Touching Evil

US TV

Review: Burn Notice 1×1

2 July 2007 Rob Buckley 5 Comments

Burn Notice

In the US: Thursdays, 10/9c, USA Network

In the UK: Not yet acquired but Hallmark or Five will probably get their greedy mitts on it

I’m rather partial to a good spy show. A good spy show is better than almost any other kind of genre show you can think of.

But note the use of the word ‘good’ there, because there haven’t been many good spy shows. Not proper spy shows. Callan, The Sandbaggers, a couple of episodes of Man in a Suitcase but that’s about it.

Don’t you even think about mentioning Spooks. Just don’t.

The other spy shows all suffer from a serious lack of realism. They aren’t so much spy shows as action shows (or comedies in most other cases). And as Jeffrey Donovan points out during the voice over at the beginning of Burn Notice, most spy work is about as interesting as sitting in a dentist’s waiting room all day. It isn’t action work.

Burn Notice tries to have its cake and eat it. It tries to be a proper, grown-up spy show – the first the US has probably ever produced (don’t even think of saying 24. Or Threat Matrix. Or whatever you were just about to say. Just don’t). But it also tries to mix in a bit of action, a bit of humour – mostly through Donovan but also through MAN GOD Bruce Campbell – and a bit of that relentless “character” that USA Network is now (in)famous for.

And you know what? It actually works. I think.

Continue reading “Review: Burn Notice 1×1”

US TV

Review: CSI 7.2

2 October 2006 Rob Buckley 1 Comment

The Dolls House

Okay, I’ve already reviewed the season opener to CSI, but seeing as that was a two-parter, I thought I’d just add in a bit more non-spoiling detail.

With CSI up against soapy old Grey’s Anatomy in the US on Thursdays, there’s a fair old amount of soap turning up in CSI to match. Catherine’s being put through the wringer for this two-parter, but the general aim of the season is to show the effects of investigating crime on all the CSIs (what a good idea for a show. Why don’t we call it Touching Evil? Oh wait…).

There’s also an unsolved crime that I suspect will return during the rest of the season. One of the more disturbing things about this two-parter is the “doll’s house” crime, in which a crime scene is lovingly recreated in an exact model left at the scene itself. Since even the blood pattern in the doll’s house is the same (and it’s made with the victim’s blood), we know we’ve got an absolute nutbag here.

I can’t help but feeling there’s something similar to the serial killer in the first season at work here, but since that was intellectually fascinating storyline, I’m none too fussed by that.

All the same, some intriguing things at work that should make season 7 of CSI a very interesting one. My only worry is they might push everything into realm of highly, highly implausible if they’re not careful.

PS Episode two has a highly upsetting ending. Brace yourself.

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.

Top 10 – and bottom 10 – sci-fi title sequences ever

10 August 2006 Rob Buckley 7 Comments

An enterprising gentleman in the US has decided to organise troll bait top ten lists of the worst and best sci-fi title sequences LIKE EVER!!! To save you the effort of going there, they are, complete with YouTube links:

Best

  1. Firefly
  2. Space: 1999
  3. The Six Million Dollar Man
  4. Doctor Who (Tom Baker and Eccles Cake versions)
  5. Star Trek: Voyager
  6. Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
  7. Star Trek: The Next Generation
  8. Mystery Science Theater 3000
  9. The Greatest American Hero
  10. Battlestar Galactica (original series)

Worst

  1. Enterprise
  2. Cleopatra 2525
  3. Battlestar Galactica (new series)
  4. V
  5. Babylon 5
  6. Charmed
  7. Xena: Warrior Princess
  8. The Bionic Woman
  9. Manimal
  10. Land of Lost

Now, clearly the man has both atrocious taste in title sequences as well as a somewhat limited viewing range. Otherwise, how else did all those Star Trek sequences get in there? At the very least, the original series of The Tomorrow People should be in there, as should The Prisoner. On the other hand, he does correctly slam Charmed for mauling a classic Smiths track, and The Six Million Dollar Man titles are classics indeed.

What other title sequences should be in there, do you reckon? If we include serials, I’d definitely include The Day of The Triffids‘, and if we were to expand beyond SF, I’d add in Callan, Penn and Teller’s Bullshit (titles are about a minute in) and Touching Evil. But what would you include?

US TV

Review: Psych 1×1

12 July 2006 Rob Buckley 7 Comments

Psych

In the US: USA Network, Fridays, 10/9C

In the UK: Acquired by Hallmark and the BBC. Hallmark has the first-run rights, the Beeb second-run. No air date yet.

There’s something a little eerie about the USA Network’s new series Psych. I’m not talking about the fact the main character is a psychic with an uncanny gift for solving crimes. For one thing, Shawn Spencer (James Roday) isn’t a psychic. He was just raised by his cop father (Corbin Bernsen) from a very early age to be extremely observant. Every time they’d go into a diner, his father would make his shut his eyes and answer questions about things he’d seen (‘How many people are wearing hats?’ ‘What’s the manageress’s name? She greeted you on the way in and it was on her name tag’). Now Shawn just has to observe a crime scene and the behaviour of the suspects to know exactly what’s been happening.

No, the eerie thing is James Roday: he is a homeopathic Will Ferrell.

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