Sunday, September 16, 2012
BBC's Sherlock
This BBC Series utilizes Conan Doyle's canon but updates it for the modern era. Benedict Cumberbatch is a fresh-faced, even cherubic 25-year-old who stands 6-ft tall to his older Dr. Watson's 5' 7". His Sherlock displays the same disdainful confidence in his own abilities but this one does not wear a deerstalker, [it would be a sin to cover those curly locks], and does not smoke or use opium--a point that is driven home when his apartment is raided by a drug squad in the second episode. He uses modern gadgets, has a smartphone, laptop, and his own web site; Watson Blogs having had the practice commended to him by his therapist. Pretty much everything else is unchanged including Sherlock's violin playing, his moods, Mrs. Hudson, and Lestrade at Scotland Yard. This would not be Sherlock without his residence at 221B Baker Street. It is sad to think that after a century and a half Britain is still sending soldiers to fight in Afghanistan. Despite Sherlock's genius the show is allotted a 90-minute timeslot so his cases take that long to get solved.
There is a certain irony in having the actor playing Holmes be the same who played the part of the character in Atonement who committed the rape that led to the destruction of so many lives.
There is a certain irony in having the actor playing Holmes be the same who played the part of the character in Atonement who committed the rape that led to the destruction of so many lives.
One Tree Hill Season Nine & Final
The reason for the departure of Chad Michael Murray and his character, Lucas, from the series seems to have remained under wraps, uncharacteristic for Hollywood; but the fact remains that the show has never been the same without him. The show’s writers may have attempted to make Nathan a more sympathetic character but for me, anyway, that does not make him more likable. New players have been added to keep the storyline interesting and others have been dropped along with Lucas. I watch the show now out of loyalty to the past; partly out of habit. It continues to be a soap opera, just not a high school soap opera. In one episode Nathan gets kidnapped, Julian leaves his infant son in an over-heated SUV, Chace sleeps with his partner’s girlfriend, and Clay sleepwalks his way to a drug deal. And the sinister Dan burns down his cafe and shows up at Haley’s doorstep.
Lucas shows up at last looking nothing like the golden boy of old. Another character to reappear this season is the self-absorbed snake in the grass Chris Keller played by Tyler Hilton. Anyone who talks about himself in the third person is suspect. Daphne Zuniga eventually gets to talk about the joys of playing the sarcastic villain, Brook’s Mother Victoria. Her estranged husband even shows up and in one gratuitous scene gets to show off his well-cut abs and chest.
This show shares in common the fact that its creator/producers had the opportunity to plan its final season and produce final episodes that gave a feeling of closure to its story arcs with Dawson’s Creek. In both shows the actors and the 300 or so behind the scenes prodouction staff talk about the sense of family and camraderie that existed as everyone watched the actors grow up on set. In a business that tends to ‘eat’ people such things are good to hear. Much is made of the musical tour that was made one off-season and the episode in which a competition was held to find a place to go on the road with the cast and crew. Should I feel smug about being one of the show’s faithful fans during its initial seasons? One of the supplements show over an hour of a fan appreciation night held in Wilmington, NC where the show was shot during most of its 187 Episode Run.
Lucas shows up at last looking nothing like the golden boy of old. Another character to reappear this season is the self-absorbed snake in the grass Chris Keller played by Tyler Hilton. Anyone who talks about himself in the third person is suspect. Daphne Zuniga eventually gets to talk about the joys of playing the sarcastic villain, Brook’s Mother Victoria. Her estranged husband even shows up and in one gratuitous scene gets to show off his well-cut abs and chest.
This show shares in common the fact that its creator/producers had the opportunity to plan its final season and produce final episodes that gave a feeling of closure to its story arcs with Dawson’s Creek. In both shows the actors and the 300 or so behind the scenes prodouction staff talk about the sense of family and camraderie that existed as everyone watched the actors grow up on set. In a business that tends to ‘eat’ people such things are good to hear. Much is made of the musical tour that was made one off-season and the episode in which a competition was held to find a place to go on the road with the cast and crew. Should I feel smug about being one of the show’s faithful fans during its initial seasons? One of the supplements show over an hour of a fan appreciation night held in Wilmington, NC where the show was shot during most of its 187 Episode Run.
