A complete archive of The Medium is Not Enough’s reviews of TV programmes since 2005
Just in case you’re interested, my series review of Last Man Standing is now up on Off The Telly and below the fold as well. My original first episode review (with which it shares a couple of gags) is over here, and my review of the first episode of Human Weapon, which I mention in passing, is over here, just in case you want to compare and contrast for some reason.
Remember when you were a kid and first learnt about swear words? You might have used them to shock, thinking how daring you were.
‘Bum’.
Tee hee.
But for any adult in the vicinity, it was probably all a bit tedious. A bit dull, really.
Been there done that.
Californication has the exact same problem – but with sex. Since there’s not an awful lot of swearing and sex on US TV (unless you look in particular areas), there’s a temptation for any show that’s actually given licence to swear and depict graphic sex to do that and nothing else. All the time.
Not wanting to sound stereotypically English and prudish, but surely there’s got to be more to a show than that? We’ve had graphic sex and swearing on British TV for ages now and as a result, compared to American audiences, starved of any on-screen depictions of adult situations, relationships, etc, I feel like a grown-up being forced to sit through an episode of Torchwood: get over your new-found freedom, guys, and get on with the actual plot, because I’m bored now.
Californication would like to be an adult show. It has adult themes. It has adults talking about adult concepts. And it’s not stupid.
But it’s so self-satisfied with how cutting edge and daring it is, that it’s forgotten that there needs to be a bit more to a comedy – or indeed a drama – than fornication, masturbation, and smoking (weed or tobacco; what will the parents think?).
The cast are good, there are some funny lines and situations. It’s just not that funny. The characters aren’t that involving – in fact, they’re pretty repellent and uninteresting. At the end of each episode – how shall I put this – it all feels so anti-climatic, despite the build-up. I’m hoping it gets better though, since it still has a sheen of promise about it and the first two episodes weren’t bad. And it’s not stupid. And it has the occasional cameo from Lucy Davies.
So The Medium is Not Enough declares Californication a two or “Partial Caruso” on The Carusometer quality scale. A Partial Caruso corresponds to “a show with two walk-on cameos by David Caruso as a self-declared ‘ladies man’. Suggesting the script should be rewritten to include his trademark killer chat-up line, ‘I’m sorry, but I couldn’t help but notice you over here not noticing me,’ he will then be forced to leave the set when he damages his back while trying to dance at an angle of 45?Ǭ?.”
It’s around now – well, truth be told, it should have been a number of days ago – that I passed a third-episode verdict on Flash Gordon. However, as we all know from the clearly defined rules of The Carusometer, if there’s a sudden change in quality, either upwards or downwards, we have to hold off until episode five before deciding a show’s final rating.
In Flash‘s case, episode three was a marked improvement on the first couple of episodes. The show’s now going for more or less full-on comedy, the characters are improving, Mongo is getting a bit more alien – the only thing that hasn’t improved is Ming, who I think simply misses having a throne.
So episode five it’ll be before the final ruling comes in. Unlike Ming, we’re merciful round here.
In the UK: Fridays, C4, 9.30pm. Repeated on C4+1 an hour later. Obviously.
In the US: Being remade by NBC as we speak.
Characters re-cast: 0
Major characters gotten rid of: 1 (next episode)
Major new characters: 1 (next episode)
Format change percentage: 0%
When you think about it, a big chunk of classic – and not so classic – British sitcoms are set in an office of sorts. For example, On the Buses, Are You Being Served, even Dad’s Army are all work-based sitcoms. However, The Office, for obvious reasons and not just its name, has occluded these in most people’s minds and prevented any subsequent office-based sitcoms from emerging (the reverse is true in the US). Indeed, The Office has started a whole number of trends, including a veering towards cringe-comedy rather than joke-based comedy.
However, it’s fitting that The IT Crowd has been trying its best to buck that trend, since it has The Office‘s producer Ash Atalla at the helm. The IT Crowd is sort of the flipside of The Office. It’s traditionally filmed, with traditional characters, traditional jokes and traditional plots.
It’s also funny. At least, I think so.
As you may recall (although in all likelihood, you won’t), I gave Damages a tentative thumbs up for its first episode. Not exactly my cup of tea, but for those who like the John Grisham milieu, not half bad and certainly not as insulting as the usual tripe.
However, five episodes in, my reservations are pretty much the same and have more or less been confirmed. With a really bad theme tune that endlessly repeats “When I am through with you” to ram home the subtle subtext, rather than being some Grisham-esque “innocent learns about life in the big league” tale, Damages has refined itself to be a game of one-upmanship between sociopaths.
At every step of the way, whether it’s Glenn Close, Ted Danson or one of the incidental characters, everyone is trying to show just how ruthless and manipulative they are. They might as well be saying things like “pawn takes rook and then mate in seven moves” with a knowing glance at every conceivable point. Nothing rings true and events seem to take place simply to demonstrate how clever everyone is. It’s as though the producers want us to know exactly how daring they are.
“Oh no, this would never get on mainstream TV,” they say. “We are just so cutting edge. Quick, let’s have Ted Danson send out assassins to kill a witness while snorting coke with a hooker! No, let’s have Glenn Close have her own son kidnapped!” And so on.
Remotely plausible? No. But as a way to pile on tension, it works. I’m not gripped, but if you love constant twists that you’d never predict (because they’d never happen in real life), Damages is a decent piece of work. The cast are good, all the quality checkboxes have been ticked. When ridiculous plot twists aren’t been piled on top of previously mildly implausible plot twists, the characters are able to show depth and a degree of verisimilitude and intelligence. The plot’s a little tricky to follow with all the game-playing and the constant leaping around between time periods, but it gels together about as well as other “tense legal thrillers”.
It just makes no sense whatsoever. If that’s not an obstacle, you’ll probably enjoy it.
So The Medium is Not Enough declares Damages a two or “Partial Caruso” on The Carusometer quality scale. A Partial Caruso corresponds to “a show with two walk-on cameos by David Caruso as a top-flight lawyer. After shouting ‘Objection!’ after every other actor’s line, he will insist on smiling a secret smile to himself, since it’s the only way he can suggest mental superiority without forcing others to take an IQ test – then cheating on his own results. The producers will write him out after episode two when his character bleeds to death after a freak paper cut.”
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