Film & Books
Where as the Music Journalism section of my site is basically my writer's CV this section is more like a diary, offering my thoughts on the latest books I've read and the films I've seen either on DVD or at the cinema. I use to write film reviews for the webzine musicOMH but when I moved onto other publications I stopped writing about films so this is a good opportunity for me to talk movies...and books!To view my published books go here
Sense of wonder…
Written: 21st July, 2009
If there is one book you should read this year it has to be Kethani by Eric Brown. It was published last year in paperback and during one random book buying session I stumbled across it at my local bookshop. It’s a brilliantly imaginative and deceptively intelligent and philosophical sci-fi novel about an alien race that comes to Earth and basically hands the concept of immortality to the human race. Some accept it (once they die they’ll be resurrected…like the cylons in BSG) and some don’t. It raises all kinds of questions: if you live forever, would you appreciate life?, etc, etc. It’s the human element that really intrigues me and why this kind of sci-fi works best. There’s an amazing sense of wonder and his prose (first-person) is easy to read and beautifully penned. It’s set in Yorkshire which is where Brown is from. Visit www.ericbrown.co.uk
You should also check out the new Sherlock Holmes mini-series by Leah Moore (daughter of the great bearded Northampton genius Alan) and John Reppion. Great artwork, well-written and very entertaining. It’s published by Dynamite and out later in the year in trade paperback.
Thanks!
Neil
CULT TV LIKE YOU’VE NEVER SEEN…
Words: Neil Daniels
Considering the sheer amount of brilliance on TV at the moment and the increasing success of TV box-sets, Unlocked Box is back for a one off feature. There’s been so much on television over the best year that it’s going to be difficult to mention everything in this space. Where to start? Well, let’s quickly kick off in the UK. Now, I’m a fan of British comedy and witty shows like Have I Got News For You but when it comes to cop shows and SF/fantasy/horror the Americans win hands down. So let’s not dwell on the awfulness of Merlin, Robin Hood, Demons or Bonekickers and spend a few seconds on the genius of Life On Mars from the BBC. It wasn’t until recently when it was repeated on Sky that I actually got round to watching it: better late than never, I suppose. It’s fantastic. You’re probably aware that it’s a cop show and that the protagonist was knocked into a coma and woke up in 1973. The opening credits are amongst the best I’ve ever seen and it ranks not only as a great piece of cult TV but as one of the best British cop shows ever, along with Prime Suspect and my personal favourite, Cracker. Forget the overrated The Wire In The Blood. The American remake starring Harvey Keitel is set to hit our screens later this year. It’s set in New York and the American critics have taken to it the way British critics took to the original, so unlike the disastrous American remake of Cracker this promises to be something worth waiting for. However, as is often the case with some inspiring and unconventional shows, it has been cancelled with no promise of future seasons. The final episode (seventeen in total) is due to be aired in the US in April.
It really is a Golden Age of American TV. There is simply so much to offer; big budgets, top directors, well-written scripts, innovative storylines and top named actors who have maybe past their best on the big screen but still have lots to offer. I’ll start with my favourite TV show of the moment - and a must for all Fireworks readers simply because it contains the best soundtrack to a TV show ever (Ratt, REO Speedwagon, Scorpions, Journey, AC/DC, amongst many others) - and that’s Supernatural. The basic premise is simple: two brothers – Dean and his younger sibling Sam – are on the hunt for the demon that killed their mother and years later Sam’s girlfriend. Of course, there is much more to it but you get the idea that it’s a fantasy/horror show. It’s now in its fourth season and has just been commissioned a fifth season, which is reputed to be its last. It’s dark, edgy, sometimes violent and scary but always touching and with plenty of humour and classic rock which comes courtesy of rock fan Dean. You just have to watch the episode were Dean mimes to Survivor’s ‘Eye Of The Tiger.’ Brilliant!
I thought Smallville had totally lost its way around season six (wasn’t it supposed to last for just five seasons?) and I almost stopped watching but since the start of season eight things have really changed – and for the better. Lex is out of the scene, Lana’s back and a lot sexier, Brainiac is the central villain and there’s a bigger role for Jimmy Olsen. A ninth season has been commissioned and I’m guessing the producers want to make the show last until at least season eleven thus beating Stargate SG1 as the longest-running North American SF show ever. Rumour has it a series on the younger years of Robin is in the works. (I always hated that guy.)
While those two shows are still running the amazing Battlestar Galatica has come to a close. It’s been a brilliant run and the second half of season four has delivered a couple of truly nail-biting episodes despite some slow moments. (Don’t read this next paragraph if you haven’t seen the full season.)
There is so much that can be written about the final episode of BSG that I could fill this entire column space and still not say everything. Overall I think it was handled magnificently. Usually the final season/last episode of an SF show is a bit of a let down (Babylon 5 peaked at season four, for example) but this episode tied off the stories of the individual characters and left room for individual viewer interpretation such as the Starbuck story (she is obviously some kind of Angel) and Caval’s drastic end was ambiguous. Bringing the story 150,000 years into the future made it seem horribly realistic. And the scene where the fleet have just jumped together for the final time with the old theme tune music playing was an authentic lump-in-the-throat moment. It was a surprisingly upbeat ending for the characters which some cynics have criticised but, come on, there’s been four years of absolute misery and bleakness why not have some green grass at the end? And what would be the point in watching the spin-off if everybody was killed off in the final episode? You’d already know the outcome. BSG is easily on par with seasons three and four of B5 in terms of good writing and acting in an SF show. Amazing.
Indeed I have to say I was a little dubious about the proposed Caprica spin-off series and even the Cylon TV movie, but my fears were squashed when I watched the final episode of season four part two; it has certainly wet my thirst for more BSG. Bring it on!
Heroes is still going and as I type this I have just learned that a fourth season has been commissioned by the broadcasters. I have to say I’m surprised by this. What started as a brilliant first season turned into a boring, slightly complicated and tedious melodrama…with superheroes. Ratings dropped and its time slot was changed and all was looking poor. Even the creator Tim Kring made an apology online to Heroes fans who complained about the snails-pace of season two. I really did think that season three would be the final nail in the coffin but I guess not. Admittedly the second half of season two, which is now showing on Monday’s on BBC2, is enjoyable but there’s nothing special there. On the other hand Lost is in its penultimate season. And now there are flash forwards as well as flash backwards; more questions are being asked; some are being answered; some of it makes sense and some of it doesn’t. I’m pleased to say it’s still an entertaining and highly original show.
Was I the only one slightly disappointed by the fifth and final season of The Wire? Sure, it had some brilliant episodes and the ending was cleverly dealt with, but what a shitty and really stupid way to kill off Omar. I really wish the media would pay just as much attention to the seventh and final season of The Shield, another truly ground-breaking American cop show. It’s probably my favourite show at the moment. It’s gritty, realistic, moving, exciting, and violent and unlike The Wire you can understand what the characters are talking about. Speaking of The Wire, how disappointing is Generation Kill (courtesy of The Wire creators David Simon and Ed Burns)? All the high-brow critics have raved about it but I don’t understand what the fuss is all about. Nothing happens! I stopped watching after four episodes. Each episode was about the same bunch of troops moving from one spot to another, swearing their heads off and talking about crap...in American slang. There’s very little action and not much to like about the characters. Disappointing.