Thursday, September 13, 2012
Brothers & Sisters
Since it has now been over half a decade since I watched Broadcast TV I have recently been discovering new TV Series through the auspices of free i-Tunes teasers, online previews, and online recommendations and reviews. The series Brothers & Sisters is just one such program. Summer is the time to look for DVD bargains and when I discovered the first 4 seasons of this show on sale for under $14.99 a season I took a leap of faith. Finding a Disney show at such a mark down is rather unprecedented.
Shows with large ensemble casts typically garner more critical acclaim than popular followings. The challenge is for the show to survive long enough to build an audience, this one lasted 5 seasons before it was terminated. Shows such as this place intellectual demands on their audience just to keep track of all these characters, their interactions and their back-stories.
The Walker Family of Los Angeles own a fruit marketing business that was begun from the ground up by Patriarch William and his wife Nora, a secular Jew. They have five children beginning with the fiftyish Sarah and her brother Tommy who assist in running the family business Ojai, the name is Mexican. Middle Daughter Kitty is a journalist with Republican leanings. Next in line is her openly gay brother Kevin, a lawyer. And the baby of the family is the twenty-something Justin just returned from a tour of duty in Afghanistan who now has that trauma to add to his life-long, will anybody take me seriously, crisis of identity. Nora’s brother Saul is the family business accountant. The cast is rounded out by Sarah’s husband and two children, Tommy’s wife and the various love interests and business associates of the entire cast. I did say keeping track of such a large cast was a challenge.
This family is not the Kennedys, but average families do not own a fifty-million-dollar enterprise, a mansion in town, and a country estate with rambling ranch house. The plot lines are fuelled by a stay-at-home dad, a patriarch’s mistress, a sterile husband, a TV personality, a gay lawyer, a traumatized vet with long standing drug issues, and various friends and lovers. Killing off one of the principal characters in the first episode seems counter-intuitive but dealing with the fallout from his will, nefarious business dealings, and illicit love affair serve to drive the storylines during the opening season. So far no one gets murdered but a few people do get arrested. It helps to have a lawyer in the family. Oh, and then there’s the love-child Dad fathered.
Proving that it’s who you know that counts watching the supplementary material shows you just what a nepotistic operation the producer/director runs. His wife using a different name plays William’s haughty strumpet who attempts to move in on the family business. His daughter has a bit part as well and his son is one of the story writers.
Shows with large ensemble casts typically garner more critical acclaim than popular followings. The challenge is for the show to survive long enough to build an audience, this one lasted 5 seasons before it was terminated. Shows such as this place intellectual demands on their audience just to keep track of all these characters, their interactions and their back-stories.
The Walker Family of Los Angeles own a fruit marketing business that was begun from the ground up by Patriarch William and his wife Nora, a secular Jew. They have five children beginning with the fiftyish Sarah and her brother Tommy who assist in running the family business Ojai, the name is Mexican. Middle Daughter Kitty is a journalist with Republican leanings. Next in line is her openly gay brother Kevin, a lawyer. And the baby of the family is the twenty-something Justin just returned from a tour of duty in Afghanistan who now has that trauma to add to his life-long, will anybody take me seriously, crisis of identity. Nora’s brother Saul is the family business accountant. The cast is rounded out by Sarah’s husband and two children, Tommy’s wife and the various love interests and business associates of the entire cast. I did say keeping track of such a large cast was a challenge.
This family is not the Kennedys, but average families do not own a fifty-million-dollar enterprise, a mansion in town, and a country estate with rambling ranch house. The plot lines are fuelled by a stay-at-home dad, a patriarch’s mistress, a sterile husband, a TV personality, a gay lawyer, a traumatized vet with long standing drug issues, and various friends and lovers. Killing off one of the principal characters in the first episode seems counter-intuitive but dealing with the fallout from his will, nefarious business dealings, and illicit love affair serve to drive the storylines during the opening season. So far no one gets murdered but a few people do get arrested. It helps to have a lawyer in the family. Oh, and then there’s the love-child Dad fathered.
Proving that it’s who you know that counts watching the supplementary material shows you just what a nepotistic operation the producer/director runs. His wife using a different name plays William’s haughty strumpet who attempts to move in on the family business. His daughter has a bit part as well and his son is one of the story writers.
