Random Acts

Random Acts: the pilots are taking over Chicago

Amber Heard in Chicago

Chicago’s rapidly becoming a town where TV shows want to shoot. It’s been a while since The Loop and Prison Break‘s first season shot there, but The Chicago Code‘s there right now and a couple of pilots are shooting there as well. Cooper and Stone, starring Alex Breckenridge and Vanessa Ferlito (one of the original stars of CSI: NY), is randomly annoying the Chicago neighbourhood of Ravenswood Manor:

Cooper and Stone in Ravenswood Manor

“Go back to L.A.,” one resident complained

Meanwhile, The Playboy Club – NBC’s female-oriented answer to Mad Men that’s set in a 1960s Playboy club just as women’s lib and the Pill are about to hit the world – is currently giving the city a make-over. Eddie Cibrian (who, continuing the CSI theme, was in CSI: Miami for all of a season) is running around Chicago in a whole load of Jon Hamm’s cast-offs:

Eddie Cibrian in The Playboy Club

Eddie Cibrian in The Playboy Club

Eddie Cibrian

Since the show’s aimed at women much more than men, I imagine this will be happening a lot:

Eddie Cibrian

However, given the setting of the show and since Amber Heard’s in it, I imagine men* will want to watch it, too:

Amber Heard in The Playboy Club

You may ask where randomness comes into this. Well, guess where Amber gets her style advice from:

Amber Heard reading Lucky magazine

Yes, well known Mad Men envier and Lucky magazine’s “old reliable“, Ali Larter.

Ali Larter in Lucky magazine

I wonder if that’s why Amber took the role?

* And gay women, obviously:

US TV

Third-episode verdict: Breakout Kings

Breakout Kings

In the US: Sundays, 10/9c, A&E

One of the things about holidays, work, et al, is sometimes it takes me a while to catch up with everything, particularly new shows that don’t look especially brilliant from the outset. That’s why I’m three episodes behind on Breakout Kings, which looked anything but appealing – except for one thing

For starters, Breakout Kings has had something of a chequered history. Originally in development at Fox, the show got a pilot episode in January 2010. However, Fox didn’t pick up the series but tried to sell it to other networks instead. A&E picked up the show in June 2010 and after a wee bit of recasting, here it is.

Now, not to suggest that the writers are stuck for ideas, but we have here the story of a bunch of criminals who help US marshals track down escaped prisoners. Want to guess which Fox show the writers used to work on?

That’s right: Prison Break. They even brought T-Bag (Robert Knepper) along for an episode.

Cue the trailer.

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Monday’s “Arrested Family reunion” news

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Review: Chase 1×1

Chase

In the US: Mondays, 9/8c, NBC
In the UK: Living, 2011. But with a different name

Ladies and gentlemen, we have our first unqualified “too painful to watch” show of the Fall season. We’ve had stupid in Hawaii Five-0 but it was fun stupid. We’ve had dull in Terriers. We’ve had predictable in Outlaw. We’ve had simply bad and stupid in Nikita, but that at least had some decent action. But now we have mind-numbingly dull crossed with stupid in the form of Chase, in which US Marshall Kelli Giddish (last seen in Past Life) and her motley team-mates hunt down implausible escaped fugitives while simultaneously educating the viewing public about the Marshall service, Texas, rodeos, women, Texan music and her entire backstory. And running. Running lots. Because, you know, it’s called Chase.

It sucks.

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Monday’s “long live the Spice Girls” news

Doctor Who

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