It can't have escaped anyone's notice that remakes - aka “format purchasing” - have become all the rage in the US of late (and other countries, too). The forthcoming Fall season has shows like Viva Laughlin (remake of the UK's Viva Blackpool) and Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares (remake of the UK's Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares) as well as existing remakes, such as Ugly Betty, The Office and many other minor shows on cable networks (eg Spouse Swap, Faking It, etc).

It's a good plan. Why bother having to come up with new series when you can buy in existing successful series from other countries? And why risk having the audience being unable to relate to a different country filled with people who have funny accents and maybe even speak a different language when you can buy the format behind a show more cheaply and then make it yourself with your own cast and your own scripts?

However, there's a realm of possible pain here. As you'll have noticed from the demise of US versions of Coupling, Absolutely Fabulous and other shows, it's possible to lose all the things made a show good in its native country when you remake it.

I'm assuming something like this happened when the networks failed to pick up a remake of BBC4's The Thick of It. As we all know, The Thick of It is rather excellent, so quite why the US networks weren't interested is unfathomable unless there were some bad cock-ups along the way.

Is it always the case that a remake has to be worse than the original?

Continue reading "Remakes: any good ones?"

Read other posts about: Battlestar Galactica, Touching Evil

In the US: Thursdays, 10/9c, USA Network
In the UK: Not yet acquired but Hallmark or Five will probably get their greedy mitts on it

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

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

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

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

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

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

Continue reading "Review: Burn Notice 1x1"

Read other posts about: Burn Notice, Callan, The Sandbaggers, Touching Evil

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

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

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

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

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

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

Read other posts about: CSI, Touching Evil

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

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

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

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

Read other posts about: House, Smallville, Star Trek, The Sandbaggers, The West Wing, The Wire, Touching Evil

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

Best

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

Worst

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

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

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

Read other posts about: Callan, The Prisoner, Touching Evil

In the US: USA Network, Fridays, 10/9C
In the UK: Acquired by Hallmark and the BBC. Hallmark has the first-run rights, the Beeb second-run. No air date yet.

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

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

Continue reading "Review: Psych 1x1"

Read other posts about: The West Wing, Touching Evil

As a little treat and to give you a flavour of the show - and because I'm in one of my obsessive moods - I'm setting up a one-show, one-page rival to Brilliant But Cancelled. Here's the opening few minutes of the pilot episode of Touching Evil. It may not instantly grab you, but as a way to establish the entire mood of a show plus the scenario behind it, it's a remarkably economical use of three and a half minutes. But bear with it.

I've added the title sequence and title theme as a second video, since they are possibly one of the best combinations in TV history, even if the theme seems to have been re-used for a perfume ad. If some of the music sounds familiar, you're probably a Nine Inch Nails fan.

Enjoy!

Continue reading "Touching Evil title sequence and theme"

Read other posts about: Touching Evil

Plenty of shows (particularly in the US) get cancelled before the world realises just how good they are. One of my personal favourite shows ever, the US version of the dull dull dull Robson Green show Touching Evil is a case in point: 13 episodes of brilliance that died before its time because it was marketed badly by the stupid old USA Network.

Because said shows run for so short a time, they never get a DVD release and disappear into the mists of time with no one the wiser. Wouldn't it be good to be able to see them all, to savour those tiny jewels?

But now, building on from a cable network of the same name, comes a web site dedicated to this very concept: Brilliant But Cancelled. Unfortunately, most of the content appears only to be available to US viewers, but those with techy knowhow will be able to circumvent it. And Touching Evil is on it!

All we need now is:

1. Access to it from abroad without proxy servers and the like
2. A British version.

Any nominations for the British version?

Read other posts about: Touching Evil

ITV3 has been around for some time, mainly in the guise of Granada Plus before it got rebranded. It now has another relative, ITV4, which is supposed to be a “man's channel”, showing American imports among other things.

Good theory. So why is it that all the good American imports are on ITV3? You wouldn't know they were there because there's no advertising. Yet, Numb3rs debuted on there a few weeks ago, as did Touching Evil (the US version). What does ITV4 have? The re-make of Kojak, which was so bad I stopped watching after ten minutes.

Sure ITV3 is essentially still the home of Poirot repeats, but they should think about moving over the new US imports to ITV4 if they're not going to waste them.

Read other posts about: Numb3rs, Touching Evil

Prison Break turned out to be better than expected, much to Fox's surprise. Yet, with the juggernaut that is 24 returning in January, it looks like Prison Break is going to be pre-empted from November to May. Quite a wait, one that could get the show cancelled.

Fox isn't exactly packed with quality programming. While Prison Break isn't Shakespeare, it does have some nice touches. Joining the honourable ranks of Monk and Touching Evil in pointing out the flipside of mental illness, Prison Break's hero turns out to have both low self-esteem and “low latent inhibition” – a disorder that makes him see objects as the sums of their parts, rather than just objects. It's a handy, escape-plan compatible condition that works well in conjunction with another that lets you get sent to prison so you can rescue your brother. Yes, the mentally ill can be heros and their disorders can be advantages.

So Fox is clearly a little loopy to think that 24 is just so great that everything else should be cleared to make room for it. At the very least, moving Prison Break to one of the prime-time slots used by the deadwood that fills most days except Monday wouldn't be a bad idea, particularly since it is doing well in the ratings despite baseball, etc.

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Read other posts about: 24, Prison Break, Touching Evil