US TV

An archive of articles about US television programmes and production.

US TV

Review: Ugly Betty

2 October 2006 Rob Buckley 1 Comment

Ugly Betty

In the US: ABC, Thursdays, 8/7c

In the UK: Don’t know. Can’t seem to find anyone who’s picked it up. But it will be. Oh yes.

“Telenovelas” are this South American thing (apparently. I’m just taking the word of others here, since I have no knowledge of the South American TV industry whatsoever). They’re like soap operas except they’re of fixed length, with a pre-defined beginning, middle and end.

Ugly Betty (aka “Yo Soy Betty La Fea”) is one of Colombia’s most popular telenovelas and now ABC has adapted it and made it its own. Given that the first episode cranked up 16 million viewers or so, making it the most popular of the new TV shows of the season, how much do you want a bet that ABC, the network that likes to say “Can we have more Lost? Or something that’s like an anagram of Lost? Or something a bit like Lost anyway?”, is going to be able to call it a day once the story is over?

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US TV

Review: Smallville 6.1

2 October 2006 Rob Buckley 7 Comments

Clark and Zod

In the US: The CW, Thursdays, 8/7c

In the UK: Coming soon to E4

Characters re-cast: 0

Major characters gotten rid of: 2

Major new characters: 1

Format change percentage: 10%

Storylines rest back to zero: Many

The first episode of every season of Smallville is like a treasure hunt. Typically, many, many things happen in the previous season’s finale: people die, are trapped in inescapable prisons, learn Clark’s secret, declare their undying love for someone, etc. But somehow, by the end of the season premiere, everything will be back to normal again.

The trick for the viewer is to find the magic reset button. Will it be under a rock? Behind a tree? Disguised as a mantelpiece ornament?

This season, clue-hunters, the magic reset button will be disguised as a badge. A badge. A badge.

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US TV

Review: Supernatural 2.1

2 October 2006 Rob Buckley Post a comment

Supernatural

In the US: Thursdays, 9/8c, The CW

In the UK: ITV2 is currently showing season 1. No word on season 2.

Characters re-cast: 0

Major characters gotten rid of: 1

Major new characters: 1 (maybe)

Format change percentage: 25%

Surprisingly bleak moments: Several

The pretty boy ghosthunters are back. After chasing after the demon that killed their mum, while simultaneously looking for their dad (who’s looking for the demon that killed their mum) for a whole season, they finally caught up with both only for it all to go a bit pear-shaped.

When last we left them, they were all involved in a nasty car wreck that looked a tad fatal. Have they all survived the summer break?

Not exactly…

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US TV

Review: CSI 7.2

2 October 2006 Rob Buckley 1 Comment

The Dolls House

Okay, I’ve already reviewed the season opener to CSI, but seeing as that was a two-parter, I thought I’d just add in a bit more non-spoiling detail.

With CSI up against soapy old Grey’s Anatomy in the US on Thursdays, there’s a fair old amount of soap turning up in CSI to match. Catherine’s being put through the wringer for this two-parter, but the general aim of the season is to show the effects of investigating crime on all the CSIs (what a good idea for a show. Why don’t we call it Touching Evil? Oh wait…).

There’s also an unsolved crime that I suspect will return during the rest of the season. One of the more disturbing things about this two-parter is the “doll’s house” crime, in which a crime scene is lovingly recreated in an exact model left at the scene itself. Since even the blood pattern in the doll’s house is the same (and it’s made with the victim’s blood), we know we’ve got an absolute nutbag here.

I can’t help but feeling there’s something similar to the serial killer in the first season at work here, but since that was intellectually fascinating storyline, I’m none too fussed by that.

All the same, some intriguing things at work that should make season 7 of CSI a very interesting one. My only worry is they might push everything into realm of highly, highly implausible if they’re not careful.

PS Episode two has a highly upsetting ending. Brace yourself.