Year: 2013

Canadian TV

Review: Satisfaction 1×1 (CTV)

25 June 2013 Rob Buckley 6 Comments

Satisfaction

In Canada: Mondays, 8pm, CTV

Usually, there’s a situation in a sitcom. That’s where the word comes from.

Satisfaction laughs at that perfunctory requirement. It doesn’t even bother to explain what its situation is, although you can probably guess by the end of the first episode: hot, young, upwardly mobile couple find their style slightly cramped by the slobby friend/lodger who’s always getting in the way of their couple-y fun.

Yet for all the focus placed on this situation in the pilot episode, it might as well be about the difficulties of keeping meat fresh in the summer, that’s how little interest the premise is to the writers. But stop right there. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing in Canadian sitcoms: place too much emphasis on the sit instead of the com and you end up with high-concept shows, such as InSecurity and Seed, with well developed situations that don’t actually make you laugh.

Satisfaction, however, which foregoes not just situation but also much similarity to reality, despite being based on “real life experiences”, does at least pass the critical “five laughs per episode” threshold for a sitcom.

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, break open the champagne: we actually have a moderately funny Canadian sitcom on our hands. Here’s a trailer:

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US TV

Preview: Ray Donovan 1×1 (Showtime/Sky Atlantic)

25 June 2013 Rob Buckley 2 Comments

Ray Donovan

In the US: Sundays, 10pm, Showtime. Starts June 30
In the UK: Tuesdays, 10pm, Sky Atlantic. Starts July 16th

There’s presumably rather a lot of sh*t going down in LA, thanks to a combination of huge amounts of money and the number of famous people with personality issues, addictions and secrets they’d rather people didn’t know about them. So equally presumably there’s a group of people whose life it is to help cover up the inevitable colossal cock-ups that result from the collision of these things.

Ray Donovan, created by Southland‘s Ann Biderman, looks at one such man, the eponymous Ray Donovan (Live Schreiber, last seen doing TV work on CSI) – the Mr Wolf of the entertainment business…

…for whom no clean-up job, whether it be a stalker, a dead woman or a ‘straight’ actor who likes to pick up gay, transvestite hookers, is too hard and who’ll stop at nothing, even murder, if he has, too. The only thing he can’t fix? His relationships, particularly when his father (Jon Voight) comes out of prison and starts to put his nose into his family’s affairs. Here’s a trailer, and if you’re in the US, the entire first episode for you to enjoy.

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Tuesday’s “Paul Giamatti joins Downton, Liam Neeson’s back for Taken 3, and World War Z 2” news

25 June 2013 Rob Buckley Post a comment

Film

Film casting

Trailers

  • Trailer for Adore with Naomi Watts and Robin Wright
  • Trailer for Prince Avalanche, starring Paul Rudd, Emile Hirsch and Lance LeGault

French TV

  • Simon Mirren and David Wolstencroft to rewrite Versailles for Canal+

UK TV

US TV

US TV casting

New US TV show casting

Happy eighth birthday to The Medium Is Not Enough

24 June 2013 Rob Buckley 11 Comments

A birthday cakeHappy Birthday, The Medium is Not Enough. Yes, eight years ago (whimper), this blog emerged into the light of the Internet with its first two posts: previews of Prison Break, the not-unpopular Supernatural and the still-unseen Global Frequency; and tedious cruft about The Omega Factor.

Well, actually, it was eight years ago on Friday, but I was busy. Today’ll do.

Anyway, I’d like to thank this year’s regular and semi-regular commenters Mark Carroll, Gareth Williams, GYAD, Toby, Rullsenberg, SK, Bob the Skutter, Robin Parker, Hazel, Julia Williams and benjitek, and to welcome aboard all the new commenters who joined in this year. Your presence here ensures I carry on! Please don’t stop!

As always, though, it’s time to do some market research: if you have any suggestions for what else you might like to see on the blog, please let me know below.

Have a nice week (and, indeed, year),

MediumRob

Rant of the week: it’s time for more realistic violence on TV

24 June 2013 Rob Buckley 12 Comments

Violence is ever present – on our TV screens and on our cinema screens in particular. This is true particularly in the US, where the accidental sight of a nipple during a Super Bowl halftime show will get a TV network a heavy fine but you can have people shot to death, tortured and more during primetime and no one will care.

Some people believe there is a causative link between violence in the media and real-life violence, with proponents seeing violence on TV as creating an environment that makes violence in real-life acceptable to some, perhaps even encouraging them to do it in real-life or to have ideas.

Evidence for this is largely anecdotal and there are counter-studies that indicate, for example, that screen violence can even reduce violence in those who watch it. A more nuanced argument is put out by others, including DB Weiss, one of the show runners of Game of Thrones, which has been criticised for its gore:

“Violence in the real world is awful to witness. But it’s the sanitized versions of violence on TV that are worse because they’re letting kids watch. On network TV, people die in droves in a way that’s clean and easy to watch and fun. It’s more like an old video game.”

The argument here is that showing violence without consequences is the bad idea since it gives people the idea that there’s no issue with violence. So, after the jump, let’s go watch some Banshee. Warning: it’ll turn your stomach. Hopefully.

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