Somehow this all just works in a way that the US version doesn’t – whether it’s the script or Sofia Helin’s performance, I couldn’t say (it’s probably the performance, actually), but Saga is endearing in a way that Sonya Cross just isn’t.
Articles by Rob Buckley
What did you watch this week? Including The Almighty Johnsons, Suits, The Newsroom, The Bridge (US) and Strike Back
It’s “What did you watch this week?, my chance to tell you what I movies and TV I’ve watched this week that I haven’t already reviewed and your chance to recommend things to everyone else (and me) in case I’ve missed them.
The usual “TMINE recommends” page features links to reviews of all the shows I’ve ever recommended, and there’s also the Reviews A-Z, for when you want to check more or less anything I’ve reviewed ever. Reviewed this week elsewhere: Ironside and Trophy Wife.
In my preview queue is a couple of shows: Back in the Game and Welcome To The Family, but I have no idea when I’ll have the time to watch and review them – fingers crossed for Tuesday or Wednesday, though.
Shows I’m watching but not necessarily recommending
Under The Dome
Only one (?) more to go. This had better be good, because it’s all been a big waste of time so far. Not much Rachelle Lefevre this week, either…
The Bridge (US)
Problematically, where the show is slavishly following the original, it’s still not doing it as well; where it’s tweaked it, it’s usually been to the detriment of the show; and where it’s gone completely off-story, it’s been significantly weaker and less interesting. But at least Sonja wasn’t so rubbish this week, unlike last week – for those who didn’t watch the original, (spoiler for both shows)in the original, Saga was shot at the safe house, guarding the son, rather than being hit by a car on the way to the safe house.
Strike Back (Cinemax/Sky 1)
More fun violence, but quelle surprise, another strong woman dead. A good character moment, though, even if it was a tad too late.
Recommended shows
The Almighty Johnsons
A really cracking episode and surprisingly eerie at times. The revelation at the end was a good nod to fans and actually quite unexpected. Fine acting by Michelle Langstone, too. Probably the best episode of all three seasons, I reckon.
The Newsroom
I’m really not sure what they’re trying to do with the show now. It’s just all over the place. I almost get the feeling that Sorkin is trying to turn it into a comedy. That might almost be a better option, since there were some fun Sloan moments at least.
Suits
On the one hand, nice to see a show where everyone actually seems to enjoy their jobs. On the other, Louis is getting more and more implausible and Mike is turning into a bigger and bigger dick. Some good individual moments but I’ll be glad to see the back of Hessington Oil.
“What did you watch this week?” is your chance to recommend to friends and fellow blog readers the TV and films that they might be missing or should avoid – and for me to do mini-reviews of everything I’ve watched. Since we live in the fabulous world of Internet catch-up services like the iPlayer and Hulu, why not tell your fellow readers what you’ve seen so they can see the good stuff they might have missed?
Friday’s “A new Harry Potter movie series, Starlings cancelled and transgender at The CW” news
Watch out for strange men in ski masks
Film
- JK Rowling writing Harry Potter spin-off movie series
Film casting
- Luca Calvani to play the villain in The Man From UNCLE
- Delroy Lindo joins Cymbeline
- Aaron Paul and Juliette Lewis to star in Hellion
Trailers
- Trailer for Grudge Match with Sylvester Stallone, Robert De Niro, Kim Basinger et al
- Trailer for The Homefront with Jason Statham and James Franco
UK TV
- Sky 1 cancels: Starlings
- Wednesday ratings
New UK TV shows
- BBC Alba films pilots of Bannan
US TV
- BET cancels: Reed Between The Lines
US TV casting
- Eliza Coupe, Mekhi Phifer et al to recur on House of Lies
- Jane McGrath joins Game of Thrones
New US TV shows
- The CW developing: transgender drama ZE
- MTV green lights: Finding Carter and Eye Candy
- BET orders second season of Being Mary Jane
US TV
Mini-preview: Trophy Wife 1×1 (ABC)
In the US: Tuesdays, 9.30/8.30c, ABC. Starts September 24
A trend I hoped had died off over the summer with NBC’s abysmal Save Me appears to have resurrected itself over on ABC with Trophy Wife. Following on from the less than sisterly GCB and Nashville, we have yet another show about female in-fighting. However, this one builds on that foundation with this new trend: “Party girls must reform!”
Here, we have the usually somewhat plastic Malin Åkerman (Watchmen, The Proposal) as a woman who literally bumps into Bradley Whitford (The West Wing, Studio 60, The Good Guys) while at a party. Despite quickly not literally bumping into Whitford’s weird, nightmarish two ex-wives and three children, Åkerman marries Whitford and rather than carrying on her fun and exciting ways, decides to become a loving step-mother to the children.
Except they don’t really want her, neither do those two ex-wives and she’s not really very good at it. Cue kids being scummy to new mummy then learning a lesson by the end of the episode; cue ex-wives being bitchy to new wife and slowly starting to bond with her; cue our heroine slowly becoming a better mother.
Yawn.
It’s not all tedious and reactionary, though. Whitford, who chugs along on 50% in case he visibly outclasses the rest of the cast, is a delight as always. Åkerman, who also produces the show, seems to have learnt that while acting with words probably isn’t her strong point, she’s actually a very credible physical comedic actress. As a result, much of the actual laughs from the pilot aren’t from the situations or the dialogue – which, while a little more original and smarter than most shows’, still aren’t exceptionally funny – but from Åkerman’s clowning. There’s not huge chemistry between the two of them or any of the other characters, but it’s a pilot, so give them time.
Might be worth a shot but I wouldn’t recommend it.
PS Doesn’t ABC have a tough time coming up with titles that are actually representative of their shows? Cougar Town, GCB and now this, which isn’t actually about a trophy wife?
US TV
Preview: Ironside 1×1 (NBC)
In the US: Wednesdays, 10pm ET/9pm CT, NBC. Starts October 2
Ironside is one of those fondly remembered but actually pretty rubbish cop shows from the 70s that occasionally appears on re-run channels. Starring Raymond Burr as San Francisco’s paraplegic chief of detectives Robert T Ironside, the show ran from 1967 to 1975 and it largely had two things going for it: Burr, who was even more famously Perry Mason; and its memorable title sequence, which in case you’ve forgotten went something like this:
True, its heart was in the right place: after all, its message was that a guy in a wheelchair can solve crimes and apprehend criminals just as well as someone who wasn’t. It even surrounded Ironside with a ‘diverse’ range of assistants. Trouble is that gave Ironside the eternal reputation of being the show in which a token black guy pushes the hero white guy around in a wheelchair all day, but who doesn’t get to do much himself.
Now NBC have decided to remake Ironside and they’ve decided it’s time to fix that particular issue. Because now Ironside, as well as being a New York cop, is black – he’s played by LA Law/In Treatment/Sex and the City favourite Blair Underwood, who’s also one of the producers.
Laudably, that means we have probably the first black, physically challenged lead character in TV history (I’m pretty sure War of the Worlds doesn’t count). Hooray! Progress!
Unfortunately, though, so happy are the writers and network to have ticked off that particular box on their CVs, they’ve neglected to actually make the show anything but cliched. Or maybe that’s deliberate. Here’s a trailer – I’ll explain afterwards: