International TV

An archive of blog entries about international TV programmes and production, including co-productions and shows from countries other than usual

LA to Vegas
News

LA to Vegas cancelled; The Expanse (nearly) rescued; Will Arnett, Juliet Stevenson, Grégory Fitoussi join Sky’s Riviera; + more

22 May 2018 Rob Buckley Post a comment

Internet TV

German TV

  • ARD green lights: spin-off from In Aller Freundschaft, In Aller Freundschaft – Die Krankenschewestern (In All Friendship – The Nurses)

International TV

  • Atrium: green lights Quasimodo and One Giant Leap, developing future gated communities drama Silo, Spanish Civil War drama A Dry Run: The Lincolns in Spain, adaptation of Boris Pasternak’s Doctor Zhivago and Amazon Queens drama The Last Amazon

UK TV

  • Laurence Fox, Kate Fleetwood, John Sessions et al join ITV’s Victoria
  • Will Arnett, Juliet Stevenson, Grégory Fitoussi et al join Sky’s Riviera

US TV

US TV show casting

  • Kim Raver promoted to regular on ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy

New US TV shows

New US TV show casting

Sofia Helin in season 4 of Bron/Broen (The Bridge)
US TV

What have you been watching? Including Timeless, Silicon Valley, The Bridge and Harrow

16 May 2018 Rob Buckley 8 Comments

It’s “What have you been watching?”, your chance to recommend anything you’ve been watching this week

So that didn’t quite go as planned. Mais, plus ça change, hey? As well as upfronts week throwing a bit of a spanner in the works in terms of having the time to review and watch things, I spent a bit more of the weekend talking to Microsoft Support than I was planning, so I had even less time than that.

No review of Vida, then, but I’ll try to get one done by next WHYBW, by which point it might be a third-episode verdict anyway. I also hope to review AXN’s new show, Carter, and I might even be able to get through All Night, even though it’s a teen comedy. But we’ll see about that.

In terms of Boxset Monday, my plans were a bit more convoluted. I did make a start on Tabula Rasa on Walter Presents, except I managed about 10 minutes of that before feeling like it was a bit of a struggle. Interesting, but a bit of struggle. I’m going to try to bear with it, since Fans of European and World TV Dramas reckons the second half is ‘amazing’.

But that might not be for a while now, since this weekend, I’m going to try to get through the rest of Netflix’s Safe. See, I had been thinking of having that as a back-up in case I didn’t manage to make it through Tabula Rasa, but given the trailer, I figured I’d be able to just watch the first episode and call it a day, since Michael C Hall’s accent sounded very annoying. Except I ended up watching the first two and quite liking it, and then someone I work with told me she’d boxset the entire series in a day and that the last episode was great.

That’s the plan for next Monday, then. Let’s see how it withstands an encounter with reality.

This weekend saw a lot of changes to the schedules, mind, with new shows coming and old shows going, and TMINE’s viewing schedule has gone through quite a bit. We’ve decided to stop watching The Handmaid’s Tale, at least for now, since it’s just a bit too bleak and miserable. That may change at some point, though. Meanwhile, in the UK, Bron/Broen (The Bridge) is back. Timeless, of course, had a double-episode finale, which meant I didn’t quite have the time to watch the latest Killing Eve, so I’ll do a doubler next week. Mean-meanwhile, Harrow and Silicon Valley both had regular finales, more about which will come after the jump.

That just leaves the other usual regulars: The Americans, The Good Fight, Krypton, Legion, SEAL Team and Westworld. All of that after the jump, too.

Continue reading “What have you been watching? Including Timeless, Silicon Valley, The Bridge and Harrow”

The Rain
Streaming TV

What have you been watching? Including The Rain

9 May 2018 Rob Buckley 19 Comments

It’s “What have you been watching?”, your chance to recommend anything you’ve been watching this week

We’re starting to get a few new shows on tap now. This week, I’ve reviewed Cobra Kai (YouTube Red) and Sweetbitter (US: Starz), and I’ll be having a look at Vida (US: Starz) on Friday, too. Netflix also unveiled its first Danish TV show, The Rain, which would have been this week’s Boxset Monday had it not been:

  1. A Bank Holiday
  2. Clear within minutes that it was YAYA (yet another young adult) dystopian drama in which all the adults are wiped out by a plague, leaving the kids to fend for themselves.

On the latter point, Netflix alone already had Between and that’s before we even get started on the likes of Containment and The 100. I don’t think we need another one, even with subtitles – they’re all just so miserable.