One show I was late getting into was Damages, starring the great Glenn Close. I thought it was another bog-standard legal thriller and as I’m a fan of Law & Order (except for the recent UK version, which is awful) I tend to stay away from the courtroom dramas but I gave it a chance and my time was well spent. It’s a shrewdly developed story told in flashback, and Close is intimating as she was in the fourth season of The Shield where she played the temporary Captain of The Barn (a nickname for the cop station.) Season two is a different story but the formula is the same; it’s on BBC 1 on Sundays.
Continuing the crime theme Flashpoint is an entertaining show; it’s about a SWAT team and each episode centres on how they dissolve a situation which usually involves an assassin or a person who’s on the edge and holds somebody else hostage. CSI on Channel 5 is in its eighth season which has seen the end of Grissom’s run (he is replaced by a very bulky looking Lawrence Fishburne) but seeing as I stopped paying attention to CSI (too formulaic, too hyped, too Hollywood and too stylised) around season five I’m not that concerned about where the show will go from now. But I’ve seen a couple of episodes and although it’s a little too early to tell how Fishburne will fit in the idea of him being a professor rather than a trained CSI is a neat angle.
24 is in its seventh season and so far it is showing signs that the end may be near: it’s too predictable and although it’s still an entertaining show, it lacks the edge it used to have. The 24: Redemption TV special was dull. Meanwhile, The Beast shows potential. It stars Patrick Swayze as a maverick FBI agent; and similar to the film Training Day (Denzel Washington and Ethan Hawke) Swayze has a rookie partner who is learning the ways, ways which are not exactly conventional. It’s a dark, edgy and gritty show that is now showing on FX. Give it a go!
On a lighter tone Eli Stone, showing on Sc-Fi is a hoot. It’s a funny, well-written and actually quite touching show about said character (played by Johnny Lee Miller) who is a successful lawyer but has a brain aneurism which causes him to have hallucinations. These hallucinations (sometimes involving George Michael – I won’t say anymore) concern each case which Eli is involved in. Is he a prophet? Sadly, it looks as though the show will be cancelled. Another good show which was a victim to the ignorance of US broadcasters was Journeyman, which in many ways was an up-dated version of Quantum Leap. It ran for only thirteen episodes in 2007 and starred Brit actor Kevin McKidd as a San Francisco based time-travelling news reporter. Like Quantum Leap there was a moral to each episode. It was a good show with lots promise. Oh, and how disappointing was Bionic Woman? One of the biggest let downs in recent years. (And the revised Flash Gordon was simply the worst science-fiction programme I have seen in my lifetime.)
Desperate Housewives is back and (still) showing signs of fatigue. Brothers & Sisters (starring Sally Field and Calista Flockhart) is a bit of a bore. Each episode is the same; more family drama and predictable story lines. Dirty Sexy Money is back soon for a second season, which promises to be even filthier. The first season ran out of steam toward the end but hopefully the coming season will have fresh ideas and a new approach. ER is finally to end after fifteen years. Sadly Michael Crichton (a personal hero of mine) died last year so he didn’t get the see the end of his creation. Some past characters are set to return and one episode which just aired on More4 was a flashback to Dr. Green’s tenure at County General Hospital. He was my favourite character in the entire series’.
Now, who said watching television will numb your brain? Absolute rubbish. There are so many well-written and cleverly made TV programmes that it’s hard to keep count and most of them are from across the Atlantic. It’s no wonder big named actors and directors are turning to TV and leaving the cinema behind.
Later this year there’ll be another one off feature on science-fiction show The Listener, David Mamet’s The Unit, Joss Whedon’s comeback Dollhouse, a review of the first season of Fringe and the new Doctor Who. Stay tuned. (And yes, I do have a life – thanks to Sky Plus.)
UNLOCKED BOX: EXPLORING THE WORLD OF CULT TV, FILM & BOOKS
A few years ago I started writing an irregular column called Unlocked Box in the bi-monthly rock magazine Fireworks. Unlocked Box is basically me ranting about cult TV shows, films and books but mostly TV. I thought it would be a good idea to add all the columns I’ve written to this site and perhaps post one new column every month or so…
Date: 7th June, 2007
80s Cult Cartoon Special
Just ask any twenty-something about Thundercats and the chances are they’ll suddenly become child-like and sing, “Thunder…Thunder…Thunder…Cats…Ho!”
Ask any ten-year-old kid about the Thundercats and the chances are they haven’t got a clue what you’re talking about but that will change soon…
The recent release of the Thundercats Series 1, Volume 1 on DVD has sparked a resurgence of interest in the classic 80s cartoon that first aired way back in 1985 when I could barely talk. Fans have been waiting years for a Region 2 release and it’s only now that we are finally getting want we want. The first series lasts for a whopping 65 episodes and the first 33 are included on Volume 1 with the rest to follow later this year.
It’s not only the DVDs that fans crave for but also the new line of merchandising with Thundercats t-shirts and accessories being particularly hot stuff. The whole brand name has flittered into younger generations who are interested in Pokeman and Biker Mice From Mars, so it’s obvious that the dark and fantastical elements of the Thundercats are right up their street.
For me as a child of the 80s Thundercats represents nostalgia and a time in my life when cartoons (and WWF) were the coolest things on earth. Who could forget the immortal names of Lion-O, Panthro, Cheetara, Tygra, Snarf, Lynx-O and the villainous Mumm-ra (and he really did make you shit your pants when you’re a four-year-old kid.) Recent reports have suggested that because the DVDs have been so popular, Cartoon Network, which repeated the series in 1997, has tentative plans to remake the entire series for a whole new generation of children. That’s either a good thing or a bad thing, we’ll have to wait and see how it pans out.
For those who saw Thundercats when it initially aired in 1985 and finished in 1990 (after a staggering 130 episodes,) long discarded memories of other cult cartoons come flooding back like a Tsunami.
Now here’s a treat for 80s cartoon buffs, click on www.80scartoons.co.uk and you’ll see why. In A-Z order, the website gives you the opportunity to visit your fondest cartoon memories. Simply click onto your choice of cartoon (my first choice being the fantastic Dungeons & Dragons) and for the most part you’ll get a synopsis, a selection of images, character details, and best of all, a link to the intro of the cartoon and we all know how awesome the intros to Thundercats, G-Force and MASK were.
The cartoons that have stuck somewhere in my muddled mind have been the ones that brilliantly mix fantasy with sc-fi. I often wonder that with the intelligence of today’s technology, if certain cartoons like MASK and G-Force (who remembers the little known feature length cartoon Flight Of The Dragons?) would be better made into a full-length live-action movies or a feature length CGI film. Would such elaborate and gargantuan cartoons “work” on the big screen?
