In the US: Third season, Tuesdays, Fox, 8/7c
In the UK: Repeats on Hallmark/Five at the moment. Third season January (probably)
Characters re-cast: 0
Major characters gotten rid of: 0
Major new characters: 0
Format change percentage: 10%
He’s back. God bless Fox and their decision to bring all their shows back in August and September. Gregory House is back with us again. The regulars are all back, too. But there is one big change from last year. Can you tell what it is yet?
That Eddie Izzard show I mentioned a while ago has been given the all-go signal from FX in the US. Now called Riches and co-starring Minnie Driver, it will run for 13 episodes, starting some time in the second quarter of 2007.
It’s supposed to be FX’s family show. However, they’ve already had to reshoot the pilot to lighten its tone. I wonder why? Here’s the plot…:
Series, formerly titled “Lowlife,” revolves around a family of traveling grifters who take the identity of an upper-middle-class suburban family.
“Riches” stars Izzard as Wayne Malloy, a father questioning the marginal life his family leads. Show follows he and his wife Dahlia (Driver), newly sprung from a two-year prison stint and now battling a drug habit, as they and their three children get accustomed to their new identities as the well-to-do Riches.
FX chief John Landgraf said “Riches” is the cabler’s first family show — “albeit a show and a family unlike any television viewers have seen before.”
Okay, The Nowhere Place has been out about a month now, but since we’re just kicking off this whole audio play review thing, I think I’m allowed a little give and take to start with. Besides, there is the outside possibility you haven’t bought it yet. Never fear though, tomorrow I’ll be reviewing the very latest Big Finish Doctor Who play, the Sylvester McCoy/Bonnie Langford effort Red.
Strangely enough, despite his extreme on-screen kackness, Colin Baker is my favourite of all the Big Finish Doctors (it’s a tie between him and Paul McGann really), so I was actually looking forward to this, even though it doesn’t feature Peri. Ah, Peri. Sigh…
I’m digressing.
Written and directed by Nicholas “Voice of the Daleks and the Cybermen. How cool is that?” Briggs, The Nowhere Place is actually a surprisingly creepy little piece, marred by only the occasional piece of silly acting, some odd numbers and the suspicion you’ve heard it somewhere before (even though you haven’t). Otherwise, it’s really very good.
With even more evidence to my credit, I argue that pirates prevent global warming.
I’m so glad I invented this third-episode verdict thing. More often than I care to count, it’s proved its worth.
Take Vanished. Episode one? Silly. Episode two? Dull but not quite as silly.
Episode three? Ho, ho, ho. So magnificently stupid, it’s now passed through the other side of stupid and entered brilliant. Actually the first half was dire, but then the second half was just great. You know it’s silly. You know you’ve just passed Pluto on the way out of reality to somewhere far stranger, but you want to know more!
I won’t spoil it for UK viewers, since the episodes are going to air in October on Five US, but suffice it to say, if you’re familiar with Mozart’s ‘The Magic Flute’, you’ll know precisely who the bad guys are (I reckon). Fan-bloody-tastic. I was wondering when someone was going to use them.
Plus, our friendly visitor from Inner Toob has confirmed recently what I’d been hearing, too: we should hang around until episode 10 at least, because that’s when we’re all in for a big surprise. If what I think happens actually happens, Josh Berman and the rest of the production crew will deserve a great big tip of the hat for their ballsiness. Plus I was beginning to wonder why they’d chosen Gale Harold as the lead…
UPDATE: Vanished has recently had the seal of approval from Fox, which has commissioned another three episodes. Well, scripts for episodes anyway.
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