Thursday, July 9th, 2009
07.00 Arrested Development
09.30 It's Your Move
10.00 The Venture Brothers
10.30 Raven
Arrested Development. Episode 15. "Staff Infection" It's Saturday and Michael must work, but he ends up at the beach. George Michael wants to chill out with his dad, but he ends up being the only one at The Bluth Company. The Staff are being forced to work with Michael, but they end up lost in Catalina. Michael's siblings want their pay cheques, but they each end up working for The Bluth Company, in various capacities. And Tobias goes to a 'men's penal colony'.
There's an abundance of quick-fire sight gags in this one one. My favourite is the encounter between Buster and the sheep in the photo booth. Quickly followed by the very similar photo's of Lucille trying to get an ID card for some chain of stores. The sheep, and the idea of sheep/shepherds crops up many times, and you have to be very quick to spot them. There's some delightful stuff of Buster at work on a building site, shown way in the background, and the on-screen text for Annyong's recurring greeting - 'Hello' - is shown much smaller when he's way in the background.
And on and on...
Visually, this episode is a treat.
All the big laughs, for me, come from Michael Cera as George Michael gets the idea that his father is deliberately spending time away from him ('He's at the beach!?').
This is one of those rare Season One episode, so far, that gives Lindsay a lot to do and is all the better for it. She causes chaos, poor girl.
It's Your Move. Episode 3. "Dating Games" Eli wants a date for the Harvest Dance.
One half-hour of hilarious one-liners delivered by a superbly talented young cast: Jason Bateman (of course), Adam Jay Sadowsky, Tricia Cast and Leanna Beth.
The show casts it's net very wide as it delivers laughs. Early on, network executives come in for a pot shot and it just gets better from there. Eli gets some wonderful lines ("I don't like when you call me homely") and Sadowsky is pitch-perfect in deliver. Nobody matches Bateman, though, and he steals every scene. The story he tells about the death of his father is a true comedic highlight. Every pause is perfect and earns loud laughter from the audience. Bateman really knows how to work a live audience and use their laughter and work with it to make his delivery even funnier. Guy is a master. Even at a young age.
Tricia Cast is the real revelation, for me, because it would be easy to dismiss her as playing the dumb, pretty sister. But, in this episode, there's a lot of good character material for Julie and funny stuff, too. And Cast is very, very funny.
Eli takes center stage, story-wise, and the while episode is driven by his need to get a date with Julie and with Matthew's need to be a good friend to Eli. The show gets major praise from me for really writing the Matthew/Eli friendship as a real friendship and making it clear that Matthew likes Eli and even going so far as to tell us why.
The final twist at the very, very end is superb. Very funny, too.
The Venture Brothers. Episode 5. "The Incredible Mr. Brisby" Dr. Venture is taken captive by a cartoon magnate, while the boys are taken hostage by a group fighting the eccentric magnate.
An average episode. Some good gags here, and a few that are so-so. Roy Brisby is a one-joke character and he gets far too much screentime. The Orange County Liberation Front are a much funnier group, but they remind me of something you'd see on The Tick.
Raven. Episode 3. "Reunion" Jonathan thinks the mother of his missing son might still be alive and - like him - searching for their son.
An example of style over content. This is one of the stronger episodes of Raven, but the story makes no great sense. The first half is devoted to Raven's quest to find out who the mysterious woman is. When he finds her, he totally fails to ask any obvious questions about what has been happening in the story up to that point. Consequently when she betrays him, later in the story, it doesn't come as much of a surprise to the viewer. Indeed, the climax makes very little sense. The bad guy from the pilot returns and reveals his part in the events of the episode, but - even at this point - it's not exactly clear why they bothered to convince Jonathan that his dead lover was alive. It makes no sense.
However, the episode's plot fairly zips along, there are several really great fight scenes and Larry Manetti as a guest star. So, logic flaws aside, there is lots here to enjoy.
Highlight? It's Your Move (very, very funny)
Yet Another TV Review Podcast
Yet Another TV Review Book
Yet Another Film Review Blog
Follow Me on Twitter
A Briefing With Michael: One Year Ago
Arrested Development, It's Your Move, The Venture Brothers, Raven
Mon, Oct 20, 08 - Law & Order, Flashpoint, It's Your Move, Keen Eddie, Night Court, Adventure Inc.
