Month: September 2013

In the US: Tuesdays, 9/8c, ABC

80s retro is very in right now. Look around at all the revivals of 80s shows on TV and at the movies (Knight Rider, Miami Vice), films like Ted that yearn after the 80s and even shows like The Americans that are set in the 80s and you’ll see what I mean. Of course, at the end of the 80s, 60s retro was very in, which is why The Wonder Years was so popular.

Unsurprisingly, therefore, we now have what is probably best described as the 80s, Jewish version of The Wonder Years, in which writer Adam Goldberg gets various actors essentially to play the parts of his family in scenes drawn from his childhood, which he was precocious enough to video tape extensively.

And while that does give the show a certain heart and authenticity that a lot of other shows don’t have, that’s not really enough to support an entire show. The characters may have more genuine and plausible personality details than a lot of TV characters, but they’re not desperately compelling. Although it’s set in the 80s, there’s nothing in the show beyond the period dressing and references to 80s pop culture that really identify it as such or is peculiar to the 80s, beyond the fact that the kids aren’t downloading Internet porn on their phones. The situations and attitudes are more universal than 80s.

Where the show does well is in terms of plots, particularly those involving grandfather George Segal, which are actually funny. But there’s no magic moment here that makes you love the show or see it’s singular USP until the closing credits where you see the real and make-belief characters next to each other in shots. It’s enough to make me want to watch the next episode, but it’s not enough to make me think this is going to be a keeper.

In the US: Mondays, 10/9c, CBS

Here are some interesting facts about Hostages.

1. It stars Toni Collette, Dylan McDermott and Tate Donovan
2. Toni Collette is a top-flight surgeon, asked to operate on the President
3. ‘Unconventional’ FBI agent Dylan McDermott takes her family hostage, including cheating hubby Tate Donovan, in an attempt to get her to kill the President
4. Jerry Bruckheimer is the producer
5. It’s based on an Israeli series.

I put those facts there up front because I had to make this review interesting in some way, and that’s about as interesting as the show gets. It’s not exciting, it’s not original, it’s not got anything to say, it’s not got any surprises. It’s DULL.

McDermott and his fluffy hair are as implausible in the FBI as they were in the police in Dark Blue. Collette may be a successful woman, but that brings with it all the usual penalties for being a successful woman that US TV brings (cheating husband, children mocking cooking skills and the frequency with which they are deployed – nothing mentioned about Donovan’s cooking, of course).

Even Kidnapped was more interesting than this, and it was on NBC. Skip it.

In the US: Mondays, 9.30/8.30c, CBS

There comes a point in virtually every modern Chuck Lorre sitcom – usually pretty soon on – where you start to despair at the show’s cynicism. People are bad. They’re mean. They’re cruel to each other. The audience laughs.

Then there’s the show’s misogyny. Women are held up for ridicule, told they’re bad for having sex, drinking alcohol or going to parties.

The audience laughs.

Mom doesn’t so much change this as take it to its logical conclusion. Here, Anna Faris is a waitress who once wanted to be a psychiatrist but never quite made it, in part because she had two kids to raise by herself, in part because she drank too much, took other substances and generally enjoyed herselfdid Bad Things.

To be fair, though, she’s a better mother than her mother (Allison Janney) was. Indeed, once Janney shows up you realise that this has stopped being a sitcom and turned into something actually quite upsetting and devoid of laughs. Because it’s surprisingly hard to laugh at characters you genuinely feel sorry for.

Here’s a trailer:

Continue reading “Review: Mom 1×1 (CBS)”