Southland

What did you watch this fortnight? Including Banshee, The Americans, Mr Selfridge, Hitchcock and Silver Linings Playbook

18 March 2013 Rob Buckley 14 Comments

It’s “What did you watch this week fortnight?”, my chance to tell you what I movies and TV I’ve watched this week fortnight that I haven’t already reviewed and your chance to recommend things to everyone else (and me) in case I’ve missed them.

First, the usual recommendations:

  • The Americans (FX/ITV)
  • Archer (FX, 5USA)
  • Arrow (The CW/Sky 1)
  • Banshee (Cinemax/Sky Atlantic)
  • Being Human (US) (SyFy)
  • The Daily Show (Comedy Central)
  • The Doctor Blake Mysteries (ABC1/ITV)
  • Cougar Town (TBS/Sky Living)
  • Elementary (CBS/Sky Living)
  • Go On (NBC)
  • House of Cards (Netflix)
  • Modern Family (ABC/Sky 1)
  • Mr Selfridge (ITV/PBS)
  • Shameless (US) (Showtime/More4)
  • Southland (TNT/Channel 4)
  • Spartacus (Starz/Sky 1)
  • Engrenages/Spiral (BBC4/Netflix)
  • Top Gear (BBC2/BBC America)
  • Vegas (CBS/Sky Atlantic).

These are all going to be on in either the UK or the US, perhaps even both, but I can’t be sure which.

Surprising, despite my time away, I’ve actually managed to get my viewing queue down to more or less nothing: last night’s Shameless (US) and This Is Kevin. I’ve even found time to watch some more House of Cards, which I note is now available to buy on DVD and Blu-Ray. Buy it, it’s really good. 

Admittedly, to get back on track, I’ve had to drop Red Widow (ABC), Lightfields (ITV) and Broadchurch (ITV) from the viewing queue before I’d even started watching them, and Shetland (BBC) didn’t even get a look-in, but such is life.

Now, some thoughts on some of the regulars (fingers crossed, reviews of the final four episodes of Spiral – bloody BBC4 – tomorrow):

  • The Americans (FX/ITV): The first of the two episodes since last entry was actually the first rubbish one so far: it was entirely obvious what the twist was and the counter-trap laid by the FBI was clumsy. The second was much better, showing us for the first time what Matthew Rhys’ character gave up and that no spy can truly be trusted to tell the truth. The Russian dubbing was a bit poor, though.  
  • Banshee (Cinemax/Sky Atlantic): A strong finish to the season with the typical violence we’ve come to expect and virtually all the loose plot threads brought together at the end. Add on some creepy Amish incest and Banshee season two (coming 2014) looks like it’ll be worth watching. Not quite sure why that video didn’t go viral, though.
  • Being Human (US) (SyFy): Zombies are so hot right now. But I think it’s a misstep. Plus that vaccine was remarkably easy to come by.
  • Cougar Town (TBS/Sky Living): Good to see the Travis/Lori relationship being developed. And the Alanis Morisette episode was a nice callback to the cast’s previous work and the Cox/Springsteen episode.
  • The Doctor Blake Mysteries (ABC1/ITV): Two eps, the second of which was a little bit blah, beyond the continuing development of Blake’s moving relationship with his housekeeper. The first was a more intriguing piece dealing with the death penalty and featured some early forensic science. I like how Blake isn’t afraid to proclaim himself a scientist, a period statement if ever there was one.
  • Elementary (CBS/Sky Living): Features a The Wire reunion. Otherwise, same old, same old.
  • Mr Selfridge (ITV/PBS): A slightly limp ending to the season, with Jeremy Piven not proving up to the challenge of delivering lines in anything less than a Barnum style and far too much time spent over the season on soap opera intrigues. All the same, the play at the end was a welcome bit of acid to the normal proceedings and David Calder, whom I almost didn’t recognise, was fantastic as the King. Will I watch if Gregory Fitoussi isn’t back next year, though? I think not.  
  • Shameless (US) (Showtime/More4): Fiona’s speech last week was a powerful moment, whereas this week’s episode is far more comedic (in a good way). 
  • Southland (TNT/Channel 4): Odd how unlikable Sherman has become. That’s good character development for you. Mind you, my mother in law has given up watching it now because it’s making her sad to see what’s happening to all the characters she liked.
  • Spartacus (Starz/Sky 1):Tying into history well and good to see Romans who aren’t complete idiots for a change, particularly Caesar. Not long to go now, but we all know where it’s heading, so it should be an interesting few episodes. Hopefully, not more ‘rape as a character point’, though, please?

