US TV

What have you been watching this week (w/e April 2)?

Ron Swanson

My usual recommendations for maximum viewing pleasure are: Archer, Being Human (US), The Daily Show, The Killing, Shameless (US) and Stargate Universe. Watch them (and keep an eye on The Stage‘s TV Today Square Eyes feature as well) or you’ll be missing out on the good stuff.

This week, after only three seasons, I’ve given the much-hyped Parks and Recreation a try. Starring Amy Poehler and Rob Lowe, this was supposed to be NBC’s sleeper comedy – the one for people who want to feel smug towards people who watch Community and think they’ve discovered the best niche comedy nobody’s watching.

However, with the exception of Ron, the wonderfully moustached real man character, this was probably the unfunniest thing I’ve seen in quite a while. Even Good Dog was considerably better. It might be because it’s episode eight and no one’s putting their best foot forward, but Portlandia does almost everything in it but better and you’d be hard pressed to find an actual joke. Ron was good though. Can anyone tell me what I’m missing?

“What have you been watching this week?” is your chance to recommend to friends and fellow blog readers the TV that they might be missing or should avoid – and for me to do mini-reviews of everything I’ve watched this week. Since we live in the fabulous world of Internet catch-up services like the iPlayer and Hulu, why not tell your fellow readers what you’ve seen so they can see the good stuff they might have missed?

US TV

Preview: The Kennedys 1×1

The Kennedys

In the US: Sundays, 8pm ET, Reelz Channel. Starts 3rd April
In the UK: Thursdays, 9pm, The History Channel. Starts 7th April

GCSE History empathy essay (by the writers of The Kennedys, aged 16)
Please write about the Kennedys, from the 1930s through to the 1960s. Try to show the ambitions of the family and their attitudes to the presidency, the Second World War and especially John Fitzgerald Kennedy’s father, Joe.

It is 1960 during the presidential election campaign. JFK is running for office and he looks just like he does in those paintings you see of him. When he talks, he has a normal mid-west accent, I think, because although I’ve never heard JFK talking, I can’t imagine he would have a memorable or distinct accent.

“Hi, Jackie, my back hurts,” says JFK. “Can you help me to become president? Although it’s close, I think I am likely to win and become a significant politician if you do.”

“Certainly, JFK,” says Jackie, who looks exactly like Katie Holmes but dressed in pink. “But first I must have my baby.”

Joe Kennedy enters with Bobbie. Both are Irish so are Catholic. Bobbie talks with a strange Boston accent. I don’t know why.

“Hello, my brother who is running for president,” says Bobbie. “Can I help you?”

“You’d like that and so would your wife, wouldn’t she?” snaps Joe in an English accent, since Irish people from Boston are very like English people, I am told. “However, I am a domineering father and I will not let that happen.” Then he turns to his elder son and grimaces. “Hello, JFK,” says Joe. “I am not very glad you are going to become president since I always hoped I would be president and when that didn’t work out, I hoped my eldest son would become president. But he died during the war and now I hate God and you will have to do. Grr.”

Joe remembers 1936 which was before the war, when he was an ambassador in Europe. He remembers it perfectly.

“I will become president by taking over from Franklin D Roosevelt,” he says, looking just a little bit younger. “I will do this by ensuring that America does not enter the war that will happen in Europe in just a few years’ time and give many speeches without permission saying Germany is good.”

He then remembers the speech. Young JFK, who does not look much like older JFK, is watching the speech that he gives. He is not happy.

“I do not think this is a good idea. It will mean my father will not become president one day,” he says. He is very wise and is both fearful and worried about his father, who is domineering.

“Be quiet. You are rubbish,” says his older brother, who does not think much of his brother. “I will become president instead and you will not. Except if I die in a plane crash during the war and you will get lots of medals in the navy and have to take over from me, which will never happen.”

Six months later, after many dinners, Joe cannot run for presidency because his wife said so. Then his eldest son dies. So he says to JFK, “You will run for Congress and you will have to become president because my eldest son who is dead cannot do so.”

JFK is unhappy but he knows that he must become president.

Here’s a trailer of what happened when they filmed that particular GCSE History essay as a $30 million TV series that almost no TV network in the world would touch with a barge pole.

Continue reading “Preview: The Kennedys 1×1”

The CarusometerA Carusometer rating of 2

Third-episode verdict: Endgame

In Canada: Mondays, 10pm ET/PT, Showcase

Episode three of Endgame – in which a Russian chess grandmaster solves crimes all from within the confines of his hotel – has rolled round, so time for a third-episode verdict. Episode one was of course very good, while episode two was a little disappointing in comparison.

Episode three, while again not as funny as the first episode and veering towards the Canadian mean of happy endings and everyone being quite nice, still proved entertaining, thanks almost entirely to star Shawn Doyle since barely anyone else gets any decent characterisation. A novel twist that might be emerging, though, is the idea that the guest star of the week (Michael Shanks from Stargate in this case) effectively could be the ‘guest sleuth of the week’, with Shanks doing much of the legwork to help solve the mystery.

The lead character is still very stereotypically Russian, this week going for KGB conspiracies and exercises with kettle bells, but the show’s gradually finding its feet in terms of making him a little more plausible. It could do with more innovation, some of the humour from the first episode and a bit more of an edge again, but it’s worth watching I think.

Carusometer rating: 2
Rob’s prediction: Should last a season at least, but nothing’s certain after that

US TV

Review: Body of Proof 1×1

ABC's Body of Proof

In the US: Tuesdays, 10/9c, ABC
In the UK: Acquired by Alibi to air this year

In an effort to improve our quality of service, before watching Body of Proof, please complete the following questionnaire:

1) Do you like shows about strong, capable women?
a) Yes
b) No
c) Duh!

2) Do you like shows in which strong, capable women are called brilliant by every passing person in case you didn’t get the hint the first, second or tenth time?
a) Yes
b) No
c) Um…  

3) Do you like shows in which strong, capable women are shown they can’t have everything and have unsupportive husbands and lose custody of their daughters because they work just so damn hard at being brilliant to support the family but that just makes them an absentee mother rather than a good provider?
a) Yes
b) No
c) Would that really happen?

4) Do you like shows in which brilliant high-flying neurosurgeons give up their brilliant careers after having car accidents and killing patients because they worked so damn hard and end up becoming brilliant medical examiners who just aren’t content to examine dead bodies but instead have to go round and interview witnesses while police officers look on dumbly and shout at them for breaking the rules, but who are ultimately proved right?
a) Yes
b) No
c) Isn’t that kind of clunky and/or CSI?

5) Do you like crime shows in which at the end, the brilliant amateur detective gathers all the witnesses together, explains whodunnit, the clues that led her to that conclusion and then gets the police to escort the criminal away, while everyone tells her how brilliant she is and how wrong they were to judge her?
a) Yes
b) No
c) What is this? 1937

If you answered mostly b), do not watch this.
If you answered mostly c), my aren’t you a cynic?
But if you answered mostly a), have I got a show for you. Here’s a trailer

Continue reading “Review: Body of Proof 1×1”