Dan's Media Digest

HUNDERBY: Julia Davis making Sky Atlantic black period comedy

2012-01-27T11:30:00.002Z

Sky Atlantic have commissioned seven half-hour episodes of Hunderby, a new comedy from award-winning writer/actress Julia Davis (Nighty Night, Human Remains) about a shipwreck survivor in the 1800s who's washed ashore near an English village and found by a smitten pastor called Edmund.

From Sky's press release:

"Davis's inimitable style of black comedy has set her apart from her contemporaries as one of the most unique talents around. Now, she turns her attention to the 1800s in Hunderby, which features Helene, a shipwreck survivor washed ashore near a small English village. There, she is swept off her feet by widowed pastor Edmund and the two soon marry, the puritanical Edmund believing his bride to be untouched by another man. But she has a history, a dark past that she cannot escape.

As Helene moves into Edmund's home, she falls under the watchful eye of housekeeper Dorothy (Davis) who is more than a little involved in her master's life, and quite obsessed with his dead first wife, Arabelle - to whom Helene simply does not compare. While Helene battles to keep her past a secret, she must navigate Dorothy’s devious scheming, her husband's harsh critique and a potential new love interest.

In a gothic setting populated by the requisite cast of fiends, physicians, hunchbacks, wastrels, maids, crones, and an adorable puppy called Wilfred, Hunderby oozes with the dark and absurd humour that has become Julia Davis's trademark."

Julia Davis, writer/star:

"I'm so excited to be making a series for Sky Atlantic HD, a channel that has so many of my favourite shows from around the world. It's great to be working with [Sky Controller] Stuart Murphy and [Sky's Head of Comedy] Lucy Lumsden again."

Hunderby is produced by Baby Cow Productions and scheduled to air this summer. As a fan of Davis' relentlessly dark and twisted humour, this has more appeal than Sky Atlantic's other homegrown comedy This Is Jinsy. It's just a shame the more interesting Sky comedies are on their premium channel, while Sky1 viewers have to make do with the mainstream stuff like Trollied, Mount Pleasant and Stella.

Review: TOUCH, 1.1 – "Pilot"

2012-01-27T09:30:00.069Z

Fox's new sci-fi drama magpies things from many nests; most notably its creator Tim Kring's own cancelled series Heroes, the interconnected narrative of the movie Babel, and elements familiar from Knowing. Touch concerns NYC luggage handler Martin Brohm (Kiefer Sutherland), a former journalist who lost his wife in the 9/11 tragedy, meaning he's had to raise their mute/autistic son Jake (David Mazouz) by himself. As is fictional tradition, Jake's neural disorder is really just the side effect of an incredible gift: he's able to see and cleverly predict the ebb and flow of life's design. And as we discover over the course of this pilot, that means Jake is basically a superior, human version of the supercomputer from Person Of Interest—able to divine the future, which in turn allows his father to use that foresight to help strangers.

This was a very decent pilot, although it didn't really offer anything unique. Kring appears to be a writer who, intentionally or not, recycles ideas that have been done many times before and merely gives them a little twist and shake of his own. There wasn't much that didn't remind me of something else I've seen or read, with similar premises or intentions, but it was a good redoing of those ideas with good performances driving it along.

Kring's essentially chosen one "super power" he might have explored on Heroes, and used it as the basis for an entire show. To be fair, it's a good foundation for a continuing drama, as it will undoubtedly be fun seeing each episode's disparate stories come together in satisfying, emotional, conclusive ways. The main reason you're left with positive feelings about Touch is how the storylines gradually knitted together here; some in surprisingly emotional ways, others less so. It helps that Sutherland treats everything so seriously, although I'm concerned about his casting as a loving father because, frankly, while he's brilliant at looking committed and passionate about his son's welfare, he looks awkward and unnatural doing scenes calling for genuine tenderness. Maybe so many years spent playing Jack Bauer has hardened him too much, but I suspect Sutherland just isn't a cuddly kind of guy, and copes much better when asked to look frantic, concerned, anxious, scared, angry or confused.

