The Wire

Other TV news from last week

18 September 2006 Rob Buckley Post a comment

Other interesting nuggets of news that popped up last week that weren’t about Doctor Who.

  • Thanks to overwhelmingly fantastic critical reaction, The Wire‘s been picked up for a fifth season, despite getting less than 2 million viewers for its first episode. This final season will look at the mass media; given The Wire‘s co-creator used to be a journalist on the Baltimore Sun, it should at least be authentic.
  • Psych has been picked up for a second season and The Dead Zone‘s back for a sixth
  • Windfall has been cancelled
  • James Cromwell, the ‘dad’ of that adorable pig called Babe, is to be killing-machine Jack Bauer’s dad in 24. There’s versatility for you.
  • FX in the UK has picked up Showtime’s Brotherhood. To counteract people forward-winding through ads, the network plans to create commercials for the show that feature the same image for 30 seconds. Silly plan or not, I do recommend watching Brotherhood if you can. Despite my luke-warm first and third episode reviews, Brotherhood is now firmly on my weekly viewing schedule, thanks to a compelling cast and its look into the shady world of local politics.
  • Thank God CSI doesn’t feature on-screen episode titles, or there are going to be a few raised eyebrows in Britain when Fannysmackin’ airs
  • My prediction that alternative DVD commentaries were going to be a growing market appears to be bearing fruit, judging by the arrival of Quick Stop’s additions to the range.
  • Aaron Sorkin answers critics who suggest that Studio 60 is based on his life by saying they’re right – up to a point. Interestingly, he used to date Kristin Chenoweth, who played the squeaky deputy press secretary in The West Wing and is a devoted Christian.

And finally, just in case you wanted to know what The Hanso Foundation is and what all those numbers mean in Lost, someone’s assembled all the video clips from The Lost Experience (which, my street urchins tell me, is some kind of online game thing). Press the Play button to find out what’s up.

Me and Ricky Gervais: our shared mind

4 September 2006 Rob Buckley Post a comment

Sometimes I wonder if Ricky Gervais and I have the same brain. Okay, he’s a comedy genius, I’m not. But sometimes he says stuff and I wonder how the words in my brain have managed to come out of his mouth.
Take today’s outpouring at the Extras press launch:

As he considers his first move into drama with his co-writer Stephen Merchant, Gervais said UK broadcasters “just can’t do or don’t do” shows of the calibre of US hits like the Sopranos, 24, The Wire and The Shield.

“I just can’t remember the last time I watched a British drama, probably something like GBH,” said Gervais at today’s press launch of the second series of Extras.

“I don’t give them a go and turn off. They just don’t come into my vision. I only watch about five British shows and they are probably all reality shows.”

Which would be spooky enough as it is. Then this:

Gervais also excluded Paul Abbott’s six-part BBC series State of Play from his assessment – “oh yes, of course, sorry”

Aargh! It’s like having a trapdoor at the back of your head and knowing someone’s been sneaking a peak when you’ve been looking the other way.
Even worse, I can’t make my old observation about how the Discovery channels only show stuff about sharks and the history channels only show stuff about Nazis any more, because Gervais has already used it in his Animals tour. Everyone thinks I’m trying to pass off his jokes as my own. Git.

US TV

Preview: Smith

4 September 2006 Rob Buckley 5 Comments

Ray Liotta and Jonny Lee Miller

In the US: CBS, Tuesdays, 10pm ET/PT. Starts September 19th.

In the UK: Acquired by ITV for ITV4 for 2007; Hallmark has second-run rights

Heat: The Series. Sounds like a great idea, doesn’t it? Well, maybe not, but in the right hands it could be. Are the hands of John Wells, the man who largely messed up The West Wing post-Sorkin, the hands that could take Michael Mann’s classic and turn it into quality television drama?

Surprisingly, almost.

Continue reading “Preview: Smith”

More good reviews for season four of The Wire

1 September 2006 Rob Buckley Post a comment

I’m going to keep going on about it, you know. You can’t stop me. Season four of The Wire, which begins a week on Sunday on HBO in the US – and comes to FX in the UK later this year – is getting some pretty great reviews from all the critics who have watched it.
Here’s another one, which includes juicy quotes such as:

The shows are so powerful – so well-written, acted, filmed and edited – that the experience of watching them has left me a complete wreck.

I am so blown away by this show that I will go out on a limb here to declare that these 13 episodes just might comprise the single finest piece of work ever produced for American TV.

And

…following the story of these four boys for 13 Sundays this fall will be one of the most rewarding experiences you’ve ever had watching TV.

I’m looking forward to it, anyway. Ways to play catch-up for UK and US viewers are listed on my last fawning entry on the subject.

Some of my favourite TV characters

25 August 2006 Rob Buckley 23 Comments

Okay, so Scott’s already got in on the act and Lisa looks like she’s raring up to do her own posting elsewhere, but here’s a list of some of my favourite TV characters in response to Jess Whedon’s. In no particular order.

  1. Neil Burnside, The Sandbaggers. Lots of explanation over here.
  2. David Creegan, Touching Evil (US version). Lots of explanation over here.
  3. Stringfellow Hawke, Airwolf. Because he was just so hard
  4. Callisto, Xena: Warrior Princess. One of the few villains to have a good – and sympathetic – motivation. Plus how many characters get to die yet end up a god?
  5. Chandler, Friends. Fantastic until he got neutered by Monica.
  6. Lieutenant Castillo, Miami Vice. Even harder than Stringfellow Hawke. That’s how hard he was. The less he said, the harder he got.
  7. House, House. Do I really need to explain this one?
  8. The President, The West Wing. Moral, dynamic, powerful and a complete nerd who speaks Latin. We need more characters like this. He made me want to be American, anyway.
  9. Turlough, Doctor Who. Slippy, weasly and great fun – for three stories. Then he went off the idea of killing the Doctor. Oh well.
  10. Anya, Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Just endlessly entertaining.
  11. James T Kirk, Star Trek. Well, he was great, wasn’t he?
  12. Spock, Star Trek. And so was he.
  13. Lynda Day, Press Gang. And so was she. Pretty much like most editors you’ll meet, in fact.
  14. DI Rosie Campbell, The Paradise Club. I just loved this posh, Oxford-educated police officer trying to spew out police slang, be street and it all going pear-shaped, every time.
  15. Chloe Sullivan, Smallville. Smart, funny, loyal, brave, and willing to put up with a constantly broken heart for the sake of friendship – the best sidekick a superhero could want
  16. Tony Hancock, Hancock’s Half Hour. The funniest man who ever lived.
  17. Avon, Blake’s 7. Seriously, just watch any episode and you’ll understand.
  18. Jarod, The Pretender. A genius who could be anyone he wanted to be. Great character, shame the show got silly.
  19. Nasir, Robin of Sherwood. Britain’s answer to Lieutenant Castillo.
  20. Austin James, P.R.O.B.E. Another genius, this one scientific. From the brain of Isaac Asimov and pretty much like all his other characters, James was the proto-House of his day

I’ve left a load out, I’m sure of it. But that’s a good crop to be getting on with. Depressingly few women in there, though. How do we up the quota? Give me suggestions!

UPDATE: And Stringer Bell from The Wire! He’s a drug-dealer, but he goes to economics classes in the evening. You’ve got to love that.