Being Erica

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Life Unexpected/Being Erica season 3/UK version update

15 April 2010 Rob Buckley 2 Comments

BeingEricaSeason3.jpeg

Liz Tigelaar, the creator/show-runner of Life Unexpected, gives an interview over here in which as well as confirming the low budget of the show, she explains:

  • Alex Breckenridge was supposed to be in the final episode but actually did get sick so couldn’t fly up from Los Angeles for filming
  • If the budget were bigger, Breckenridge would be a series regular
  • Most of the problems with the supporting cast getting swapped out have been due to actor availability as well as budget.

However, it looks like today is Being Erica news day today. Tigelaar drops a strong hint that season three of Being Erica is a go since Erin Karpluk will only be available for the second half of season two of Life Unexpected at most because of filming conflicts (if there is a season two, of course). We’ll know the answer by the end of the week, apparently.

Meanwhile, Big Talk Productions is planning a UK remake of the show, swapping the title character’s therapist for an NHS worker and relocating the action from Toronto to Glasgow. What do you think? Good idea or just show the original on a better network than E4 and with more publicity?

UPDATE: TV.com has more information on the British remake. You don’t think they were cribbing from here, do you?

What did you watch on TV last week (w/e February 21)

22 February 2010 Rob Buckley 18 Comments

Another new idea – people tend to watch TV over the weekend so let’s talk about what everyone’s been watching on a Monday instead of a Friday. And since 24 and Lost are only a week out, moving to a Monday means you can talk about both shows, whether you’re in the US or the UK.

The Winter Olympics and lack of Heroes meant there wasn’t much new US TV week this week, but anyway:

  • Archer: Some more great moments as per usual. 
  • Being Erica: Watched the end of season two at last. Overall, while they experimented a lot more this season, Erica’s character arc felt less satisfying and the whole thing almost reset Erica’s situation back to the start of episode 1 (that’s time travel for you). Ethan’s emasculation this season didn’t endear the show to us either, since at least he was a decent love interest for her last year.  
  • Being Human: Don’t really remember last week’s very much (that’s how good my memory is), but this week’s was scary in a different kind of way from usual (Mitchell). Not quite sure why Annie has flipped from wanting "door tuition" (you know what I mean) a few episodes ago to her current frame of mind, but Mitchell’s arc has been great. Some odd directorial decisions mind.
  • Burn Notice: Not bad. The Chris Vance stuff is so much tag-on at the moment though.
  • The Deep End: Up to episode four, which was half dreadful, half fun. The romance between Australian guy and blonde girl is a little bit Sweet Valley High, but it’s charming in its way; everything else, particularly the legal side, is like having a nail hammered into your head by someone thinking they’re being zany. 
  • Leverage: A good ending to the season, overall, but the lack of Gina Bellman for much of the season has been a problem for character arcs, and most of the characters have been treading water. Basically, not as good as season one.
  • Life Unexpected: A reasonable ep, but nothing spectacular, other than "Lux learns a lesson about responsibility". 
  • Lost: Were those answers we just got? Or fake answers? Either way, a great Locke-focused episode. Nice that disability isn’t regarded as an unhappy ending for him in the flash-sideways. And best name for alternative Locke I’ve heard so far: "The Locke-ness monster".  
  • 24: Someone kill Dana now. But at least half an episode of decent moments, with Jack doing a cross between Mel Gibson in Lethal Weapon and the guy in Metal Gear Solid. Still needs more excitement though.

But what did you watch? See if you can cast your memories back to last week, anyway.

UPDATE: I forgot to mention the following two new HBO shows that started up and which I can’t be arsed to give full reviews to:

  • The Ricky Gervais Show: Heard The Guardian‘s Ricky Gervais/Stephen Merchant/Karl Pilkington podcasts? Thought they’d be better if they were all animated, with Ricky Gervais looking like Fred Flintsone? Then a) you’re a nutter b) you’d be wrong.
  • How To Make It In America: Supposed to be a comedy about working class New Yorkers trying to hit the big time through whatever pie-in-the-sky business scheme they have (selling fake leather jackets, borrowing money off a violent cousin, selling black-and-white photos). Actually about as funny as reading stats about recessionary economics. Does have a few funny moments and okay as a drama, I guess, but not involving at all. Still, if you ever wondered what happened to Shassyn Sossamon (sp?) from A Knight’s Tale, now you know.

As always, no spoilers unless you’re going to use the <spoiler> </spoiler> tags, please. If you’ve reviewed something on your blog, you can put a link to it here rather than repeat yourself (although too many links and you might get blocked by the spam filter)

What have you been watching this week (w/e October 9)

9 October 2009 Rob Buckley 12 Comments

So, there’s been lots on tele this week – what have you been watching?

As mentioned on Monday, I’ve give up on quite a few new shows this week, including Eastwick, The Forgotten and Mercy, as well as – after nine years – Smallville. Since then, I’ve also decided to give up on:

  1. Hank, on the general grounds the second episode was excruciatingly bad
  2. Oh my God, after eight years, CSI: Miami, on the general grounds that I’m tired of having my intelligence insulted every week
  3. Three Rivers: started on Sunday, I tried watching it, but found after 10 minutes not one good thing about it – it’s Casualty but everyone needs a transplant at the end of it.
  4. Psych – a huge backlog of episodes that we have no inclination of watching is God’s way of telling you a show isn’t entertaining any more. No character development and it’s not even very funny, either. Oh well.
  5. Dollhouse – absolutely rubbish second episode suggests this thing isn’t going to get any better.

That means, beyond what I’ve reviewed this week, I’m still watching:

  • Trauma – a smart-ish programme underneath but with Bruckheimer-level accidents slapped in the middle that are so over the top, you actually laugh out loud. I’m hanging on in there for week three, but I think I’ll be dropping it after that
  • Being Erica – the addition of the new mythos element is interesting, but the overall show is starting to flag a little for some reason – not enough Doctor Tom, I suspect
  • Mad Men – I’m still a week behind, but last week’s (Seven Twenty Three) was a cracker
  • Supernatural – last week’s was a little daft and had an obvious denouement. And Jared P sucked as (spoiler) the devil
  • CSI – The character-building continues and interesting to see them build a story that references things all the way back in season one, to show the consequences of actions nearly a decade later
  • Dexter – A good episode overall, but I’m not sure if it’s got much of a message left to impart. Still enjoyable, though.

I’ve still got a backlog of viewing (Community, this week’s Mad Men , this week’s Supernatural, Micro Men, The Middle, this week’s CSI, the Seinfeld reunion on Curb Your Enthusiasm) – let us know what you think about any of them or anything else you’ve seen this week.

As always, no spoilers unless you’re going to use the <spoiler> </spoiler> tags, please