As much as we like to think our TV is great in Britain – and it is, or can be anyway – somehow, US TV was always that much more exciting. Case in point: The Red Hand Gang. Although British TV has had its fair share of children detectives, including The Famous Five and The Secret Seven, somehow The Red Hand Gang – a motley collection of American street kids – was just that much more exciting and dynamic. You could argue it’s a street thing, with The Famous Five and co painfully middle class and “good for you” while The Red Hand Gang with its relatively diverse cast was much more fun. But that didn’t work in the Blue Peter v Magpie wars of the 70s, so who knows? Maybe it was just “exotic” because it’s foreign.
Or maybe it was the insanely catchy theme tune and that kid and his stupid red banana harmonica.
Either way, The Red Hand Gang – so called because they left red handprints on fences wherever they went – saw our intrepid gang of kids fight jewel thieves, kidnappers and more. The gang were:
Frankie – the leader
JR – the athlete
Doc (played by the wonderfully named James Bond III) – the brains
Joanne – the girl
Lil’ Bill – Frankie’s younger brother
Boomer – the dog. Bizarrely, he went on to get his own show, Here’s Boomer.
Unlike a lot of shows, The Red Hand Gang was episodic, with its 12 episodes split into three stories. However, back in America, NBC cancelled it halfway through its run so many kids didn’t even get to see that much.
Shame, because it’s indelibly printed on many a 30/40-something British person’s mind.
And yes, if you’re very good, maybe someone will buy it for you on DVD.
NBC is trying its very hardest to get us to watch The Cape, which starts on Sunday at 9pm ET before moving to Mondays on the 17th. It’s about an ordinary guy (Vince Faraday, played by David Lyons) who decides to become a superhero and despite the presence of Summer Glau and Vinnie Jones in the cast, everything about it that I’ve seen suggests “complete cobblers” and makes me wonder why they cancelled Heroes.
Look – see for yourself.
Looks rubbish, huh?
All the same, NBC is pulling out all the stops in an effort to get this probable turkey to fly. This week, it’s been fitting capes to statues in New York. Beneath each statue is a plaque that details the historical figure’s greatest achievement and similarities to Faraday. Visitors to the statues will also be able to enter the “Hero Behind the Cape” giveaway via FourSquare and Twitter. By checking in at the location of a statue, tweeting a picture of yourself with the statue with the hashtag #herobehindthecapeswps or by direct messaging the official Twitter account, you can enter yourself into a competition.
One winner will be chosen each day between January 5-9 and receive an Apple iPad. The grand prize winner will receive the full “Hero” treatment in New York City: a luxurious dinner for two, limo service, two tickets to the taping of an NBC audience show and an Apple iPad.
Sounds good, but you’re still not going to watch it, are you?
Here are the current top 20 pages on this here blog.
Some are easy to explain (Love Actually was on over Christmas a lot, for example), but why the mysterious love for Help… It’s The Hair Bear Bunch! Any ideas?
