TV reviews

A complete archive of The Medium is Not Enough’s reviews of TV programmes since 2005

The BarrometerA Barrometer rating of 3

Third-episode verdict: Powerless (US: NBC)

17 February 2017 Rob Buckley 3 Comments

In the US: Thursdays, 8.30/7.30c, NBC

You always have to give a show that’s had a revamp a little time to settle in. A little.

When Powerless was commissioned, it was a slightly different show from the one we have now. Set in the world of DC Comics, it featured a slightly dodgy insurance agency run by a supervillain that was trying to make money off the poor folks trampled by superheroes in their fight to stop the bad guys.

But twixt pilot and series, there was a bit of retooling. By the first aired episode, cynical old Vanessa Hudgens had turned into a dewy-eyed optimist wanting to make a difference in a branch of Wayne Industries run by Batman’s incompetent narcissist cousin (Alan Tudyk). Trouble is she has a bunch of people rejected by Better Off Ted working for her, including Danny Pudi and Ron Funches, all of whom can do little more than copy Lexcorp’s inventions. Can Hudgens turn the division round, save everyone from getting fired, help the little people and meet lots of her superhero idols, all without a single superpower to her?

Watching the first episode, the answer seemed to be “Who cares?”, “Why aren’t there any proper superheroes in this?” and “When do the jokes start?”

The second episode actually proved worse, since the first episode raised the occasional titter, whereas the second was practically soporific, beyond a nice joke about training videos being like The Shining.

Still, there’s a reason that I do these as third-episode verdicts, not second-episode verdicts. You have to give things time. And while episode three wasn’t exactly an exercise in hilarity, it was at least a reverse of the previous episode’s trajectory and I was able to watch the whole thing with a slight grin on my face, at least. The show featured a superhero I’d actually heard of, although it was The Olympian, so I wouldn’t describe that as a mainstream pick by the writers. There were a few in-jokes for comic book fans, with Gail Simone and Marv Wolfman getting name-checked. There was also a halfway decent attempt to tie the show a bit more into mainstream community by making Funches Atlantean (“Atlantis: home of Aquaman and character actor William H Macey”), allowing copious references to Aquaman. Corbin Bernsen’s arrival as Tudyk’s dad seemed to make everyone up their game. And the opening dialogue among the characters about racism (“I thought you said you were from Atlanta” “No, that’s Donald Glover, but it might be racist that you heard that”) almost made me laugh.

Almost. Because we’re still not exactly in Silicon Valley or Man Seeking Woman territory here. But the show is at least finding its feet now. I doubt, given that we’ll be at episode four next week, that the show will ever drag itself out of its z-list superhero obsession or become even laugh-out-loud funny. Not giving Danny Pudi any decent lines is a Category A disaster. But you can at least watch it and not feel like Superman near Lex Luthor’s kryptonite ring any more, which is a definite improvement.

The BarrometerA Barrometer rating of 2

Third-episode verdict: Riverdale (US: The CW; UK: Netflix)

16 February 2017 Rob Buckley 1 Comment

In the US: Thursdays, 9/8c, The CW
In the UK: Available on Netflix. New episode every Friday

Which would you rather make: the next Twin Peaks or the next Smallville? It’s not as easy a choice as you might think. Sure, Twin Peaks is revered enough that it’s coming back after 25 years and it gets mentioned in all manner of “Top n shows in TV history” lists whereas Smallville never won and never will win any critics awards for its fine storytelling. But Smallville also lasted a record-breaking 10 seasons to become the longest-running North American science-fiction series, whereas Twin Peaks never even made it to three.

In its first episode, Riverdale seemed to be aiming to be the new Twin Peaks. A reimagining of the long-lasting American comic book Archie set in a genial small town, complete with a classic love triangle in the form of swell guy and gals Archie, Veronica and Betty, Riverdale updated it, put new spins on all the old characters and then threw in a murder-mystery for luck. Replete with ravishing visuals and smart dialogue, it gave younger and older viewers plenty to enjoy, including thrills and excitement, without sacrificing the comic’s generally genial atmosphere.

Since then, the show has started to change into something a bit more conventional and ‘teenish’. Episode two occupied a halfway house between the old aesthetic and the new aesthetic, with the show trying to be both a dark murder mystery and a full-on comedy and not quite working as it shifted between tones. Nevertheless, the bonding between Betty and Veronica was well executed and the dialogue maintained its smartness, at least. And, of course, we got Jossy and the Pussycats singing their own version of classic The Archies song ‘Sugar, Sugar’:

Episode three continued the descent in quality by being a modern-day “Very Special Episode” about slut-shaming that decided to take in Wild Things along the way for no well defined reason. Smartness and sassiness generally went down a hole, and the need for the very white Archie’s musical ambitions to bear fruit via the all-black, all-female Josie and the Pussycats led to a nails-on-chalkboard attempt to square that particular circle… as well as yet another musical number in the style of Smallville‘s frequent trips to ‘the Talon’.

