TV reviews

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

US TV

Review: Men at Work (TBS) 1×1-1×2

29 May 2012 Rob Buckley 8 Comments

Men At Work

In the US: Thursdays, 10/9c, TBS

Oh no. Just as you thought it was all over, a cable also-ran has decided to fan the embers of a dying trend. You may recall that the big trend of the Fall 2011 was “sitcoms that deal with the (alleged) difficulty of being a man in the 21st century”. We started with the rapidly cancelled How To Be A Gentleman (which CBS is currently burning off), before slowly moving down through the various circles of Hell that were Last Man Standing and the rapidly cancelled Man Up!. Eventually, we hit rock bottom with ABC’s rapidly cancelled Work It, with unemployed men dressing as women to get jobs (rather than getting additional qualifications at evening classes, etc).

Now we have Men At Work, which follows the misadventures of four “hip young professionals” who work together – “the four serve as each other’s wingmen as they help each other navigate work, friendship and women.”

“Give me strength,” you might think. You might think you need a wingman, too, to help you navigate through lame sitcom ideas.

But, as we run through Men at Work‘s qualifications, our hearts can only sink more. For starters, it’s on TBS, the only channel the tagline of which needs to be said in a sarcastic tone of voice: “Very funny.” In case you don’t believe me on that, you clearly watched neither Glory Daze nor 10 Items or Less (although I understand some of you might have liked My Boys for some reason).

Then there’s the writer/creator. It’s Breckin Meyer, who was of course the stoner in Clueless and is one of the stars of TNT’s misogynistic Franklin and Bash. And certainly, Men At Work has shares that show’s poor attitude towards women. It even has a new vocabulary to abuse women with. How innovative.

But despite all this, the first two episodes of the show weren’t actually that bad. In fact, in a couple of places it was quite clever and made me laugh.

I’m still not watching any more of it because it’s a misogynist buddy comedy, but colour me surprised all the same.

Here’s a trailer. Incidentally, it’s all set at a magazine and is mainly about journalist. I wonder if I’ll have anything to say about that as well after the jump.

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UK TV

Review: Hit and Miss (Sky Atlantic) 1×1

25 May 2012 Rob Buckley 4 Comments

Hit and Miss

In the UK: Tuesdays, 10pm, Sky Atlantic
In the US: Acquired by DirecTV. Starts July 11

For many years, BSkyB has been seen by many in the UK as something of a scubby parasite. It earns a fortune from sports subscriptions and then what does it do with them? Uses them to price every other broadcaster out the sports market to make even more money, which is uses to acquire all the good US TV shows to make even more money (£6.6 billion in 2011). But does it make any programming itself? No, just tacky reality shows.

But the times, they are a changing. Sky may have poached all the good US TV shows, even signing an exclusive deal to acquire everything HBO makes and air it on a new channel Sky Atlantic, but now it’s started to get into the business of making halfway decent, scripted TV shows. It’s putting a real effort into comedy on Sky 1, it’s got two more-than-halfway decent arts channels in the form of Sky Arts 1 and 2, and despite the confusing name on the tin, Sky Atlantic now has its first home-grown UK drama.

Created by Paul Abbott of Shameless fame and written by writer-film director Sean Conway (brilliantlove, Alex and Her Arse Truck (no really), Rabbit Stories and Kings of London), it’s about a trans hitwoman who suddenly discovers she has a son by a former girlfriend. Chloë Sevigny – a Golden Globe-winning US actress who’s best known for Showtime’s Big Love but also for movies such as American Psycho, Lars von Trier’s Dogville and Boys Don’t Cry, in which she played a woman who falls in love with a trans man – is Mia, the hitwoman in question, who has to trundle off to meet her new family and to become both father and mother to them.

And unlike a lot of previous attempts by Sky at original programming, it’s not half bad. Even though it also stars Jonas Armstrong from Robin Hood, it’s about a trans hitwoman trying to raise a family in the Yorkshire Dales and it’s called Hit and Miss. Clever, huh?

Here’s a trailer.

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Classic TV

Nostalgia corner: Sapphire and Steel (1979-82)

24 May 2012 Rob Buckley 6 Comments

Sapphire and Steel

All irregularities will be handled by the forces controlling each dimension. Transuranic, heavy elements may not be used where there is life. Medium atomic weights are available: Gold, Lead, Copper, Jet, Diamond, Radium, Sapphire, Silver and Steel. Sapphire and Steel have been assigned.

Ironically, it was only a matter of time until I got round to Sapphire and Steel. Now I have the time, so let’s delve into one of the coolest, scariest TV shows there’s ever been on UK TV.

I say ironically, because Sapphire and Steel is a show about time – specifically, Time going wrong, usually as the result of things that live in the ‘corridor of Time’ but sometimes of its own volition. In the world of Sapphire and Steel – which is also our modern world or at least the modern world of the 1970s and 80s – Time is everywhere and it is the enemy. It wants to break in. It wants to trap you. It wants to steal your parents. It wants to eat your soul. And then it wants to do the same to everything and everyone you know.

And to stop the world as we know it being destroyed when this happens, mysterious entities, apparently named after the elements*, perhaps even the incarnations of the elements themselves, intercede using all kinds of weird, unexplainable powers.

However, if you think they’re here to help us, you’re sorely mistaken, because Sapphire and Steel, played by Joanna Lumley and David McCallum, are not like you and me. Even when they pretend to be on our side, to empathise with the predicaments of the mortal and human, they’re not. And they’re ever-so-willing to sacrifice every single one of us if necessary if they have to stop time. They have their own morality, their own rules and they don’t care about us. But they’re the only thing stopping history making us history, so do what they say.

Allow Sapphire to explain to the nature of Time to these annoying children and then follow me after the ever so scary title sequence to explain a little more about this most engrossing of shows:

Alternatively, there’s this rather lovely documentary about the show.

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Competitions

Review and competition: Fry’s Planet Word

21 May 2012 Rob Buckley 6 Comments

BBC Shop BadgePrice: £19.99 (Amazon price: £14.97; BBC Shop price: £12.99)
Released: February 2nd 2012

Time for another competition, courtesy of the BBC Shop. This time, in a little change of pace, it’s your chance to win Fry’s Planet Word, a globe-trotting five-part, two-disc expedition by Stephen Fry that investigates language and its use around the world over time.

Follow me after the jump where I’ll tell you all about it and how you can win it.

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What did you watch last week? Including Prisoners of War, The Bridge and Mission: Impossible 4

21 May 2012 Rob Buckley 3 Comments

It’s “What did you watch last week?”, my chance to tell you what I watched last 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 recommendations from the first-run shows are: The Almighty Johnsons, The Apprentice, Awake, The Bridge, Community, Cougar Town, The Daily Show, Don’t Trust the B—- in Apt 23, House, Mad Men, Modern Family, Prisoners of War, Suburgatory and 30 Rock. Hunt them down.

So after last week’s not-too-shocking dumping of Touch, it’s time to reveal that I’m dropping Veep and (drum roll) Mad Men. Veep just feels too weak compared to The Thick Of It, which it resembles more and more with every passing week, whereas despite the huge quality of Mad Men, it doesn’t feel like a show that’s really going anywhere any more. There’s no story arc – it’s just some ad people doing their jobs and realising that maybe they’re getting too old for this sh*t.

Now here’s a few thoughts on the regulars:

  • Missing – Thank God that’s over. Despite its decent beginning, it quickly became intensely stupid and so obsessed with ‘family’ (all American TV is fundamentally about family – discuss) that I rapidly lost patience with him. The finale had precisely no surprises, beyond the ridiculous attempt to set up a second season right at the end. What a waste of time.
  • The Almighty Johnsons – pretty weak for the first half of the episode, although it was good to see Mike and Michele’s relationship evolving into something nicer. But the second half was full of yet more revelations and the surprise return of Loki. redeeming everything for the season finale. Wonder what’s going to happen with Ty now?
  • Awake – They knew their number was up by this point, didn’t they? At least the conspiracy turned out not to be too stupid. But will the final episode this week reveal what’s been going on?
  • Community – A lovely way to end the season and Digital Estate Planning was an absolute work of genius.
  • The Bridge – Slightly disappointing as a conclusion, with a few absurdities to swallow, the fact that everything came down to Rohde and the revelation of just how many red (pickled) herrings there have been along the way, in particular Stefan and his sister, and everything to do with the ‘truth terrorism’. A bit of bad green screen work at the end as well. But some gutsy moves, high-quality, intelligent writing all round and Sofia Helin’s standout performance as Saga Norén made it probably the best show of the year so far for me.
  • 30 Rock – okay as a season finale, but really just an obvious set-up to write out Elizabeth Banks, given her movie schedule being what it is. I wonder if that Tyler Perry reference will get them into trouble?
  • Happy Endings – mysteriously, we in the UK have been show this episode, Kickball 2: The Kickening, despite it not having aired on US TV. I don’t know why it didn’t air in the US or whether it will, but I suspect it’s because it wasn’t very good.
  • Suburgatory – the return of showrunner Emily Kapnek to writing duty was as welcome as always, giving us satire, humour and pathos in equal measure. A slightly odd way to end the season, given that it leaves Tessa looking a bit evil, but a good first run all the same. I wonder if Alicia Silverstone will be a regular next season?
  • Prisoners of War – has now completely diverged from Homeland, beyond the ‘tapping code’ (you know what I mean). Episode two is essentially an interrogation episode. Really very good – go watch it.

And in movies:

  • The Good Shepherd: Robert de Niro directed this story about the creation of the CIA by the likes of William Hurt and Matt Damon. Features a mysteriously unageing cast including Angelina Jolie, Alec Baldwin and Pushing Daisies‘ Lee Pace, it’s a relatively solid spy story that’s still pretty unremarkable, all the same.

  • Mission Impossible 4: Ghost Protocol: Despite being directed by Brad Bird, this still felt like the JJ Abrams film that preceded it. Possibly the most escapist one of the lot so far, it lacked the vital wow factor of previous efforts (it may have been great in IMAX, mind), but was more humorous, largely thanks to Simon Pegg, and the addition of Jeremy Renner as the franchise’s possible Tom Cruise replacement worked well. Michael Nyqvist was absolutely wasted, though.

  • Land of the Pharaohs: A Howard Hawks movie from the 1950s with Joan Collins that tells the story (or a story) of the creation of the Great Pyramids of Egypt. A bit of tatt I accidentally recorded thinking it was something else, it’s nothing extraordinary in terms of script, which is quite dreadful to be honest, but has some amazing scenes all the same.

“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?

“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?