TV reviews

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

US TV

Review: Gossip Girl 3×1

15 September 2009 Rob Buckley 1 Comment

Blair and Serena in Gossip Girl 3x1

In the US: Mondays, 9/8c, The CW
In the UK: ITV2 again

When Gossip Girl first popped up on our screens, it had a certain something. Okay, it was aimed at teenage girls and was about ridiculously rich people having ridiculously privileged educations and behaving like spoilt brats. But it was sweet, it had its heart in its right, there were some decent male and adult characters, the dialogue was witty, and it was actually quite clever.

Over the next two seasons, it became the must-watch show for teenage girls and indeed older women, keen to find a Sex and the City replacement, as well as a few men. However, as it went on, things became a little sillier. Although the producers promised they weren’t going to make the same mistakes they made with The OC, it all started to go wrong. Ridiculous plots and sub-plots started to crop up (Jenny’s stab at a fashion business, for example); everyone started to play ‘musical boyfriends’, yo-yoing between them all without any real rhyme or reason; and soon the cast had forgotten it was a drama and began mugging it for all it was worth.

So have the producers taken advantage of the summer break to take stock, regroup and come up with some storylines that don’t want to hit your head against a wall at the stupidity of them all?

I’ll give you three guesses. You’ll only need one.

Continue reading “Review: Gossip Girl 3×1”

French TV

Review: Engrenages (Spiral) 2×1

14 September 2009 Natalia Romanova 18 Comments

Engrenages

In the UK: Sundays, BBC4, 10pm. Available on the iPlayer

Imagine if Katie Price’s next book turned out to be Hamlet. It would be incredible, wouldn’t it? Unbelievable, in fact.

But we’re talking that level of surprise that French TV could come up with Engrenages (aka Spiral).

For the most part, French TV is dubbed American imports, films, game shows and sitcoms that make ITV’s best efforts look like Curb Your Enthusiasm. Yet, a few years ago, bewilderingly Canal+, France’s answer to HBO, came up with Spiral, a French cop show almost as good as The Wire – and every bit as gritty, socially conscious, well written, well acted and authentic, albeit with some very pretty French people indeed.

The first season was a no-holds barred look at the French justice system, and was unafraid to show judges as corrupt, cops as racist, brutal and criminal, and lawyers as amoral and willing to screw over anyone for their own advancement.

Now, a year after it aired in France, BBC4 has finally gotten around to showing the second season. Could it possibly be as good as the first season?

Miracles do happen. It is.

Here’s a trailer for season two – it’s in French mind and contains a few spoilers for the next episode.

Continue reading “Review: Engrenages (Spiral) 2×1”

US TV

Review: Supernatural 5×1

14 September 2009 Rob Buckley Post a comment

Supernatural

In the US: Thursdays, 9/8c, The CW
In the UK: Moving to Living/Virgin1

This is it – what could be the final season of Supernatural. It’s come a long way over the years, from being a simple horror story of the week series for young adults weened on Scream, Saw, et al, to being a surprisingly effective, funny and even thoughtful musing on the nature of God, angels and devils as depicted in the Bible.

When last we left those pretty Winchester boys at the end of season four (look away now if you haven’t seen it), Hell was about to arrive on Earth and the Apocalypse was about to begin – something that the heavenly host of angels was surprisingly keen to see happen. As a way to end a season, it’s hard to top. So as we enter season five, what can we expect to see?

Oh, it’s that bloke who plays Jacob on Lost.

Continue reading “Review: Supernatural 5×1”

US TV

Review: The Vampire Diaries 1×1

11 September 2009 Rob Buckley 17 Comments

The Vampire Diaries

In the US: Thursdays, 8/7c, The CW
In the UK: Acquired by ITV2

I am not a tweenie. I am not a teenager. I am definitely not a teenage girl.

So The Vampire Diaries is not aimed at me. It is not my show. So when I describe it as “very bad”, you might be tempted to think the problem is with me. That I don’t get it.

You might be right, but I do love my Gossip Girl and Privileged and a whole host of other programmes that aren’t aimed at me either. I can spot quality, I think, even in this area.

And I can spot a lack of it, too. Because, you see, The Vampire Diaries is very bad. Not supremely awful, but enough to make you almost want to take your own life rather than watch it.

Continue reading “Review: The Vampire Diaries 1×1”

UK TV

Review: The Fixer 2×1-2×2

10 September 2009 Rob Buckley 4 Comments

The Fixer

In the UK: Tuesdays, 9pm, ITV1 (except Scotland)

Good drama – good anything – is hard to find on ITV1 these days (even harder in Scotland, where STV is failing to carry almost any of ITV1’s programmes). Yet there are a few standouts, usually in the crime genre. The Fixer is one such standout. It features Andrew Buchan as a former SAS soldier, recruited by a shadowy branch of the police to do its very, very dirty work, usually involving murder but also resorting to other unpleasantries that are in no way legal. With a chav idiot sidekick and a hard as nails, unmovable boss, The Fixer is basically Callan for the 21st century.

Series one of The Fixer was properly classed as very good, rather than excellent. It came perilously close to excellent at times, but despite being an action show, it had very little action, it exhibited quite phenomenal amounts of misogyny at times, it veered towards the cliché and the occasionally silly, and Tamzin Outhwaite was pretty much there as a name to draw in an audience, rather than because she had anything to do.

Series two, which opened with a two-part story, seems to have spotted these problems and done its level best to fix them, because despite a slightly flat and occasionally bizarre opening episode, the second episode managed to pile on the suspense and action in bucketloads.

At last!

Here’s a promo – and yes, that is Mr Darcy from Lost in Austen as an evil member of the security services – followed by the first 10 minutes of the first episode of series one, just so you have an idea of what’s going on if you missed it: you can watch the rest on YouTube or DVD if you want.

Continue reading “Review: The Fixer 2×1-2×2”