In the US: Thursdays, 8.30/7.30c, NBC
If you were a historical character, who would you be? Rasputin? Gandhi? Beethoven?
If NBC were a historical character, it would be Robert the Bruce, because no matter what happens, it will just try, try, try again.
Friends has gone. Friends is dead. NBC misses it terribly. It tried to do Friends again with Coupling and failed horribly. Now, it’s giving it yet another go with 100 Questions, in which five friends all try to help each other through life’s uncertainties and love – and we get to see them as the main character, Englishwoman Charlotte Payne, goes to a dating agency and answers 100 questions about herself.
But the signs haven’t been promising. The show was retitled 100 Questions from the slightly quirkier 100 Questions for Charlotte Payne. After the pilot, two of the friends were recast (one of them now being played by Smith Cho, who is being given a retry after appearing on another NBC re-try, Knight Rider). The whole thing was reshot. The episode count was dropped from 13 episodes to six and the show was moved to a Summer slot. The star of the show has moved back to England and got married. And if you were expecting NBC to actually tell you the show was on, well, oops – what a mistake to make. I didn’t notice until last Thursday, just before the third episode.
Despite these signs, it’s not half bad. And that half is Sophie Winkleman – Big Suze from Channel 4’s Peep Show. Here, have a shiny NBC trailer that features the original cast: you’ll still get the drift, even if it’s actually not as good as the updated version.