Of course, this year sees the release of Michael Bay’s awesome looking Transformers movie and John Woo’s CGI film of the Turtles has finally been unleashed to pretty good reviews. Having seen it, I can tell you it’s an absolute blast! Although I have to mention that recent small screen remakes of the Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles have done much to dampen the high quality of the initial series but the new film does justice to the original concept. Speaking of sc-fi let’s not forget Ulysses 31, Defenders Of The Earth and Visionaries.
Now hold your breath because aside form the aforementioned ones I’m going to name the best of the rest in no particular order and, yes, we’re talking exclusively fantasy and sc-fi related: Galaxy High, Bananaman, Batfink, Denver The Last Dinosaur, Bravestar, He-Man: Master Of The Universe, Inspector Gadget, Battle Of The Planets, Bucky O-Hare, Centurions, Count Duckula, Dinoriders, Jayce And The Wheeled Warriors, Robotech, Space Sentinels, She-Ra, Superted, Danger Mouse and Trapdoor. Oh and then there’s Ewoks, which lets face it, was just cheesy fun albeit a bit naff.
GI Joe: A Real American Hero deserves a small paragraph of its own and I even had all the figures and toy accessories. The 80s was appropriate for a stars and stripes hero like GI Joe who had the likes of Rambo to associate with; it was the decade of big screen action heroes like Arnold Schwarzenegger, Steven Segal and Sylvester Stallone. In addition, with the right-wing lunatics of Ronald Regan and Margaret Thatcher the Americans needed somebody on their side to defend them from the tyranny of foreign villains.
Okay so maybe I am being a bit biased towards fantasy and sc-fi cartoons that were pumped to the max with testosterone and masculine pride but I don’t ever remember watching (or at least liking) repeated episodes Postman Pat, Bagpuss or The Magic Roundabout. Who can recall the drudgery of sitting through an episode of Button Moon? I was into watching interplanetary wars or superhuman action heroes not the daily (dull…yawn) exploits of your regular everyday postal carrier.
There are a number of obscure cartoons and I’m sure a lot more then the ones I’m thinking off but close to my heart is a little-known gem called Voltron: Defender Of The Universe. Voltron lasted for 52 episodes and was a massive hit in the States during the time it aired in 1985.
Spiderman also re-entered the animated TV world (1981-1986) under the moniker Spiderman And His Amazing Friends. Seeing as I’ve always had a fondness for the exploits of the world’s most famous geeky photographer-cum- superhero, I devoured as much as possible. There was nothing like Marvel Action Hour every Sunday morning on Channel 4 prior to Land Of The Giants or Lost In Space and then the original Star Trek or Thunderbirds on BBC 2. Those were the days…
For me and probably most people my age the whole experience of a quality 80s cult cartoon came to a head with Captain Planet And The Planeteers, which first aired in 1990 and ran for six seasons until its demise in 1996. It was a good cartoon that always had a moral tale to tell but let’s be honest, as children, who cares about scruples? We wanted more action, car chases, space battles and kick-arse fights and sweat induced suspense.
But then Rupert Murdoch ruined it all. Sky TV and multi-viewing became hugely popular in the mid to late nineties thus the ability to watch a flurry of cartoons on one TV station for consecutive hours faded. Now there are far too many channels and too many shows, and too many repeated shows, and the experience of watching three hours worth of brand new cartoons on a Sunday morning on BBC2 had finished. Now it’s nothing but a distant memory.
Having said that the main question is: why don’t they make ‘em like they use too? It’s not the quality of the new shows that’s a problem, I think it’s because we grew old…
Date: 24th June, 2006
Batman, Superman and Spiderman are surely the most iconic of them all. What am I talking about? Well, superheroes of course. We’re all familiar with the legions of “classic” superheroes; they’re like old beer swelling buddies. Yet their success when transferred to the small screen as live action stars has been haphazard. Do we prefer to see the classic superheroes only on printed-paper? Perhaps those older superheroes are too heavily associated with the camp adventures of, say, the 1960’s Batman show with Burt West and Adam Ward? The past decade has brought a darker and possibly more complex superhero into our lives. Only this time they have gone straight to television as opposed to print.
There has been a fairly recent flurry of hit-and-miss TV series about the adventures of superheroes. Yet these newer heroes are more sombre, more aggressive and sometimes more frightening. Rather than taking a particular comic book creation and changing it to suit the needs of the television viewer, writers have created an entirely new hero(s) that takes the basic traits of the comic book superhero and adds a bit of zest to suit the mainstream viewer in the hope that a success of sorts if assured. On the other hand, the shows that have used a particular comic book creation, as with Smallville, have used the basic character mythos and twigged it to make it fresh, exciting and commercially sustainable.
Maybe it was Buffy The Vampire Slayer that started all the recent attention. The show about an attractive female teenager chosen to fight evil demons and vampires aired in 1997. Its spin off Angel (1999-2004) was more shadowy compared to its popular sibling. Nevertheless thrilled fans lovingly welcomed its captivating stories and alluring characters. But even with the cult following the show received until its last transmission in 2003 (it still gets a lot of attention) did not mean viewers would warm to any other superhero (or heroes) straight away. The James Cameron produced show Dark Angel, which began in 2000, was cancelled after just two seasons. Even with the sexy Jessica Alba –who plays Max Guevara as a genetically created woman who battles to rid a post-apocalyptic Seattle of crime, greed and corruption in 2019 – the show still bombed like a nuclear blast. In fact, sometimes shows are just too dark and confusing for the less attentive viewer and as such they get moved to another timeslot and then buried. Firefly, Joss Wheedon’s stupendous western-sc-fi creation - is a perfect example of how a failed TV show can gain a cult following from a DVD resurrection.
Dark Angel was not the only one to fail miserably, left to eat dust in the ever-increasing world of failed TV series’. Harsh Realm faired even worse. Based on the comic book creation by James D. Hudnall and Andrew Paquettee (the pair actually sued Chris Carter when they saw the show credited as ‘Created By Chris Carter.’ It was later changed to ‘Inspired By The Harsh Realm Comic Book Series Created By James D. Hudnall and Andrew Paquettee Published By Harris Publications, Inc.’) Harsh Realm was removed from the Fox Network schedule after only three of it’s nine episodes (the contract was actually for a 13 episode run.) The remaining six were dumped onto Fox’s FX Networks. The 3-DVD disc set has all nine episodes that see a clandestine virtual reality strategy program used by the military and Lt. Thomas Hobbes (played by Scott Bairstow) is sent in to kill the totalitarian leader of the game played by the formidable Terry O’ Quinn.