Tuesday, September 11, 2012
Eureka: Final Episodes
Sheriff Jack Carter’s job was to prevent the genius misfits who work at Global Dynamics from blowing themselves and the town up. His female deputy is Jo Lupo and his robot deputy is Andy. He lives in a home controlled by artificial intelligence named Sarah. Sarah was bonded with Jack but since he introduced a human lover into the environment Sarah has become attached to Andy. I’ve heard of Telephone Sex and Online Sex but what kind of interaction a life-like robot has with an AI Computer I don’t want to think about.
When scientists engage in cutting edge scientific experimentation one may come to expect some unusual results but the fixes this gang get themselves into make Frankenstein look like an amateur. That something goes wrong on a daily basis seems rather extreme. Surely they could get the occasional experiment to operate properly even if it was by accident. Of course that would make for boring TV I suppose.
Season 5 begins with a Christmas Episode in which all the principal characters are represented by cartoon characters, even Jack’s Jeep becomes a talking car with attitude. This program aired on the Sci-Fi Channel so I’ve no idea as to the authenticity of any of the science that gets discussed.
The series ends with the DOD, Dept of Defense, who have funded the enterprise, shutting it down. In the final episodes things get mushie as various key players find lovers and get married. Once more this was a project shot in Canada.
When scientists engage in cutting edge scientific experimentation one may come to expect some unusual results but the fixes this gang get themselves into make Frankenstein look like an amateur. That something goes wrong on a daily basis seems rather extreme. Surely they could get the occasional experiment to operate properly even if it was by accident. Of course that would make for boring TV I suppose.
Season 5 begins with a Christmas Episode in which all the principal characters are represented by cartoon characters, even Jack’s Jeep becomes a talking car with attitude. This program aired on the Sci-Fi Channel so I’ve no idea as to the authenticity of any of the science that gets discussed.
The series ends with the DOD, Dept of Defense, who have funded the enterprise, shutting it down. In the final episodes things get mushie as various key players find lovers and get married. Once more this was a project shot in Canada.
Thursday, September 06, 2012
Dawson's Creek Final Seasons
I’d forgotten that an even thinner-looking Chad Michael Murray appeared on this show as a love-interest for Jenn. As the fifth season begins Dawson suffers a crisis of confidence the realities of Hollywood not meeting up with his idealistic expectations. His appearance in Capeside generates a rare parental confrontation with Mitch. Nothing to match the ah shucks moments generated by a newborn.
As part of this story arc Mitch dies in a car accident. In a typical Witter moment Pacey takes Dawson to the scene of the accident with the skid marks still prominent on the asphalt and tells him in effect to get over himself, a driver who fell asleep at the wheel killed his Father. Gale experiences one of her many breakdowns when as a matter of routine she asks Dawson to go for milk, then realizes she has just used the very words that were her last to her husband. Dawson finally breaks down when the store attendant tells him his Father’s last words were in praise of him.
Although I realize the quotidian grind may not make for good television if the average person had to undergo the amount of trama in their lives these characters suffer they’d run screaming. I suppose the fact that I watch these episodes back to back serves to amplify the effect.
Actions have consequences and if shagging your boyfriend takes precedence over making it to your exam on time don’t expect sympathy from your prof. Newfoundland actor, Sebastion Spence who played the adult Kevin Reavy in the Boys of Saint Vincent shows up as a prof who takes a sexual interest in Jack, seems he’s still playing confused sexuality roles. Everyone on this show seems to have commitment issues though to his credit Pacey + when he discovers his New Orleans paramour is a paid hooker. The idealistic Dawson discovers the perils of the Hollywood casting coach and suitors who find sex as a means of cementing their roles and future casting opportunities but find no need for lasting commitments. Joey’s roommate, the rich west coast Audrey begins a drug and alcohol fueled spiral toward rock bottom. Jenn’s parents make the most mature decision of her life and announce their divorce. Gran goes back to school and hooks up with a black widower. Dawson’s mother proves she’s too young and pretty to withdraw to a life of widow’s weeds and shocks him with her new boyfriend.
The show may be Dawson’s Creek but Joey is the only character to appear in all 128 episodes of the run. Joey becomes more unsympathetic as the series goes on. A heartbreaker who lures men in but when the chips are down cannot commit to a lasting relationship. When she spurns Eddie and then reaps the whirlwind of his rejection one has the feeling that she got exactly what she deserved.