07.00 Law And Order
08.00 Flashpoint
09.00 It's Your Move
09.30 Keen Eddie
10.30 Night Court
11.00 Adventure Inc.
Law And Order. Season 18, Episode 10. "Tango" Michael Cutter has a hopeless crush on Connie Rubirosa and it's part of the reason I am in love with this show (all over again). This is the one that has Connie getting an email praising her technique in the courtroom. Her technique and her legs. Cutter comments that he agrees. I don't blame him. I would pay good money to see Alana De La Garza walk around a room. She's amazing. And, as a die-hard fan who watched every episode of the Angie Harmon/Jill Hennessy/Carey Lowell seasons, I think De La Garza is the most beautiful woman who has ever sat in the A.D.A. chair on Law And Order. Great then, to see an episode about her appearance and it's effect on the men/man in the jury and the case under trial.
The show slipped up somewhat by getting the guy in the jury to play it like a creep (that wasn't needed to make the story work, and - in fact - kinda damaged it) but it was still a great episode. The final debate scene was superb. Cutter and Rubirosa arguing their respective corners and Jack standing watching. Watching and listening and saying... nothing. Great character work. I feel like I really know and love these two new characters as much as I know and love Jack. And it's a good story idea: the impact a woman's sexuality can have on her success in the workplace. And, unlike many other shows that have touched on this idea, Law And Order gives it just the right amount of screentime and doesn't let it interfere with the case-of-the-week.
Flashpoint. Episode 9. "Planets Aligned" Once again Flashpoint brings tears to my eyes. That's happened quite a few times in this first batch of nine episodes. About half the run have been classics. And this is one of the very best. Who would ever have thought you could take an action show, mix it with heartbreak and tears every week... and make it work? Certainly not me. In the last '80s I was horrified when Bernard L. Kowalski made "More Heart Than Hardware" his credo on Airwolf. It's wrong, wrong, wrong! I cried (without tears). You can't mix gut-wrenching action with stories of peoples emotions and feelings. Well, Airwolf failed to do it, but Flashpoint has totally nailed the idea. Every week we meet with one character in a point of crisis and we learn what led them to that moment. Usually there is a heart-breaking reason for the resorting to violence and this week is no exception: a kidnapped child fights her rescuers after 8 years in captivity. Harrowing.
Tatiana Maslany (like all the guest stars on this show) gave an amazing performance. Series regular Amy Jo Johnson has made Jules one of the coolest heroes I've ever seen in an action show. Gutsy beyond belief, this woman will not give up. We saw in the episode set in the shopping mall and we see it here again in the riveting final acts of this story. It's simply stunning. I love her.
Ed is bad-ass cool, Greg is the nicest guy on the planet (except for Veronica Mars' dad) but I would trust Jules with my life.
Flashpoint is an amazing series. It aired in the Summer and - usually - great Summer shows that I love vanish after their run (yes Hidden Palms and Traveler I'm talking about you!) but Flashpoint beat the odds. It was a ratings hit and it will be back!
Better restock my supply of tissues!
It's Your Move. Episode 2. "Put to the Test" Not quite as good as the pilot, but still completely delightful. The first half shows us Matthew's latest money-making scheme: selling copies of an upcoming test at school. It also shows us the downfall of that plan: Normal getting a job as substitute teacher with Matthew's class. Unlikely, but never mind. The fun is in watching the game of chess that follows. The second half finds Matthew alone in Norman's apartment, finding notes and solving clues and trying to outwit Norman and locate the new test. Ultimately he fails and this second episode is one in the win column for Norman.
Keen Eddie. Episode 10. "The Amazing Larry Dunn" is another Keen Eddie classic. Larry Dunn was a famous child star. He could remember anything. But he was beaten on national TV and his career fell apart. His father turned on him and declared that Larry lacked courage. We meet him many years later, when a bunch of crooks cross his path. Larry has a big book on bank alarms systems. So Larry destroys the book (which he has committed to memory) and forces his way into the gang. It's a wonderful story, with Julian Kerridge giving a great performance as Larry. Keen Eddie had a wacky, crazy style but it told wonderful human stories. And this was one.
Rachael Buckley returns to the show and Miss Moneypenny/Carol Ross shoots another sexual zinger at Eddie as she takes the elevator. As usual Eddie is dazed and confused and his partner - Monty - is not aware that anything has happened.
