US TV

An archive of articles about US television programmes and production.

Preview: Chuck

23 July 2007 Rob Buckley 8 Comments

Chuck

In the US: Starts September 24th, NBC, 8pm
In the UK: Not yet acquired

There have been many iterations of the “nerd becomes spy” genre over the years: Jake 2.0, Joe 90, Condorman, Spies Like Us and many more. Joining this not-so-elite genre is Chuck, in which a tech support guy accidentally gets thrown into the deep end of international politics, thanks to an email from his former roommate.

Despite this somewhat derivative concept and despite coming from McG, “creative force” behind Charlie’s Angels, Fastlane, Supernatural and Pussycat Dolls Present: The Search for the Next Doll, Chuck is actually a surprisingly good action-comedy show with some nicely fashioned characters and a good cast.

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Preview: Terminator – The Sarah Connor Chronicles

23 July 2007 Rob Buckley 7 Comments

Sarah Connor

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.

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Preview: Reaper

23 July 2007 Rob Buckley 8 Comments

Reaper

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.

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Review: Mad Men 1.1

23 July 2007 Rob Buckley 4 Comments

Mad Men

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.*

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