Southland

What did you watch this week (w/e February 17)?

20 February 2012 Rob Buckley 6 Comments

Time (well, let’s pretend it is) for “What did you watch this week?”, my chance to tell you what I watched this week that I haven’t already reviewed and your chance to recommend things to everyone else (and me) in case we’ve missed them.

First, the usual recommendations: Archer, Being Human (US), The Daily Show, House, Modern Family, Happy Endings, Portlandia, Ringer, Royal Pains, Shameless (US), Southland, Spartacus, Suburgatory and 30 Rock. Do watch them (if you can and they happen to be on TV this week).

  • Archer: Back on form this season
  • Modern Family: A very good episode this week. Worried that lovely wife and I are now this close to being Claire and Phil.
  • Modern Family: Access All Areas: A Sky exclusive documentary. Interesting only to hear what everyone sounds like normally. Otherwise, cringe-making awfulness.
  • Royal Pains: Ooh. Surprising ending. Normally the show’s so fluffy. And it’s good to have Boris back after all this time away. Not sure about that ‘Swiss French’ accent and unless Boris was making a racist joke, Campbell Scott’s pronunciation of Frankstein needs some work.
  • 30 Rock: Funny again! Yay! And good Batman episode too.
  • Southland: I think we can conclusively assume now that everyone in the last three seasons who wasn’t a patrolman or Regina King has been fired so the producers can afford Lucy Liu. Also a very sensitively handled ‘coming out’ episode for Cooper.
  • Spartacus: Far less attention-grabbing than before and it’s hard not to imagine every scene improved by Andy Whitfield.

And in movies:

  • Inception: Still awesome
  • Heat: Still awesome
  • The Dark Knight: Better than I remember.

“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?

The CarusometerA Carusometer rating of 3

Third-episode verdict: The River (ABC)

17 February 2012 Rob Buckley Post a comment

In the US: Tuesdays, 9/8c, ABC
In the UK: Available on iTunes. Not yet acquired by a network

The River is a show I really want to like. It’s trying something relatively new for US TV – ‘found footage’. It’s a horror show on network TV. Like Southland, it has characters who swear but get bleeped out. It tries to build character and to create tension through direction and writing, rather than gore. It has some good British actors including Paul Blackthorne (The Gates, 24, The Dresden Files), able to keep their own accents and in the case of the latest episode, save the day while all the Americans are cowering under tables. There’s a German actor who also gets to be a German and to be very cool. While it is a serial show, there’s a different beastie to deal with every week. And it does have the occasional scary moment.

But that’s the problem I remarked on when I reviewed the first two episodes: the scary moments are only very occasional. For whatever reason – and it’s always tricky with horror to work out what the problem is when it’s not scaring – it’s just not putting the willies up me as I watch it. It may be that with only a few minutes to name the threat and why it should be threatening, each one having to be novel and ‘Amazonian’, there’s simply not enough time in an hour-long show to create the build up. It might be that the direction is too obvious, with threats that should be ‘corner of the eye’ experiences dwelt on by automatic cameras that shouldn’t be bothering. It may be that the structure of advertising-riddled TV episodes is such that it’s impossible to build sustained tension.

Whatever the reason, a horror show that doesn’t scare built around a mystery that is thin at best isn’t one isn’t something that’s really going to prove of interest to many people, I suspect. Oh, look at the ratings. I’m right.

It’s a shame that a show that should be so close to greatness has ultimately failed by being just a little tamer than it should be. But it is what it is – even Glen Morgan (The X-Files, Millennium, Final Destination) couldn’t write something truly frightening within its format. So I’m afraid I can’t recommend it. I might keep watching for a little bit, just to see if it gets any better, and I’ll let you know if I change my mind.

Carusometer rating: 3
Rob’s prediction: Will last a season

US TV

What did you watch this week (w/e January 20)?

20 January 2012 Rob Buckley 6 Comments

Time for "What did you watch this week?", my chance to tell you what I watched this week that I haven’t already reviewed and your chance to recommend things to everyone else (and me) in case we’ve missed them.

First, the usual recommendations: Archer, Being Human (US), The Daily Show, Modern Family, Happy Endings, Portlandia, Royal Pains, Shameless (US), Southland, Suburgatory and 30 Rock. Do watch them.

