US TV

An archive of articles about US television programmes and production.

Friday’s “many remakes” news

16 September 2011 Rob Buckley Post a comment

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  • Darker, scarier Primeval spin-off planned [subscription required]

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Review: Up All Night 1×1

15 September 2011 Rob Buckley 5 Comments

Up All Night

In the US: Wednesdays, 10/9c, NBC

A common question asked is “Do two wrongs make a right?” Here’s my question: “Do two rights make a wrong?”

Because here we have the very right Will Arnett (30 Rock, Arrested Development, Running Wilde) and the very right Christina Applegate (Married With Children, Samantha Who?) in a sitcom about having a baby.

Yes, that’s right. That’s what it’s about. That’s not just a fact about Applegate’s and Arnett’s characters. This is the intended main source of all the show’s humour.

Now, I don’t know about you, but I don’t have children. Nevertheless, I can confidently say, through simple osmosis, I know just as much as these two characters about raising kids, if not more, and apparently have just as much insight as the writers.

Here’s a trailer that contains the funny bits. You’ll notice that since the pilot, Christina Applegate’s character has switched from PR person to talk show host assistant.

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US TV

Review: Free Agents 1×1

15 September 2011 Rob Buckley 7 Comments


Free Agents

In the US: Wednesdays, 8.30/7.30c, NBC

Funny, isn’t it, how networks mould new shows to make them more like their other shows? Consider Free Agents, a Channel 4 comedy (that you can still watch on 4oD) starring Stephen Mangan and Sharon Horgan as two emotionally-damaged PR professionals who work together but hook up. Quite a dark comedy, it focused on the two’s growing, mostly sex-based relationship, with only the occasional interjection by their sex-mad boss, Anthony Stewart Head.

Now NBC has adapted it. Gone are Mangan and Horgan, in are Hank Azaria (The Simpsons) and Kathryn Hahn (best known as a theater actress in the US). Fair enough. Anthony Stewart Head’s come along for the ride, which is nice. But somehow,a show that would have been perfect for a dark network like FX has become a lot lighter and a lot more like any other NBC ensemble comedy along the way.

And it’s not actually that funny now. Here’s a trailer.

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US TV

Review: Ringer 1×1

15 September 2011 Rob Buckley 9 Comments

Sarah Michelle Gellar in Ringer

In the US: Tuesday, 9/8c , The CW
In the UK: Acquired by Sky Living for broadcast this autumn

Twins, huh? Why does there always have to be an evil one?

Ringer, in which former Buffy The Vampire Slayer Sarah Michelle Gellar plays a pair of twins, one good, one evil, is no different, but slightly cleverly, it’s not obvious at first who the evil twin is or who the good twin is.

Bridget is a bad girl. A former stripper and prostitute, she’s also an addict who beats up police officers and steals their guns.

Siobhan is a good girl. She has the perfect marriage, lives in luxury in New York and the Hamptons with her English husband (Ioan Gruffudd), and has oodles of cash.

Neither has seen each other in six years. Siobhan hasn’t even mentioned Bridget to her husband.

But the thing is, Bridget is actually the good twin. She’s on a 12-step programme to recovery from her addiction, she’s taken a job as a waitress and she’s helping the Feds because she witnessed a murder.

Siobhan? Well, she treats her husband like dirt, she’s having an affair, loathes her step-daughter and she’s evil, evil, evil.

As Bridget finds out when she gets to New York and ends up taking over Siobhan’s life.

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Thursday’s “Barnes!” news

15 September 2011 Rob Buckley Post a comment

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