And in movies, which I saw a few of on a teeny tiny screen in the back of a chair:

  • Lincoln: Essentially two and half hours of historical talking that’s less exciting than an episode of The West Wing. A brilliant performance from Daniel Day Lewis and eye-opening in terms of the legal manoeuvers that Lincoln and others used to indulge in back then, but not as involving as it should be.
  • Silver Linings Playbook: Good central performances from everyone (Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence, Robert De Niro, Julia Stiles and even Chris Rock), with Cooper and Lawrence two mentally damaged people who offer to help each other on the road to recovery. But it’s an unempathising, predictable movie with the standard message that crazy is more interesting than normal and that leaves you cold beyond the normal romcom parameters. Plus Cooper and Lawrence is a little bit too May to December to avoid a certain amount of queasiness.
  • Hitchcock: Surprisingly jaunty for a movie about the true story of the making of a movie based on a real-life serial killer and in which the director has a peep hole into his leading ladies’ dressing rooms. Anthony Hopkins is surprisingly light as Hitch compared to Toby Jones in The Girl, Scarlett Johansson is aces but perhaps a little too self-possessed as Janet Leigh while Helen Mirren is great as Hitchcock’s real-life partner in crime Alma, who was as much responsible for the success and quality of his movies as her husband was. Nice touch to have it book-ended in the style of Alfred Hitchcock Presents, too. 
  • Van Helsing: Possibly the worst movie ever made

“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?

US TV

Mini-review: Golden Boy 1×1 (CBS)

5 March 2013 Rob Buckley 3 Comments

Golden Boy

In the US: Tuesdays, 10/9c, CBS

Not really worth a full-on review, since it’s so perfectly generic, I could recycle practically any other review I’ve ever written of a CBS cop drama and it would say more or less the same thing.

The basic idea is that the Robert Kennedy-alike Walter William Clark Jr (Theo James, who could see dead people in Sky Living’s horror show Bedlam) will become the youngest police commissioner in New York City history seven years from now, and when he’s interviewed about how he got to the top so quickly, we see in flashback the events that transpired along the way.

And it’s incredibly, incredibly generic. We have the slobby black partner a couple of years from retirement (Chi McBridge) and the ambitious backstabbing detective who’s intent on sabotaging Clark Jr’s obviously inevitable career trajectory (Kevin Alejandro from Southland). We have a token female detective who’s somewhere on the moral spectrum between those two. We have a wayward sister for our hero to look after.

All of which might be excusable if there were decent plots. But for a Golden Boy, he ain’t half stupid. There is literally no obvious insight that he can’t make, no obvious act of backstabbing that he won’t miss. The show should more probably be called Earnest Boy, because this isn’t a political animal like Robert Kennedy in the making (which someone who rose that quickly up the career ladder would really need to be).

So although, as with all CBS dramas, it is competently made, has a decent degree of verisimilitude and looks great, ignore it.

What did you watch this week? Including Cult, Zero Hour, Mr and Mrs Murder, The Blue Rose, Arrow and Being Human (US)

2 March 2013 Rob Buckley 7 Comments

It’s “What did you watch this week?”, my chance to tell you what I movies and TV I’ve watched this week that I haven’t already reviewed and your chance to recommend things to everyone else (and me) in case I’ve missed them.

First, the usual recommendations:

  • The Americans (FX/ITV).
  • Archer (FX, 5USA)
  • Arrow (The CW/Sky 1)
  • Banshee (Cinemax/Sky Atlantic)
  • Being Human (US) (SyFy)
  • The Daily Show (Comedy Central)
  • The Doctor Blake Mysteries (ABC1/ITV)
  • Cougar Town (TBS/Sky Living)
  • Elementary (CBS/Sky Living)
  • Go On (NBC)
  • House of Cards (Netflix)
  • Modern Family (ABC/Sky 1)
  • Mr Selfridge (ITV/PBS)
  • Shameless (US) (Showtime/More4)
  • Southland (TNT/Channel 4)
  • Spartacus (Starz/Sky 1)
  • Engrenages/Spiral (BBC4/Netflix)
  • Top Gear (BBC2/BBC America)
  • Vegas (CBS/Sky Atlantic).