At least Harsh Realm garners some reverence from enthusiasts of cult TV. Mutant X DVD box sets can now be bought at a stupidly low price at one major DVD retailer. Does that reflect its quality? The show first aired in 2001 and was created by Marvel Studios. It’s a typically superhero adventure that could have been generated from the pages of an uninspired comic book. As a result of genetic engineering in a covert government experiment, four human mutants who possess superhuman powers fight against those mutants who use their powers to wreck havoc while bravely offering aid to those confused mutants who are unsure of how to use their powers. It ran for 66 episodes and ended in 2001. I didn’t have the patients or desire to sit through it all. If Mutant X sounds too clichéd for you then characters in the deliciously sexy Charmed and the spy series Alias can be perceived as superhero roles that offer something less tiresome and more fun.
For many fans, the greatest contemporary superhero series could be none other than Smallville. The show began in 2001 was created by Alfred Gough and Miles Millar but they used the Superman story from different angle. The show is about the troubled adolescent life of Clark Kent as he struggles to come to terms with his abilities, as well as facing the everyday difficulties of being a teenage in a small town. It continues to be a monstrous success and proves that with smart writing, inventive characters and a ridiculous abundance of attractive people, a comic book/superhero live action show can be something more than a faded memory. Maybe the timing was right. Perhaps Americans have been looking for a role model since the devastating events of 11th September 2001? And Superman was always meant to portray the endearing qualities of a true patriotic American. The muscular man in tights could protect America from any evil external force no matter what their foes are armed with.
As for the future? 2006 sees Blade: The TV Series airing on Spike TV. Kirk “Sticky” Jones plays the half-man, half-vampire hybrid. ABC has just recently commissioned John Gatins to write a telescript for a live action series based on DC Comics Starman, about a 25-year old farmer who is literally forced to become a superhero after the unexpected and mysterious death of his brother. So the future is looking darker but in an exciting way.
Date: 3rd May, 2006
HBO Special
If there is one American television broadcaster, weather its cable or a major network, which provides its viewers with uncompromising, tough and extremely well written and committed shows like no other on the box then its HBO. Their tagline of ‘Original Programming’ is certainly not misleading or erroneous.
Of all the cop shows emanating from the other side of the Atlantic, perhaps The Wire is the most realistic. It simply does not hold back and carries through with its determined convictions. Like fellow cable buddy The Shield and a lot less like the ultra stylish and smooth technical sophistication and sexiness of the mega successful CSI franchise, The Wire is about as plausible and as gritty as cop shows can get. It puts lame British attempts like Waking The Dead and The Bill to utter shame.
Written by ex-cop David Simon, The Wire is set in the harsh streets of Baltimore and follows a group of mismatched detectives who don’t quite fit in and abide by the fundamentals of the department’s rules and regulations. Each season takes the viewer through one major case. The initial two seasons are both available on DVD while a fourth season has been commissioned and is due to be shown stateside later this year. The first season follows the lives of young drug dealers on a rough project housing estate while the following two seasons are about the lives of the longshoremen’s union and their struggle to stay afloat as it were, and the political leadership that equally governs and corrupts the city.
Who’d have thought that one of the most talked about shows currently on television would be a western series? Westerns hardly bring in the dough these days. Deadwood has had enormous critical and commercial success, which is hardly that surprising really as it is the creation of David Milch, the writing genius behind NYPD Blue (Steven Bochco was also a co-creator.) And like his enormously successful cop show, Deadwood goes all the way. It stars British TV thespian Ian McShane as hard town boss Al Swearengen who lives and runs the outlaw camp of Deadwood. The volatile town tries to cope with the power struggles between the new faces and the old. The first two seasons are both available on DVD.
Six Feet Under is now available in a complete box set as well as individually. The show began in 2001 and drew to a close last year. Written by screenwriter Alan Ball (he penned American Beauty) Six Feet Under is about the very troubled lives of the Fisher Family who are based in L.A and run a funeral home. It’s a brilliantly dark yet comic and very dry show that would not be everyone’s cup of tea but it’s definitely a cult show if ever there is one. Unlike some shows that milk their own success, the creators knew when to stop putting pen to paper and lay the show to rest.
Carnivale is another bizarre but fascinating oddball creation. The story follows a travelling carnivale but focuses its attention on the mysterious Ben Hawkins (played by Nick Stahl) who has strange, hidden talents. For those you enjoy the twisted stories of Clive Barker and Stephen King would surely enjoy this show. Again, you can catch up with the complete first season on DVD. Sadly, it finished in 2005 after only two years.
The most successful HBO show by far is The Sopranos. With sixth seasons, it draws to a close in 2006. There is very little to be said that hasn’t been mentioned before but for those who are not familiar with this mob show; it was created by David Chase and follows the gangster live of Tony Soprano and his family. There violent lives are on full, disturbing display. It has captivated the attention of millions of viewers like no other show.
If The Sopranos is the most absorbing show than Curb Your Enthusiasm is possibly the most original. With verite-style footage, Larry David’s (he plays himself) life is on camera. The show is set in the city of angels and is shot with no script and the cast mostly improvise so that is enough to either put you off or captivate your attention. It success proves that most TV viewers have gone for the latter. It started as a 1999 HBO special called Larry David: Curb Your Enthusiasm and evolved from there. Considering how unique and unconventional it is, its success is surprising but welcome.
There are other HBO shows that have broken new ground (Rome) or enthralled viewers with nail biting dramas (OZ) but the above have offered stories that few other shows would not have the balls (or indeed the backing of a broadcaster) to go through with.
Reminiscing:
Cult TV Of The Past (Or Did We Boldly Go Where Know One Has Gone Before?)
As a child Sunday’s where never about looking forward to a roast for dinner or even about having the time spent as a day of rest. After a week at school and waking up early on Saturday’s to be dragged around town with my folks, I never got to lie in bed past eight o’ clock very often.
Spending a lot of time thinking about cult programmes for this page, I started to remember about the stuff I watched as a child. I have never forgotten about those Sunday morning’s in the late eighties/early nineties. I remember it was around half- seven where my body clock would tell me the time has arrived. Whereas now I would need an alarm clock and a cup of caffeine to wake me up, back then I would leap out of bed to switch the TV on (I’m still young but those days of leaping out of bed have long gone.) The opening credits of Marvel Action Hour on Channel 4 would greet me with an array of bright colours, a groovy tune and the greatest superheroes in the world. But that wasn’t all. Each miniature episode would tell a different story with a different superhero from the Marvel universe.
It only took an hour for the likes of Spiderman and Wonder Woman to save the world so I had time to watch Lost In Space and Land Of The Giants straight after. I remember Planet Of Apes, the TV series, making an appearance in the television scheduling at one point and then I would flick the channels onto BBC 2 and wait patiently for either Thunderbirds or the original Star Trek series to begin.
