12.00 Roughnecks
12.30 The Famous Five
Roughnecks. Episode 4. "Basic Training" Higgins, the reporter, trains to defend himself in battle.
The weakest episode so far actually starts out quite strong, with Higgins (the camera-wielding reporter) proving to be a liability to the team and forcing Razak to order that he be sent home. It's a good story idea but the promise is squandered and it degenerates into cliché after cliché. Some of them quite awful.
Although Razak and Rico are the main heroes of the show, Higgins can also be seen as the most important character. We see the action through his eyes, and his narrations opens and closes each episode. He's a mild-tempered guy and - in the opening scenes - it's easy to see how he could get overwhelmed by the warfare around him. Razak's decision to send him away makes sense and it's a good character moment when Rico steps up and offers to help the guy train to be a soldier.
Things start to go to hell in the last half of the story. A new type of enemy bug (the flying hopper) is causing major problems and... Higgins figures out a way to use his camera to save the day. That's bad enough, but thing's get completely stomach churning when Higgins saves Razak's life and turns into a gung-ho warrior who loves shooting and killing.
This is utter rubbish and certainly doesn't fit in with the realistic, sombre tone of the first three episodes. Things are put right, somewhat, in the closing seconds, when the heroes are completely overrun by more bugs and have to run for their lives once again, but this is an embarrasing episode to watch.
The Famous Five. Episode 1. "Five Go To Kirren Island, Part One" Three children meet their cousin, her dog and her father - a famous scientist working on a top secret project under watchful eyes - for first time in many years.
Hugely enjoyable opening episode. The kids in this aren't much like real kids, and they're not much like other kids on TV either, but they are a nice polite group and work very well as heroes within the adventrue genre. This is the story where the Famous Five meet up for the first time, so it does suffer from ailments common to many pilots (the team doesn't get on, at first, and it takes a while before they team up) but not so much that it mars enjoyment. The regular cast are great and the characters are distinct, interesting and likable. George makes a big impression because she's surly and secretive and stands outside the group for much of the story, Dick stands out because he seems impetuouos and - in the episode's most amusing scene - blurts out some secret information under the disapproving eyes of George and Anne.
The pace is fast and the story is well told. The three visiting children are quickly established (arriving on bicycles), while their cousin's grumpy personality is established early on, too. These early scenes show a mysterious man watching the Kirrin house so we know, right from the get-go that something is up. Soon, the kids have found a secret tunnel and been questioned by the mysterious watching man. Next: they meet the scientist and the episode concludes as night falls.
The guest cast is great. James Villiers adds a touch a real class as the mysterious man from the Ministry, while Oscar Quitak is wonderfully sneaky as the foreign spy. They occupy many short scenes throughout the opening episode and this adds a layer of tension that would be missing if the story stayed with the children all of the time. This way, we get to see the children meeting and forming their group for the first time, but we also get to see a plot unfolding very close to them.
Also very enjoyable is the music on the soundtrack. I'm not sure what the origins of it actually are. My guess is that a lot of it is library music because I've heard it on other shows (Return Of The Saint, for example). But, whatever it's actual origins, it's wonderfully suited to the world of the Famous Five and it envokes (for me) those years of the late 1970s in a way a few other things can.
In general, though, the show has a timeless quality. Not just "summer of 1978" but something more elusive: a summer of a bygone era. An era that may, or may not, have existed.
Highlight? Famous Five (mysterious goings on)
Yet Another TV Review Podcast
Yet Another TV Review Book
Yet Another Film Review Blog
A Briefing With Michael: One Year Ago
Mon, Feb 23, 09 - Roughnecks: Starship Troopers Chronicles, Famous Five
Mon, Feb 16, 09 - 30 Rock, Roughnecks: Starship Troopers Chronicles
06.00 30 Rock
03.30 Roughnecks: Starship Troopers Chronicles
30 Rock. Season 3, Episode 11. "St. Valentine's Day" Liz dates Drew.
There's enough plot/laughs in this to fill an average rom-com. Wow. And that's just in the Liz storyline. Amazing stuff.
Roughnecks: Starship Troopers Chronicles. Episode 3. "Handle with Care" Fast pace. Lots of story. A guest character gets to dominate the episode, for once. He's a jack-ass commander and he keeps pushing the roughnecks on to do ever more dangerous things while on a mission. That mission, the capture and transportation of a live plasma bug, yields some of the best action - and most tension - that the show has thus far delivered.
The ending, too, is wonderfully downbeat.
Highlight? 30 Rock (another disasterous date for Liz Lemon)
Yet Another TV Review Podcast
Yet Another TV Review Book
Yet Another Film Review Blog
A Briefing With Michael: One Year Ago (is it really a full year since New Knight Rider began?!)
Mon, Jul 14, 08 - Perfect Strangers My Boys NewsRadio Back To You Wings ’70s Show Roughnecks
07:00 Perfect Strangers
07:30 My Boys
10:00 NewsRadio
10:30 Back To You
11:00 Wings
11:30 That '70s Show
12:00 Roughnecks: Starship Troopers Chronicles
Perfect Strangers. Episode 6. "Happy Birthday" Mindful of the fact that this series had a very long run and the lives of the characters changed a lot over the course of the series, there is an extra level of pleasure to be had in this season one finale, when Larry takes stock of his life and all the things he wants to accomplish. It's a sweet episode, with some wonderful sentiments expresed between the cousins at the very end. It's also a very funny episode. There are two birthday parties in the story. The first one is abandoned when Larry is in a bad mood, which means Balki has to hide not only the decorations, but also the guests. Hilarious. My favourite part? Balki throws the birthday cake out the window, as the window closes... keeping the cake in the room!
The second party is just a funny, Balki fills the appartment with random strangers he finds on the street at 3am! I love this show.
My Boys. Season 2, Episode 5. "Take My Work Wife... Please" I'm fascinated by what is happening to Brendan this season. They are really taking him down a sad, lonely road. I wonder where it will lead? Kenny is now my favourite character on the show. I love (a) the way he's turned into a babe magnet, and (b) Mike not being able to deal with it. Genius.
NewsRadio. Season 2, Episode 14. "The Song Remains the Same" Charged with clearing the desk of a guy who has just quit working there, Beth finds evidence to suggest that he had a secret crush on her and starts to have a fantasy relationship (based on the things she continues to find). It's crazy, yes, but it works. So much of the comedy in this show comes from Dave standing beside one of the crew trying to bring them back to reality. It seems as if most of his dialogue starts with a sigh followed by the words: "No, Beth..." "No, Matthew..." "No, Joe... or "No, Bill..."
Back To You. Episode 13. "The New Boss" Uncomfortable to watch. Some genius thought it would be funny to write about the firing of Montana after Ayda Field was fired from the show. Or maybe she left the show? I don't know. But the point is she is not in the last six episodes and this laugh-free zone is too self-conscious about the whole affair to be anything other than excruciating. Really, honestly, who thought it would be funny to watch Ryan (who has a crush on her) firing Montana? To watch him crying as he did it? Or watch her crying after it had been done? Genuinely tasteless TV. Nice one, FOX!
Wings. Episode 1. "Legacy" I've always thought of Wings as Perfect-Strangers-without-the-physical-comedy. And this episode (with it's strong contrast between the leads, and sentimental ending) does nothing to dispel that idea. And, of course, I love it.
That '70s Show. Season 6, Episode 2. "Join Together" Genuinely hilarious episodes. As always. The best scene is the one where Red attempts to thank Eric for staying around and helping out with family finances. As well as being very funny, it's a great character moment. Red is so in-character and such a great example of a very real type of father. It's wonderful to see it captured so well on TV.