Also worth noting for hardcore fans: Eddie and Fiona don't fight in this episode. They are on friendly terms from start to finish.
Finally, Eddie trots out his "I'm Eddie, how do you like me so far?" opening line. That's another classic right there.
Night Court. Episode 4. Very funny, but more drama than comedy "Welcome Back, Momma" is the story of the woman who announces that she is Harry's long-lost mother. Is she? Well, that doesn't matter until the very end of the tale... What matters is the way it affects Harry. And, indeed, the woman herself. Lying or not, she is certainly very lonely. Did she really run out on young Harry and his dad? On our our way to the answer, the script does not forget to make us laugh: the case-of-the-week is a collection of bikini-clad beauty contestants who beat the living crap out of the show's lying/cheating organiser. Very few of them speak English and the show makes full use of that for some quality laughs. Bull is smitten by one of the girls and is free to tell her to shut up when she starts babbling at him. His efforts to explain his name (by drawing a bull on paper) gives us the episodes biggest laugh.
Adventure Inc. Episode 5. "Village of the Lost" Nifty story idea finds Judson and Gabriel trapped inside a village that cannot be seen from outside. It has been gone for over ten years and the villagers (a nice group) are happy to keep it that way. Sadly, there are some bad guys trying to find the village and it's secret. This would have been the most enjoyable episode of the run so far (with guest stars like Carlo Rota and Jayne Heitmeyer) but there is a lot of very annoying dubbing, some badly edited scenes and Karen Cliche is relegated to a supporting role. Crazy.
Highlight? Flashpoint (tear-jerking. again.)
Yet Another TV Review Podcast
Yet Another TV Review Book
Yet Another Film Review Blog
Mon, Oct 13, 08 - Z Rock, It's Your Move, Law And Order
07.00 Z Rock
07.30 It's Your Move
08.00 Law And Order
Z Rock. "Episode 4" Another moderately amusing episode with the likable guys of ZO2. Because the show is driven by events that carry from episode to episode it tends to get a bit funnier as things get more complicated every week. This works both in the show's favour and against it. On the plus side, it's fun to see events pile up week after week, but on the negative side it means that new viewers won't be as amused by this episode as people who have been with the show all along. Also when you start a TV show and know that you are going to drag the one story out over many episodes, it's a risk (in a comedy) because your first episode may not be all that funny on it's own. Whereas your tenth episode might be hilarious. The risk is that your first outing may not hook people enough for them to stay around for all ten.
David, Paul and Joey continue to interchangeable. One of them (who knows which one??) is now having an ongoing affair with the record producer's wife who first appeared in episode one. This time out, the producer has hired a private investigator to track her down. Dina (the hilarious band manager) is right by his side for all of this, while (in some clever writing) she is also able to hear (via phone) the man's wife in bed with one of the band members!
I watch this show for Dina.
It's Your Move. Episode 1. "Pilot" Before he found critical acclaim on Arrested Development, Jason Bateman spent a season starring in this absolute gem of a series back in 1984. It died a death in the ratings opposite Dynasty (as the lead-in to St. Elsewhere) but it was bloody wonderful and still stands as one of my favourite comedy series of all time. Batemen excels as Matthew, a teenage conman (in the mould of Sgt. Bilko) who must watch mits on a daily basis with his mother's new boyfriend Norman: the only adult within miles who can see that Matthew is not to be trusted.
The show is great because Bateman is wonderful, because the scripts are clever & funny, and because most of the characters are fleshed out and real. At one point we see Matt stuffing money (from his scams) into his Mom's purse. No schmaltz or false sentimentality in this show, just a blink-and-you-miss-it acknowledgement that Matthew isn't all bad and his efforts to drive Norman away are more about helping his mother find someone who can provide for her than anything else.
The guys behind this show went on to make Married With Children.
Law And Order. Season 18, Episode 9. "Executioner" Death Sentence Gone Wrong! Another one of those great episodes were there are no clear bad guys, just a lot of moral ambiguity. Except for Cutter, who sees the world in black and white. Connie proves her value to the team (yet again) by reining him in at the end of the episode and helping bring about a milder sentence. Michael Rooker and James Rebhorn give great performances in this one. And it's a satisfying, if typical, episode of Law And Order.
Highlight? It's Your Move (clever)
Yet Another TV Review Podcast
Yet Another TV Review Book
