A complete archive of The Medium is Not Enough’s reviews of TV programmes since 2005
In the US: Fridays, 10pm, The History Channel
In the UK: Probably on The History Channel, too
Now here’s interesting. You spend ages waiting for an “anthropology and fighting” documentary series and then two of them turn up at once. One’s British, one’s American. Which one’s going to be better?
In the US: Airs in early 2008, Sundays, 9pm Eastern on Fox
In the UK: Acquired by Virgin 1 (or whatever it’s going to be called)
You know, I never thought I’d be hankering after the acting prowess of Arnold Schwarzenegger and Edward Furlong. But there’s got to be a first time for everything, right?
The Sarah Connor Chronicles, while not exactly a bad show, constantly reminds you that this has all be done before and a whole lot better.
Continue reading “Preview: Terminator – The Sarah Connor Chronicles”
In the US: Starts September 25th on The CW
In the UK: Acquired by Channel 4 and E4. No air date yet
Remember Brimstone? Probably not, but it was a quirky little show starring that bloke off thirtysomething and John Glover (who’s now Lex Luthor’s dad on Smallville). In it, 30something had to return souls who had escaped from Hell back to their holding cells, while Glover the Devil looked on and made threatening, sarcastic comments.
Even if you don’t remember it, a group of stoned TV execs did because they’ve decided to revive it as something a bit less threatening and a bit more amusing – at least, to people who have been smoking a certain illicit form of tobacco.
In the US: AMC, Thursdays, 10pm/9c
In the UK: Not yet acquired
I imagine that during Klan rallies, there are moments when the bigotry has to stop. You just can’t spend your whole time proclaiming that Catholics are evil, that black people need burning religious icons on their front lawns, that Jews run the world, etc: after a few rallies, even the dumbest member will have worked it out and started to get bored. So things will move on and they’ll start discussing when the next bake off is happening, who hasn’t paid his membership dues, etc.
It turns out though that the advertising men of Madison Avenue during the late 1950s/early 60s – the self-proclaimed “Mad Men” – spent 24/7 dedicating themselves to destroying anything that wasn’t white, anglo-saxon and protestant.
“Peggy, get your sweet ass in here now!”
“Yes, Mr Albino!”
“What’s on my schedule for today?”
“This morning, you’re oppressing all women everywhere before heading off to put down the Jew man in the afternoon.”
“What? No time for lunch?”
“No, Sir.”
“God damnit! Peggy, once you’ve finished picking up my dry cleaning and baking me a cake, I want you to get me five packs of Marlboro extra-tarry. I’m running low and I’m going to need them.”
That’s the other odd thing about Mad Men. As well as wall-to-wall sexual harassment and bigotry, everyone smokes, every second of the day. Even when they’re asleep, their hand contains a smoking cigarette, just in case they wake up and need to have a drag on a fag.*
In the US: Starts September 30th on Showtime
In the UK: Probably on FX as per season one
Brotherhood was a somewhat surprising show during its first season. A somewhat odd combination of gangster drama and local politics, it starred a Brit (Jason Isaacs) and an Australian (Jason Clarke) as Irish-American brothers from Rhode Island. Clarke is a local politician trying to do the best for his constituents by playing the political game, simultaneously trying to stay clean. However, his efforts are undermined by his brother, a notorious gangster who returns to the neighbourhood after a long absence.
Season one was remarkable for being hard-hitting in both areas of its remit, without giving in too much to the pressures of dramatic forms (more realistic than The Sopranos? Maybe). It also had an exceptional visual style, with long, quiet, well composed scenes of astonishing stillness.
Thankfully, season two looks like it’s more of the same, which will either delight you or put you off.
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