Year: 2014

News

BBC Brit, Sky uploads to YouTube, Birds of Prey and a Salamander

28 January 2014 Rob Buckley Post a comment

Peter Capaldi in costume

Film

Trailers

  • Trailer for Terry Gilliam’s The Zero Theorem
  • Trailer for Maleficent with Angelina Jolie

International TV

UK TV

New UK TV show casting

US TV

US TV show casting

New US TV shows

New US TV show casting

The BarrometerA Barrometer rating of 3

Third-episode verdict: Enlisted (Fox)

27 January 2014 Rob Buckley 3 Comments

In the US: Fridays, 9pm, Fox

Three episodes in and things aren’t quite as funny as they were in the first episode of Enlisted. The set-up is pretty much the same as before – hero soldier gets sent back home to the same base his less dedicated/competent brothers are stationed at, where he has to give up the ways of war in favour of the ways of looking after soldiers’ families while the soldiers are off fighting war.

The only difference – apart a new dedication on the parts of the producers to get military details right – is the writing’s dropped off a bit. Episode two had an almost laugh-free 10 minutes to start, before thankfully recovering the funny towards the end, while episode three was pretty consistent all the way through, just not as funny. Most of the humour now revolves around the semi-flirtatious, semi-serious professional rivalry between hero soldier and his female opposite number, as well as the inept youngest brother (Parker Young from Suburgatory) and his intense efforts to be a real soldier, despite his complete lack of talent, but that all works quite well. Unfortunately, everything that involves pretty much everyone else largely receives a stony silence.

I’m enjoying it and it’s consistently one of the funnier shows each week, but it’s not quite the quality comedy I thought it was during the first episode.

Barrometer rating: 3
Rob’s prediction: Fox want it to work, which is why they’ve shifted its timeslot, but it’ll be touch and go whether it lasts past one season.

US TV

Mini-review: Rake (US) 1×1 (Fox)

27 January 2014 Rob Buckley 5 Comments


In the US: Thursdays, 9/8c, Fox
In the UK: The Universal Channel

Normally, TV producers try to do something clever with their shows’ titles. Even if they just name their show after the lead character, there’s normally a double meaning to it: think Hunter, House (a pun on Holmes), Ironside or Magnum.

Certainly, the producers of Australia’s Rake had that in mind when they named their show after the lead character, lawyer Rake Cleaver Greene, who’s also something of a rake. Not especially clever, but there was a point to it.

But it shows just how much in two minds the producers of the US adaptation are about the programme that it’s still called Rake, even though the lead character is now called Keegan Deane. Indeed, they reshot the pilot after it showed Deane as a bit ‘sadder’ than they’d wanted, that’s how much they’re not sure what to do with this.

The US version sees Greg Kinnear return to TV to play Deane, a narcissistic disaster area of a lawyer who womanises, gambles, treats everyone appallingly and generally ruins other people’s lives as well. Even his clients are mostly guilty of their crimes, something that Deane doesn’t really care much about, provided they can pay him, either in cash or giant tuna fish (don’t ask).

Deane lurches from one situation to another in a way that’s supposed to be lovable (and definitely not ‘sad’) and Houseian, but is largely just unpleasant, somewhat like watching a very small series of car crashes. He doesn’t have the genius of House and he doesn’t really have any redeeming qualities to make you want to forgive him or like him. And Kinnear, kind of like one of those spooky, almost-human Japanese robots, is close enough to Rob Lowe that he’s almost likeable, but far enough off that you just want Rob Lowe to be starring instead.

With the wrong lead, wrong scripts and even wrong character names, this is very much a missable show. But here’s a trailer so you can decide for yourselves if you at least want to give it a try.