Looking ahead, you have to wonder if Touch will keep audiences hooked, because it feels like it's going to be very episodic and, obviously, extremely dependent on formula. Or maybe a few characters/plots will be weaved through multiple episodes, leading to a big finale? Time will tell. Unfortunately, Kring brings baggage with him from his days showrunning Heroes; a show that started brilliantly, flagged two-thirds through its freshman season, ended on a disappointing finale, and then proceeded to shed its audiences year on year until a fourth season cancellation. Has he learned lessons about how to develop a show over the course of many episodes and seasons? I sure hope so. Maybe that's why Touch has a far smaller regular cast than Heroes' ensemble—with the only support coming from social worker Clea (Gugu Mbatha-Raw) and child psychologist Professor DeWitt (Danny Glover)—although he can still indulge his global interests on an episodic level. I just hope any international ambitions Kring has for this show are carefully thought through, because his track record with handling a complex with multiple characters isn't very good.

In terms of production, this pilot was nicely directed by Francis Lawrence (Constantine, I Am Legend) and resembled a fairly expensive TV Movie. It looked great and the various storylines set around the world felt believably staged, from Ireland to Japan and Baghdad. Considering the unusual broadcast schedule of Touch (this pilot has "previewed" a few months before the show truly starts in March), part of me wonders if audiences will spend weeks desperate to see the next episode, or if they'll just be puzzled it's not on next week and suspect it was indeed a TV Movie! This gap between pilot and full season is something Fox had great success with when Glee debuted three years ago, but that previewed during the quiet summer and it was a clever idea to build hype before kids went back to school. I'm not sure what the thinking is here, because I don't imagine word-of-mouth is going to be particularly strong until March. It was a good pilot that showed potential as an ongoing series, but you need to see more before deciding if this is something to get your friends watching.

Overall, Sutherland's big return to television after a decade chasing terrorist is far from a disappointment, and what it lacks in originality it makes up for with style and heart-string pulling. I'll be watching more, most definitely, but the pitfalls are obvious and I'm not confident Kring can avoid them given how he presided over the unnecessary demise of a phenomenon like Heroes. Maybe with its more intimate cast, together with a disciplined format, Touch will allow Kring to flourish by crafting weekly dramas that don't lose sight of the plot.

Asides

You may recognise British actress Gugu Mbatha-Raw from JJ Abrams' spy show misfire Undercovers and the infamously terrible Bonekickers. Let's hope she's picked a better project here. You may also have noticed Titus Welliver here, from Lost and The Good Wife.
Amusing to see that Kring still loves pretentious voice-overs, with David Mazouz narrating the series despite his character being mute. Other hallmarks familiar to fans of Heroes included a Japanese setting (including a Hiro-esque cubicle office), a mention of a character called "Ando", and the general idea of unconnected people from around the world coming together in strange ways. I wonder if Touch takes place in the Heroes universe, too... maybe Mohinder will find Jake in season 2?

written by Tim Kring / directed by Francis Lawrence / 25 January 2012 / Fox

National Television Awards 2012: the winners, the losers, my random thoughts

2012-01-26T16:15:00.003Z

I'm not the biggest fan of ITV1's The National Television Awards. They always seem to attract more celebrities than the more prestigious BAFTAs over on BBC1, and are generally treated as a bigger event, which I just don't get. Perhaps people associate BAFTA too much with movies

They're also tarnished by their association with family-friendly ITV, with the whole event resembling a big X Factor finale. It doesn't help that Cowell's ringmaster Dermot O'Leary also hosts this event, but I'm just glad the producers saw sense and axed Sir Trevor McDonald many years ago. A fine newsreader he may be, but he's the Fred West of comedy.

But perhaps my biggest gripe is how it's all voted for by the public. On the one hand, this means the nominees/winners are people/shows most people have heard of and likely seen, so that's great. On the other hand, it becomes a dull popularity contest, with most of the winners being shows/celebs with the biggest fanbases or better ratings. In other words, Doctor Who, Downton Abbey and X Factor are a shoe-in for everything they're ever nominated for.

Anyway, here are my thoughts on last night's winners and losers.

TALK SHOW

I like the idea of having a separate category for talk shows, and was expecting Graham Norton to take this from Jonathan Ross simply because his three-guest format's so brilliant. Oddly, Alan Carr seems to be the most popular with audiences and walked away with the trophy. I enjoyed his latest series more than usual, I don't mind admitting, but still can't help thinking Norton was robbed because his show's often more memorable. Small mercy: Loose Women lost.