The series ends with a five-years-later episode which leaves the Love Triangle at the centre of the show unresolved. Joey is hopelessly in love with both best friends Dawson and Pacey and hopelessly unwilling to choose between either. The carnage continues as she dumps yet another suitor in New York where she works as a junior book editor. Pacey has taken over the Icehouse with loans from various family members and Dawson is in Hollywood shooting Dawson’s Creek. Jack is teaching English at Capeside where he is reliving his own coming out experience with Sheriff Doug who is a closet gay after all. The group reunites for Gale’s wedding. Grams is suffering end stage breast cancer but the shocker comes when we learn that unwed mother Jenn’s pregnancy brought to light a fatal congenital heart condition. God-father Jack adopts Jenn’s child. Andy makes an appearance as an intern at a Boston Hospital, Audrey is on the road with a rock band. In the background Dawson’s younger sister is chasing Joey’s nephew around the yard while the extension ladder lies propped against the Leery veranda. History repeats itself. Hopefully not with another boy loves two girls triangle.
Coming to the end of the cycle feels like losing friends. The child is father of the man. One cannot run from one’s problems as one brings oneself along. Although we age we do not necessarily mature. And the beat goes on.
As part of this story arc Mitch dies in a car accident. In a typical Witter moment Pacey takes Dawson to the scene of the accident with the skid marks still prominent on the asphalt and tells him in effect to get over himself, a driver who fell asleep at the wheel killed his Father. Gale experiences one of her many breakdowns when as a matter of routine she asks Dawson to go for milk, then realizes she has just used the very words that were her last to her husband. Dawson finally breaks down when the store attendant tells him his Father’s last words were in praise of him.
Although I realize the quotidian grind may not make for good television if the average person had to undergo the amount of trama in their lives these characters suffer they’d run screaming. I suppose the fact that I watch these episodes back to back serves to amplify the effect.
Actions have consequences and if shagging your boyfriend takes precedence over making it to your exam on time don’t expect sympathy from your prof. Newfoundland actor, Sebastion Spence who played the adult Kevin Reavy in the Boys of Saint Vincent shows up as a prof who takes a sexual interest in Jack, seems he’s still playing confused sexuality roles. Everyone on this show seems to have commitment issues though to his credit Pacey + when he discovers his New Orleans paramour is a paid hooker. The idealistic Dawson discovers the perils of the Hollywood casting coach and suitors who find sex as a means of cementing their roles and future casting opportunities but find no need for lasting commitments. Joey’s roommate, the rich west coast Audrey begins a drug and alcohol fueled spiral toward rock bottom. Jenn’s parents make the most mature decision of her life and announce their divorce. Gran goes back to school and hooks up with a black widower. Dawson’s mother proves she’s too young and pretty to withdraw to a life of widow’s weeds and shocks him with her new boyfriend.
The show may be Dawson’s Creek but Joey is the only character to appear in all 128 episodes of the run. Joey becomes more unsympathetic as the series goes on. A heartbreaker who lures men in but when the chips are down cannot commit to a lasting relationship. When she spurns Eddie and then reaps the whirlwind of his rejection one has the feeling that she got exactly what she deserved.
The series ends with a five-years-later episode which leaves the Love Triangle at the centre of the show unresolved. Joey is hopelessly in love with both best friends Dawson and Pacey and hopelessly unwilling to choose between either. The carnage continues as she dumps yet another suitor in New York where she works as a junior book editor. Pacey has taken over the Icehouse with loans from various family members and Dawson is in Hollywood shooting Dawson’s Creek. Jack is teaching English at Capeside where he is reliving his own coming out experience with Sheriff Doug who is a closet gay after all. The group reunites for Gale’s wedding. Grams is suffering end stage breast cancer but the shocker comes when we learn that unwed mother Jenn’s pregnancy brought to light a fatal congenital heart condition. God-father Jack adopts Jenn’s child. Andy makes an appearance as an intern at a Boston Hospital, Audrey is on the road with a rock band. In the background Dawson’s younger sister is chasing Joey’s nephew around the yard while the extension ladder lies propped against the Leery veranda. History repeats itself. Hopefully not with another boy loves two girls triangle.
Coming to the end of the cycle feels like losing friends. The child is father of the man. One cannot run from one’s problems as one brings oneself along. Although we age we do not necessarily mature. And the beat goes on.
