TV reviews

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

Classic TV

Lost Gems: Dear John (1986-1987)/Dear John (USA) (1988-1992)

8 December 2011 Rob Buckley 3 Comments

John Sullivan is best known in the UK as the creator and writer of Only Fools and Horses. But he did write other shows, including Just Good Friends and… Dear John. Guest what show this Lost Gem is about.

As the show’s title suggests, this is about a regular guy called John who comes home to get a ‘Dear John’ letter from his wife (the words of which are sung in the theme tune), who tells him she’s leaving him for another man.

To get his life back on track, schoolteacher John joins a support group for divorced people, run by a woman called Louise (catchphrase: "Were there any sexual problems?") and populated by various oddballs, including Ralph (a colossal nerd who drives a motorcycle-sidebar combination), Kate (an attractive but ‘frigid’, thrice-divorced woman played by Belinda Lang from 2.4 Children), and ‘Kirk’, a man who dresses like John Travolta and claims to be a spy, but is really a guy called Eric who lives at home with his mum.

The show largely revolved around the interactions between these characters at the support group and the humour of their various situations and characters. But there’s a great deal of pathos as well, given the situation, with Ralph having been married by a Polish woman just to get a UK passport and Eric/Kirk being lonely and inadequate so having to devise a persona in order to function in the real-world and possibly romance Kate, with whom he falls in love: in one episode, Eric resolves to be himself, but when a pub fight breaks out, he discovers he can only stop it, by becoming Kirk again.

The show ended inconclusively after two series and a ‘special’. Kate gets a new boyfriend and goes to Greece, but that’s about as far as it goes for story arc. But that was about as far as it went.

Dear John (USA)

However, following the sitcom-import trend of the 70s and 80s, NBC in the US acquired the format and scripts and developed their own Dear John. Notable cast members were Judd Hirsch of Taxi fame, who played John, Isabella Hoffmann (Homicide) played Kate, Harry Groener (Buffy The Vampire Slayer) played Ralph, while Jere Burns (Burn Notice) played Kirk.

There were a few but notable changes to the show along the way, changes that essentially made the show blander and less biting. The theme tune, while essentially the same, becomes faster and happier; Kate is no longer frigid, merely divorced; and Kirk really is a secret agent, even if no one believes him at first (ironic, given Burns’ current role in Burn Notice).

Although considerably messed around in the schedules, Dear John (USA) (as the BBC retitled it when they acquired it) lasted four seasons on NBC, but hasn’t been seen since, making it a ‘Lost Gem’. However, the UK original is available on DVD.

What did you watch last week (w/e December 5)?

5 December 2011 Rob Buckley 8 Comments

Time for “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.

The A-Team: Misfits, Modern Family, Happy Endings, Homeland, Suburgatory and Community.

The B-Team: Dexter, House, Rev and Ringer.

It’s at this point I have to fess up and say I really haven’t watched that much TV this week, since I was away at the weekend, the new stuff I wanted to watch I’ve already reviewed and the new stuff I didn’t want to watch – well, I didn’t watch it. Also, almost everything good is now being shown on Sundays. That’s not helpful. I might have to move this back to Fridays.

But I will say that Community was great last week (anime!) as was Homeland; Dexter is frustratingly daft and poor; and Ringer didn’t have a bad mid-season finale.

No new movies. No new books. Sorry, again. Not been doing too well, have I? Sorry.

“What did you watch last 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?

US TV

Review: I Hate My Teenage Daughter (Fox) 1×1

1 December 2011 Rob Buckley 3 Comments

I Hate My Teenage Daughter

In the US: Wednesdays, 9:30pm(E/P)/8:30c, Fox

Sometimes, I feel like I’m psychic. Do you?

I’ll tell you for why. I looked at the title of this show – I Hate My Teenage Daughter. I saw what network it was on – Fox.

And I knew in an instant that watching it would feel like being slowly licked by the Creature from the Black Lagoon, assuming that the lagoon was black because it was under a sewer outlet.

And hey! Guess what! I was right.

I wonder if I can use my powers to win the lottery.