These are all going to be on in either the UK or the US, perhaps even both, but I can’t be sure which. If I got the channels wrong, let me know and I’ll fix them

Still in the queue: plenty. As well as two episodes of The Doctor Blake Mysteries, Archer and Community, last night’s Banshee and Spartacus, and all the remaining episodes of House of Cards, two new shows launched this week in the US and the UK – CBS’s Golden Boy and ITV’s Lightfields – that I haven’t had time to watch. I think that means a little bit of rationalisation of my viewing is needed so I’m pruning out the following regulars and shows that were on trial:

  • The Blue Rose: Still hasn’t hit its stride after four episodes, which is just way too long a time to be on trial. Let me know if it finds its mojo.
  • Cult: A pretty tiresome second episode. The show might be easier to watch if the show-within-a-show weren’t so dreadful, but the show’s own storyline is so fundamentally silly, that I’ve yet to find much to make me want to watch any more. There was an interesting twist at one point, where the hero begins to question the motives of the heroine, but that didn’t go very far. Intriguingly, the episode was written by Steven Rea, who is, of course, the show’s creator in-series. I wonder if it’s hard to write a show in which you’re a character. Or is someone using a pseudonym?
  • Go On: Nice cast, doing relatively good work with a heart, but never side-splitting.
  • Mr and Mrs Murder: An Australian show about married crime scene cleaners who also solve crimes. From the outset, clearly not taking itself seriously, but the characters don’t quite work, they’re more irritating than funny, and I don’t really see those two together.
  • Zero Hour: Robbed off the most ridiculous qualities of the first episode, the second episode was merely stupid and insipid. Switched off after only a few minutes.

Doctor Blake is still on trial, since although it’s very good, I’m not a big fan of mystery shows per se.

Now, some thoughts on some of the regulars:

  • Arrow (The CW/Sky 1): Geoff Johns is back on writing duties. Shudders. He’s certainly a big fan of stories with father issues, isn’t he? And of terrible dialogue? We also got a canary reference and Alex Kingston turned up with an American accent as Laurel’s mum. John Barrowman had a good stab at acting this week, someone else knows Arrow’s secret identity, Kelly Hu and another Arrow villain made a (somewhat ludicrous) return and we all got to laugh at Arrow’s ‘perfect’ Chinese accent.
  • Banshee (Cinemax/Sky Atlantic): A rather nice chase scene in the style of Reservoir Dogs and Point Break, a sex scene that was actually romantic rather than mechanical, and a nice touch with the Amish villain feeling nostalgic for the good old days.
  • Being Human (US) (SyFy): Josh’s family turned up at last. However, everyone’s brains left. Why exactly would anyone believe that Aidan would deliberately drink blood that was poisonous to him? It’s essentially a false conflict set up to create a dramatic choice, which is a bit tedious. I want to see where the Sally storyline is going, but why didn’t anyone suspect something like this would happen once her soul was on the line?
  • Cougar Town (TBS/Sky Living): Loving the flashbacks. And they handled the Travis romance reasonably well, too.
  • Elementary (CBS/Sky Living): Another episode that was less mystery, more ‘Why would someone do this?’ Not very interesting.
  • Go On (NBC): Bradley Whitford turned up and was good; Piper Perabo was as good as always; the Mary Poppins storyline was good. But I didn’t laugh. Hence it being dropped from my regular viewing.
  • Modern Family (ABC/Sky1): Elizabeth Banks was back, although it wasn’t until right at the end that she got to really strut her stuff.
  • Shameless (US) (Showtime/More4): A chance to look inside foster homes and how much like prisons they are. And Fiona got angry. This should be fun.
  • Southland (TNT/Channel 4): Cooper has a new partner, who’s great. Major Dad turned out to be Cooper’s old training officer as well, which was great, too. The shoot out was great. Why isn’t anyone watching this?
  • Spartacus (Starz/Sky 1): Some good things – decimation (yes, that really did happen) and Caesar among the rebels, making you feel sorry for the Romans for a change. Hope last night’s episode was as good.
  • Vegas (CBS/Sky Atlantic): Paul Ben Victor (The Wire, The Invisible Man) showed up but didn’t get to do much in an episode that was again dull procedural wrapped in the far more interesting series arc. And Mia finds out – where will it all end up? However, it winds up, please let’s not have so many procedurals along the way.

