TV reviews

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

Classic TV

Lost Gems: The Name of the Game (1968-1971)

17 November 2011 Rob Buckley 5 Comments

The Name of the Game

‘Wheel’ series have just about disappeared now. What’s a ‘wheel’ series? Well, imagine a series with some high-profile stars, but they’re so high-profile, there’s not room for them in each episode. So each week, you have an episode that invariably features only one of those stars.

One of the pioneers of wheel series was NBC’s The Name of the Game, which starred Tony Franciosa, Gene Barry and Robert Stack. Running for 76 episodes, it was based on the TV movie Fame is the Name of the Game and looked at three characters working at Howard Publications, a large magazine company. Franciosa played Jeff Dillon, a crusading reporting with People magazine; Gene Barry played Glenn Howard, the company’s owner and publisher; and Robert Stack played Dan Farrell, the editor of Crime magazine.

Here’s the ever-so-60s title sequence. Well, one of them. I’ll explain after the jump.

Continue reading “Lost Gems: The Name of the Game (1968-1971)”

The CarusometerA Carusometer rating of 3

Third-episode verdict: Grimm (NBC/Watch)

14 November 2011 Rob Buckley 5 Comments

In the US: Fridays, 9/8c, NBC
In the UK: Acquired by Watch

Episode 3 and there are some signs of life still in Grimm. After the somewhat derivative first episode, the second episode managed to inspire a little more confidence with the (apparently) characteristic mixture of humour and horror that we’ve come to expect of the show, with ‘Goldilocks and the Three Bears’ getting a decidedly macabre make-over. Not quite the level of humour as episode one, a bit more of a police procedural, it was okay, but lacked much of a real spark, beyond the humour value of the various reveals.

Episode 3 went off on a completely different tangent, giving us more of the show’s mythos, with fights between Hexenbeasts and Mellifers (sp?), and hints at an overall plot. Solid lead got given some humorous lines to deal with and couldn’t really give them anything much beyond solidness. The idea that the story should in some way reflect the fairy tale being mentioned also got thrown on the back-burner, since this one didn’t even slightly resemble ‘The Queen Bee’.

There’s nothing really bad about Grimm. It’s reasonably intelligent, it has its fun moments and it almost teeters on the brink of scary at times. But there’s nothing really remarkable about it either. It’s no different from a dozen, dime-a-dozen cable fantasy shows, from The Dresden Files to Friday The 13th. It’ll amiable enough, it’ll help you pass the time if you’ve nothing to do on a Friday night, but it’s really nothing you should go out of your way to watch.

Carusometer rating: 3
Rob’s prediction: Won’t last more than a season

US TV

Review: Hell on Wheels (AMC) 1×1

10 November 2011 Rob Buckley 2 Comments

Hell on Wheels

In the US: Sundays, 10/9c, AMC
In the UK: Acquired by TCM UK to air in 2012

There’s been a lot of talk this season about AMC’s Mad Men. The Playboy Club and Pan Am have both supposedly been trying to emulate the success of Mad Man by both being set in the 60s and allegedly glorifying sexism, racism, et al. The parallels are relatively few and often spurious but what people have latched onto in this 60s setting. Apparently, until Mad Men, period drama didn’t happen on US TV so clearly anything period must owe a debt to Mad Men.

Now overlooking the quasi-period (e.g. Quantum Leap, New Amsterdam, Journeyman, That 70s Show, Life on Mars) as well as actually period (e.g. Glory Daze, Swingtown) is one thing. But to overlook the western? That’s downright ridiculous.

The western was once the mainstay of US TV: Bonanza ran for 13 years, Gunsmoke ran for 20 years and there were countless others. Modern day TV networks also haven’t forgotten the western: HBO had Deadwood while FX’s Justified is essentially a western set in modern times; and even as I type, the development slates at various US networks are already filling up with a whole new batch of westerns, ready to be unleashed on us next September, including a remake of the classic TV western The Rifleman.

But now look. While everyone’s been fixated on the 60s as the Mad Men USP, AMC – the home of Mad Men – is trying its hardest to cash in on the success of its own, currently absent show (as well as its first ever original mini-series, Broken Trail) with another period piece that relishes the mores and prejudices of a rapidly changing American society. Can you guess when it’s set?