Riverdale‘s not entirely lost sight of its original ambitions and episode three has the rather marvellous suggestion that sweet as apple pie Betty might have multiple personality disorder and could even be her own crazy (murderous) twin sister, Polly. But the adults have stopped being adult and have started to become cliched, and the murder-mystery side of things has become more than a little silly. Coupled with the continuing inappropriate and probably illegal relationship between Archie and his music teacher, where it’s hard to tell which is the adult and which is the child, and it’s all starting to feel far less promising than when it started.

There could still be plenty of mileage in Riverdale – after all, not every episode of Twin Peaks was a classic, let alone Smallville. It’s still got a winning cast and a reasonably strong foundation. It just needs to decide what it wants to do in life.

Australian and New Zealand TV

Review: Newton’s Law 1×1 (Australia: ABC)

14 February 2017 Rob Buckley 1 Comment


In Australia: Thursdays, 8.33pm, ABC

There’s something about an overly clever title that suggests the show itself isn’t going to be very good. A stupid title is obviously a big warning klaxon but while a clever title can be a fair indicator of quality, an overly clever title suggests more thought has gone into the title than the show itself.

Newton’s Law. Ha, ha. Look at that. It’s a TV series about a lawyer and her name is Josephine Newton, so Newton’s Law. Gettit?

So klaxons went off as soon as I saw the title – justified klaxons, since Newton’s Law is pretty weak stuff (well, G is 6.674×10-11N, ha, ha), despite having been created by Deb Cox and Fiona Eagger, the originators of the much-loved Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries.

It stars the almost equally loved Claudia Karvan (The Secret Life of Us, Spirited, Puberty Blues, Love My Way) as the eponymous Newton, a former high-flying barrister turned suburban solicitor now undergoing a separation as her globe-trotting eco-warrior husband (Brett Tucker) is never home. Despite having helped the down-trodden for over a decade, her offices are firebombed by a hacked-off client, leaving Karvan in a potentially parlous state. But former sparring partner and admirer Toby Schmitz comes to the rescue, asking her to join his plush legal firm, co-run by Andrew McFarlane (Glitch), where she can once again resume the bar and recapture her glory days. However, her do-gooding spirits aren’t so easily tamed and by the end of the first episode, she’s back helping her former clients, albeit from her old firm’s new offices in an abandoned car wash.

The show’s stated ambition is to be a sort of Upstairs Downstairs for the Australian legal system, counterpointing the daily work of barristers working for rich clients against that of solicitors working for impoverished Joe Public. However, there’s little of that in this first episode, which is more concerned with setting up the upstairs and the downstairs companies, Karvan’s relationship with husband and teenage daughter, her “will they, won’t they?” relationship with Schmitz, and her trainwreck friendship with her trainwreck business partner (Georgina Naidu).

All of which should be lovely and fluffy, but the show clunks along like a Ford Cortina with a broken gearbox. Karvan is long-suffering, a great friend, a put-upon wife, much sought after, knows all the right crowd and defends the little people while sticking it to the man, whenever possible – yeah! Right on! Indeed, both producers and characters are in thrall to Newton’s supposed brilliance.

But actually, Newton’s Law never really demonstrates why anyone would consider her so amazing, beyond the fact she had a cool car. Surely someone with a cool old American muscle car must be a top legal mind as well, though, right?

The legal side is, at least, a bit more promising than all this girl power by numbers, starting us off with a plot lift straight out of 12 Angry Men, with a young man accused of murder and a nearby witness willing to swear she saw everything. But did she what she thought she saw?

While the trappings of the Australian legal system are at least more familiar to UK viewers than the average US legal drama’s, making Newton’s Law potentially more appealing, none of it is any more realistic than the average US legal drama and it’s all very sub-Crownies. Indeed, as with Janet King, Karvan ultimately saves the day not through her marvellous knowledge of the law or rhetoric but investigating the crime herself by ferreting around behind bookcases and discovering incriminating envelopes. Maybe that’s how Karvan can even contemplate doing both jobs, given the ridiculous hours both barristers and solicitors have to put in, since it’s clearly not going to be by looking through the statute books.

Newton’s Law is the kind of thing that should play well on daytime TV, probably after the latest Father Brown has aired. But it lacks any edge, USP or fire that would make it work as a primetime drama – or worth seeking out, rather than merely watching while you do the ironing.