DRAMA

One of the night's biggest awards. People always expect Doctor Who to win this one, but Downton Abbey was victorious instead, despite having a second series most people consider inferior to the first. It would have been nice for Merlin to get the prize, seeing as it regularly achieves 6-7m viewers against X Factor every week, but that wasn't to be. Small mercy: school drama Waterloo Road lost.

REALITY TV

Another big award for the night, considering how popular Reality TV is on British TV. I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! took home the award, and it's hard to argue when its competition was The Only Way Is Essex, Come Dine With Me and The Apprentice. It's not the best show of that bunch, but it had the better run in 2011. Blame the jungle cockroach that went up Fatima Whitbread's nose!

TALENT SHOW

You always expect X Factor to win this award, and it didn't disappoint us this year. It's strange, though, because Strictly Come Dancing was markedly the better show last year and famously managed to beat its ITV rival in the ratings for the first time. Small mercies: the time-wasting Dancing On Ice and Britain's Got Talent (with its flop new judging panel and weak finalists) didn't win anything.

ENTERTAINMENT PRESENTER

Or "The Ant & Dec Award" because they've now won it 11 times in a row! But would you really give it to Michael McIntyre, Dermot O'Leary or Keith bloody Lemon instead? We need some new presenters on the box. Or a decision to split Ant and Dec into separate nominees, to cause rivalry between the pair!

ENTERTAINMENT PROGRAMME

Great to see Watch's Dynamo: Magician Impossible nominated because it was a weekly hour or genuinely memorable street magic, but BBC1's Michael McIntyre's Comedy Roadshow probably won because more people saw it. At least it wasn't as obvious as Harry Hill's TV Burp winning. Small mercy: grubby "dating" gameshow Take Me Out lost.

PANEL GAMESHOW

Why wasn't Would I Lie To You? nominated? Oh well, the execrable and witless Celebrity Juice won, probably because braindead ITV audiences are the demographic that can't resist a phone vote. The vastly superior QI, Mock The Week and Have I Got News For You all went home empty-handed.

SITUATION COMEDY

I've never actually seen it, but half-improvised family comedy Outnumbered won, perhaps as a last hurrah because its child actors are losing their cuteness to acne and greasy hair. Still, this award could have been as predictable as handing Miranda another win. Small mercy: comedy throwback Benidorm lost.

SERIAL DRAMA

In some ways THE best category for a show like this, because soaps thrive on popularity. Coronation Street won over EastEnders, Emmerdale and Hollyoaks. I haven't seen much of any for about 8 years.

DRAMA PERFORMANCE - Male

A terrible bunch of nominees! Martin Clunes for Doc Marten? David Threlfall from Shameless? Scraping the barrel! John Barrowman for the inept Torchwood: Miracle Day? Just awful. Matt Smith deservedly won for Doctor Who, then. Frustrating that Benedict Cumberbatch couldn't be nominated because Sherlock didn't air in 2011, but there's always 2013.

DRAMA PERFORMANCE - Female

Doctor Who sweeps the drama acting board with a female win for Karen Gillan, pushing Waterloo Road's Jaye Jacobs, Scott & Bailey's Suranne Jones, and Torchwood's Eve Myles into loserville.

SERIAL DRAMA PERFORMANCE

Why do soap stars get their own acting award? Isn't that admitting they're second-tier in someone's eyes? Coronation Street's Katherine Kelly won, beating castmate Alison King, Emmerdale's Danny Miller and EastEnders' Jessie Wallace.

NEWCOMER

Someone called Jacqueline Jossa from EastEnders won, making Corrie's Chris Fountain and Emmerdale's Chelsea Halfpenny cry in their taxi home. The only newcomers in 2011 were from soaps?

FACTUAL

One of the least predictable categories, and This Morning won. I don't watch it, because I have a job. It was one of the biggest surprises, though, considering the extremely popular Top Gear and My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding were both on this shortlist. Small mercy: the vastly overrated An Idiot Abroad lost, meaning Ricky Gervais' mantelpiece has been saved from collapse.

