A longer, different version of my review of The Outsiders is over on Off The Telly. It’s also after the fold, in case you want to stick around. I must confess to having recycled a couple of ‘jokes’ though.
US TV
Third-episode verdict: 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.
The Class is still improving
I gave a slightly lukewarm third-episode verdict of The Class last week. This week, it’s actually gone up again in my estimation. Quite a cracker of an episode, both funny and interesting, with more plot and character development. So if you’re looking for a new sitcom, my verdict is The Class is the one to go for.
News
Bionic Woman to return as superwoman
Back 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.
Today’s Robin Hood reviews
While Stu_N and I are busy discussing the definitions of “family entertainment”, feel free to enjoy these choice quotes of mild praise/not outright scorn for Robin Hood from today’s papers. I think we’re all agreed about Jonas Armstrong though:
Robin Hood, BBC1
“We’ll have to wait until the merry men are all assembled before a final scoring, but on the strength of this first episode, they haven’t missed the target altogether.”
Thomas Sutcliffe, The Independent
Robin Hood, BBC1
“Jonas Armstrong as Robin could have come straight from the pages of Lisa Simpson’s favourite magazine, Non-Threatening Boys.”
James Walton, The Daily Telegraph
Robin Hood, BBC1
“I like that it’s managed to put aside the legacies of Errol Flynn, Kevin Costner and Robin Hood: Men in Tights to realise that, if Robin Hood is about anything, it’s about left-wing northern lads spoiling for a fight with the establishment.”
Caitlin Moran, The Times
Robin Hood, BBC1
“Despite the glorious Technicolour, it’s comforting to watch something so black and white.”
Matt Baylis, Daily Express & Daily Star