Sunday dinners are overrated; it was Sunday cult TV that really filled me up. And I wanted more. It wasn’t just me, but my friends rejoiced in every second of it as well. Once those few hours of fun were over I couldn’t wait until the following day, back at school where I could chat about how ‘Shore Leave’ was the best Star Trek episode I had seen or about how brilliant Jonathan Harris was as the evil Dr. Zachary Smith in Lost In Space. What was great about those Sunday’s was that each episode of a different show would play after one another for about four hours. Now it has all changed, Sky TV got in the way offering hundreds of channels and people’s tastes soon changed. Flicking onto the terrestrial stations now, there are repeats of reality programmes, cartoons that are not as good as the old ones, lame music shows showing the latest in crap popular music and the shite that is Hollyoaks.
Cult TV is still great, it’s just being shown at different times and on other channels (Sky One and E4, primarily) and what is good about the advancement of technology is that those TV shows I watched religiously every Sunday, which were all repeats anyway, are now mostly available on DVD. I’m just waiting for Land Of The Giants to join in.
Along with thousands of other children and for just a few hours, I really did boldly go where no one (well me) had gone before. Please take me back…
Date: 28th February, 2006
Cult Crime Novels: Hard Case Crime
Hard Case Crime is doing a wonderful job at recreating the old post-war paperback mysteries for 21st century crime readers. Murder, drugs, hookers, pimps, alcoholic and obsessive detectives, blackmail, intrigue – it’s all there in black and white.
Ed McBain is a master in the field. Originally published in 1958 and then known as ‘I’m Cannon – For Hire,’ The Gutter And The Grave is the story of a burnt out, booze-swelling detective named Matt Cordell who tells the reader on practically every page that he is a bum. He caught his misses cheating on him and gave the man a pasting with his .45. He moved onto the rough streets of NYC and lived of panhandling. An old friend, Johnny Bridges, from his former neighbourhood tracks Matt down to ask for help in finding the guy who has been helping himself to the contents of Johnny’s till. Sounds simple? Don’t be fooled because the story becomes a case of murder and bloody violence with a particularly seductive woman and a bit of jazz. Plainly written yet alluring, McBain’s book is an easy read. Of course, it is all a cliché now but seeing as this book is from the glory days of the genre and that McBain lent a head in creating the clichés in the first place, it doesn’t make a blind bit of difference.
The fact that Stephen King’s name adorns The Colorado Kid is probably the only reason why Hard Case Crime has published it. Its not that it is a poorly written book, it’s not at all. If anything, the main flaw (if flaw is the correct word) is that it has little of the film noir, pulp crime novel texture that Hard Case Crime is associated with. The Colorado Kid has more in common with the classic English mystery than any type of American crime story, especially American hard-boiled classics of the old days. A body is found on a tiny island off the coast of Maine. A couple of local reporters take an interest in the case and become amateur sleuths. With King’s typically witty and colloquial dialogue, it is a fun read. Yet the supernatural overtones in the story make it more then just an average mystery.
The complete and unabridged publication of Donald Hamilton’s Night Walker is a pleasure to read. Tense, intriguing, fast-paced and like a good Hitchcock film, its tightly constructed. It was originally published in 1954 so for modern crime readers perhaps it is a little on the soft side but it is a book more concerned with suspense and drama than violence although it does have its fair share of the latter. A Navy Lieutenant named David Young is badly beaten up in a random attack. Lying in hospital covered in bandages he is being called a strangers name by hospital staff. The man he is assumed to be was believed to be treacherous and so Young must get to the bottom of this if he is to reassume his own identity. The climax is chilling. It is a short, taut read and can easily be consumed in a couple (at the most) of sittings.
For information go to www.HardCaseCrime.com
Date: 5th February, 2006
Christmas period on the box may have been predictably stuffed with bland, repetitive and, well, largely crap TV episodes and films we have seen many times before but the beginning of 2006 is a great time for cult fans as familiar shows return to our screens with fresh seasons and brand new series’ arrive with a bang.
The new season of ER (aired 5/1/06, E4, 21:00) was an anti-climax. Maybe it’s running out of steam after 12 years of strong competition from other prime time U.S. shows. Maybe is not the same now all the original characters have vacated County Hospitals premises, although Carter (Noah Wyle) will be making sporadic appearances every now and again. The Kovac/Sam/Alex storyline dominated this initial episode so hopefully that will wind down because it is quite frankly getting boring and repetitious. There is a new actor playing Alex (Dominc James) who is just as annoying as the last one. Meanwhile, Ray (Shane West,) Neela (Pariminder Nagra,) and Abby (Maura Tierney) struggle to teach the new arrival of interns the skills of being an ER doctor. Hopefully this series will progress and return to its exciting, controversial and often emotional roots, which is what has given the show its unique stand in American television and ironically, why it has lasted 12 years.
The premiere episode of Smallville (aired 9/1/06, E4, 21:00) season five kicked arse like the proverbial drug-fuelled rock star backstage. Forced by his biological father Jor-El (voiced by Terence Stamp), Clark (Tom Welling) is whisked off to the newly created Fortress Of Solitude where he is made to learn the geography of Earth so he can use his abilities to do good things. But it doesn’t go according to plan. Back in Kansas, two aliens (in human form) crash land during the meteor shower and cause destruction as they search for Kal-El (i.e. Clark Kent.) The pair are the last survivors of the doomed planet Krypton and are called ‘disciples of Zod’ by the seemingly deranged Lionel Luther (John Clover.) Ironically, Terrance Stamp who played Superman’s archenemy General Zod in the first two Superman movies starring Christopher Reeve is now the voice of Jor-El in Smallville. It all kicked off as it were – and it was great!
It was a fracking good start to the second season of Battlestar Galatica (aired 10/1/06, Sky One, 21:00.) Most critics have commented that not only is the series a classic space opera with all the gun-ho traits of the vintage western but its also very political and intelligent, like The West Wing but in space. It was a very tense first episode as Major William Adama (Edward James Olmos) fights for his live after multiple shots in the chest. And the Cylon’s are closing in on the ship as they struggle internally with new developments. With Ronald D. Moore - one of the very best writers from Star Trek: The Next Generation, and TV producer legend Glen A. Larson (Magnum P.I., Knight Rider to name a couple,) this remake of the kitsch original is a winning force.
The night finally arrived. After a smart marketing ploy whereby the last two episodes of Lost (aired 11/1/06, E4, 22:00) were delayed for two weeks to add further hype to an already over- hyped show, which included repeating every previous episode of E4, the end was, well, not the end. We didn’t learn anything about the island (it’s still all theories) and the survivors did not get back home. Yet that did not stop it from being gripping season finale. It’s a cliff hanger so if you can be arsed waiting and are that keen on he whole thing, you’ll have to wait until the spring for season 2. Hopefully then we will find out what is down that damn hatch. It has been worth sticking through the boring bits of the series to get to this point even though we still, quite frankly, don’t know what the hell is going on. The complete series is now available on DVD.Medical Investigation (aired 16/1/06, CH5, 21:00) tries too hard to be like CSI: Crime Scene Investigators and its two spin-off’s. It has a contemporary slick production, a major awareness and strong knowledge of its subject matter and a similar episode structure as CSI. It’s about a group of medical investigators from the National Institute Of Health who travel around the U.S. to combat outbreaks of diseases. In charge of the team is Dr. Stephen Connor (Neal McDonough) who is not unlike Gil Grissom from CSI. He rarely laughs (like Grissom,) has many dry and monotone expressions (like Grissom,) is a workaholic (like Grissom) and delivers Grissom-type lines such as “our job is to stop diseases not judge those who have them.” But Connor does not have the sharp wit and wide range of knowledge outside of his profession like Grissom does and as such is far too clinical. Although new to Channel five, maybe Medical Investigation’s obvious similarity with CSI is the reason why it was cancelled after only one season, having run from 2004-05 in the U.S.