As for the ceremony itself? I wisely recorded it for about an hour, so I could later fast-forward through the dreary parts and adverts, meaning the whole affair only lasted about 40-minutes for me. A smattering of random thoughts to finish up: Who opens a big event like this with Bruce Forsythe crooning a song from his swing album? Don't the Downton Abbey cast look totally bizarre in modern clothes? How awesome are Karen Gillan's legs? Kermit the Frog is never funny in the real world, is he? It was great to see Jonathan Ross win a Lifetime Achievement award, and even better seeing archive footage of his '80s breakthrough on Channel 4. The Merlin cast looked like a good bunch, all sat together like best pals. Did Tulisa kill a pink flamingo to use as a dress? Why was everything so skewed towards ITV, regarding awards presenters? (Rhetorical question.)

That's it from me! If you have any thoughts/opinions to share on the NTAs, please do so below.

ALCATRAZ, 1.3 – "Kit Nelson"

2012-01-25T10:00:00.003Z

My feelings about Alcatraz haven't shifted after its third episode. It's doing a poor job making its primary characters appear interesting, simply because it spends almost no time focusing on them. Instead, the majority of every episode, so far, has been spent exploring the week's escapee—in this case child killer Kit Nelson (Michael Eklund)—and that's a puzzling decision to have made. A few scraps about Soto's (Jorge Garcia) past were alluded to near the end (he was kidnapped aged 11), and it seems more obvious than ever that Hauser's (Sam Neill) keeping the whole truth about the disappearance of the "Sixty-Threes" from his new teammates, but 95% of the episode is still spent fleshing out a glorified guest-star.

Fortunately, the character of Kit Nelson and his storyline was provocative and entertaining, on the level of a chilling tale about a man who murdered his younger brother, derived pleasure from that act, and went on to kill other children as an adult. Eklund (cast because of his brilliant performance in Fringe's "The Plateau"?) was both horrifying and sympathetic here, and I enjoyed all of his scenes simply because he was in them. The way the show flashbacks to a pre-'63 Alcatraz is also working quite well, even if everything happening in the '50s or '60s feels as realistic as a Sin City vignette at times. It's also becoming clearer that Alcatraz is to Fringe what Millennium was to X Files; a show operating in the same ballpark, but more interested in dealing with human monsters than issues of time-travel and whatnot. You can imagine a cameo from Walter Bishop, as the two shows feel like they exist in the same universe.

I wouldn't say Alcatraz is a big failure just yet, because I'm enjoying it more than most other sci-fi shows after three hours (i.e. FlashForward and The Event.) It's just difficult to see this show maintaining any appeal by the time we've caught the tenth, twentieth or thirtieth bad guy and thrown them back in the slammer... with potentially another 272 left to catch! (And how long are previous guest-stars expected to stick around to be filmed mooching around their new cells? Or have all the actors filmed numerous scenes that the creators can simply paste into future episodes?)

Overall, this was an entertaining and atmospheric episode, for the most part, but I think we need to get under the skin of Madsen (Sarah Jones), Hauser and Soto before they disappear into the background entirely. And it would also be nice if they could explain why every prisoner arrives in the present-day with negligible culture shock (having jumped 49 years into their future), with the odd compulsion to continue their crimes! Wouldn't most people, except maybe the true psychopaths, simply lie low and try to disappear into the fabric of modern society? Why are they all keen to continue their signature crimes that saw them thrown into jail to begin with? I know it's hard to have a show if they don't do that, but it's still a strange flaw in the show's logic they should perhaps try to answer.

Three hours in, what is everyone else making of Alcatraz? Is the procedural nature of the show too much of a turn-off, or are you enjoying watching stories that resolve every hour? Are the main characters appealing to you, or do you agree they currently exist to chase the more interesting weekly villains?

written by Jennifer Johnson / directed by Jack Bender / 23 January 2012 / Fox

Review: BEING HUMAN (USA), 2.1 – "Turn This Mother Out"

2012-01-24T09:30:00.001Z

I was planning to properly review the season 2 premiere of Syfy's Being Human, but then I watched it and remembered why I stopped bothering last year. It's not a bad show, by any stretch of the imagination, but it is an inessential show... and a world away from the seriousness and ingenuity of the BBC original. It just feels too emotional lightweight to me, and the writers aren't so willing to take risks. This premiere introduced the tedious idea of a Mother of vampires, which is a seriously bland notion for supernatural fiction—and a very disappointing development considering one of last season's few unique successes were the show's trio of Dutch vampire bosses.