Still in the viewing queue from last week are Eternal Law, The L.A. Complex and Arctic Air. I get the impression I won’t watch any of them. As predicted, I deleted Borgen from the viewing queue since I’m now four episodes behind. I’ve now got the second episodes of Are You There, Chelsea? and Shameless (US) to get through, too, as well as the first episode of Smash and the first episode of the new series of Mad Dogs.

But I did manage to watch the first episodes of a few new shows:

  • Rob: Rob Schneider (yes, Deuce Bigalow himself) plays an OCD guy who marries a woman virtually on impulse and gets to meet her extensive Mexican family, including her dad, played by the 1970s’ Rob Schneider, Cheech Marin. I was expecting to absolutely hate it, but it did display at least a few signs of intelligence and originality… for all of 10 minutes, after which the ridiculous farce and extensive Mexican stereotypes kicked in and I switched off. So better than Mike and Molly but not as good as 2 Broke Girls then.
  • The Finder: A spin-off from the tepid Bones, in which a man (and two sidekicks, including Michael Clarke Duncan) who can find things… finds things. Exciting, huh? Watched the first five minutes, during which our hero was shot at with an automatic while running down a narrow corridor, yet survived to tell the tale, and figured I’d pretty much got the measure of the show. An affable enough dramedy, but in no sense remarkable at all.
  • Stella: Sky 1’s new comedy-drama starring and written by Ruth Jones of Gavin & Stacey fame. Now, we were a little divided about this one, because I didn’t think it that great, while my lovely Welsh wife said it was almost exactly like being back home: even if it wasn’t necessarily funny all the time, it was always incredibly well observed. However, we stopped after 10 minutes of episode 2, since it just started to get a bit miserable and unenjoyable. It should also be pointed out this had the worst title sequence of any UK TV show since 1985.

A few thoughts on some of the regulars:

  • Portlandia: after the fabulous first BSG sketch from this episode, expectations were high for the follow-ups. The next wasn’t as good, and neither was the final sketch, but it saw a reunion of James Callis, Edward James Olmos and Ronald D Moore so was worth it all to see them watching Doctor Who together at the end. 
  • 30 Rock: Slowly decreasing in funniness, but a couple of good moments.
  • Royal Pains: back and starting to feel a little less like it’s treading water than it did over summer. Signs of plot progression? We can only hope.
  • Being Human (US): the first episode is doing a repeat of series 1, by starting the same way the UK series did. But this time, lessons appear to have been learnt. While a little darker and less engrossing than it was towards the end of series 1, the episode picked up after the first 15 minutes or so to give us a better version of the original. Sally’s plotline was fun without the comedy overkill of Annie’s, and Nora is essentially a pleasant but still sparky version Nina, which means she’s actually watchable (ditto Josh v George and Tovey’s over-acting). We also had some great vampire moments and fights courtesy of Sam Witwer’s Aidan. On the whole, I’m looking forward to this series much more than I am to series 4 of the UK original.
  • Sherlock: The Hounds of Baskerville – dreadful, illogical and obvious; The Reichenbach Fall – much better, although dragged in the middle. Looking forward to the next series!
  • Suburgatory: Sweet, and an interesting ending.
  • Southland: As usual, cast changes aplenty. We have Lucy Liu making a surprisingly good street cop; Arija Bareikis seems to have disappeared, as has every detective who isn’t Regina King (or her new partner). It basically feels like a slight retooling to focus on the best bits of the show – the beat cop side – away from the detectives. A little bit bitty as an episode, but with a cracking firefight and some great moments. Welcome back Southland!

And in movies:

  • Paradox: An odd little movie that you can find on SyFy now and then. Based on a comic book, it stars Kevin Sorbo (Hercules, himself) as a detective who lives in a world much like our own but that uses magic the way we use science. Winston Churchill helped to defeat the Germans in World War 2 using the power of Excalibur and is still alive; wizards run the government and coroners bring people back from the dead to answer questions about their murders. Except there’s crossover between the two worlds and Sorbo has to learn how to deal with science and technology. Let down by the gimmicky addition of comic book artwork in between scenes, it’s quite fun, although never going to win any awards.

"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?

Wednesday’s “it’s time to put on make-up” news

23 November 2011 Rob Buckley Post a comment

Happy Birthday, Doctor Who!

Canadian TV

  • Showcase orders full season of time-travelling female cop drama Out of Time

US TV

US TV

What did you watch last week (w/e October 28)?

1 November 2011 Rob Buckley 6 Comments

Batman Year One

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, House, Chuck and Ringer.

In the backlog: Friday’s Boss, Sunday’s Walking Dead, Braquo and Dexter, and last night’s House. I’ll be reviewing Grimm later today.

A few thoughts on the regulars:

  • Dexter: most seasons of Dexter don’t really get interesting until episode seven, which is probably why I’m feeling very bored watching it at the moment, despite the presence of Edward James Olmos in a show set in Miami. I’m hoping it’ll kick off soon.
  • Chuck: boring. Sorry, I’m still not sure why this show is still limping on. It’s vaguely amusing, has a couple of fun pop culture references each episodes, but I’m struggling to work out why I’m still watching it, beyond “because it’s on its final season and you’ve been watching it for four years”. Except there’s talk of possibly another season after this, so messed up are NBC’s ratings at the moment.
  • Happy Endings: has entered the “season 2 of Friends” paradigm in which the characters get a little broader and a little more stereotypical, while the plots get sillier. But it was good to have an episode in which Alex got to shine – imagine that: a show in which Elisha Cuthbert is actually good.
  • Homeland: after nothing but brilliance since the first episode, this week’s was the first episode that felt a little disappointing, just because it didn’t feel like anything had actually been achieved by the narrative that wasn’t obvious and predictable. It’s still the best drama on TV though.
  • American Horror Story: a simple formula – no Alex Breckenridge, no watch. She wasn’t in it this week so I didn’t feel compelled to watch it, which should tell you something about the show.
  • Community: loved Abed’s Halloween story – you can tell Dan Harmon is almost as Asperger’s as Abed is – and it’s great to see the show on form again.
  • Suburgatory: still great, so clearly I’m going to have to revise my rule from “only great when Emily Kapnek writes it” to “only great when women write it”
  • The Walking Dead: more engrossing and scary than previous episodes, but has a treading water feel to it.
  • Strike Back: Project Dawn: the final episode managed to ditch its trademark female nudity in favour of ludicrous plot revelations. If you were expecting an explosive conclusion, you’d have been surprised, since there were few set pieces. On the whole, a largely ridiculous season in terms of plot and very misogynistic, but absolutely far and away the best action show on British TV: no other show, not even Spooks, comes close to being able to shootouts, car chases, et al as well Strike Back.
  • Once Upon A Time: Largely the same as the first episode except more boring. A few nuggets of interesting ideas in there, but the show still has the big problem that the baddies are the only interesting characters in the whole thing and most of the show is dedicated to them and explaining their motivations. Also, when your idea of an action sequence is chopping down a tree, you really need to up the ante on the excitement levels.

And in the movies section was Batman: Year One (available on DVD/Blu-Ray from Amazon as well as from the iTunes Store), which was based on Frank Miller’s legendary graphic novel (parts of which were used for Batman Begins), this was a surprisingly faithful adaptation, not just in terms of plot and text, but also in terms of art. Some of the darker edges were removed – the insanity of “Yes, father, I will become a bat” got expunged – as well as some of Miller’s more misogynistic tendencies – the Bruce Wayne/Selina Kyle fight is a draw in this rather than an easy knockout for Bruce. The animation was also a little cheap at times, at least with things like moving cars, which looked very CGI. But really good, if a little inconclusive (for obvious reasons) and a surprising but effective choice of vocal cast (Ben McKenzie from Southland as Bruce Wayne, Bryan Cranston from Breaking Bad as Jim Gordon, Katee Sackhoff from BSG as Sarah Essen and Eliza Dushku from Dollhouse as Selina Kyle).

It came with a Catwoman short movie that’s not only exploitative but boring and with Dushkua clearly as bored as we are, so best ignore that. Makes you wonder, though, given the quality of the main feature, why the cocked up so badly with the Wonder Woman animated movie they did a few years ago, which managed to mangle not just the characters and WW’s origin, but also managed to make WW a largely unpowered, unlikeable misandrist. If they can be this faithful to essentially a non-canon 20-year old graphic novel, why not do a better job with Perez’s WW origin series?

“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?