Fingers crossed, though, I’ll be doing Tabula Rasa (Belgium: VRT; UK: Channel 4/Walter Presents) in Boxset Monday next week. Unless it’s rubbish. Or Netflix has something better.

After the jump today, though, it’s the regulars: The Americans, The Good Fight, The Handmaid’s Tale, Harrow, Killing Eve, Krypton, Legion, SEAL Team, Silicon Valley, Timeless, and Westworld.

Continue reading “What have you been watching? Including The Rain”

Donald Sutherland in FX's Trust
US TV

What have you been watching? Including Trust and The Handmaid’s Tale

2 May 2018 Rob Buckley 8 Comments

It’s “What have you been watching?”, your chance to recommend anything you’ve been watching this week

Hmm. Not many new shows out this past week. How strange. That means that as well as catching up on all the regulars I missed last week, I’ve mainly been concentrating on movies, such as The Avengers: Infinity War, and passing verdict on Killing Eve (US: BBC America; UK: BBC One/BBC Three).

Cobra Kai (YouTube Red) came out today and Danish YA dystopian drama Rain (Netflix) is out on Friday, so although it’s a Bank Holiday Weekend here in the UK, I’ll be giving them a whirl before next WHYBW if I can – I imagine the torrential rain we’ll no doubt be getting might help no end with that.

After the jump, though, I’ll be having a gander (at last) at Trust (US: FX; UK: Sky Atlantic), as well as the regulars: The Americans, The Good Fight, Harrow, Krypton, Legion, SEAL Team, Silicon Valley, Timeless, and Westworld. Plus Lovely Wife and I made it through the first episode of the returning The Handmaid’s Tale – we can talk about what larks that was, after the jump.

Continue reading “What have you been watching? Including Trust and The Handmaid’s Tale”

Corporate Casual Friday
Airdates

When’s that show you mentioned starting, TMINE? Including Corporate, Carter and Tabula Rasa

27 April 2018 Rob Buckley Post a comment

Every Friday, TMINE lets you know when the latest TV shows from around the world will air in the UK

Just one acquisition this week, Corporate, and that’s already got a premiere date, which I’ll reveal in a mo. But a couple of other, previously acquired shows also have premiere dates now.

Premiere dates

Tabula Rasa

Tabula Rasa (Belgium: VRT; UK: Channel 4/Walter Presents)
Premiere date: Sunday, May 6, 10pm, Channel 4

I know I said a summer airdate, but apparently it’s summer now, for this Belgian show at least. It sees Veerle Baetens playing an amnesiac who becomes a key suspect in a missing person’s case, so has to reconstruct her memories to clear her name. However, her mind fills in the gaps in her memory caused by the amnesia using dreams, hallucinations and nightmares, making the show a bit trippy.

Corporate
(l-r) Aparna Nancherla, Adam Lustick, Anne Dudek, Matt Ingebretson, Jake Weisman and Lance Reddick in Corporate

Corporate (US: Comedy Central; UK: Comedy Central UK)
Premiere date: Wednesday, May 9, 10pm

Without a doubt the funniest Comedy Central programme I’ve ever seen, Corporate is a biting, nihilistic look at working for a giant corporation. Starring show creators and writers Matt Ingebretson and Jake Weisman as two junior executives at a genuinely evil mega-corporation, the shows alternates between pastiching the soul-destroying, abusive nature of corporate culture and the desire for the sweet release of death from said culture. Also in the cast are Lance Reddick (The Wire, Fringe) as the company CEO and Anne Dudek (House, Covert Affairs) as one of our ‘heroes’ mid-level bosses.

Do yourself a favour and watch what is almost certainly going to be one of TMINE top’s shows of 2018.

Episode reviews: 1, 2-4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9-10

Carter
(l-r) Kristian Bruun, Jerry O’Connell and Sydney Poitier in Carter

Carter (International: AXN; UK: Alibi)
Premiere date: Wednesday, June 13, 9pm

Following on from Absentia, Gone and other “citizens of the world” (ie shows without a real country of origin), we have this new AXN comedy detective drama starring Jerry O’Connell (Sliders, Carpoolers, The Defenders) as a detective on hit US TV show Call Carter who has to return to his hometown after an embarrassing public meltdown in Hollywood. There, he taps into his acting experience to become a real detective, while dealing with all his childhood baggage.

Obviously not a hugely new concept – cf Pulaski, The World of Eddie Weary and The Grinder – Jerry O’Connell is something of a show killer and AXN shows tend to be bland in their desperate attempt to be American, without actually being American, but it might be good.

Even if the trailer suggests otherwise.