Elsewhere, things just kind of happened and my mind wandered on several occasions. I think it's the repetitive music score that does it, because it generally does the heavy-lifting trying to elicit emotion because the characters don't really connect with me. The best part of this US adaptation is the visual effects, which do things the BBC version could never afford to—like actually show a Tunnel of Light beyond Sally's (Meaghan Rath) doorway to the afterlife.

But I'm not going to be so relentlessly down on Being Human USA, because it's a decent version of a British show that's catering for a different audience. BBC Three may be a youth-skewing channel, but what was always impressive about Being Human is how grown-up it feels. Syfy's version is very much aimed at impressing college kids, with far less bite to anything. It's just a semi-engaging show that can build some entertaining runs, but it never quite manages to seal the deal. I'll keep watching because it's good TV wallpaper for when a pile of clothes need to be ironed, but I can't see me coming back to review Being Human USA with any regularity... unless something remarkably ballsy and unexpected starts happening to its tone and the quality of storytelling.

written by Jeremy Carver & Anna Fricke / directed by Adam Kane / 16 January 2012 / Syfy

Review: ALCATRAZ, 1.1 & 1.2 - "Pilot" & "Ernest Cobb"

2012-01-23T16:50:00.001Z

"Pilot"

"Ernest Cobb"

The latest sci-fi drama from the company behind Lost and Fringe is almost an amalgam of those shows, crossed with the defunct Prison Break and a tincture of Whitechapel. On 21 March 1963, San Francisco's notorious offshore prison Alcatraz was closed and all remaining prisoners transferred off the island, but this series claims that was just a cover-story. In actual fact, everyone vanished in mysterious circumstances one night, and 49 years later those missing convicts have started to reappear and continue their crimes. It's up to plucky SFPD homicide detective Rebecca Madsen (Sarah Jones, the pocket-sized Anna Torv) to recapture them on behalf of enigmatic FBI Agent Emerson Hauser (Sam Neill), with the help of comic-book writer and The Rock historian Dr Diego "Doc" Sato (Jorge Garcia), while trying to explain how and why these prisoners have travelled through time.

Stylistically, Alcatraz is as sophisticated and glossy as you'd expect from the team behind the luscious Lost and accomplished Fringe. You can't underestimate the soothing effect of knowing you're in safe hands when it comes to the technical demands of putting a show like this together, and if nothing else Alcatraz doesn't disappoint on a purely aesthetic level (even when, subsequent to its pilot, no filming actually takes place on the real-life Alcatraz). But that familiarity breeds a certain level of problems, because there are chunks of this show that evoke either Fringe or Lost—and not just in terms of production, like the return of composer Michael Giacchino to handle the music, Lost stalwart Jack Bender directing, or Lost's "whooshing" flashbacks being replaced by the "clanking" screen wipe of prison bars. In many ways this is just freshman-era Fringe with mad prisoners replacing mad scientists, chased by another triptych of archetypal characters: the gutsy blonde, the intelligent nerd, and the mysterious older man. Sure there are differences, but there's a pervasive feeling that co-creator Elizabeth Sarnoff (a staff writer for Lost) has taken ingredients she liked from JJ Abrams' other hits and only tried to disguise that fact halfheartedly.

Even the narrative device of flashbacks recalls Lost, as each week's story jumps back to Alcatraz's heyday to provide back-story for the criminals, so we can better understand their motivations and plans. Still, fair's fair, because that's a good format to use for this show, and Alcatraz feels better suited to standalone episodes than Fringe ever did. I just wonder how long the show can take its fugitive-of-the-week procedural formula, with each con eventually being returned to a modern version of Alcatraz secretly built below the original, to continue their sentences. There is a serialized element (namely the central mystery of what happened to the "Sixty-Threes" to deposit them five decades into the future), but how long can Alcatraz string that out for? Unlike Fringe, it's harder to see how this show can be opened up in future seasons, and that's a big concern for anyone wondering if it's worth investing time and energy into Alcatraz. I'm not sure how many episodes I can watch of something that's fundamentally a standard cop show with vague sci-fi underpinning the unseen "prison break", unless that formula proves to be incredibly rewarding in some vital way.

