TV reviews

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

US TV

Third-episode verdict: Dexter

11 October 2006 Rob Buckley 1 Comment

Dexter

A slightly speedy third-episode verdict, I know, but that’s the power of the preview for you. Anyway, to cut a long story short, after a very promising first episode, Dexter has gone on only to impress. Darkly comic yet scary, it really is a great show.

Michael C Hall is truly upsetting and outstanding as the apparently normal Dexter, and although the other members of the cast are more than acceptable, it’s on Hall’s shoulders that the entire show rests. He’s more than up to the task

It would have been easy for the show’s producers to create a show that watered down the motivations of the average serial killer to create a nearly loveable anti-hero, but although Dexter does indeed only pick on bad people, at no point do you feel like you’re being asked to root for Dexter or to feel much sympathy for him.

So catch it if you can: it’s on Showtime on Sundays in the US, and will be on FX in the UK next year.

US TV

Third-episode verdict: Heroes

11 October 2006 Rob Buckley 2 Comments

Heroes

I’ll put in my third-episode verdict on Heroes. I’m not sure if it’s technically the third episode or not, given that the first two episodes were the pilot episode chopped in half, but here it is anyway.

I am recommending this, particularly since NBC has booked the show for an entire season, unlike Kidnapped, of course.

It’s proving, so far, to be a pleasing mixture of comedy, drama and sci-fi. The show’s been going for a slow build since the first episode. But, as well as a catastrophic menace the emerging heroes will have to prevent in just under a month, we also have an adversary in the form of a super-powered serial killer who’s hunting them down. Worse for them still, this guy appears to have all of their powers, not just one of his own. So we certainly have something to look forward to.

We still have the thorny issue of their not knowing what their powers are, how they work or whether they’re just mental cases imagining the whole thing. Or if they’re going to use those powers for good or evil.

It’s not 100% compelling but still intriguing. Worth sticking with for a little while longer, anyway.

Today’s Robin Hood reviews

9 October 2006 Rob Buckley 1 Comment

While Stu_N and I are busy discussing the definitions of “family entertainment”, feel free to enjoy these choice quotes of mild praise/not outright scorn for Robin Hood from today’s papers. I think we’re all agreed about Jonas Armstrong though:

Robin Hood, BBC1

“We’ll have to wait until the merry men are all assembled before a final scoring, but on the strength of this first episode, they haven’t missed the target altogether.”

Thomas Sutcliffe, The Independent

Robin Hood, BBC1

“Jonas Armstrong as Robin could have come straight from the pages of Lisa Simpson’s favourite magazine, Non-Threatening Boys.”

James Walton, The Daily Telegraph

Robin Hood, BBC1

“I like that it’s managed to put aside the legacies of Errol Flynn, Kevin Costner and Robin Hood: Men in Tights to realise that, if Robin Hood is about anything, it’s about left-wing northern lads spoiling for a fight with the establishment.”

Caitlin Moran, The Times

Robin Hood, BBC1

“Despite the glorious Technicolour, it’s comforting to watch something so black and white.”

Matt Baylis, Daily Express & Daily Star

UK TV

Review: Robin Hood

9 October 2006 Rob Buckley 18 Comments

Robin Hood

In the UK: Saturdays, BBC1, 7pm. Repeated Sundays and Fridays, BBC3.

In the US: BBC America, which co-funded it. No air date yet.

As a dyed-in-the-wool lover of the first two seasons of Robin of Sherwood, I was expecting to hate this. From the trailers and the casting, I was expecting something truly awful and sickening to watch. Even during the first few minutes of Saturday’s episode, I could feel my “I knew it!” reflexes kicking in.

But you know what? It wasn’t awful. It was actually all right. Nothing truly special, nothing ground-breaking (unlike Robin of Sherwood), but a regular piece of family entertainment that’s an enjoyable way to spend an evening, probably with a couple of kids lodged at your feet.

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