Once I got into the second season of the excellent Desperate Housewives (aired 18/1/06, CH4, 22:00) everything came back to me like a flash. Initially I thought it would be difficult to remember the plot from the first season because of the abundance of twists and turns, but thankfully I was wrong. They have become such familiar characters in such a short space of time, which is largely due to what is essentially brilliant writing, acting and editing - the overall production is immaculate. There is a new family on Wisteria Lane who, rather obviously, harbours a dark secret and quietly hides it from their new neighbours. Like goes on for Bree (Marcia Cross) after the death of her husband and Susan (Teri Hatcher) survives her freighting ordeal with the very troubled Zack (Cody Kasch.) Lynette (Felicity Huffman) goes back to work while her husband struggles to adapt to his new role as a househusband. Of course there is more to talk about but there isn’t the space here but all I can say is welcome back!
Date: 16th October, 2005
The original series of CSI: Crime Scene Investigators (aired CH5, 19/7/05) is the undoubtedly best. The last part of series five was the most intense so far. Perhaps that was due in part to the involvement of guest director Quentin Tarantino, who also devised the story for this special double-bill.
An anonymous call is made to the police saying that random body parts are laid specifically on the ground at a certain location. After a flip of the coin between Warwick Brown (Gary Dourdan) and Nick Stokes (George Eds) over who takes the case, Stokes gets involved and is kidnapped at the scene by man who has a beef with the Vegas CSI after the conviction of his daughter.
Stokes is buried alive in a glass coffin but with florescent lights, a gun and a tape recorder. The killer (chillingly played by John Saxon) cleverly torments Stokes and his fellow forensics scientists as he sends the CSI team a package, which gives them a live feed through to Stokes. Also, for Stokes to be kept alive, a million dollars must be given to the killer, sticking to his rigorous instructions regarding the drop-off. Gil Grissom (William Peterson) takes the cash to a warehouse, meets the killer who blows himself up with Grishom still inside and Stokes still buried underground. With the killer dead and Stokes running out of oxygen, it becomes a taut and suspenseful race against time to find out where Stokes is buried.
There is very little to suggest the handiwork of Quentin Tarantino’s cinematic brilliance and his talent at writing razor sharp dialogue but there are touches of his controversial skills with a darkly humorous and twisted story; and a peculiar but comic fantasy scene shot in black and white.
As with most American shows, CSI has certain filmic conventions and you can never tell one director from another. It was the sadistic humour and torments of the killer that really gave the story its edge and intensity. This was certainly the most compelling and gripping story in its entire five year run and the great news is that this two-part episode - entitled ‘Grave Danger’ - is now available on DVD. Brilliant.
The third series of Without A Trace (aired E4 09/8/05) hardly started off with a bang. There were so many episodes in the first two series’ that were hit and miss despite the brilliance of Anthon LaPaglia as the lead agent, Jack Malone. This first episode of the new series was, unfortunately, a near miss.
A teenage deaf girl and her instructor go missing in the woods and it’s up to the recently promoted Vivian Johnson (Marianne Jean-Baptiste) and her team to locate them. Malone’s wife has left him and headed off with their two daughters for a new start in Chicago, a divorce is pending. With his family in another city where he is supposed to start a new job within the FBI (before his wife decided she didn’t want him there,) he is still in NYC and down in the dumps. Samantha Spade (Poppy Montgomery) and Martin Fitzgerald (Eric Close) went against protocol and got under the sheets together. It was a mundane episode with not enough suspense, action or great dialogue (which works for shows like CSI and The Shield); also with Malone out of the lead investigators chair, it just didn’t feel right. And to be honest, the rest of the series has not really helped the show progress further and achieve the potential it has. There isn’t really much life left in this show especially when it has to keep up with the likes of Law And Order and CSI.
What did start with a bang were the first two exceptional episodes of Lost (aired Ch4, 10/8/05.) According to the following days ratings figures, Lost was the most successful premiere in Channel 4’s history managing to rake in a reported six million viewers. It practically stayed the same for the second episode, which was shown almost immediately afterwards.
Basically, Lost is about how 48 surviving passengers manage to survive on a remote island somewhere in the south pacific after the plane they were travelling on (from Sydney to L.A.) crashed, horrendously.
Matthew Fox as Jack Shephard is the most head-straight and focused of them all. With his skills as a doctor he tried to calm everybody down, offering his help and guidance. While some of the other characters quietly exposed to the viewer a dark side/secret, such as the one-hit wonder rock star Charlie Littleton (Emilie de Ravinas) and Iraqi Military Veteran Sayid Jarrah (Naveen Andrews.)
Inevitably, as time progresses each character will quickly create an agenda about how they will survive and that will lead to potential clashes with the rest of the surviving passengers. They also have to deal with a lack of food and materials, indigenous animals, the soaring heat and horrific downfalls of rain and so forth.
The flashbacks about the last few minutes on the plane, told through the minds of some of the more important characters was completely compelling.
The first two episodes of this compulsive series was immaculately written and well executed with a taut pace and excellent effects. It was a great opener, no wonder it has gripped America so quickly. The first half of Lost is now available on DVD.
Flick the switch on your remote control to BBC 1 on Tuesdays at 23:05 and you’ll see a new show from the U.S. called Medium. Inspired by a true story, Medium stars Patricia Arquette as Allison Dubois (her best selling memoir ‘Don’t Kiss Them Goodbye’ is currently available) who is a confused wife, mother and a part-time employee (with no law degree) at a successful law firm. Her confusion stems from her uncanny ability to read peoples minds and what to do with this gift.
In the initial episode (aired Tuesday, 6/9/05) her husband believes that she can use her power to do good so he faxes the details of one of her dreams to the Texas Police. Alison believes that the body of a 6 year old boy who has been missing for weeks is dead and buried underground at a specific spot. When she travels to Texas she is obviously not taken seriously. The ranger cannot fathom how she could know all the gory details when they had not been disclosed to the press? Yet through cunning manipulation Alison manages to convince the leading ranger that she is right.
