US TV

Review: Hell on Wheels (AMC) 1×1

Hell on Wheels

In the US: Sundays, 10/9c, AMC
In the UK: Acquired by TCM UK to air in 2012

There’s been a lot of talk this season about AMC’s Mad Men. The Playboy Club and Pan Am have both supposedly been trying to emulate the success of Mad Man by both being set in the 60s and allegedly glorifying sexism, racism, et al. The parallels are relatively few and often spurious but what people have latched onto in this 60s setting. Apparently, until Mad Men, period drama didn’t happen on US TV so clearly anything period must owe a debt to Mad Men.

Now overlooking the quasi-period (e.g. Quantum Leap, New Amsterdam, Journeyman, That 70s Show, Life on Mars) as well as actually period (e.g. Glory Daze, Swingtown) is one thing. But to overlook the western? That’s downright ridiculous.

The western was once the mainstay of US TV: Bonanza ran for 13 years, Gunsmoke ran for 20 years and there were countless others. Modern day TV networks also haven’t forgotten the western: HBO had Deadwood while FX’s Justified is essentially a western set in modern times; and even as I type, the development slates at various US networks are already filling up with a whole new batch of westerns, ready to be unleashed on us next September, including a remake of the classic TV western The Rifleman.

But now look. While everyone’s been fixated on the 60s as the Mad Men USP, AMC – the home of Mad Men – is trying its hardest to cash in on the success of its own, currently absent show (as well as its first ever original mini-series, Broken Trail) with another period piece that relishes the mores and prejudices of a rapidly changing American society. Can you guess when it’s set?

Continue reading “Review: Hell on Wheels (AMC) 1×1”

UK TV

Here’s novel: Silent Witness efiction

Silent Witness efiction

Look what Box Fiction is launching.

LAUNCH OF NEW SILENT WITNESS ESERIES TO ANSWER THE QUESTION:
“WHATEVER HAPPENED TO DR SAM RYAN?”

Seven years ago, the much-loved forensic pathologist Professor Sam Ryan, lead character of the BBC’s hit crime drama Silent Witness, disappeared from the show, never to return. In the hands of actress Amanda Burton, she had become an iconic and compelling figure watched by millions every week.

Many fans of the show have speculated what may have become of Sam Ryan since the character’s decision in the first episode of series 8 to leave detective work behind and return to her native Ireland. On November 21st, they will finally have the chance to find out, as she makes her return in a new eSeries written by the show’s creator Nigel McCrery.

ESeries are instalments of fiction published as short form episodes – a TV series that you read. Boxfiction is a new kind of digital publisher, releasing a new episode each week through their website, boxfiction.com, to be downloaded onto laptops, tablets, mobile devices and e-readers. This revolutionary concept will launch with ‘Titan’, the first of five all-new double episodes to join the Silent Witness canon.

“Authors need to face the challenge of adapting their writing to the changing demands of audiences,” says Nigel McCrery. “People haven’t lost their appetite for the written word, what’s changing is the form and medium in which it is consumed. I’m very proud to be the first writer to work with Boxfiction and excited by the story-telling opportunities the medium creates.”

“In founding Boxfiction, we wanted writers to play with the relationship between suspense and payoff that television audiences love,” says Boxfiction Director and Founder Conrad Persons. “Reading is traditionally such a solitary pursuit – there’s no such thing as a ‘water-cooler moment’ in reading a novel. What this format enables us to do is create a community that thrives on those kind of shared experiences. We felt that Nigel, as a legendary figure in the world of the televised thriller, was the perfect writer to show what the medium can do.”

The first episode of the new eSeries of Silent Witness will be released exclusively by Boxfiction on 21st November, and a new double episode will follow each week for five weeks. The launch episode will be released for free, with each episode thereafter costing 99p to download, or users can subscribe to all ten episodes for a launch price of £5.99.

Thursday’s “making the Silk cut” news

Film

British TV

  • Frances Barber, Indira Varma and Phil Davis join second series of Silk

US TV

Question of the week: what fall shows float your boat the most?

So, all the new fall dramas and comedies have pretty much debuted now. I haven’t yet reviewed Hell on Wheels, but fingers-crossed I will do sometime in the next couple of days, but with that exception and with the exception of some The CW and MTV shows clearly intended for a younger audience and animated shows, I reviewed everything, I think.

Some of the shows have now died; some have been acquired by UK TV. But of them all, which has floated your boat the most, either from watching them or from having heard about them? Which would you now cancel and which would you have spared the sword? Which would you like the UK to acquire and which do you think were a waste of money (cough, cough, Pan Am, cough, cough). Let everyone know below or on your own blog.

In the list below, if it’s been cancelled, it’ll be crossed out. If there’s a channel next to it in brackets, that’s which UK channel has acquired it. And if it says SAFE next to it, that means it’s been given a full season or even renewed for a second season already.

Bloody hell. Written down in a list, I’ve watched an awful lot, haven’t I?

Wednesday’s “Indian 24” news

Film

Indian TV

US TV