I’m Rob Buckley, a journalist who writes for UK media magazines that most people have never heard of although you might have heard me on the podcast Lockdown Land or Radio 5 Live’s Saturday Edition or Afternoon Edition. I’ve edited Dreamwatch, Sprocket and Cambridge Film Festival Daily; been technical editor for TV producers magazine Televisual; reviewed films for the short-lived newspaper Cambridge Insider; written features for the even shorter-lived newspaper Soho Independent; and was regularly sarcastic about television on the blink-and-you-missed-it “web site for urban hedonists” The Tribe. Since going freelance, I've contributed to the likes of Broadcast, Total Content + Media, Action TV, Off The Telly, Action Network, TV Scoop and The Custard TV.
Remember a while back that I flagged up Iran’s remake of Modern Family? Guess what – Iran’s not stopping there when it comes to remakes of popular US sitcoms. Because here comes Iran’s version of Friends, which may (or may not*) be called Eshgh Tatil Nist.
In the US: Mondays, 10/9c, AMC In the UK: Netflix. New episode every Tuesday
So before we start, let’s be clear what this isn’t. This isn’t a review for anyone who loved Breaking Bad, of which Better Call Saul is a spin-off. For starters, I didn’t love Breaking Bad, and I gave up midway through the second season. I didn’t mind it, I thought it was good, but it felt too much like hard work with not a huge amount of reward.
I don’t even really remember Saul Goodman in the original show either. All I know is what’s available in the Wikipedia article on him.
Already many of you will be getting ready to declare me “Unmutual”.
That’s fine. Because you’ll be watching Better Call Saul whatever I say and if you really need someone to tell you if the show’s any good for a Breaking Bad lover or not, you can peruse any of the dozens of reviews on the Internet by people who’ve watched every single episode and have “Bitch” tattooed on each of their biceps.
No, this is a review for people who either didn’t like Breaking Bad or never quite got round to watching it. Because there’s bound to be a whole bunch of you out there like me who are potentially interested in watching Better Call Saul but want to know if they’ll be lost and mystified and whether they’ll enjoy it or not. Those people need someone like me.
So with that out of the way, let’s go see if we’d Better Call Saul or not. I’d recommend reading that Wikipedia article I linked to first, though – it’ll help a lot.
Well, I’ve mentioned it already, but now it’s actually time for O Fat White Woman, William Trevor’s 1971 Play For Today starring Maureen Pryor. Taking it’s name from the Frances Cornford poem ‘To a Fat Lady Seen From The Train’, it sees Pryor playing the wife of an outwardly charming headmaster (Peter Jeffrey) who gradually becomes aware that he is physically abusing his pupils. Simultaneously, we learn about her sexual frustration, caused by both the world and even her husband finding her unattractive.
In and of itself a great and typically bittersweet play, O Fat White Woman is also notable for including music written by Radiophonics Workshop legend Delia Derbyshire.
