Wednesday, 25th November, 2009
08.00 The Good Wife
09.00 V
02.00 Barney Miller
02.30 Black Beauty
The Good Wife. Episode 6. "Conjugal"
The best stuff here details the complexity of the relationship between Alicia and Peter as she agrees to a "conjugal" visit as a cover for some case talk.
V. Episode 4. "It's Only The Beginning"
That episode title sounds like a threat to the viewers. The show's mini-season (of four episodes) ends with more of the same bland nonsense that took us this far.
Ryan stands out for being kinda cool and interesting.
Tyler stands out for being very stupid and possibly the worst teenager I've ever seen on a genre show. He's a moron and I hope his death is slow and painful.
Barney Miller. Season 2, Episode 2. "The Social Worker"
The finds a way to involve Barney's wife in a story by sending her to a rough neighbourhood and making Barney worry. It's a lame way to keep her in the show, but it reminds us that this show is set in a gritty, real world and not a sitcom world.
Black Beauty. Episode 2. "The Hostage" A fugitive takes Beauty hostage.
Darker and much better than the first episode, with John Thaw giving a superb performance as a fugitive who takes refuge in the barn.
It's a surprising episode in all the things that it does not do. And I enjoyed it much more than I was expecting to.
While Vicki is very much the main character in the show, she doesn't really do a whole lot in this episode and most of the heroics are left up to her brother Kevin.
Black Beauty, the nominal star of the show, also doesn't do a heck of a lot. He's an integral part of the story, of course, but it's really the story of the escaped convict and Kevin.
The story and the casting are terrific. John Thaw doesn't play the character as sympathetic or likable at all, in fact he comes across as a real brute, but as the story moves into it's second half and we get to hear his back story (he was stealing to feed his wife, who has since died) our perception changes slightly. He speaks very briefly of poverty and the sort of life that Kevin, the son of doctor, would never understand and Thaw makes it work superbly because he plays it in a very unsympathetic way. Even when we hear of his sad life, the guy remains a dangerous brute, and that - more than anything - allows us to believe in him as real and - ultimately - have sympathy for him.
The ending of the story is a bit cliché. Kevin is injured while trying to help the man, and he has to choose between leaving the fallen boy or turning back to help (and risk getting caught).
Highlight? Black Beauty (dark)
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The Good Wife, V, Barney Miller, Black Beauty
Melrose Place, V
Wednesday, November 18th, 2009
05.00 Melrose Place
06.00 V
11.00 Melrose Place
Melrose Place. Season 8, Episode 9. "Ocean" The Police find the murder weapon in Auggie's apartment, David steals his half-brother away for the day, Jonah and Ella pretend to be a couple.
I love Ella/Katie Cassidy! The character, on paper, appears to be a clone of Amanda, but it's obvious that she's more of a heroine, thanks to Cassidy's performance, than the original character was. It's much easier to root for her. Let's be honest: Ella's not that bad, really. She's tough. That's about it. Tough does not equal bad.
In this episode Ella openly declared her feelings for Jonah, confronted him about the flaws in his relationship with Riley and invited him away to the nearest hotel room. I thought everything about this scene, and everything about the way Ella carried herself in the scene, was fresh and enjoyable.
It's been obvious from the start of the series that Ella has had a crush on Jonah, and it's probably my favourite element of the new version of Melrose Place: the fact that somebody as cold and hard and tough as Ella would like someone as dreary and bland as Jonah. In fact, the idea that Ella has feelings for him is pretty much the only thing that I like about Jonah. (And I definitely detest his 'sweeter-than-sweet' girlfriend Riley.
Their confrontation scene together impressed me with regard to how self-assured and confident Ella was throughout. She hasn't pined away in secret, the way hundreds of television characters (both male and female) have done over the years. Rather, she bided her time, waited until there was a weakness she could exploit (a fight in the relationship) and she struck. She made her declaration. Openly and honestly.
And when Jonah rejected her advances, she responded without any shame or self-pity, she took it in her stride. I do believe that everything she said to him in the aftermath was quite honest.
She's a much more realistic, and admirable, character than I was ever expecting to find on Melrose Place when I started watching it. I'm loving the show. And I'm loving her.
V. Episode 3. "A Bright New Day" Death Threat.
Another dreadful episode. Erica has to protect the visitors (oh, the irony!). Except that, of course, all is not what it appears to be (oh, the irony!).
A really bad show.
Melrose Place. Episode 10. "Cahuenga" Amanda!
Heather Locklear shows up, and she is fantastic. It was great to see her. Amanda, as written in this show, was every bit as good as Amanda on the old show. It looks like she will be making quite an impact on the show over the next couple of episodes and I'm fine with that.
This is the fourth original cast member to show up, and in each case it has been perfectly logical and perfectly natural.