Continue reading “Review: Hell on Wheels (AMC) 1×1”

The CarusometerA Carusometer rating of 3

Third-episode verdict: Once Upon A Time (ABC)

8 November 2011 Rob Buckley Post a comment

In the US: Sundays, 8/7c, ABC
in the UK: Not yet acquired

Not that it’s statistically significant, but it’s worth noting that a lot of shows this fall season have proven to be better with their third episode – which is also their first episode written by someone who isn’t their showrunner. We’ve had a look at Boss today and American Horror Story also took a slight turn for the better with its third episode. I hear Whitney‘s picked up now Whitney isn’t writing it and much can be said for 2 Broke Girls, now Whitney and Michael Patrick King have handed over writing duties to the staff.

Of course, Suburgatory‘s only good when showrunner Emily Kapnek (or other women) are writing it so it’s not a golden rule. Interesting, all the same, though, given the recent ‘cult of the showrunner;.

But Once Upon A Time is definitely following this new trend. After the dull first episode, Once Upon A Time followed up with a very dull second episode that suffered from all the same problems as the first episode. But Sunday’s third episode did some interesting things. Rather than giving the baddies all the fun, we got signs of Snow White not being all that uninteresting, Prince Charming turned up and did something heroic, Jennifer Morrison got to make wise-cracks, and there was daring-do and excitement. That’s all new.

Unfortunately, by providing an improved script, a dull plot could no longer distract from the show’s other flaws also exposed a lot of the show’s weaknesses. Jennifer Morrison is quite dreadful as the heroine; Ginnifer Goodwin as Snow White is only marginally better; the PG rating (if that) on the show means there’s no chance for bloodshed, even when swords are scythed at people’s legs.

The show’s problems are essentially that it falls between two stools: it’s a little too adult and concerned with adult themes to work for kids but at the same time it’s too childish and lacking in grit to appeal to adults either. If we could have a full-blooded adult show that exploited the psycho-sexual nature of fairy tales, for example, or that really turned fairy tale characters into real-world people, rather than ciphers with single character traits, that would be a show worth watching. A TV version of Enchanted would be equally good. But this fails to be either so instead, while it does have some qualities that are relatively engaging (Lana Parrilla, Robert Carlyle and the original fairy tales), it’s ultimately a weak, watered down concept that fails to really doing anything remarkable.

Might watch just to see what happens with Cinderella and Rumplestiltskin next week though.

Carusometer rating: 3
Rob’s prediction: Might last a season at best

The CarusometerA Carusometer rating of 2

Third-episode verdict: Boss (Starz)

8 November 2011 Rob Buckley 1 Comment

In the US: Fridays, 10pm ET/PT, Starz

Not much to add on the subject of Boss since the first episode. Boss has been very consistent in being very well-made and in being hard to watch. I don’t mean hard to watch in just the metaphorical sense that it deals with tough issues and is quite unrelenting. I mean literally it’s hard to watch thanks to the shaky cam and general direction, which made the first episode in particular hard to follow.

It has settled down now and while Gus van Sant was the director de jour for the first episode (and executive producer for the whole series), Mario van Peebles himself turned up to do the duties for episode three, producing something that while still riddled with shaky cam and visual metaphor, still managed to have a coherent narrative and a sense that there was a story that needed to be serviced.

I think there are a few things things that need mentioning here:

  1. Kelsey Grammer is absolutely phenomenal in this. It now fills me with rage that he’s been slumming on shows like Hank and Back To You for the last few years, when he could have been acting his socks off in proper drama. What a waste.
  2. The show has now largely settled down on two storylines: Grammer’s dementia and its effects on his job, his relationships and, well, almost everyone in fact; and Jeff Hephner’s bid for governorship. The two intermingle as well, which is a good thing, given how bitty the first episode was.
  3. Women apparently don’t need foreplay any more. And about a minute’s enough for y’all. Homeland appears to have come to the same conclusion as well. One more and it’s official. At least in America.

Episode three has definitely been the best of the episodes, despite The Carusometer’s suggestions to the contrary, and that might well be because Farhad Safinia didn’t write it. However, despite the slight uptick, it’s still not enough to qualify it for a "1" rating for the simple reason that there aren’t any characters you can really root for. Everyone is just a vile and nasty politician or the kind of person who hangs out with vile and nasty politicians, and while there might some enjoyment in watching their downfall say, the show really isn’t focused on that angle. It just wants us to know that law-making is a dirty business and politicians can be pretty dirty, too. Well, duh.

So while this is a well-made, quality product with Grammer doing some of the best acting on TV at the moment, can I really tell you all to run off an watch this immediately, you going off with the expectation you’ll be having an enjoyable hour of TV viewing? No. But if you don’t mind something that’s quality, that’s about something a bit more real than air hostess fantasies and fairy tales, and both metaphorically and literally hard to watch, then go off and watch Boss.

Carusometer rating: 2
Rob’s prediction: Already picked up for a second season, but I’m not predicting a third.