US TV

In the US: Tuesdays, 10pm, CBS. Starts September 25

In the UK: Acquired by ITV

Phew. That was a close one. For one horrible moment, I thought we had on our hands a Latino version of Brothers and Sisters, one of the most tedious and scum-filled shows in TV history.

Gosh, which one of us will inherit the fabulously business empire? Shall we go into bioethanol or alcohol production?

Like anyone cares.

Fortunately, we have something a bit lighter, a bit frothier, with a bit of darkness and intrigue. It’s still a slightly tepid affair, but it’s far from the worse family saga I’ve ever seen. That’s Brothers and Sisters. Were you not getting that?

Continue reading “Preview: Cane”

In the US: Spike TV, Sundays, 9pm

In the UK: Not yet acquired

Spike TV is very much the FHM of TV stations. Babes and violence are much its calling, with adolescent boys its audience. It’s tried to go up-market already, with the abysmal Blade: The Series. That didn’t work out at all well.

Now it’s trying again with a mini-series starring John Leguizamo and Donnie Wahlberg. Leguizamo is an ex-soldier, who together with some of his former comrades in arms, decides to rob a bank. Wahlberg is the cop who has to deal with him when it goes wrong.

It’s pretty much a by-the-book police action-thriller, with plenty of shooting, although it has a reasonably taut script thanks to James DeMonaco, writer of The Negotiator. And Leguizamo is very much a character in the same vein as Robert de Niro’s Heat crim – all military efficiency and planning.

It’s Wahlberg’s character who’s the odd, convention-defying one. He’s a sub-editor gone mad. He’s a kick-ass kind of guy, fed up with people’s bad grammar and punctuation, and he isn’t going to take it any more.

Continue reading “Review: The Kill Point”

In the US: Mondays, TNT, 10/9c

In the UK: Not yet acquired

I watch a lot of old tatt for you guys. I really do. Normally, I manage to sit through it all. Sometimes I can make it as far as five episodes into a piece of old rubbish before decreeing its awfulness, just to save you all from having to do the same.

The last time I couldn’t make it through an entire episode of something was Angela’s Eyes, almost exactly a year ago. I lasted less than a minute with that one.

I lasted 16 minutes of Saving Grace before I decided enough was enough and I couldn’t take any more. What was wrong with it?

It was offensive. It was really, really offensive.

Continue reading “Review: Saving Grace 1×1”