Roughnecks: Starship Troopers Chronicles. Episode 2. "Plasma Bugs of Navarone" After a stellar start, the show stumbles slightly with this tale set in two locations: Carmen is trapped in a remote base under bug attack, while Johnny works outside to help in her rescue. The scenes inside are fantastic, but the stuff outside with Johnny and his team is less exciting/interesting and distracts from the tension inside. A few less scenes of Johnny would not have changed the (great) ending: he is able to clear a path for air support to mount a rescue, so he "saves" the woman he loves but she has no reason to know it was him.
Highlight? That '70s Show
Tue, Jul 1, 08 - Perfect Strangers, My Boys, Good Morning Miami, Avengers, Sentinel, Acapulco HEAT, Roughnecks
06:30 Perfect Strangers
07:00 My Boys
09:30 Good Morning Miami
10:00 The Avengers
11:30 The Sentinel
12:30 Acapulco HEAT
01:30 Roughnecks: Starship Troopers Chronicles
Perfect Strangers. Episode 3. "First Date" The joy of this show is in watching Balki, who is clueless about everyday life, learn about stuff from Larry, who is also clueless but hides it better. It's all rather sweet how they lean on one another for support and - somehow - manage to educate each other as they stumble along. The other joy, of course, is the flawless slapstick. While the concept for the series is strong, and guaranteed to provide opportunity for laughs no matter who was cast, the slapstick/chemistry is a different matter. Nobody but these two actors could have accomplished what Mark Linn-Baker and Bronson Pinchot. Their easy genius at their roles is a shart contrast to the rest of the season 1 cast: Lise Cutter and Ernie Sabella who are bland and forgettable. Basically it feels as if two characters from an inferior sit-com have wandered onto the Perfect Strangers set. And while the early episodes are still wonderful, the show won't truly be complete until Jennifer and Mary Anne arrive. No sign of them this week (but they are not far away) and romance is in the air, as Larry teaches Balki how to meet women. Classic.
My Boys. Season 2, Episode 3. "The Shirt Contest" The joy of this show is the friendships between the group. I honestly can't think of a sitcom that so perfectly captures the feeling of being in a group of friends. Aside from the chemistry of the cast, the show manages to tell interesting stories. This episode has PJ trying to write a book with a sports celebrity and not making much progress. While Brendan meets his ex in a very embarrasing (and relatable) situation. And while all this is going on, the gang banter as usual.
Good Morning Miami. Episode 2. "Power Failure" The pre-credits sequence of this episode is awful. It's not funny and the main character comes across as jerk. I wonder how many potential viewers were driven away by that opening? It's a pity, because once the credits have rolled, everything at follows is comedy gold. Particularly the staff meeting where all the regular characters are on-screen together. Penny and Frank get all the biggest laughs, but everyone is on top form.
It's a pity that they aired the hero-behaves-like-a-jerk-until-he-learns-his-lesson episode this early. When you think about it, the show has an unappealing concept and lead character. Yes, everything that happened in the pilot was wonderrful and romantic but - once he realised that the object of his affections was in a long-term relationship - the hero of the piece should have backed off. It's really the only heroic thing to do. Everything that he does in the series that follows could be seen as the actions of a jerk trying to break up a couple on his own whim. That's not very likable. What was needed here, I feel, was an opening/episode where Gavin regrets taking the job and decides to leave Dylan alone. The audience might like him more for doing that. Instead of behaving in such an arrogant manner. Gavin wasn't like that in the series that followed: it was circumstances that kept throwing him and Dylan together.
So, I feel, this episode - while funny - dropped the ball completely by not driving home the concept of the series at a time when it was imporant to do so.
The Avengers. Episode 143. "Noon Doomsday" For a show to have a cult following it must be rewatchable. The episodes must have a quality in them that allows fans to go back time and time again and always enjoy what they are seeing. If a show creates a strong sense of place, for instance, then fans will happily go back time and again to "visit" that place. This episode of The Avengers (like many/most episodes of the show) creates a wonderful sense of time and place and populates the location with fascinating characters. It's a truly pleasureable hour of TV.
