Posted on January 22, 2008 at 07:41 | |
Film
Radio
Theatre
British TV
US TV
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Posted on July 20, 2007 at 12:31 | |
In the US: Starts September 30th on Showtime
In the UK: Probably on FX as per season one
Brotherhood was a somewhat surprising show during its first season. A somewhat odd combination of gangster drama and local politics, it starred a Brit (Jason Isaacs) and an Australian (Jason Clarke) as Irish-American brothers from Rhode Island. Clarke is a local politician trying to do the best for his constituents by playing the political game, simultaneously trying to stay clean. However, his efforts are undermined by his brother, a notorious gangster who returns to the neighbourhood after a long absence.
Season one was remarkable for being hard-hitting in both areas of its remit, without giving in too much to the pressures of dramatic forms (more realistic than The Sopranos? Maybe). It also had an exceptional visual style, with long, quiet, well composed scenes of astonishing stillness.
Thankfully, season two looks like it's more of the same, which will either delight you or put you off.
Continue reading "Preview: Brotherhood 2.1-2.2"
Read other posts about: Brotherhood
Posted on May 8, 2007 at 07:53 | |
Doctor Who
Film
British TV
- Film24 is taking over the Bonanza channel [free registration required]
- 'Unprecedented' coverage of the Hay Festival due
- The Beeb has indeed dropped out the Neighbours bidding war
US TV
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Posted on April 27, 2007 at 08:58 | |
Doctor Who
Film
British TV
- Martin Freeman from The Office gets his own Channel 4 show, written by Toby Whithouse, about a washed-up magician
- Mark Gatiss's The Vesuvius Club will be adapted by the Beeb, with potential adaptations of The Devil in Amber and its forthcoming sequel as well [free registration required]
- The A-Team reunite to contact George Peppard on Most Haunted?
US TV
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Posted on December 12, 2006 at 08:46 | |
The American Film Institute publishes two top ten lists each year: the top 10 movies and the top 10 TV shows. This year's has just come out. What do you think? And if they're right, what does it say about 2006: a good year or a bad year?
AFI Movies of the Year
- Babel
- Borat: Cultural Learnings Of America For Make Benefit Glorious Nation Of Kazakhstan
- The Devil Wears Prada
- Dreamgirls
- Half Nelson
- Happy Feet
- Inside Man
- Letters From Iwo Jima
- Little Miss Sunshine
- United 93
AFI TV Programmes of the Year
- Battlestar Galactica
- Dexter
- Elizabeth I
- Friday Night Lights
- Heroes
- The Office
- South Park
- 24
- The West Wing
- The Wire
I think there are some good ones in the TV list, but it's not been a great year for movies, by the looks of it.
Still, let's meme. I can't help out with the films list for once, since I doubt I've seen 10 films in the cinema this year (Casino Royale and The Prestige would both be on such a list, and Inside Man was all right, I s'pose). But here's my pick of the top 10 shows of the year, in no particular order, with links to my various comments on them.
Ooh. By the looks of it, I must be the only person in the world who hasn't written about how great Planet Earth is. Well, it is. That's all that's needed.
So there's the meme: top 10 TV shows, top 10 films or both. Any channel, from any country of origin, any language, so long as they aired or were distributed in 2006 and weren't a repeat/re-run.
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Posted on November 13, 2006 at 08:17 | |
Justice, which I kind of liked but which I admit has been going downhill a bit since the first episode, has now been pulled from the Fox schedules indefinitely. Another one bites the dust, huh?
As well as US networks, this is all kind of disappointing for British networks since a number of their big acquisitions have already been cancelled. It might also be very disappointing for anyone who's had to wade through my reviews over the last few months and had their hopes pinned on some of these shows appearing.
Here are the winners, though. UK viewers will see these trumpeted onto their screens from January next year for complete (and so far open-ended) seasons. Don't forget, mid-season shows Raines and The Black Donnellys are still to air, so no one knows what's going to happen to them yet.
ITV1/ITV2/ITV3/ITV4
Jericho (good to very good)
Friday Night Lights (okay to good)
Channel 4/E4/More4
Studio 60 (good)
Ugly Betty (very good)
Brothers and Sisters (absolute arse)
The Class (good to very good)
Five/Five US
Shark (below average to average)
SciFi Channel
Heroes (very good)
Living
Men in Trees (average to good)
FX
Brotherhood (good to very good. Already airing)
Dexter (outstanding)
There are a few stragglers whose fate is ostensibly still to be decided: Standoff (Fox/Sky One), Six Degrees (ABC/ITV), The Nine (ABC/Five) and Vanished (Fox/Five). But they're all pretty likely to be hitting a dustbin/trashcan some time soon. Also Friday Night Lights' fate is a little bit up the in air, but the smart money is on it getting a full season.
