US TV

In the US: Wednesdays, 10/9c, NBC
In Canada: Wednesdays, 10/9c, Global TV

Ooh, Africa. It’s a bit tricky, isn’t it? What with all the shit happening, and stuff and ooh, it just makes you want to throw your hands in the air and do nothing.

If only there were like some really cool, really rich, billionaire Western guy who could go in and like sort things out, by you know, “hands-on philanthropy”, which would be like riding motorbikes without shoes on to get medicine to villagers before he gets on his Lear Jet. Because that would, like, really sort it all out.

Okay, it’s quite easy to sneer at The Philanthropist. Look, I just did it.

But:

1. It is actually based on a real person – Bobby Sager – although only very loosely on him
2. It stars British actor James Purefoy and that Neve Campbell woman
3. Despite its silliness, its artificiality and its shallow attempts to depict an incredibly complicated situation in a 40-minute action-adventure format, The Philanthropist has its heart in the right place and isn’t so stupid that you can hear the pebbles rattling around inside its skull.
4. It’s got Omar from The Wire in it.

Here on some YouTube promos; more about the show after the jump:

Continue reading “Review: The Philanthropist 1×1”