The Unit – it does get better

22 September 2006 Rob Buckley Post a comment

Turns out, as hoped, that the first episode of the new season of The Unit was a blip: the third episode, The Kill Zone, is an absolute cracker. Loads of adrenaline on The Unit side, coupled with some interesting political comments on the home front, with the US army’s policies towards next of kin, funeral payments, etc, put under the microscope.

And yes, it was written by Lynn Mamet. Should be airing October 3rd in the US, which is when season one begins airing on Bravo in the UK, coincidentally.

US TV

Stewie gives Earl bad advice for his DVD boxset

21 September 2006 Rob Buckley 4 Comments

Stewie GriffinWhen asked to create some original material for the first My Name is Earl box set, creator Greg Garcia decided to reshoot the pilot as Bad Karma, in which Earl gets set on the path of evil karma rather than good.

But who would provide Earl with this bad piece of advice?

Stewie Griffin from Family Guy!

“If someone dares to hurt you, you hunt them down and beat them like a dog. Sweet, sweet vengeance!”

Read all about it over at the Los Angeles Times.

US TV

Review: Criminal Minds 2.1

21 September 2006 Rob Buckley 5 Comments

Criminal Minds

In the US: Wednesdays, 9pm ET/PT, CBS

In the UK: Season one currently on Five. Will probably air on Living in 2007.

Characters re-cast: 0

Major characters gotten rid of: 0 (1 soon)

Major new characters: 0

Format change percentage: 0%

Cast members looking seriously older: 1

Criminal Minds was one of those shows I rejected as stupid over a year ago when I saw the screener. I’ve caught an episode here and there since, and while it’s not that bad, it combines massive over-seriousness with completely preposterous storylines.

The thing is, most serial killers, psychopaths and sociopaths are really dull. They’re not like the serial killers in books and movies. So when you make a TV series about them, you either have to come up with some completely unrealistic serial killers or produce a dull show.

So I tuned into the premiere episode of the second season, which picks up from last season’s finale, The Fisher King (Part One). My, they’ve gone for “interesting” killers in a big way, haven’t they?

Continue reading “Review: Criminal Minds 2.1”

Trailer for 300

21 September 2006 Rob Buckley 5 Comments

The famous battle of Thermopylae between the Persians and the Spartans was retold by Frank Miller in the graphic novel The 300, which many laud as a classic. Now it’s been turned into a movie, 300, the trailer for which is now available. Can’t say it looks historically authentic but it does have a really unique visual style – apart from The Matrix slo-mo.

US TV

Review: CSI: New York 3.1

21 September 2006 Rob Buckley Post a comment

CSI New York

In the US: Wednesdays, 10pm ET/PT, CBS

In the UK: The usual places



Characters re-cast: 0

Major characters gotten rid of: 0

Major new characters: 2

Format change percentage: 0%

New hair styles: 1

I’ve tried watching CSI: New York. I made it through the first season and a half. Then I just got so bored, I stopped. The few episodes I caught after that did nothing to make me think I’d made the wrong choice. Now it’s back for a third season. Have they done anything to change it to make we want to reconsider?

No.

There have been a few changes. Claire Forlani has joined the cast as Mac’s new girlfriend (Eww!) and there’s another police officer to help out while Flack is recovering. But it’s still a dull show, with no real personality of its own. The scripts are sub-CSI, the characters not as interesting. Don’t start watching it if you’re not already, that’s my advice.