Highlight? Melrose Place (Ella openly declared her feelings for Jonah)
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Brothers, Melrose Place, V, The Good Wife
Wednesday, November 11th, 2009
05.30 Brothers
06.00 Melrose Place
07.00 V
08.00 The Good Wife
Brothers. Episode 4. "Snoop/Fat Kid" Snoop Dogg as a lawyer.
After three episodes that made me laugh, the show delivers one that makes me cringe. The two storylines were awful, and completely devoid of laughs, while the episode was padded out with cameos from famous people.
Awful.
Melrose Place. Season 8, Episode 8. "Gower" Jonah and Riley film a wedding, Ella confronts Lauren.
All the storylines continue. More cracks in the Jonah/Riley relationship, more cracks in the web of lies that Lauren must tell and more clues as to the night that Sydney died.
V. Episode 2. "There Is No Normal Anymore"
The action picks up directly from the end of the previous episode. Well, 'action' might be too strong a word. Fact is: this is slow, plodding stuff. Kinda boring. And not different to anything else you've seen in the genre before.
The Morris Chestnut character is the best, in that he shows potential. The Scott Wolf character is being written at too simplistic a level, but he also shows promise. Elizabeth Mitchell is completely wasted on the awful part of Erica. Total waste of a talented lady.
The Good Wife. Episode 5. "Crash" Freight train crash.
Another superb outing. In this one Mrs. Florrick has to ruin the life of a woman who was having an affair because, in the bigger picture, it served a greater good. With stories like this, the show is moving away from the easy endings of those first few episodes ("And the real murderer is...!"). It takes the show away from situations of black and white, also. Which makes it a better drama series.
Julianna Margulies brings quiet dignity and strength to the role. She is mesmerising.
Highlight? The Good Wife (Julianna Margulies)
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V, Battlestar Galactica
Wednesday, November 4th, 2009
08.00 V
11.00 Battlestar Galactica
V. Episode 1. "Pilot" The Visitors arrive.
I came to V as a huge fan of the original.
And if you compare this opening episode (pilot) with the opening episode of the original, there is no comparison. This doesn't hold up. There's nothing in this, of the sort of weight and dramatic storytelling potential that the original had.
They've kept - pretty much - all of the elements intact. Some names have changed, some details have changed but it's the same basic show and it's very much aimed at the Lost audience. ABC is very much looking for the next Lost. And based on what I seen here, this is not the next Lost!!
While I enjoyed seeing (the wonderful) Elizabeth Mitchell, I didn't really warm to her bland character, Erica. This was the case, really, with all of the characters. Except Ryan, who turned out to be an alien in disguise. I liked Ryan, and I liked Morris Chestnut. I want to see what happens to him in the next episode. Him and nobody else.
The rest of the hour was stuff you've seen before. And I don't just mean in the original V. I'm talking about shows like Earth: Final Conflict, Alien Nation, or War Of The Worlds. If you've been a fan of those shows, then you'll find that New V doesn't really bring very much to the table.
Having said that, I will say that it's not horrendous bad television (like Bionic Woman, or Knight Rider). It's a bit bland and featureless, like FlashForward, but I will go back and see what they do next.
Battlestar Galactica. "The Plan" A look at what Cavil was doing.
Interesting idea. To go back and show us events in the first two seasons of the show, from the perspective of the Dean Stockwell and some of the Final Five. Dean Stockwell, of course, wasn't part of the cast during the first two seasons but - according to the story - he was always there. Behind the scenes. So this movie sets out to show us that stuff.
And we also get to see what Sam (Michael Trucco) was doing. And a couple of other characters who become important in the latter stages of the Galactica saga.
Best of all, we get a lot of new material on the whole Boomer storyline from Season One, where Grace Park's character was a sleeper agent Cylon and didn't know what was happening to her. Now, here, we get to see Cavil (Stockwell) acting as her handler and switching her 'on' and 'off' as need be. Cool stuff.
It's a clever way of bringing us back to the franchise without giving us what we really want to see: a movie showing us how the survivors are coping after the events of the series finale.
And they did a great job. The two versions of Cavil are added seamlessly to the events of the earlier episodes and nothing that is added here seems phony or false. In fact, it could be said that it makes the first two seasons of BSG... better. [gasp]
However, even with all of this, you can't quite escape the fact that the series was largely made up as it went along, however much the show would like you to believe that it was carefully laid out before hand. So, in some respects, this movie is an attempt to tie together the various aspects of the early part of the series and make it all work better.
The Cylon's 'plan' for example.
The two Cavil's open and close the episode with a debate over the plan. One of them has a change of heart and... I just didn't buy it. And I think I'm supposed to. In order to really appreciate the idea of the plan, and why it never came to fruition.
But, as a die-hard fan, I found that this didn't take away from my enjoyment of the movie at all. Dean Stockwell's performance was just superb. He's the star of the movie, he's in almost in every scene.
Quality stuff, good drama. Allows us to see Cavil and the others from a new perspective.
Highlight? Battlestar Galactica (Interesting idea)
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A Briefing With Michael: One Year Ago
