Well, The Bridge has come and gone, so BBC4 has had to try to fill the hole in its schedule and our lives with a new Nordic crime drama. Since the whole craze in the UK started with Wallander – albeit the Kenneth Branagh and Krister Henriksson versions – it only seems appropriate to turn to another Wallander: Rolf Lassgård. Lassgård was the original Kurt Wallander in the Swedish series movie based on the Henning Mankell novels, and it’s the creators of those movies who have clubbed together to give him a new role: the eponymous Sebastian Bergman, a bitter, misogynistic, misanthropic psychological profiler who lost his family in the 2004 tsunami, something from which he hasn’t recovered.
Anyway, this two-part trial run for the character sees him returning to work after a long absence. To avoid spoilers, let’s talk after the jump. The best embedded video I can give you is this and it’s in Swedish (sorry) and is the authors discussing the book the series is based on, not the actual TV series. But there’s a much better English language trailer over here that actually features Rolf Lassgård.
It’s “What did you watch last week?”, my chance to tell you what I watched last week that I haven’t already reviewed and your chance to recommend things to everyone else (and me) in case I’ve missed them.
The usual recommendations from the first-run shows are: The Almighty Johnsons, The Apprentice, Awake, The Bridge, Community, Cougar Town, The Daily Show,Don’t Trust the B—- in Apt 23,House, Mad Men, Modern Family, Prisoners of War, Suburgatory and 30 Rock. Hunt them down.
So after last week’s not-too-shocking dumping of Touch, it’s time to reveal that I’m dropping Veep and (drum roll) Mad Men. Veep just feels too weak compared to The Thick Of It, which it resembles more and more with every passing week, whereas despite the huge quality of Mad Men, it doesn’t feel like a show that’s really going anywhere any more. There’s no story arc – it’s just some ad people doing their jobs and realising that maybe they’re getting too old for this sh*t.
Now here’s a few thoughts on the regulars:
Missing – Thank God that’s over. Despite its decent beginning, it quickly became intensely stupid and so obsessed with ‘family’ (all American TV is fundamentally about family – discuss) that I rapidly lost patience with him. The finale had precisely no surprises, beyond the ridiculous attempt to set up a second season right at the end. What a waste of time.
The Almighty Johnsons – pretty weak for the first half of the episode, although it was good to see Mike and Michele’s relationship evolving into something nicer. But the second half was full of yet more revelations and the surprise return of Loki. redeeming everything for the season finale. Wonder what’s going to happen with Ty now?
Awake – They knew their number was up by this point, didn’t they? At least the conspiracy turned out not to be too stupid. But will the final episode this week reveal what’s been going on?
Community – A lovely way to end the season and Digital Estate Planning was an absolute work of genius.
The Bridge – Slightly disappointing as a conclusion, with a few absurdities to swallow, the fact that everything came down to Rohde and the revelation of just how many red (pickled) herrings there have been along the way, in particular Stefan and his sister, and everything to do with the ‘truth terrorism’. A bit of bad green screen work at the end as well. But some gutsy moves, high-quality, intelligent writing all round and Sofia Helin’s standout performance as Saga Norén made it probably the best show of the year so far for me.
30 Rock – okay as a season finale, but really just an obvious set-up to write out Elizabeth Banks, given her movie schedule being what it is. I wonder if that Tyler Perry reference will get them into trouble?
Happy Endings – mysteriously, we in the UK have been show this episode, Kickball 2: The Kickening, despite it not having aired on US TV. I don’t know why it didn’t air in the US or whether it will, but I suspect it’s because it wasn’t very good.
Suburgatory – the return of showrunner Emily Kapnek to writing duty was as welcome as always, giving us satire, humour and pathos in equal measure. A slightly odd way to end the season, given that it leaves Tessa looking a bit evil, but a good first run all the same. I wonder if Alicia Silverstone will be a regular next season?
Prisoners of War – has now completely diverged from Homeland, beyond the ‘tapping code’ (you know what I mean). Episode two is essentially an interrogation episode. Really very good – go watch it.
And in movies:
The Good Shepherd: Robert de Niro directed this story about the creation of the CIA by the likes of William Hurt and Matt Damon. Features a mysteriously unageing cast including Angelina Jolie, Alec Baldwin and Pushing Daisies‘ Lee Pace, it’s a relatively solid spy story that’s still pretty unremarkable, all the same.
Mission Impossible 4: Ghost Protocol: Despite being directed by Brad Bird, this still felt like the JJ Abrams film that preceded it. Possibly the most escapist one of the lot so far, it lacked the vital wow factor of previous efforts (it may have been great in IMAX, mind), but was more humorous, largely thanks to Simon Pegg, and the addition of Jeremy Renner as the franchise’s possible Tom Cruise replacement worked well. Michael Nyqvist was absolutely wasted, though.
Land of the Pharaohs: A Howard Hawks movie from the 1950s with Joan Collins that tells the story (or a story) of the creation of the Great Pyramids of Egypt. A bit of tatt I accidentally recorded thinking it was something else, it’s nothing extraordinary in terms of script, which is quite dreadful to be honest, but has some amazing scenes all the same.
“What did you watch this week?” is your chance to recommend to friends and fellow blog readers the TV and films that they might be missing or should avoid – and for me to do mini-reviews of everything I’ve watched. Since we live in the fabulous world of Internet catch-up services like the iPlayer and Hulu, why not tell your fellow readers what you’ve seen so they can see the good stuff they might have missed?
“What did you watch this week?” is your chance to recommend to friends and fellow blog readers the TV and films that they might be missing or should avoid – and for me to do mini-reviews of everything I’ve watched. Since we live in the fabulous world of Internet catch-up services like the iPlayer and Hulu, why not tell your fellow readers what you’ve seen so they can see the good stuff they might have missed?
It’s “What did you watch last week?”, my chance to tell you what I watched last week that I haven’t already reviewed and your chance to recommend things to everyone else (and me) in case I’ve missed them.
The usual recommendations from the first-run shows are: The Almighty Johnsons, The Apprentice, Awake, The Bridge, Community, Cougar Town, The Daily Show,House, Mad Men, Modern Family, Prisoners of War and 30 Rock. Hunt them down.
Being promoted to the recommendations list this week are Don’t Trust the B—- in Apt 23 – which while not the best show ever made, is sufficiently, consistently amusing, evil and full of James Van Der Beek that I’m ready to add to the list – and Prisoners of War, which I’ve just reviewed,
It was a weekend of catch-ups and random viewings last week, so I actually managed to watch a few movies and try a few random new shows.
Common Law:USA Network’s trailer for this buddy-buddy cop show made it look awful. Guess what? It was awful. I couldn’t watch more than 10 minutes of this derivative, unfunny cobblers before I had to switch off. Not even Sonya Walger could save it.
Playhouse Presents: Sky Arts’ series of one-off plays, this one starring Olivia Williams, Martin Shaw, Lucy Punch and Rhashan Stone from Strike Back: Project Dawn (he also wrote it). A nice idea – woman who stands up to rioters beats a Boris Johnson-alike to become Mayor of London – but there was apparently nothing new to say here, judging by the inconclusive script, Williams’ Northern accent was rubbish, Shaw and Punch hammed it up, and Stone gave himself all the best lines. But you’ve got to love that Sky Arts (or someone) is doing plays.
Still playing catch-up with Sunday’s viewing though, with Veep and Mad Men still to watch.
It’s also finally time to dump Touch, which looks like it might be going somewhere but is being so boring about it, has the terrible Mohinder-esque voiceovers at the beginning and end, and is just so incredibly insulting about how it thinks special needs children are treated that blood boils whenever it broaches the subject. They’ve also introduced Kabbalah to the equation, which means they need beating.
Now here’s a few thoughts on the regulars:
Missing – thankfully, they’ve written out the rubbish Italian guy in favour of a better English character (although, naturally, they had to make her a Lady). Sean Bean also got to do a decent fight scene. Otherwise, it’s just plodding along really, with supposedly shock moments arriving with inevitability rather than, erm, shock.
Cougar Town – so they didn’t bite the bullet on Lori/Travis, but a decent episode nevertheless and funny, too.
Awake – A shame it’s been cancelled because that was an absolutely fabulous episode and Jason Isaacs should be nominated for an Emmy at least for his performance. Loving the suggestion now that he is genuinely off his rocker.
Community – Is there a word for a meta episode that’s meta about its metaness? Still not exactly funny, but had some superb twists and turns of plot.
The Bridge – now this is how to be a surprising show. Can’t wait for the last two episodes!
House – was that Peter Robocop Weller as the surgeon? Notable only as a way to move Chase’s storyline along, really.
And in movies:
Avatar: Yes, I know I slightly missed the boat on that one, but I thought I’d give it a try. Probably looks incredible on the big screen and might even be good in 3D, but that’s really its only saving grace. The plot is such a mish-mash of Dances With Wolves,The Word For World is Forest and Dragonriders of Pern that any originality got lost somewhere on the way to Pandora; the characters are either almost non-existent or cliches, despite all of Cameron’s attempts to inject them with personalities; the acting’s terrible, particularly Sam “Could I be any more Australian?” Worthington’s; and the whole thing goes on forever, never-ending, never stopping, never willing to give the audience release from its terrible tedium.
Firefox: The Clint Eastwood movie, not the browser. A really dull first half that does at least show how terrible life in the Soviet Union was, but a really cracking second-half ruined only by not having the technology to do proper aircraft effects in those days, it still is flawed, partly because of Eastwood’s direction choices: if you’re going to have thought-controlled weaponry, make it look very fast, not like you have to press two buttons and then say everything in very slow Russian to make it work. But the strange thing is that in retrospect, it just looks like a bigger budget first pilot that got recast and turned into Airwolf. Basically the same plots. The music sounds the same in places. I’m surprised there weren’t lawsuits. I mean look at the names, for heaven’s sake! It’s even got blueprints in the trailer!
Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths: The Justice League travel to an alternate universe where Lex Luthor is the only superhero left alive to fight the terrible tyranny of Ultraman, Superwoman and Owlman, as well as cohorts like Johnny Quick. It’s something of a curiosity since it doesn’t involve the usual voiceover artists, instead favouring mostly famous actors like William Baldwin, James Woods and Chris Noth (Vanessa Martin does Wonder Woman’s voice for a change – she also does Black Widow’s voice in the Marvel Avengers series). It also tries to do a bit of aetiology (such as “This is how Wonder Woman got her invisible plane”), since it was also intended to link the Justice League and Justice League Unlimited TV series. Although the obvious thing would be for DC to show how the parallel Earth’s superheroes illustrate something about the normal Earth’s, only Owlman really works as both a parallel and a character in his own right; Ultraman is really a thug and Superwoman isn’t even Wonder Woman’s mirror, there being another Wonder Woman-esque character for her to beat. So not one of the best efforts, although there are some surprisingly well drawn fight sequences, with Wonder Woman getting a very nifty martial arts fight at one point, and we don’t have to endure much Green Lantern for a change, thankfully.
“What did you watch this week?” is your chance to recommend to friends and fellow blog readers the TV and films that they might be missing or should avoid – and for me to do mini-reviews of everything I’ve watched. Since we live in the fabulous world of Internet catch-up services like the iPlayer and Hulu, why not tell your fellow readers what you’ve seen so they can see the good stuff they might have missed?
“What did you watch this week?” is your chance to recommend to friends and fellow blog readers the TV and films that they might be missing or should avoid – and for me to do mini-reviews of everything I’ve watched. Since we live in the fabulous world of Internet catch-up services like the iPlayer and Hulu, why not tell your fellow readers what you’ve seen so they can see the good stuff they might have missed?
CBC unveils 2012-3 season, including Cracked and Titanic: Blood and Steel, as well as the return of Arctic Air
UK/French TV
France’s Canal+ and Sky Atlantic to remake Sweden and Denmark’s The Bridge
Sky Arts orders Psychobitches, with Catherine Tate, Rebecca Front and Sharon Horgan, as well as a full series of Nixon’s the One with Harry Shearer, while Sky Living commissions The Spa by Derren Litten and Gates with Sue Johnston and Joanna Page
