BBC confirms pay TV download service plans [subscription required]
Netflix and LoveFilm to be investigated as part of pay-TV probe
US TV
CBS renews (deep breath) NCIS, Person of Interest, 2 Broke Girls, The Good Wife, Blue Bloods, Mike & Molly, Hawaii Five-0, NCIS: LA, Criminal Minds, CSI, The Mentalist, How I Met Your Mother and The Big Bang Theory but not (yet) CSI: NY, CSI: Miami, Rules of Engagement, A Gifted Man, Unforgettable, Rob and Two and A Half Men
John Sullivan is best known in the UK as the creator and writer of Only Fools and Horses. But he did write other shows, including Just Good Friends and… Dear John. Guest what show this Lost Gem is about.
As the show’s title suggests, this is about a regular guy called John who comes home to get a ‘Dear John’ letter from his wife (the words of which are sung in the theme tune), who tells him she’s leaving him for another man.
To get his life back on track, schoolteacher John joins a support group for divorced people, run by a woman called Louise (catchphrase: "Were there any sexual problems?") and populated by various oddballs, including Ralph (a colossal nerd who drives a motorcycle-sidebar combination), Kate (an attractive but ‘frigid’, thrice-divorced woman played by Belinda Lang from 2.4 Children), and ‘Kirk’, a man who dresses like John Travolta and claims to be a spy, but is really a guy called Eric who lives at home with his mum.
The show largely revolved around the interactions between these characters at the support group and the humour of their various situations and characters. But there’s a great deal of pathos as well, given the situation, with Ralph having been married by a Polish woman just to get a UK passport and Eric/Kirk being lonely and inadequate so having to devise a persona in order to function in the real-world and possibly romance Kate, with whom he falls in love: in one episode, Eric resolves to be himself, but when a pub fight breaks out, he discovers he can only stop it, by becoming Kirk again.
The show ended inconclusively after two series and a ‘special’. Kate gets a new boyfriend and goes to Greece, but that’s about as far as it goes for story arc. But that was about as far as it went.
However, following the sitcom-import trend of the 70s and 80s, NBC in the US acquired the format and scripts and developed their own Dear John. Notable cast members were Judd Hirsch of Taxi fame, who played John, Isabella Hoffmann (Homicide) played Kate, Harry Groener (Buffy The Vampire Slayer) played Ralph, while Jere Burns (Burn Notice) played Kirk.
There were a few but notable changes to the show along the way, changes that essentially made the show blander and less biting. The theme tune, while essentially the same, becomes faster and happier; Kate is no longer frigid, merely divorced; and Kirk really is a secret agent, even if no one believes him at first (ironic, given Burns’ current role in Burn Notice).
Although considerably messed around in the schedules, Dear John (USA) (as the BBC retitled it when they acquired it) lasted four seasons on NBC, but hasn’t been seen since, making it a ‘Lost Gem’. However, the UK original is available on DVD.
Time for “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 we’ve missed them.
My recommendations for maximum viewing pleasure this week: Dexter,Modern Family, Happy Endings, Homeland, Suburgatory and Community.
Things you might enjoy but that I’m not necessarily recommending: Being Erica, Boss, Burn Notice, House, Chuck,Ringer and The Walking Dead.
So, I’ve decided to give up on two regular shows this week:
The Walking Dead, despite an excellent revelation a couple of weeks ago, has just been boring me silly. I’m not a big horror fan, anyway, so the zombies haven’t really grabbed me, but neither have the characters this season. It feels like they’ve been stuck on the same problem for five weeks (or whatever it is now), putting off the day when they have to progress the plot
Burn Notice: Now, I’ve been with this since the beginning, five seasons ago, and although it’s usually worth watching just for a fight scene or two, again, the lack of progress has become a problem. Now, to a certain extent, Burn Notice has always been superb at having the same underlying formula (Michael and co help out some innocent people, using their improbable spy training) while changing the exact mechanism by which this formula is allowed to continue (the Burn Notice, Tricia Helfer, Robert Winston, etc). I’m just bored of it now. It didn’t help that this week’s was so poorly acted and written that I actually had to turn it off after 15 minutes. So I’m going to be big and brave and strong and see if I can cut the cord this week.
A few thoughts on what else I’ve seen:
Dexter: interesting reveal last week – haven’t seen what they intend to do with it this week. But like I said, the series only ever kicks off around episode six or seven and this year that theory seems to be holding true, too.
Misfits: I think I’m actually liking Series 3 better than Series 1. Okay, no Nathan, but he was an unrelenting twat who really needed to be beaten regularly and Rudy does seem to have greater humility. This season seems to be balancing plot and characterisation well – better than season 2 certainly and I think better than season 1, as well. This week’s guest super-power was a bit daft, though, but the episode was fine overall.
Ringer: I’m not saying that there was a massive loophole at the start of last week’s episode, but how exactly did the guy who’s been held captive for a week know the ins and outs of SMG’s social life?
American Horror Story: Tedious and obvious. Turns out the only reason to watch this really is Alex Breckenridge.
House: good to see the rest of the old cast back, but this really is a show going through the motions now. Nice to see Jamie Bamber back on US TV though.
And in the movies section:
Justice League: The New Frontier – An adaptation of the graphic novel series set in the 1950s, with Superman, Wonder Woman, Batman and co having to deal with a big nasty, as well as McCarthyism. It’s faithful to the book while streamlining it, but it manages to include all the iconic moments (including one of Wonder Woman’s most famous iconic moments) as well as adding a few. Not really for anyone who isn’t a fan, but it’s worth watching if you are and there are some great choices for the voice cast: Jeremy Sisto as Batman, Lucy Lawless as Wonder Woman, David Boreanaz as Hal Jordan, etc.
And this week, in books (yes, a new addition!):
Absolutely, by Christopher Hitchens – a collection of Hitchens’ essays from magazines such as Slate, Vanity Fair, The Atlantic, etc, on a range of eclectic themes, including the Middle East (of course), authors ranging from Somerset Maugham to PG Wodehouse, whether women as a whole are as funny as men and more. It’s all written with Hitchens’ incredible wit and wisdom. Recommended (although you might end up skipping a few essays).
The Good, The Bad and the Multiplex – film critic Mark Kermode’s latest book, this is a bit hit and miss. If you listen to his Friday show with Simon Mayo on Radio 5 Live, there’s not much that’s new and what there is is largely facts and figures that you really didn’t want to know. It’s also a little bit ADHD, heading off in all kinds of directions, rather than staying on target. But it’s proving a good read so far.
“What did you watch last 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?
