin Hanks and Bradley Whitford play a pair of ill-matched cops in dead-end jobs, who somehow always manage to end up doing something ‘explosive’.
Not much’s changed since the first two episodes except that the third episode has aired and it was quite dull. While the first two episodes were lifted by the presence of a charismatic and fun guest character, the third episode relied on the two central characters for humour. And there ain’t much in them, beyond the obvious – Bradley Whitford is old, inappropriate, ignores the rules and can’t deal with computers; Colin Hanks is uptight and pining after his ex-girlfriend. Not much to work with, is there?
While there’s a certain fun to be had in seeing how the generic property crime of the week (this week, vending machine vandalism) escalates into machine-gun fights, car crashes, etc, the Hanks/ex- relationship does have an appeal, and the time-jumping narrative device is clever, there’s not enough to be found in the other aspects of the show to sustain interest.
So despite the talent of Bradley Whitford and his fabulous moustache, I’m quitting after three episodes. If it gets better, let me know.
Carusometer rating: 4
Rob’s prediction: Won’t make it to a second season, might even be cancelled sooner
Riddle me this: is a Lost Story actually lost if it was simply never accepted for production or has been through so many rewrites for so many Doctors that no one can truly say what was actually lost?
Pat Mills – a former Doctor Who Monthly comic strip writer best known now as the co-creator of Judge Dredd – came up with an idea for a comic strip. His then-wife said it was too good to be a comic and he should submit it to the TV show’s production team. So first he approached Christopher H Bidmead, script editor for Tom Baker’s last season. By the time Mills was ready to meet the producer, John Nathan Turner, Peter Davison had taken over as the Doctor and Eric Saward was the new script editor.
Somehow, time flew by, with changes requested here and there, and before you knew it, Colin Baker was the Doctor, the show became sillier again, and yet more rewrites were wanted. Except The Song of Megaptera never went into production, probably because it was set inside a mile-long space whale.
While working on an Eighth Doctor and Lucie story for Big Finish, Mills asked if BF would be interested in making the script at long last as part of its Lost Stories range, and BF said yes. Deciding – presumably for the sake of convenience – to make it a Sixth Doctor and Peri story like the rest of the range, Big Finish have let Mills rewrite it the way he wants for audio.
The result is a slightly Douglas Adams-ish bit of whimsy in which interstellar whalers are chasing after a space-whale – which the Doctor and Peri eventually end up inside. It isn’t bad, but is it Doctor Who?
Continue reading “Review: Doctor Who – The Lost Stories – 07 – The Song of Megaptera”
He’s back. It’s David Tennant (aka “David i’the chair”) ready to be captioned. This week’s winning picture was provided by Erin C, who gets the 10 points. For those of you competing and wondering what’s left in your stashes, dreamer-easy has two, Erin C has 23, Rullsenberg has 13 and Sister Chastity has 27, with everyone else having run out.
In the competition to see who could tickle my funny bone the most, amazingly, it was a tie between the surreal Electric Dragon and the dirty, dirty Ms Rullsenberg. Well done to them both, five points and good luck to everyone entering this week!
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 Tuesday 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 Tuesday’s Sitting Tennant photo, the best caption getting 10 points, everyone who contributes getting five points.
In the US: Thursdays, 8.30/7.30c, NBC
If you were a historical character, who would you be? Rasputin? Gandhi? Beethoven?
If NBC were a historical character, it would be Robert the Bruce, because no matter what happens, it will just try, try, try again.
Friends has gone. Friends is dead. NBC misses it terribly. It tried to do Friends again with Coupling and failed horribly. Now, it’s giving it yet another go with 100 Questions, in which five friends all try to help each other through life’s uncertainties and love – and we get to see them as the main character, Englishwoman Charlotte Payne, goes to a dating agency and answers 100 questions about herself.
But the signs haven’t been promising. The show was retitled 100 Questions from the slightly quirkier 100 Questions for Charlotte Payne. After the pilot, two of the friends were recast (one of them now being played by Smith Cho, who is being given a retry after appearing on another NBC re-try, Knight Rider). The whole thing was reshot. The episode count was dropped from 13 episodes to six and the show was moved to a Summer slot. The star of the show has moved back to England and got married. And if you were expecting NBC to actually tell you the show was on, well, oops – what a mistake to make. I didn’t notice until last Thursday, just before the third episode.
Despite these signs, it’s not half bad. And that half is Sophie Winkleman – Big Suze from Channel 4’s Peep Show. Here, have a shiny NBC trailer that features the original cast: you’ll still get the drift, even if it’s actually not as good as the updated version.
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