I think my host decided to upgrade the server TMINE runs on yesterday, because as well as an hour or two downtime yesterday morning, they did something to PHP that killed off the Disqus commenting plug-in. As a result, you may have found pages unable to load beyond a certain point. I’ve now recoded the pages to access Disqus differently, so fingers crossed the problem will go away and you’ll be able to comment again
So a big hearty congratulations to Livingdot for their usual customer service and apologies to everyone for the interruption in service. Also, a big thank you to Fred, who emailed me to point out the problem! THANKS FRED!
The people have spoken! Or at least newcomer Fred has, in response to my review of the first episode of CBC’s new comedy Four In The Morning:
Check out the 2nd Ep, I’m not promising it’s any better, but it’s trying to do a “Man Seeking Woman” type gimmick! Which seems a strange change in format!
I hadn’t actually planned to do a normal third-episode verdict on Four In the Morning, since the first episode had been so incredibly annoying – four over-educated young people up at four in the morning, usually at a diner, talking about whatever inane things young people talk about at that time if they’re possessed of a preternatural belief in the importance of whatever slight thought crosses their minds.
Ugh.
But Fred suggested it got better, so I thought for the sake of due dilligency I should give it a go. That and the fact I had a lot of ironing to do last night.
And you know what? Fred was right. The second episode was actually very good. While the first episode only paid lip service to the usage of ‘magical realism’ in the show’s mission statement, episode two deployed it front and centre with the introduction of ‘day kids’ – people who live a whole lifetime in a day, aging a year or so a minute. These are a known minority group in the Four In The Morning universe.
And despite the clunkiness of the metaphor, as we watch the children age, grow old and eventually die, wasting their lives away on taxi journeys to achieve their dreams, it was pretty well done and poetic even – indeed, when one of the now-old kids gets ‘a lump’ in her breast, and we know she’s set to die in a matter of hours, it suddenly becomes a surprisingly touching and subtle show. I was almost moved to tears in fact. Despite being mid-iron.
However, it all came crashing back down to earth again in episode three, when one of the ensemble’s parents wants him to confirm that he’s adopted and to sign a form saying he doesn’t really exist. It’s a nice idea, but it turns out that what worked in episode two was the almost complete side-lining of the regular cast in favour of the guest cast. In episode three, when their annoying antics and personalities are the focus of the piece again, I wanted to hurl my iron through my monitor at the coke-snorting, over-acting, over-enunciating twats.
Four In the Morning could be a great and clever show. Unfortunately, to be that great and clever show, it needs to lose its entire cast and characters or just sideline them in every episode, and I don’t see that happening, no matter how much magical realism gets thrown at it.
Barrometer rating: 4 TMINE’s prediction: Cancelled by the end of the season
As you get older, you become more reflective. You look back over your life and all the things that made you what you are and that took you to your current place in existence. Often, you’ll want to share your thoughts and ruminations with others, share those memories before they become like so many ‘tears in the rain’.
Frequently, however, this is far more interesting for you than for anyone else, who probably have their own stories and memories they enjoy far more than yours.
Better Things is a semi-autobiographical piece written by and starring Pamela Adlon, co-written by Louis CK. Adlon isn’t a big name, unless you’re a fan of either Grease 2 or Louis, but she’s had a long career in show business, particularly in voice-over work. Indeed, you may recognise her voice more than her, since she won an Emmy for her performance as Bobby on King of the Hill.
Ever wanted to know what life is like for a 50-something single mother with three daughters, who’s the daughter of a TV producer and who’s an actress living in LA who goes to a lot of auditions and has to deliver a lot of bad dialogue in a lot of bad TV shows? I can’t say I feel a desperate need to know myself, but maybe you’re different, in which case Better Things will be a big help bridging that empathy gap.
Trouble is, it’s not saying an awful lot that you won’t have heard elsewhere. It’s tough being a single mom; it’s tough dating when you’re older; it’s tough having a teenage daughter; it’s tough being an older actress. And so on. These are known things. Even the ‘bad parenting’ jokes have been done to death this year alone, in movies such as Bad Moms and TV shows such as The Detour. Maybe we need reminding every so often, but I’m not sure a multi-part comedy series on FX is the best way to go about it.
All the same, there are good things in Better Things, although that’s more to do with some creative choices than the subject matter or anything especially interesting or funny that happens. Better Things isn’t always linear storytelling, with time jumps backwards and forwards, dream sequences, inter-titles, TV shows within TV shows, cameos by famous actors, either as themselves (Julie Bowen from Modern Family) or as characters (Bradley Whitford from The West Wing). The autobiographical elements give the show a specificity and an accuracy that it might not otherwise have had, too, and there’s some laughs to be had from Adlon’s voiceover work.
Maybe if you’re facing similar issues, you’ll find this funny in a gallows humour kind of way. Personally, I found it just a little bit too self-involved, a bit too much a female Californication but without much joy.
Celebrating its 50th anniversary this month, The Monkees was one of those shows you couldn’t avoid if you lived in the UK during the 80s. Every time school holidays rolled around, along with The Red Hand Gangand The Flashing Blade, there was The Monkees on BBC1, every morning. This was despite having been made in the 1960s, mind you – I do wonder how the kids of today will ever get to watch classic TV without the likes of the Beeb and Channel 4 to force feed them it any more.
The Monkees was odd. One of the first US shows to feature teenagers as its leads, it starred an eponymous pop group of four youngsters, Davy Jones, Mike Nesmith, Micky Dolenz and Peter Tork, all with Beatles-esque haircuts – guess what network NBC was trying to cash in on? What was odd was:
It was a sitcom, set around the group’s often surreal, often fourth-wall breaking adventures, in which they all played versions of themselves
Davy Jones was British, which was a rare thing on US TV in those days
It had musical breaks during which the band sung their songs, although frequently the action would continue while the group played
The group had never met each other until the show, having been recruited by an NBC casting call, yet they still managed not only to gel, but to become a successful band in their own right.
In fact, so well did they gel, despite the tragic loss of Davy Jones, the remaining Monkees are still touring and writing music to this day, and the group created a number of classic 60s songs, including ‘I’m A Believer’, ‘Last Train To Clarksville’ and ‘Daydream Believer’. Not to forget the theme tune to the show itself.
The show lasted for an impressive two seasons, after which the group’s metaness reached a peak with the movie Head, written by the show’s creator Bob Rafelson (Five Easy Pieces) and none other than Jack Nicholson. This was actually an odd, stream of conscious, series of scenes about the difficulties of being a public figure, interspersed with satire about war, drugs, and politics. That and getting stuck in a giant Victor Mature.
One of the classics of 60s sitcoms, The Monkees’ legacy endured for years. In the 70s, The Banana Splitswas largely The Monkees but featuring men wearing animal costumes, with just a hint of Rowan and Martin’s Laugh In. And arguably the 1980s’ The Young Ones‘ musical interludes owed a heavy debt to The Monkees‘.
You can watch most of the episodes of The Monkees on YouTube, but here’s the first, just for your enjoyment.
And for true fans, here are the screen tests for the cast:
