TV reviews

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

US TV

What did you watch last week? Including The Almighty Johnsons, Dirk Gently, Shameless, The Mechanic and The Thin Man

19 March 2012 Rob Buckley 2 Comments

Tom Cruise running in Cougar Town

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 we’ve missed them.

First, the usual recommendations: The Almighty Johnsons, Archer, Being Human (US), BeTipul, Community, Cougar Town, The Daily Show, Happy Endings, House, Modern Family, Portlandia, Ringer, Shameless (US), Southland, Spartacus, Suburgatory, 30 Rock and Top Gear. Assuming they’re on where you live, of course.

The observant will have noticed that I’ve promoted The Almighty Johnsons to the A-list there. I’ve caught up to those lovely New Zealanders now and I’d have to say that the first season is really good and really takes over from about episode eight onwards; the second season is a lot darker though, has some holes in the cast that the show really feels, as well as some changes to the set-up and general approach to the show – away from gods v goddesses to gods v (spoiler) Loki – that make it weaker. But it’s still a good show and the signs are that subsequent episodes will repair some of the damage. But what’s with Anders’ beard and all the rubbish new haircuts for everyone?

Now, some thoughts on the regulars:

  • Being Human (US): a slightly obvious twist last week that was still a good change for the show. Much better than the UK version now
  • Community: As close to normal as Community gets, and fabulous.
  • Cougar Town: Not just the Scrubs crossover to end all crossovers but we got ‘Tom Cruise-running’ as well. Excellent work all round.
  • Dirk Gently: Different in tone from the first episode, with Matt James (Doctor Who – The Impossible Planet) on scripting duties. Less a holistic mystery than an actual mystery, it was easy to guess the very sci-fi explanation for what had happened, but that didn’t actually matter. It was even surprisingly touching. One complaint: St Cedds (good), not filming in Cambridge (bad).
  • Happy Endings: A bottle episode, but a well-handled bottle episode, particularly the body swap at the end. Yes, you read that right.
  • Kung Fu: Second season now. The fighting’s getting better. The scripts aren’t getting faster, though, even with ninja.
  • Modern Family: Meh. So so.
  • Ringer: What? I mean seriously, what? Those flashbacks to Siobhan and Andrew made literally no sense within the context of the first two episodes of the show. But it’s Ringer, so what was I expecting?
  • Shameless: Heart-rending two episodes in which to see dreams crushed by other people. One that Ayn Rand-ists should watch.
  • She-Wolves: England’s Early Queens: Didn’t actually watch this one, but my lovely wife did and she reports that it’s quite good in and of itself, but if you know anything about the period before Elizabeth, it’s very basic and you won’t learn much.
  • Southland: Wow. What an episode. This week’s the finale. This should be traumatic.
  • Spartacus: Really very awesome (haven’t watched Friday’s yet), thanks to an influx of Germans, although the constant use of rape as a way to elevate the danger levels is getting very tired. I’m now almost used to Liam McIntyre as Spartacus, even though he’s still not up there with Andy Whitfield.
  • Suburgatory: a bit more drama than comedy, but good to see Robin Givens still getting work.
  • 30 Rock: The return of Dennis! Yey! And “You Soloed me” – a classic line.

And in movies:

  • The Thin Man: a classic Dashiell Hammett story, while the plot is typical 1920s/30s intricate murder-mystery, it’s absolutely worth watching for possibly the first depiction of a modern marriage in a film:

  • Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: Despite the presence of Terry Gilliam behind the camera and Johnny Depp in front, absolutely not a patch on the book and curiously uninvolving.

  • The Mechanic: Jason Statham takes on the Charles Bronson role in this unspectacular remake of the 70s movie about a professional hitman who takes on an assistant. A few good set pieces, but lacking the humour of the average Statham film, as well as the characteristic fight scenes, this is basically a movie by the numbers but with a few elements that take it above the normal. Reasonable enough, but don’t expect to see anything new.

How about you?

“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?

The CarusometerA Carusometer rating of 2

Third-episode verdict: Awake (NBC)

19 March 2012 Rob Buckley 2 Comments

In the US: Thursdays, 10/9c, NBC
In the UK: Not yet acquired

And thus we continue with Awake, in which homicide detective Jason Isaacs has a car crash and wakes up to find himself in two realities: one where his wife died, one where his son died. When he goes to sleep in one reality, he wakes up in the other. Which is real, which is imaginary? Or are they both real?

The really very good first episode largely looked at the two different lives Isaacs now leads, having to deal with two deaths yet still having his loved ones alive in another reality. Episode two then shifted the focus to the murder cases that Isaacs has to investigate, with clues in one reality helping to solve the case in another reality (although not quite vice versa); episode three then sees Isaacs having to help a man in one reality who’s dead in the other reality.

Slightly problematically, the murder cases, while intelligently done, just aren’t as compelling as Isaacs’ home situation and the ideas about grief and loss that it raises. We’re also starting to get ‘rationalisation fatigue’, with therapists in both realities coming up with increasingly unconvincing explanations for how Isaacs can know things that he shouldn’t possibly know unless the other reality truly existed – when there’s obviously no good reason at all, the therapists conveniently ignore that particular difficulty. And then there’s ‘patient partner’ syndrome, familiar from dozens of sci-fi and fantasy shows, with Isaacs’ partners being fobbed off with equally implausible explanations for the impossible and deciding to accept anything for a quite life.

Lastly, episode two saw the head of a worrying conspiracy theory rear its ugly head, which adds an extra implausibility to a show that’s been trying to stay fully convincing outside of its central conceit. That’s really not a good sign. And despite the producers’ stated intent to make us not want to care about what has caused this reality split, that conspiracy is really doing the exact opposite.

Yet, despite these caveats, this is still one of the most fascinating, intelligent, adult shows on network TV at the moment. It’s going to get cancelled, obviously, because its ratings aren’t great and it’s NBC. But I’m hoping it will stick around to find its feet.

Carusometer rating: 2
Rob’s prediction: Fingers crossed for more than one season, but I doubt it

The CarusometerA Carusometer rating of 4

Third-episode verdict: GCB (Good Christian Bitches) (ABC)

19 March 2012 Rob Buckley 1 Comment

In the US: Sundays, 10/9c, ABC

Time to look at the first three episodes of ABC’s GCB (Good Christian Bitches) to see if it’s a show you should stick with or a give a try.

The short answer is it isn’t. After a first episode that didn’t exactly demonstrate much by way of originality, wit, or intelligence, it’s only gone downhill. Episode 2 saw the pseudo-Hooters waitresses fighting for the right to wear demeaning outfits, while episode three was basically a Desperate Housewives script with the serial numbers filed off, populated by people with emotional intelligence of muskrats.

It’s unsubtle, stupid, populated by some very bad actors, and worst of all, not very funny. Avoid.

Carusometer rating: 4
Rob’s prediction: Dead by the end of the season

Competitions

Review and competition: Doctor Who – The UNIT Files on DVD

19 March 2012 Rob Buckley 7 Comments

The UNIT Files

BBC Shop BadgeStarring: Jon Pertwee, Tom Baker, Elisabeth Sladen
Writers: Malcolm Hulke, Terry Nation
Director: Paddy Russell, Barry Letts
Price: £30.63 (Amazon price: £12.99; BBC Shop price: £22.25)
Released: January 9th 2012

It’s competition time again, you lucky people, courtesy of the BBC Shop throwing me a load of DVDs that I don’t really want. This time round, it’s your chance to win an entire box set: Doctor Who – The UNIT Files. Now this contains one Jon Pertwee six-parter featuring UNIT and that has the word ‘Invasion’ in the title, as well as one four-part Tom Baker story featuring UNIT and that has the word ‘Invasion’ in the title. Can you guess what the stories are?

Yes, it’s Invasion (of the Dinosaurs) and The Android Invasion, written by two of Doctor Who‘s old reliables: Malcolm Hulke and Terry Nation. And for once, I’ve actually sat down and watched them. Well, not the DVD extras, of course – don’t be silly.

Find out what I thought of them and how you could win them on DVD after this shiny trailer:

Continue reading “Review and competition: Doctor Who – The UNIT Files on DVD”

US TV

Review: Missing (ABC) 1×1

16 March 2012 Rob Buckley 12 Comments

Missing (ABC)

In the US: Thursdays, 8/7c, ABC

Spies are back. In a sense, they never really went away, but with several spy show pilots lined up for the fall, Covert Affairs now a regular on the USA Network and Homeland clearly the best new show of last fall, it seems like we’re ready to have secret agents back in our lives now, particularly with ABC’s Missing being thrust onto our screens just to fill in the gaps.

The big new trend in spy shows, though, as that list shows, is female spies. Covert Affairs stars Piper Perabo, Homeland revolves around Claire Danes, The Asset‘s lead is Ali Larter and Missing has Ashley Judd doing a Jason Bourne all over Europe (yes, they actually have come all the way to Europe to film this).

I say doing a Jason Bourne but Missing is really a sort of hybrid between The Bourne Identity and Taken, with former CIA operative Judd beating up Eurotrash to rescue her son, who’s been kidnapped by who knows who? While it never quite hits the heights of either movie, it’s actually a pretty good stab at doing both on the small screen.

Apart from the chase on Vespers. That was just silly. Here’s a trailer – yes, that is Sean Bean. Yes, there are a lot of spoilers for later episodes.

Continue reading “Review: Missing (ABC) 1×1”