TV reviews

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

US TV

Mini-review: Vice Principals 1×1 (US: HBO; UK: Sky Atlantic)

21 July 2016 Rob Buckley 1 Comment


In the US: Sundays, 10.30pm, HBO
In the UK: Tuesdays, 9.35pm, Sky Atlantic. Starts July 26th

This year, it seems, is the year that US TV has decided it wants not only to go back to school but to go back to school childishly. “Being an adult hard? How about a bunch of teachers who behave like kids? Wouldn’t you like to watch that?” seems to be the theory.

We’ve already had Teachers and Those Who Can’t from TV Land and TruTV respectively, offering us just that, and now we have HBO’s efforts at the same, Vice Principals, in which Walton Goggins (Justified, The Shield, The Hateful Eight) and Danny McBride (Eastbound and Down, Tropic Thunder) are – yes, you guessed it – vice principals at the same US High School. Goggins is the sweet-talking but ultimately two-faced popular one; McBride is the foul-mouthed, inadequate dick that everyone hates; both hate each other.

Then the principal (Bill Murray – yes, Bill Murray) decides to stand down for the sake of his sick wife, prompting a contest between his deputies to replace him, only for both their dreams to be dashed as outsider Kimberly Hebert Gregory (Devious Maids) gets the top spot instead. My enemy’s enemy is my friend so McBride and Goggins unite to defeat their new opponent – but such is their ineptitude, all’s that likely is mutually assured destruction instead.

The show has several strands of (attempted) comedy. With McBride co-creating and writing, as per Eastbound and Down, it’s not surprise there’s his usual parade of attempted alpha male put-downs, extreme dickery and inappropriate teaching methods, here filtered through a more inadequate, more self-aware, less sports-obsessed prism than Kenny Powers. There’s also the childish squabbling between McBride and Goggins, and their frequently politically incorrect antagonism towards Gregory’s ‘smart, sassy black woman’ routine – which, subtly, is itself as manufactured as both McBride and Goggins’ facades.

But despite all those elements at play, Vice Principals isn’t hugely funny, except towards the end of this first episode when the two enemies unite, and largely feels like watered down Eastbound and Down. McBride’s ex-wife Busy Philipps (Cougar Town) doesn’t get to do much beyond be the butt of his ineptitude, while Shea Whigham as her new husband largely gets to play the unexpectedly nice guy that McBride doesn’t quite know how to deal with, without getting to cause any laughs himself. 

An almost-interesting looking at failing masculinity and petty power struggles, Vice Principals might get better in its second episode when hostilities take off. The fact that it’s a definite two-season, 18-episode run means that it should have a fixed story arc that takes as long as it needs, no more, no less, which is another plus. At the moment, though, it feels like it needs work: must try harder.

What have you been watching? Including Mr Robot, Marco Polo, The Last Ship and Outcast

18 July 2016 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 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. 

Today’s is going to be the last WHYBW for quite some time now, since I’m off on my traditional summer break from next week. Whether I’ll take all of August off remains to be seen, but let’s not start promising anything at this point.

Before then, I’ll be reviewing the first episode of Vice Principals (US: HBO; UK: Sky Atlantic) and I’ve got plans to have a look over a couple of French shows on Netflix and Amazon, too. I might even have a look at Netflix’s Stranger Things, which debuted on Friday.

I’ve already reviewed the first episode of Barracuda (Australia: ABC), but after the jump, I’ll be looking at the latest episodes of 19-2, The Kettering Incident, The Last Ship, Outcast and Preacher, as well the return of Mr Robot and the rest of season two of Marco Polo. Given that I’m going to be away on holiday, will I employ my usual July ruthlessness and purge from the viewing list any that I can’t be bothered to catch up with? It’s a possibility…

At this point, I’d normally tell you about the movies I watched last week. Unfortunately, despite my best intentions, we couldn’t get through either Joy or Hail, Caesar!, since they were both a bit dull. That might be the closest I ever get to reviewing them, but you never know.

Continue reading “What have you been watching? Including Mr Robot, Marco Polo, The Last Ship and Outcast”

Australian and New Zealand TV

Mini-review: Barracuda 1×1 (Australia: ABC; UK: BBC Three)

15 July 2016 Rob Buckley 8 Comments

In Australia: Sundays, 8.30pm, ABC
In the UK: Acquired by BBC Three

There’s a worrying trend developing in television drama, one that I heartily disapprove of: drama about sports. It’s coming to us from the US, with the likes of Ballers, Pitch and Kingdom; meanwhile, Australia’s already given us tennis players in The Beautiful Lie, and now we’ve got to put up with swimming with ABC’s Barracuda. I’m guessing with the Olympics on the way, there may be even more sports shows to come. Tsk. There’s really no need for it, though, is there?

To be fair, Barracuda is more an excuse to look at the issues around sport and at young men in speedos, than it is all about the glories of swimming, no matter how many dodgy poems Hungarian swimming coaches read to their youthful charges in their homes. Set in 1996, it sees newcomer Elias Anton playing a working class Olympian hopeful winning a scholarship to a prestigious private school that trains swimming champions. But there, as well as having to shave his chest and dive into water a lot, he has to navigate class boundaries, bullying and racism, in order to make it to the top. But what price does it come at and is it all worth it?

If you’ve watched any kind of sports drama and any kind of drama set in a school, particularly a private school, you won’t be surprised by much of what Barracuda has to offer, although what it does, it does very well. The young cast is decent and look the part; Matt Nable (Arrow, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, Gallipoli) is suitably inspiring as the coach, even if he sounds more South African than Hungarian; and the talented Rachel Griffiths (Brothers and Sisters, Very Annie Mary, Camp, Deadline Gallipoli) mysteriously shows up as one of the mums of the swim team.