Steed is in hospital. A hospital that looks like a country farmhouse. A well-guarded country farmhouse, that is. A heavily-armed agent prowls the perimeter and the whole place is surrounded by a minefield. The minefield is intened to keep enemies out. Unfortunately an enemy of Steed's is coming to get him and he's managed to get an inside man to kill the heavily-armed agent on duty and he's on his way by helicopter. So it is Steed, in fact, who is held back by the minefield. Plus, he's recovering from injuries. Luckily, all this happened on the same day that Tara popped by for a visit...
And there you have it. Lots of running and shouting and action, and all of it takes place inside, between and on top of the buildings of this 'quiet' settings. It's superb stuff. With a story modelled after High Noon, Tara finds that none of the other hospitalised agents are willing to help (an injured) Steed take on his foe.
This is a great Tara episode. She's constantly running around. One minute pleading with someone to help, the next minute she's in a life or death struggle with some bad guy or others. The fact that she's only a novice agent makes everything all the more exciting. Steed thinks she hasn't a hope, and he has every reason to think so. I don't think that it's a bad reflection on Steed that he has no faith in his 'partner'. Rather he is very much aware that she is no Emma Peel and could very well get herself killed.
It's also interesting that Tara has no knowledge of Steed's injuries or the mission he was on when he got them. It drives home the fact that they are not 'partners' at all and really do have more of a mentor/pupil relationship. Which is one of the things I love most about this era of the show's history.
I also love the Opening Title sequence (with Steed and Tara in a field of Knights). I read earlier this week that it was filmed on July 3rd, 1968. But I can't find the website now where I read that!!
The Sentinel. Season 3, Episode 8. "Storm Warning" As I've written before if a show creates a strong sense of place then fans will happily go back time and again to "visit" that place. This is true of The Sentinel as much as of any cult show. Most episode have that wonderful rainy city backdrop and other episodes take the characters to some unique place for an adventure. This episode, for example, takes Jim (the cop with super senses) and Blair (his observer/watcher) to a remote island which is being besieged by heavily-armed drug-runners during a storm.
The Sentinel is very much a hit-and-miss show. Some episodes hit their mark to perfection, and other episodes are so wide of the mark you have to wonder how it could even be the same series. This one, thankfully, falls into the former category. The episode does everything right. Every element, every guest actor/character, every glance between Jim and Blair, every action sequence, every twist in the story, etc. All are just right. It's great fun from start to finish.
Jim only uses his powers twice in the episode and neither of those times has any real impact on the story. That often happens on The Sentinel. His powers are often irrelevant to the story (unless they are the story). This week, it's just a standard cop thriller. And it's a very good one: it's got at least one example of a siege, a shoot-out, a chase and a double-cross. As well as all the action, you have likable main characters and a solid entertaining story. Exactly the elements I want from an episode of The Sentinel.
Acapulco HEAT. Episode 6. "Feminine Intuition" Although still beset by low production values and wooden acting (from the guest stars) this episode of AH is a step up in terms of story content and story intent. The story not only engages us by having Ashley go up against and old partner (who has now turned bad) it establishes that the team are a potent force for good in their part of the world.
Too many scenes just look like actors sitting around their hotel rooms (which is basically what it is, I suppose) and none of the guest cast can make their characters work. But, luckily, they don't get much screen time. The regular cast are great in this. The scenes devoted to the mission are solid, as are all the downtime scenes, showing the team members having fun and hanging out. The topic of female intuition is a recurring topic of conversation all through the episode and it works perfectly against the man story. Not only as a source of (genuine) amusement, but it also (cleverly) feeds into a super-cool bit at the end when Mike shoots a bad guy behind a closed door without knowing where he would be hiding.
Roughnecks: Starship Troopers Chronicles. Episode 1. "Freefall" Here you have an exceptionally cool show about war, which doesn't make war seem cool in the slightest. Instead the mood is depressing and oppressive. This first episode does a great job introducing the regular characters and establishing their personalities.
Highlight? The Sentinel
