Batman, Doctor Who, Stacked, Wiseguy

Monday, December 24th, 2007

08:30 Doctor Who
09:30 Stacked
10:00 Batman
10:30 Wiseguy

Doctor Who. Season 27, Episode 13. Being a fantasy show using a bigger and broader canvas than most, some of what happens on Doctor Who is blatently absurd. While shows like Star Trek and Stargate spend time and effort on making everything plausable to some degree, Doctor Who has always been happy to have the entire planet Earth destroyed or have the Doctor save everything by waving some wires about telling us that it's something amazing. And, to be honest, that is a huge part of the charm of the show. That and the heart that it has always had, in it's various incarnations.

Episode 13 is a stunning season finale. Episode 12 ended with a huge cliff-hanger. One you expect them to take ages to resolve. Not the case. In a brillaint turn of events, the cliff-hanger is resolved with the opening scenes in heroic fashion. Real isn't-the-Doctor-awesome televsion. I love it.

After that it's full tint on to (a) Destruction of Planet Earth and (b) the Doctor waving some wires about and telling us how this is going to save the day. There is also, of course, the Heart that lies at the centre of the the show's best episodes. Billie Piper has never been better than when The Doctor sends her back in time (to safety) and she tries to come to terms with the fact that she will never see him again, and that she must live out an ordinary life. It's an exceptional performance. Surpassed only by Christopher Eccleston's final moments as The Doctor. He played it to perfection and, yeah, it did choke me up.

Stacked. Episode 19. Pamela Anderson's funny but underrated sit-com produced a few dud episodes towards the end of the run, but I must say that the final two episodes were crackers. 19 continues the storyline from 18 and gives the unbelievably funny, incredibly sexy Paget Brewster a chance to shine. And shine she does. As does everyone. All the cast get funny lines and lots of stuff to do and it's a great laugh from start from finish. I'll miss this show.

Batman. Episode 2. It's Christmas Eve and (despite Robin's objections) Batman insists they go on patrol as normal. Welcome to the bleak world of Bruce Wayne. And, of course, he's right. A full-on battle with The Joker soon follows, and there's lots of nice character work on both main characters. Joker is fascinating. Batman is dark and bleak. And while the ending isn't exactly cheerful, it's as good as it gets in the bleak world of BW.

Wiseguy. 1996 Movie. The original 80s television series is a classic. It found a new way to tell crime stories on TV and pioneered the idea of story arcs. I had never seen anything like it. Particularly in that first season. It was the first time I had seen the bad guy written as the hero of a TV show, while still being a cold-blooded murdered. It was the first time I had seen such a moral hero. He was trying so so hard to be honest and honourable at all times. And he loved and respected his mother so much. That was new, too. And every few weeks someting would happen that would leave my jaw on the floor with shock. It was great.

The 1996 movie is great, too. And there were two occasions where my jaw hit the floor with shock. Can't ask for more than that from the return of your favour show of the 80s. Ken Wahl is still a perfect lead. He's still tortured and troubled and (in the movie's over the top opening sequence) still as heroic and noble as ever. Jonathan Banks doesn't get enough to do, as his boss, but what he does get is rivetting. Obviously, had this thing gone to a full series, there was a plot line in development for him. Brian McNamara joins the cast as the newest Idiot Boss that the heroes have to deal with. McNamara's performance, as well as the writing, makes the guy into a fascinating character.

But, as always with Wiseguy, the real stars are the bad guys. Before Wiseguy there was Crime Story which was almost as good as Wiseguy. Ted Levine was one of the bad guys on that. Seeing him appear on Wiseguy as the villain is a dream come true. And it's one of his best performances. The brillaint John Kapelos (from the original and best Vampire Detective series: Forever Knight) gets a lot of great scenes in the movie but, in general, the whole thing is stolen from all of them by the incredibly sexy, incredibly dangerous Debrah Farentino. After Wiseguy there was EZ Streets and it was almost as good as Wiseguy. Farentino was one of the leads on that. Seeing her on Wiseguy is another dream come true.

As for jaw-dropping moments. One occurs when a main character dies. One occurs when Vinnie's cover is blown. Both ample proof that writer Joel Surnow (24) while able to recreate all that made the 80s show so great was more than willing to take the show in bold new directions had it been picked up.

Highlight? Wiseguy.