It’s all beautifully shot and there are some good moments, even some involving sport, particularly when the reason for the show’s name gets revealed. But ultimately, even at just four episodes, you have to give a monkey’s about swimming for Barracuda to be worth your time.  

What have you been watching? Including Marco Polo, Secret City, 19-2, The Last Ship and Preacher

11 July 2016 Rob Buckley 3 Comments

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

With the fourth of July weekend in the US last week, things have been a little quieter than normal, but not completely quiet. There have been a few new shows to review and I’ve already cast a glance over Dead Of Summer (US: Freeform), The Kettering Incident (Australia: Foxtel Showcase) and Roadies (US: Showcase; UK: Amazon Prime), as well as passed a third-episode verdict on American Gothic (US: CBS; UK: Amazon Prime). Last night in Australia, Barracuda (Australia: ABC) started, and I’ll be reviewing that by the end of the week, I hope. There’s also a couple of new acquistions of Netflix that should be getting my attention this week, too.

Nevertheless, the regulars have been looking a bit thin on the ground, which means that after the jump, I’ll only be looking at 19-2, The Last Ship, Preacher and the final episode of Secret City. Oh yes – I managed to watch the first three episodes of the new season of Marco Polo. I’m sure you’ll be thrilled to hear about them, too

Continue reading “What have you been watching? Including Marco Polo, Secret City, 19-2, The Last Ship and Preacher”

US TV

Review: Roadies 1×1-1×2 (US: Showtime; UK: Amazon Prime)

8 July 2016 Rob Buckley 2 Comments

In the US: Sundays, 10pm ET/PT, Showtime
In the UK: Mondays, Amazon Prime

Although the theory of ‘the auteur’ is eminently quibblable, it’s fair to say that you can spot the work of Cameron Crowe a mile off. Whether it’s Jerry Maguire, Almost Famous, Elizabethtown or We Bought A Zoo, his work is usually characterised by an indie sensibility; a central male-female, potentially romantic relationship; quirky dialogue; a focus on music; and a lot of heart but not much brain. You won’t get very far through Roadies, Showtime’s new series about those unsung heroes and heroines of the live music industry, before proclaiming it as possibly the most Cameron Crowish piece of work that Cameron Crowe has ever done.

Crowe’s never been one for putting plot above character, so it’s a little hard to say what Roadies is actually about, other than that it’s a show about roadies – and the first episode is an introduction to all of them. The ostensible focus of the show are Luke Wilson (Idiocracy, The Royal Tenenbaums, Legally Blonde, Enlightened), the tour manager with a failed marriage and who now sleeps with women literally half his age, and Carla Gugino (Watchmen, Threshold, Wayward Pines), the production manager with a failing marriage and who doesn’t sleep with anyone. They have such The Thin Man chemistry together and obvious devotion to one another, everyone who meets them thinks they’re married – except they’re not!

However, Crowe seems more interested in Imogen Poots (28 Weeks Later), the young roadie who’s heading off to film school because she’s stopping believing in the music. If only she could recover her faith. Most of the first episode follows her around as she slowly rediscovers that faith thanks to all her fellow roadies, who are all a motley bunch of amiable characters: Ron White, the old hand who may have murdered two people but all the bands like; Keisha Castle-Hughes (Game of Thrones, The Almighty Johnsons, Whale Rider), the lesbian; and Peter Cambor (The Wedding Band), the guy from New Jersey who worked with Elvis Costello for a while and got stuck with his accent. There’s also Machine Gun Kelly, a roadie for another band with a strange relationship with Poots, which gets explained at the end of the first episode (spoilers, sweetie).

Crowe’s one real concession to plot comes from Rafe Spall (The Shadow Line, I Give It A Year), the semi-menacing English finance guy who used to work in sports and ‘real estate’ so doesn’t really get music, but who’s been sent over to make some budget cuts. Who’s for the chop? Probably not Poots, judging by the other age-inappropriate, Crowe-typical relationship that gets thrown into the mix. Probably no one, in fact, as Spall gradually learns that it’s love and people, not numbers, that keeps everything working backstage and you remove a piece of that bizarrely intricate puzzle at your own risk.

That first episode is in many ways lovely and heart-felt, albeit a bit saccarine and divorced from reality, with obvious love for music and people oozing from every scene – even for Spall and the creepy stalker girl who wants to do odd things with microphones (Jacqueline Byers). The trouble with auteurship, though, is that unless you’re Aaron Sorkin and prepared to consume superhuman amounts of cocaine to write a classic script every couple of weeks for umpteen years, it’s not something that can transfer over easily from film to TV.

The result is that even though Crowe directs the first two episodes, he hands over writing duties to others from episode two. Winnie Holzman (My So-Called Life) is the first to pick up the slack, but although she’s good in her own right, she’s not up to being Cameron Crowe. The result is faux-Crowe and a little bit painful to watch without his heart-on-a-sleeve gushing. It doesn’t help that Wilson pretty much checks out after the first episode, even if everyone else is working hard, particularly Spall whose role switches from menacing to comedic from the second episode. To be fair again, Wilson does give a near-perfect performance as someone who’s coming down after smoking heinous amounts of weed, so there’s that one small concession to reality, at least.

If you like Cameron Crowe, it’s worth watching the first episode at least, as long as you consider it as a one-off short movie. Watching any more than that would be intolerable. You can watch a trailer below, and if you’re in the US, you can watch the first episode for free here.