What have you been watching? Including Fortitude, The Great Indoors, The Magicians, Powerless and Son of Zorn

13 February 2017 Rob Buckley 2 Comments

It’s “What have you been watching?”, my chance to tell you what movies and TV I’ve been watching recently and your chance to recommend anything you’ve been watching.

It’s been a bumper week for new shows. I’ve already reviewed Superior Donuts (US: CBS), 24: Legacy (US: Fox; UK: Fox UK), APB (US: Fox) and Legion (US: Fox; UK: Fox UK), and passed a third-episode verdict on Cardinal (Canada: CTV/Super Écran; UK: BBC Four), but that still leaves me with Imposters (US: TNT), Newton’s Law (Australia: ABC) and Riverdale (US: The CW; UK: Netflix) to review or pass third-episode verdicts on. I’m keeping my fingers crossed on getting all of them done, but as I’m taking Wednesday off, there might be a slight delay.

But after the jump, this week’s look at the latest episodes of the regulars: DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, The Flash, Fortitude, The Great Indoors, Lethal Weapon, The Magicians, Man Seeking Woman, Powerless, Son of Zorn, and Timeless

Continue reading “What have you been watching? Including Fortitude, The Great Indoors, The Magicians, Powerless and Son of Zorn”

The BarrometerA Barrometer rating of 2

Third-episode verdict: Cardinal (Canada: CTV/Super Écran; UK: BBC Four)

13 February 2017 Rob Buckley 4 Comments

In Canada: Wednesdays, 10 pm ET/PT, CTV
In Canada (en Français): Thursdays, 10pm, Super Écran
In the UK: Acquired by BBC Four for broadcast in 2017

Cardinal is now big news in the UK. With a lot of the ‘world shows’ I review, particularly Canadian ones, I don’t usually expect them to ever end up on UK TV by normal means, although that’s slowly been changing. But Canada’s CTV isn’t really a network that the UK acquires from, so I had thought the chances were even slimmer that anyone but the most dedicated would get to see it outside Canada.

But as of Friday, Cardinal has become not just BBC Four’s first ever Canadian acquisition but, I think, UK TV’s first CTV acquisition. How extraordinary.

You can see from watching it why this would be. Unlike many CTV shows, Cardinal is beautifully made and more to the point, it’s Nordic/Canadian Noir that’ll slot ever so nicely into BBC Four’s Saturday night foreign crime drama schedule. 

Adapted from the first of Giles Blunt’s six ‘John Cardinal Mysteries’, Forty Words For Sorrow, Cardinal sees Billy Campbell (Helix, The Killing (US), The Rocketeer) playing the eponymous Cardinal, a Canadian police detective in the fictional Algonquin Bay, who investigates the disppearance of a young girl. Unable to find her, he goes off the rails and is demoted, but a year later, the body of the girl turns up and he is reassigned to what is now a murder case, working alongside new recruit Karine Vanasse (Pan Am, Revenge).

Now the first episode is a tour de force, giving us a genuinely interesting slice of Canadian life in Algonquin Bay, a decent mystery to be solved and subtle performances from the main cast. After that, episode two is a bit of a climb down, consisting largely of people sitting in rooms talking. There’s still the show’s established feel for police procedure and shunning of glossy US police clichés in favour of the plausible and what’s affordable for a small Canadian police department. But it’s people sitting around talking.

Indeed, when the killers show up in episode two, you barely realise they’re the killers, it’s all so low key. It’s only in episode three that everything starts to become evident and the show becomes a cat-and-mouse game between Cardinal and his quarries. And it’s here that Cardinal and I might part ways, because although it’s still a beautifully crafted piece of work, something to which it owes a great deal of credit to director Podz, it’s still Nordic/Canadian Noir and we enter the realm of the dotty serial killer. As a genre trope, that’s fine, if you like that kind of thing, but I’m not a big fan of watching hours of outright sadism, even if it’s all very tastefully done.

The show’s also a little unfocused, with a key plot thread of the first three episodes being the question of whether Cardinal is a corrupt cop, with a covert internal investigation taking up rather a lot of the show’s time. Whether he is or he isn’t, Campbell’s Cardinal is so sad and joyless that it feels like kicking a man when he’s down to even be thinking it, and you can bet, thanks to the side-plot involving his sick wife, that there’s a sad reason for any corruption if it’s true.

Those reservations aside, if Nordic Noir is your thing, Cardinal is a very fine addition to the genre, as beautiful to watch as Ófærð (Trapped) and as well acted as Forbrydelsen (The Killing).