“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?

Monday’s “Gavin & Stacey US remake finds its Smithy, Mark Pellegrino is Jedikiah and Hill Harper quits CSI: NY for Covert Affairs” news

25 February 2013 Rob Buckley Post a comment

There’s a possibility the Daily News won’t be around tomorrow, since it might be celebrating its wife’s birthday (if she’s awake). Check in tomorrow to find out.

Film

UK TV

  • ITV to premiere 666 Park Avenue episode on ITV Player [subscription required]
  • TCM acquires Longmire
  • Sky to green light Give Out Girls
  • Robert Emms to star in BBC1’s Atlantis
  • Someone might be leaving Mr Selfridge [spoilers]

US TV

US TV casting

New US TV show casting

  • Tom Green to star in NBC’s Camp, Anjelah N Johnson joins NBC’s About A Boy adaptation
  • Jorge Garcia to star in CBS’s The Ordained, Joe Lo Truglio to be a regular in Fox’s Andy Samberg comedy
  • Ken Jeong to star in ABC’s Spy remake
  • Connor Buckley (no, no relation) to star in Fox comedy, Inbar Levi to be a regular in Fox’s Gang Related
  • Andrea Anders to star in ABC’s Divorce, thus guaranteeing it almost instant death; Dustin Ybarra to play Smithy in Fox’s Gavin & Stacey remake Friends & Family, James Martinez joins CBS’s Intelligence
  • John Stamos to star in NBC’s I Am Victor
  • Yael Grobglas to star in The CW’s The Selection
  • Odette Annable and Bruce Greenwood to star in ABC’s Venice
  • Mark Pellegrino to play Jedikiah in The CW’s The Tomorrow People remake
  • James Van Der Beek to star in CBS’s Friends With Better Lives
  • Henry Ian Cusick to co-star in The CW’s The Hundred, Rhys Coiro joins CBS’s Hostages remake
  • Bridget Regan to star in ABC’s Murder in Manhattan, Angelique Cabral to star in Fox’s Enlisted
  • Peter Riegert to star in Fox’s Dads, Michael Weston to co-star in The CW’s Blink
  • Margo Martindale joins CBS’s Greg Garcia comedy
  • Melanie Lynskey joins HBO’s Togetherness

What did you watch this week? Including The Spa, The Americans, Banshee, Go On, House of Cards, Mr Selfridge and Shameless

22 February 2013 Rob Buckley 6 Comments

It’s “What did you watch this week?”, my chance to tell you what I movies and TV I’ve watched this week that I haven’t already reviewed and your chance to recommend things to everyone else (and me) in case I’ve missed them.

First, the usual recommendations:

  • The Americans (FX/ITV).
  • Archer (FX, 5USA)
  • Arrow (The CW/Sky 1)
  • Banshee (Cinemax/Sky Atlantic)
  • Being Human (US) (SyFy)
  • The Daily Show (Comedy Central)
  • The Doctor Blake Mysteries (ABC1/ITV)
  • Cougar Town (TBS/Sky Living)
  • Elementary (CBS/Sky Living)
  • Go On (NBC)
  • House of Cards (Netflix)
  • Modern Family (ABC/Sky 1)
  • Mr Selfridge (ITV/PBS)
  • Shameless (US) (Showtime/More4)
  • Southland (TNT/Channel 4)
  • Spartacus (Starz/Sky 1)
  • Engrenages/Spiral (BBC4/Netflix)
  • Suits (USA/Dave)
  • Top Gear (BBC2/BBC America)
  • Vegas (CBS/Sky Atlantic).

These are all going to be on in either the UK or the US, perhaps even both, but I can’t be sure which. If I got the channels wrong, let me know and I’ll fix them

Still in the queue: plenty to go in the House of Cards queue and there’s this week’s episodes of The Doctor Blake Mysteries, Vegas, Elementary, Archer, Zero Hour and Community to watch, although I think Community‘s days as a watched programme are numbered in this house. On top of those I have new US show Cult to watch – basically The Following but on The CW and with the guy who played T-Bone on Prison Break – which I’ll try to sneak a look at over the weekend, as well as new Australian show, Mr and Mrs Murder, which sees a husband and wife team cleaning up murder scenes (literally) and then doing some detective work of their own. I’ve also got Channel 4’s one-off spy drama Complicit to give a try, but Guy says it’s a bit rubbish so I might skip it.