It had a slow and predictable start but it promises to be something that appeals to a wide audience. Despite the subject matter concerning the paranormal, it is not too gory or horrific for the tame but it has an intriguing premise for fans of cult TV. It is definitely one to stick with.
The Closer (aired 27/9/05, Ch4) is a brand new American cop series that stars Kyra Sedgwick as Deputy Chief Brenda Johnson who has only just transferred from Atlanta to L.A. for the job. Inevitably, as a woman, she is greeted with boo’s and hisses from her mostly male division. She is smart, confident and has no problem sticking up for herself against her male subordinates. She cannot appear to make herself look venerable on the job but she obviously feels lonely when she calls it a day. As it is with most cops, her work becomes her life hence her nickname as “The Closer.”
A body is found in a doctor’s house in an affluent part of the city of angels, as Brenda moves onto the case (her first since transferring) she quickly becomes absorbed into the elusive doctors past. There is a very surprising twist at the end that even caught out her fellow cops, which gained her some respect. The Closer is not as gripping or hardcore as the likes of The Shield or The Wire but it was a promising beginning and offers something slightly different with a woman being in the centre role.
Date: 27th August, 2005
Cult Novels: Hard Case Crime
Hard Case Crime was established by Charles Ardai and Max Phillips. It is a superlative concept that successfully revives the huge American mass-market pulp paperback tradition of the 1940’s through to the sixties. It’s not only about a nostalgic yearning for the pulp vintage paperbacks, which could actually fit in your back pocket, but about bringing a lost art form back into the public’s consciousness. Complete with exceptional cover artwork, Hard Case Crime publishes six novels a year that not only includes re-prints of cult classics but contemporary novels in a noir-vein.
The Confession is the winner of the 2004 Edgar Award for best original paperback of the year and justifies its acclaim. Written by cult author Domenic Stansberry, The Confession is a tense, taut thriller about a not entirely likable yet deceptively charming forensic psychologist. He is married, affable and content but can’t stop cheating; his love of women goes horribly wrong when an attractive woman he is having an affair with is strangled to death with his necktie. His world comes crumbling down when his wife leaves him, his credibility is in tatters and he is arrested for homicide. He is practically on his own as he tries to prove his innocence against such damming evidence. It is an engrossing book with a tightly organised structure and completely gripping prose.
In Dutch Uncle Harry Healy has just got out of the joint and only three days later he meets Leo Hannah; a man whom he has met just once before - and that was behind bars. Both of them get stupidly involved in ‘Uncle’ Manfred Pfiser’s drug deals. But hey, Healy needs the cash so he can head back up to New York from his current residency in Miami. The deal gets screwed up as Healy finds a corpse, which implicates him for the murder. He does a runner from the cops and discovers some shocking truths on his search to prove his innocence of the murder. The story involves: murder, sex, sociopaths, nutty homosexuals and sardonic detectives all held neatly in a convincing Miami setting.
Peter Pavia has created a smoothly constructed and brilliantly sharp novel that gets its first publication in Hard Case Crime. The climax feels less substantial as it should and many of the characters are thuggish bastards (so why should we care?) but Pavia makes it worth the time with his witty and old school noir dialogue.
Moving away from a gritty American setting, rising Scottish crime writer Allan Guthrie’s second novel Kiss Her Goodbye is a hard knock contemporary story set on the mean streets of Edinburgh. Joe Hope is a tough bastard who works for a loan shark named Cooper. Hope’s daughter is found dead from an overdose of tablets, it seems like an obvious suicide. Yet Joe is arrested for murder and realises that he can’t trust anybody as he tries to track down the person (or persons?) who framed him.
Aside from the “seeing-as-your-going-to-die-I-may-as-well-tell-you-anyway” type of ending and the lack of a truly authentic old-fashioned noir-feeling, much of this book is superbly written and very edgy, indeed.
Branded Woman by Wade Miller was first published in 1952 and as such, feels slightly outdated with words that some of today’s readers would not particularly feel comfortable reading. Having said that, the story of badass female smuggler named Cay Morgan and her search for her elusive and violent foe - known simply as The Trader –Branded Woman is bold and original. Set in South America, it is fast paced if slightly tiresome yet it’s confidence shines towards the surprise conclusion.
Date: 6th January, 2005
“You can’t tell where the blood ends and the wine begins,” comments a uniformed officer at the scene of a homicide in a liquor store. “Actually you can,” retorts Detective Stella Bonasera (Melina Kanakaredes) - a crime scene investigator. The officer replies: “Scientists!”
It is an accurate summation of CSI: NY (Saturdays, Ch5, 21:00), the second offspring of the original, phenomenally successful Las Vegas-based Crime Scene Investigators franchise that explores not the reasons but the mean’s of crime. In other words: it’s all about science.
This particular episode (aired 28/5/05) concerned the pointless murder of a liquor storeowner by three gangbangers. It is the stern and discerning scientific mind of Detective Mac Taylor (Gary Sinise) that leads the case with his second in command Bonasera. While his two other subordinates, the tough talking Danny Messer (Carmine Giovinazzo) and the sexy Latino Aiden Burn (Vanessa Ferlito) handle a case where an obese film producer with many bitter enemies is found dead after falling four stories from an apartment block – was foul play involved?
You cannot avoid feeling that the series is overstated where these supposed scientists chase and interview suspects, get involved in shoot-outs and generally do much of the work of the 'normal’ police. Of course Detective Don Flak (Eddie Cahill), who is not a scientist, is on hand with his firm theories and adamant attitude to offer assistance but he is unfortunately underused much of the time although this episode saw him face a difficult task of ethics as his former ‘police buddy’ was involved in the cover up of the liquor store murder. As for the fat guy: it was a case where his insatiable sweet tooth cost him his life.
The scripts are smart and laced with a noticeably dry wit with lines (“There is one speck of dust out there to convict you and I’ll find it,” says Taylor to a prime suspect in the liquor store killing) that could have come straight of the pages of a Raymond Chandler novel; and just like the Vegas series there is always a sardonic line before the opening credits literally burst into action. The episodes are well researched with some decidedly perverse but intelligent and gripping narratives such as the episode in question.
It is far too clever for its own good but it carries itself off with aplomb and in a 21st Century verve, which makes it so alluring; not as good as the Vegas series but it has great potential.
And just like CSI: NY, although nowhere near as dark, Law And Order: Criminal Intent is a spin-off the long-lasting original series that began in 1990. Where as Law And Order is spilt into two distinct parts: the first half shows the detectives trying to solve the case and track down the perpetrators and the second half is where the district attorneys take the case to court. Criminal Intent is very much one complete episode but with Assistant D.A. Ron Carver (Courtney B.Vance) making sporadic appearances in each episode to tell Detectives Robert Goren (Vincent D’Onofrio) and Alexandra Eames (Kathryn Erbe) what they should acquire to secure a conviction.
This episode (aired 28/5/05, Ch5) concerned the abduction and murder of a Korean girl who was involved in a small group that devised plans to scam casinos, horse races and gamblers. But when the supposed leader of the group has no concept of fear and acquires links to the Israeli mob, the story becomes much more elaborate.