For those of you whose psychic powers aren’t as well developed as mine, let me fill you in on the plot: we have two single mothers, one of them played by Jaime Pressly from My Name is Earl. Both of them were nerds at school, but have since developed okay. But they both have pretty, popular daughters. And oh my lordy, it turns out the daughters are turning into the same sort of mean girls who made their lives a misery at High School.

Cue zero hilarity and an overwhelming desire to take a shower. Here’s a trailer – one minor character has been recast since the pilot, otherwise these are the highlights.

Continue reading “Review: I Hate My Teenage Daughter (Fox) 1×1”

What did you watch last week (w/e November 27)?

28 November 2011 Rob Buckley 1 Comment

Time for "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.

The A-Team: Misfits, Modern Family, Happy Endings, Homeland, Suburgatory and Community.

The B-Team: Dexter, House, Rev and Ringer.

So, if you read the comments section of last week’s "What did you watch last week?", you’ll know I gave up on Hell on Wheels. I’ve managed to maintain the strength to avoid Burn Notice, but that’s probably because it was Thanksgiving in the States last week so it wasn’t on. That basically leaves the above

So a few thoughts on what was on last week:

  • Dexter: Possibly the most boring season of Dexter ever.
  • Happy Endings: Starting to feel not so much like the new Friends as a younger Cougar Town. Funny, but needs to get its edge back.
  • Homeland: Ooh, twisty twisty. Again, its 24 roots were showing, but I liked what happened otherwise I would have felt suckered by the previous weeks we’ve been watching. Excellent TV.
  • Rev: Not so good last week. Tried to do horror and be scary. Failed.

This week, again, nothing in the movies or books section, since I’m still reading Mark Kermode’s book. I have missed an awful lot in the cinema though, including The Rum Diary, Contagion and Immortals. Anyone seen them?

"What did you watch last 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 last week (w/e November 20)?

21 November 2011 Rob Buckley 5 Comments

Time for “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.

My recommendations for maximum viewing pleasure this week: Dexter, Modern Family, Happy Endings, Homeland, Rev, Suburgatory and Community.

Things you might enjoy but that I’m not necessarily recommending: House and Ringer.

Things I used to watch, aren’t too bad, but are now desperately samey yet you might like: Boss, Burn Notice, Chuck, The Walking Dead. Let me know if they pick up again.

So, if you read the comments section of last week’s “What did you watch last week?”, you’ll know I’ve given up on a couple more shows:

  • Being Erica: which has just become so dull and samey, even though this season has essentially been “Let’s go and revisit all those old characters you used to like while simultaneously not moving the plot forward at all, but actually throwing it into reverse.” Bored now, and Alex says the latest episode has the most blatant product placement in history in it.
  • Chuck: same thing: bored now. Really, this show doesn’t have anything interesting to say any more, isn’t even fun and has actually become quite irritating.

But since last week, I’ve given up on:

  • Boss: as good as Kelsey Grammer is, the story itself is just too boring/too worthy in varying doses.

A few thoughts on what else I’ve seen this week:

  • Dexter: Oh. What a shame. Turned out the twist they served up was for one episode and one episode only. That was a waste.
  • Misfits: A combination of thrilling and daring with astonishingly stupid. So world history gets rewritten because the Nazis get hold of a mobile phone at some point before 1945 and use its technology to win the war? So how come life as we know it in the new present isn’t 65 years more advanced than it is now? Why is the Nazis, who still have a thing against gays, seem to have relented on the whole “master race” issue and don’t mind having the likes of Curtis around? But a lovely change of pace from the normal style of episode.
  • House: last week’s episode was much better, but it’s still not hitting the heights it used to.
  • Homeland: well, I was not expecting that. Either brilliant or more annoying than The Killing. I’ve yet to watch last night’s episode, which might sway my opinion.
  • Community: very funny, but slowly sort of petered out at the end.
  • Joanna Lumley’s Greek Odyssey: Mostly on fast forward to prevent me from stabbing myself in annoyance at the pointlessness of it all. We’re on Mount Olympus, so what are we going to do? Talk to marathon runners and fortune tellers. That’s it? You came all the way to Greece to do that?
  • Rev: Had to watch this one of fast forward too, mainly because it was cringe-inducing and I don’t like cringe comedy. Funny in the bits I could watch, though.

And in the movies and books sections, nothing I’m afraid. Too busy watching TV!

“What did you watch last 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?