I did get round to watching Sky Living’s The Spa, which stars Rebecca Front. It’s as dreadful as every other Sky 1 and Sky Living comedy, I’m afraid. In particular, we had a scene based on someone being told to tell someone they were ‘clinically obese’ and mishearing and saying they were ‘clinically a beast’.

Now, some thoughts on the regulars as well as some of the shows I’m still giving a try.

  • The Americans (FX/ITV): A rather excellent episode all round, set against the backdrop of the attempted assassination of Ronald Reagan and suggests how it could have resulted in World War 3. There’s excellent usage of archive news footage and intriguing to see the Soviets transferring and imagining it could be an attempted coup by General Hague. ‘Operation Christopher’ also showed just what the KGB was capable of if necessary. There’s also a humorous suggestion that Christopher Hitchens (ish) was basically a Soviet sleeper agent, pretending to be a new-wave conservative to hide his true plans to spy on the US. Very much recommended.
  • Arrow (The CW/Sky 1): A living breathing advert for Windows 8 and way too teenage and soapy. Even James Callis couldn’t keep a straight face. It was redeemed by the use of the BSG alert klaxon during the museum robbery scene.
  • Banshee (Cinemax/Sky Atlantic): Is it my imagination or is the title sequence becoming more and more animated with each episode? I could have sworn the albino didn’t move until this episode. A decent flashback episode, this one focusing on Hood’s time in jail, that paid off well if you’d been watching since the beginning. Very, very brutal, mind.
  • Being Human (US) (SyFy): Somehow feels less involving than previous seasons. Mark Pellegrino turning up in flashback was good, as was his English accent, but Sam Witwer’s needed work.
  • The Blue Rose (TV3): Still hasn’t found its feet and neither comedic nor dramatic enough to be compelling. But I’ll give it a week or so more yet.
  • Elementary (CBS/Sky Living): Not seen all of it so far, but I’ll tell you one thing: Sherlock Holmes doesn’t know how to build a molecule with benzene rings in it properly.
  • Go On (NBC): Has reached the point where ideas are now being thrown out randomly, whether they work with particular characters or not. They finally gave the blind black guy something to do with some funny retcon – he’s a former cop and has mentioned it loads of time, but because everyone’s been so self-involved they’ve ignored him – and Piper Perabo does a funny New Jersey accent.
  • House of Cards (Netflix): I’m an episode or two further along now and enjoying its twisty turniness. Not convinced Kate Mara’s character would allow herself to have pictures taken in the nude, and the latest episode had the usual American belief that unions are little more than organised crime in disguise, even teachers’ unions, but lovely stuff. The show actually used the c-word as well, which was remarkable. And if you wondered what happened Joel Schumacher, turns out he’s directing House of Cards now. Definitely still recommended.
  • Modern Family (ABC/Sky1): Yes, that was Maxwell Caufield.
  • Mr Selfridge (ITV/PBS): The show’s starting to become a little self-mocking and Jeremy Piven is starting to spiral out of control, presumably thanks to the punishing schedule. The archness (and hair bra) of his aristocratic sponsor is also starting to grate, as are the accents of some of the cast: some of the Selfridge children’s US accents are wobbly and Amy Beth Childs, who was good with a Northern accent in Sirens, is clearly struggling with a squeaky cockney. Still, we did get John Sessions as Arthur Conan Doyle and a seance, and next week, we’re going to be getting Michael Brandon (Dempsey from Dempsey and Makepeace).
  • Shameless (US) (Showtime/More4): For once, you wanted to side with Steve against Fiona in their dramas. All of a bit of a jolly jape, though, all the mean girls at the swimming pool were good, but the ending was a refreshing change to the status quo. Looking forward to seeing what happens next week.
  • Southland (TNT/Channel 4): And so the bleakness goes on. Loving it. Best moment: Cooper’s fire-fight, although his continuing self-closeting and kindness to the Downs girl were close seconds.
  • Suits (USA/Dave): A great finale marred somewhat by some of the worst English stereotypes since The Patriot or possibly Three Men and a Little Lady. It does feel though that it’s not actually doing seasons any more but is just one long continuous show that occasionally takes breaks.

“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?