Detective Goren is clever, perhaps too clever. Like Colombo he misleads his suspects into a state of superiority from his seemingly apparent denseness but inside his head lurks the brain of a contemporary American Sherlock Holmes. He is a tall and very broad man with a cunning and deceptively sharp mind; his partner often mocks him for his immense intellect.
Like the typical English mystery, Criminal Intent leads the viewer on with one or a number of false leads before the surprise announcement of the actual criminal is unmasked. Criminal Intent is an excellent series from the shows creator Dick Wolf where fans of a good old-fashioned mystery tale should feel most at home (or should that be Holmes?) It is about detection and deduction my dear fellow, and Detective Goren does a very good job indeed. The second series of Criminal Intent finished in June but the first series has just been released on DVD and you can also watch random episodes on the Hallmark Channel to wet our appetites for the third year.
As with most detectives including the aforementioned ones to a certain degree, they are obsessive characters with some anally retentive traits. Monk (Saturdays, BBC 2, 16:30 and Hallmark at random times) is an often-hilarious light detective drama about a private consultant called Adrian Monk who suffers from Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, which rules every single move he makes. Do you remember Jack Nicholson in As Good As It Gets? Well Monk is much more extreme.
In one episode (aired 4/6/05, BBC 2) Monk is hired by a dizzy law student to aid the San Francisco police in finding her kidnapped grandmother. There is an achingly funny moment when the kidnappers make their promised call at 4pm; Monk, with some odd hand gestures, disrupts the students phone conversation with the kidnappers to tell her that she has pastry powder around her lips. In the end, the kidnappers called a second time and promised to give up the grandmother providing every homeless person in a local hostel gets a free turkey dinner.
Actually, it wasn’t about the grandmother it was about a very expensive antique chair she was sitting on when she was taken. Of course Monk cracked the case in true fashion with his quick, last minute conclusions. It’s witty, entertaining and much better than a majority of daytime/lightweight detectives shows.
For those ignorant cretins who have shamefully eluded any or all episodes of the superb Desperate Housewives, it drew to an end in June (aired 1/6/05, E4) and what a sad, brilliantly twisted finish it was. It is a bold, cynical, witty and thrilling creation filled with razor-sharp dialogue that is as much a detective drama as those three crime series I have just spoken about.
Many of the important questions that were raised during the entirety of the first series were answered leaving room for more questions to be answered in the next lot. It is an elaborate, immaculate hybrid of genres that delves into the facade of American suburbia – things are not always what they seem…
In a nutshell, Susan Mayer (Teri Hatcher), the dopey blonde who isn’t a blonde, is held hostage by teenage screwball Zach Young (Cody Kasch) and is still left wondering about the mysterious plumber Mike Delfino (Jamie Denton) who she has unwisely fallen in love with. The luscious Bree Van De Kamp (Marcia Cross) faces live as a window when her husband dies in hospital after a heart attack. Lynette (Felicity Huffman) ponders live back in the corporate world after her husband quits his stressful job and Gabrielle Solis’ (Eva Longria) life gets much more difficult as her husband, Carlos (Ricardo Chauira) throws an angry outburst in court. And a new family have just moved onto Wisteria Lane but any discussions regarding Mary Alice Young (Brenda Strong) are far too complex to handle here – you will just have to watch the repeated episodes or even buy the DVD set when it is released.
As the series moved along, I felt as though much of it was made up on the spot. It felt random and spontaneous, lacking the feeling of a complete initial script. There was simply too much happening at once; it was hard to conceive that the writers thought of everything before the series was filmed. Yet perhaps that is where the appeal lies - it simply never bored. It was an almost perfect first series that grew better and deliciously darker.
Desperate Housewives was not the only series that finished in June, the 11th series of ER (aired 2/6/05, E4) grew to a tense and tearful climax as John Carter (Noah Wyle), the last man standing from the first series, finally drew the curtain (although he is contracted to appear in sporadic episodes in the next two series) on his intriguing person. There were no flashbacks to his younger days, rather a few voice-overs and photographs recalling memories of his time under the wings of Dr. Mark Green (Anthony Edwards) and co.
It was time to pass the baton to the younger generation of doctors and so he headed off to Africa to be with his love. When he worked with Dr. Green he was told to write a letter to himself which he could only read on the last day of his residency and so he told the likes of Dr. Abby Lockhart (Maura Tierney) and Dr. Neela Rasgotra (Parminder Nagra) to think about doing the same. The aim is to show progression and maturity.
Fortunately, there are worthy characters to fill the roles vacated by those who have moved on: there is Dr. Ray Barnett (Shane West), a rock ‘n’ toll type with an unassuming intelligence and wild man persona and then there is Dr. Gregory Pratt (Meki Phifer) and Lockhart who have both proved to be strong central characters. Dr. Susan Lewis (Sherry Stringfield) and Dr. Luka Kovac (Goran Visnjic) still fit comfortably well yet it is Rasgotra who is hopelessly misplaced and annoyingly overused.
The 11th year was a vast improvement on the previous series with much more focus and depth. Despite its age, there is still an abundance of genuinely moving and original ideas to come from this endlessly fantastic medical drama.
And so begins the initial series of an original and effectual medical drama that is significantly different from the rest, especially ER. House (Thursdays, Ch5, 22:00) stars British actor Hugh Laurie as the American Dr. Gregory House, a bitter, eccentric and patient hating man whose reputation is the sole reason for his employment. He doesn’t meet his patients (at least he tries very hard not to until he is literally forced to do so by his senior) but he converses with his team, whom he also holds in low regard, to solve potentially fatal illnesses.
The first of this 22-part series (aired 9/6/05) was directed by X-Men director Bryan Singer who also acts as executive producer. Dr. House is in charge of an extraordinary case where a 29-year-old woman is admitted after a terrifying seizure. It is a suspected brain tumour but Dr. House thinks differently as her body deteriorates and does not react to the radiation therapy. He cracks the case in a very odd style and concludes that it was a piece of uncooked pork, which she unwisely ate. On another case entirely Dr. House suspects that the wife of a regular patient (who only complains of back ache) is having an affair because he is orange; the patient is advised to get a good lawyer.
House is shrewd, comic and inventive. Hugh Laurie is excellent as the dishevelled, oddball lead role and his accent is convincing too. It is a big hit in America and it looks like it has the smartness and charm to captivate a strong UK following. With ER temporarily off our screens and not a British show to match its intelligence, House is just the right fix.
READING LIST FEB 2009
I’ve been taking advantage of the recent sales on books and have found some absolute bargains.
Chuck Berry: The Autobiography
Dino by Nick Tosches
New York Rocker by Gary Valentine
Like A Rolling Stone by Greil Marcus
Riders On The Storm by John Densmore
Babylon’s Burning by Clinton Heylin
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