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Posted on November 3, 2006 at 12:00 | |
In the UK: Thursdays, BBC1, 9pm. Repeated Tuesdays, BBC1, 2.10am.
In the US: BBC America. Premieres in 2007.
Here's new: a co-prod (I want to say cod-prod, but won't) between BBC America and BBC1. Whatever next? BBC Scotland and BBC Factual? BBC Knowledge and BBC Sport?
Anyway, here's a show I had high hopes for. Good cast: Jason Isaacs (Brotherhood), Lennie James (Jericho), Sharon Gless (Cagney and Lacey). An interesting premise: a terrorist attack and the UK and US governments' response to it plus a great big conspiracy underneath the surface.
But tarnation. It was mostly pants.
Continue reading "Review: The State Within"
Posted on October 6, 2006 at 19:57 | |
Someone at Showtime has just written to me to let me know that this weekend (6th-8th October), Yahoo! is offering free access to Showtime programming, including Dexter, Weeds, L Word, Brotherhood, Sleeper Cell, Penn and Teller: Bullshit and The Tudors (currently in production in Ireland with Jonathan Rhys Meyers). If you're in the US and Showtime's available in your cable package, you'll have free access to it this weekend, too.
It's worth pointing out, UK readers, that unlike similar streaming facilities from ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox, you can actually watch the Yahoo! videos in the UK. Since you'll need FX, which is only available on Sky, to watch Brotherhood and Dexter when they turn up later in the year and in early 2007, now's the chance to find out what you'll be missing if you don't have Sky.
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Posted on October 3, 2006 at 08:55 | |
In the US: Showtime, Sundays, 10pm
In the UK: Acquired by FX for showing in early 2007.
You've got to hand it to Showtime. For years, the ITV1 to HBO's BBC1, it's finally got its groove back and is putting out some great stuff, like Weeds, Brotherhood, Sleeper Cell, The L Word and now Dexter.
All the same, you'd have thought serial killer dramas like Dexter would be a bit passé . They're unrealistic and pretty much all the same: bad man who attacks women gets chased by nice police people, who build up clues and an idea of the killer's mind until he's apprehended or killed.
So Dexter, if it's possible to feel welcoming towards a gory serial killer drama, is indeed welcome for providing a new twist. The eponymous 'hero', Dexter, is indeed a serial killer. But he's a member of the police - a CSI in fact. And get this: he only kills other killers.
Continue reading "Review: Dexter"
Posted on September 28, 2006 at 16:10 | |
Just sat through the second episodes of Kidnapped and Jericho: third-episode verdicts next week of course, but they're both looking okay at the moment.
However, while watching Jericho, I recognised the plain clothes policeman who helps out in Jericho: it's Lennie James. He's English - I remember him in Civvies but he's been in other things since.
This got me thinking, because Brit actor Linus Roache is in Kidnapped, as are Carmen Ejogo and Delroy Lindo (what do you mean he's American? I beg to differ my friends, he was born and raised in SE London, supports Arsenal and still thinks of himself as British according to his IMDB profile).
And there's more:
- Lost has three Brits at least (Naveen Andrews, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Dominic Monaghan) and probably has a few more secret ones up its sleeves, assuming Desmond and his girlfriend are in next season (I know if they are or not, but I'm not telling. You can go and spoil yourselves if you want).
- CSI: NY has Claire Forlani and used to have Sonya Walger
- CSI has Louise Lombard
- Smith has Jonny Lee Miller
- House has Hugh Laurie
- Brotherhood has Jason Isaacs
- The Wire has Dominic West and used to have Idris Elba
- Justice has both Rebecca Mader and Eamonn Walker.
Some of them even get to keep their own accents.
What's with the sudden British invasion of US TV? Is it simply because our TV is so pants at the moment, the actors have headed towards the US to find some decent scripts (and pay)? Or is there some decision being made somewhere that British actors are useful accessories for US TV shows?
I was going to do a table here to prove my point, but it got boring and fiddly so I won't.
Incidentally, I suspect that they're off to the US, simply because the opportunities are greater. If you have a quick glance at how many US shows have Australian actors (Brothers and Sisters, Nip/Tuck, Smith, House, Brotherhood, Lost to name but a few) and then have a look at Australian TV, you'll see a similar situation. Alternatively, maybe the producers of certain shows just happen to like foreign actors, given the overlap in my two lists.
Answers on a postcard to...
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