US TV

An archive of articles about US television programmes and production.

US TV

Review: 30 Rock 1×1 (US: NBC)

11 October 2006 Rob Buckley 6 Comments

In the US: NBC, Wednesdays, 8/7c
In the UK: Nowhere yet. But it will.

So here’s weird. On Monday night on NBC, we have a show, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, that looks behind the scenes of a fictitious comedy sketch show. Meanwhile, on Wednesdays, over on… well, still on NBC, we have 30 Rock, which, erm, looks behind the scenes of a fictitious comedy sketch show.

The first is by award-winning writer Aaron Sorkin, creator of The West Wing. The second is by Saturday Night Live alumnus, Tina Fey. Which one’s going to be better? Go on, go on. Which one, which one?

Continue reading “Review: 30 Rock 1×1 (US: NBC)”

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.

News

Bionic Woman to return as superwoman

10 October 2006 Rob Buckley 1 Comment

Steve Austin and Jamie SummersBack in the 70s and 80s, there was a whole fleet of bionics shows: The Six Million Dollar Man, starring Lee Majors, which slowly metamorphosed from being rather an interesting spy show into a lump of rubbish kids’ sci-fi show; and The Bionic Woman, a spin-off starring Lindsay Wagner, which from day one was a lump of old rubbish about a bionic schoolteacher who also does spy work on the side. There was also a pilot, The Bionic Boy, but the less said about that the better, as well as a series of reunion movies in the 80s, one of which starred Sandra Bullock as a potential new bionic woman.

It’s old, old news that The Six Million Dollar Man is being remade as a comedy movie starring Jim Carrey. My, am I ever looking forward to that. But who would have thought the more anticipated remake would be The Bionic Woman?

It’s been announced today that David Eicke, exec producer of Battlestar Galactica, is to remake The Bionic Woman as a television series. Being me, I’m slightly miffed they’ve decided to do away with the spy angle, in favour of exploring “the role of professional women in contemporary society and how they juggle their various roles.”

“It’s a complete reconceptualization of the title,” Eick told Daily Variety. “We’re using the title as a starting point, and that’s all.”

“It’s using the idea of artificial technology as a metaphor for what contemporary women sometimes feel is necessary to do everything that needs to be done,” Eick said

Bionic woman as metaphor for superwoman? That’s, erm, literal. Plus plot-wise, who’s going to stump up the extra cash necessary to make the world’s first bionic career woman-come-soccer mom? “Six million dollars just so she can work and spend time with the kids? Hire her some domestics, you fools! You can buy a truckload of illegals for that money! Or how about we get her deadbeat husband to help out round the house sometimes, rather than spending taxpayers’ dollars to fix up their home life!”

So I’m still not looking forward to that. I’m just looking forward to it more than I am to The Six Billion Dollar Man, or whatever they’re planning on calling it.