Been missing Heroes? Want something that’s almost identical but a bit more average – doesn’t quite hit Heroes‘ heights but doesn’t hit its depths?
Then have I the show for you. It’s about a group of different people from different backgrounds who have extraordinary abilities. They all come together to help solve crimes and fight a greater evil. They’re not very interesting people, but they have some cool super powers and the plotting is actually pretty clever.
I’m going to go out on something of a limb here and say Suits is probably the best USA Network show to arrive since the first season of Royal Pains and perhaps even Burn Notice. While it’s not flawless, it has a deliciously dark edge, a strong cast, something new to say about lawyers and now it’s really starting to find its feet, some interesting, original characters.
After a slightly shaky, highly implausible start that still had a lot going for it, Suits has managed to develop its storylines and characters so that they’re interesting and layered. The show also gives you insights into not only people who normally get ignored in other lawyer shows but aspects of the legal system that get glossed over, with far less emphasis being placed on flashy criminal law in favour of other branches such as corporate law.
Thankfully, the show has still managed to maintain its dark, manipulative edge. Most of the characters aren’t especially likeable. Harvey (Gabriel Macht) the evil lawyer may do good occasionally but there’s always a slimey evil reason for it underneath. His constant warfare with junior partner Louis has provided a delightfully fun series of battles played out in and around the office. Even boss Gina Torres is shown to be as underhand, if not more so, as Harvey.
If there’s a weak link in the whole thing, its newbie lawyer Mike Ross (Patrick J Adams), whose implausible photographic memory throws everything into a slightly odd, parallel universe, and Adams’ performance is desperately lacking in charisma. His personal life isn’t as interesting as the writers think it is, but there are at least unexpected dimensions to it and he does at least allow the writers to show just how the devil is in the details in contracts and how much of a lawyer’s life is about reading.
It’s not absolutely the darkest show there’s ever been, but it is a worthy addition to USA’s line-up and worth watching if you’re a big fan of the Machiavellian.
In the US: Thursdays, 10pm, FX In the UK: Acquired by BBC3 for Autumn broadcast
Wilfred is surreal. Obviously, you gathered that from the fact it’s about a regular guy (Elijah Wood) who perceives his next-door neighbour’s dog to be an Australian guy in an unconvincing dog suit. But Wilfred is actively surreal, surreal in the old-style sense of unsettling one’s perspective on reality. As well as the fact no one ever acknowledges the fact Wilfred is really a swearing bong-smoker with opposable thumbs, this is a show in which Dune is quoted and Wood has prophetic dreams. It’s strange.
So after the funny first episode in which the show is set up, things dip slightly with the second episode, in which Wilfred’s doggie personality is explored more over the issue of trust. This lacked the subtlety of the first episode but was still entertaining. But with our third episode, things took off once again, into the dark, with Wilfred’s attempts to turn Wood is a stronger, less fearful individual resulting in a bizarre confrontation with his other next door neighbour (My Name Is Earl‘s Ethan Suplee) that leads to Wilfred poledancing in a strip club, amongst other things.
Again, the show’s creators do a good job of blending WIlfred’s human and doggy characteristics, with Wilfred mesmerised by a laser pointer at one point, and believing the story given to him by animal control that’s he going off to live on a beautiful farm.
While it’s not side-splitting, Wilfred is just so mesmerisingly odd and original, it’s entirely worth watching the show just to see Wood go through Wilfred’s Tyler Durden-style mentoring in all its surreal splendour. Tune it, enjoy but prepare to be slightly frightened by the whole experience.
Carusometer rating: 2 Rob’s prediction: As dark as FX’s normal output but significantly more interesting and more entertaining, this should run and run.
Today, Jason Bateman is a big movie star. If you never caught him in Arrested Development on Fox, in just the last few years, you could have seen him in Paul, The Switch, Juno, Couples Retreat, Up in the Air, The Invention of Lying, State of Play and Hancock, and he’s in the forthcoming Horrible Bosses and swapping bodies with Ryan Reynolds in The Change Up, too.
But what you might not know is that Jason Bateman was actually a child star back in the 80s, getting his first shot at the big time in Little House on the Prairie. Look, here he is getting a spanking.
But in 1984, Bateman got to star in his own show, It’s Your Move. Created by Michael G Moye and Ron Leavitt, the show was actually a surprisingly dark affair for an early 80s sitcom – although since they went on to create Married… With Children maybe it’s not that surprising. In it, Bateman played Matthew Burton, a teenage conman who’s always scamming someone at school, his relatives or anyone else he could make money from.
Then a writer called Norman (David Garrison who also went on to Married… With Children) moves in across the hallway and gets friendly with Burton’s widowed mother, Eileen (Caren Kaye). Matthew gets protective and tries to scam Norman into abandoning interest in Eileen… only to discover that Norman is just as much of a scam artist as he is.
As the show’s title suggests, subsequent episodes are then essentially a chess match between Matthew and Norman, Matthew trying to sabotage Norman and Eileen’s relationship, Norman trying to foil Matthew, each without exposing his true nature to Eileen.
The series was well received, but unfortunately was up against ratings dynamo Dynasty. As a result, the show was retooled after episode 14. Matthew tries to help his mother at work, but by doing something blatantly illegal. Eileen finds out and as a result, Matthew can’t scam anyone any more. After that, the show became a regular sitcom. All the same, ratings didn’t improve and the show was eventually cancelled after 18 episodes.
It’s not well remembered, it’s not available on DVD: it’s a Lost Gem. All the same, you can watch pretty much every episode – and a very young Jason Bateman – on YouTube. And here’s the pilot episode
In the US: Wednesdays, 10/9c, USA Network. Available on USANetwork.com
What is the secret of good drama? It’s a question that writers have been searching for, ever since the creation of theatre. Everyone from Aristotle onwards has had their own theory.
‘A compelling story’ is one of the usual requirements: the viewer/reader/audience have to engage with the story and want to know more.
Which, I think, is the biggest problem with Necessary Roughness, in which Callie Thorne of Rescue Me plays a therapist who bumps into Marc Blucas of Buffy fame on a girls’ night out. Blucas turns out to be a trainer for a professional football team and after Thorne cures him of his smoking addiction, Blucas thinks she might be able to help him fix the psychological problems that are holding back his team members – including one very expensive ball-dropper in particular.
And while it’s all executed well enough, the question that lingers over the whole enterprise is “Why are you telling me this story?”