The pilot is surprisingly poor, which I really wasn't expecting to be true. There isn't too much to explain to viewers, but the episodes makes the mistake of spending far too much time on our first criminal—murderer Jack Sylvane (Jeffrey Pierce)—rather than get us interested in the show's regulars. After the first hour, I had alost no real feelings or positive opinions of Madsen, Hauser and Soto, and could barely even remember their names. Things don't improve that much for the second episode, "Ernest Cobb", although that story was much more enjoyable because the eponymous con's back-story and modus operandi was simply more entertaining than Sylvane's. There was also a decent ending which intrigued me enough to be considered a success.

Essentially, Alcatraz's first few episodes laid out its premise and planted a few seeds that could grow into something interesting, plus it looks and sounds great as a piece of television, but the stories did a bad job of getting us interested in either of the three main actors, and I'm very wary of SF shows that intend to be mostly episodic. That was exactly the thinking behind Fringe when it first began, until the writers realised that the key audience were responding more to the mytharc than the freak-of-the-week cases. Can Alcatraz course correct in a similar way, given its more rigid concept? Maybe, but it won't be as easy. Will audiences stick with it through these self-contained stories, if only to catch the occasional clue about the bigger mystery? Is it even possible that the big mystery won't be fairly predictable, like a company using Alcatraz's inmates in secret government trials into time-travel? It's always very hard to outwit fans of this genre, especially in this day and age when fan theories spread like wildfire online... and, as we saw with Lost, sometimes eclipse what the creators had in store for us.

Overall, "Ernest Cobb" was entertaining enough to draw me back, even if I can't shake my doubts about this show's overall chances of success. It helps that it's a mid-season replacement, so there aren't too many episodes ordered and less chance for audiences to get bored, and there's obviously time for the writers to make us care about the investigators. But this is the second weakest pilot of a JJ Abrams-affiliated show, behind Undercovers, and I was expecting something far more compelling and exciting.

written by Steven Lilien, Bryan Wynbrandt & Elizabeth Sarnoff (1.1) & Alison Balian (1.2) / directed by Danny Cannon (1.1) & Jack Bender (1.2) / 16 January 2012 / Fox

TV Picks: 23-29 January 2012 (God Bless Ozzy Osbourne, National Television Awards, Noel Fielding's Luxury Comedy, Skins, We'll Take Manhattan, etc.)

2012-01-23T09:30:00.000Z

SKINS - E4, Monday, 10PM

MONDAY 23rd

Secret Location (Channel 4, 11am) New property show with the twist being that house hunters have no idea what location each property is in.
Superscrimpers: Waste Not, Want Not (Channel 4, 8pm) Money series where a family who spend big have to live off £50-worth of food in a week. (1/5)
Seinfeld (Sky Atlantic, 8pm) Repeat of the hit '90s US sitcom from beginning to end.
Wonderland: The Real Magnificent Men In Their Flying Machines (BBC2, 9pm) Documentary about three teams of microlight enthusiasts.
Party Paramedics (Channel 4, 10pm) Documentary about volunteer paramedics working in Colchester. (1/3)
PICK OF THE DAY Skins (E4, 10pm) Series 6 of the teen drama.

TUESDAY 24th

Farewell Becky (ITV1, 7.30pm) Celebration of the popular Coronation Street soap character.
Junior Doctors: Your Life In Their Hands (BBC3, 9pm) Series 2 of the documentary following newly-qualified doctors.
PICK OF THE DAY Survivors: Nature's Indestructible Creatures (BBC4, 9pm) Wildlife documentary looking at some of nature's most resilient and tough creatures.
The World Against Apartheid: Have You Heard From Johannesburg? (BBC4, 10pm) Series looking at the situation with apartheid in South Africa.
Confessions Of A Nurse (More4, 10pm) Documentary series following a group of Birmingham nurses. (1/4)
Death Row Dogs (BBC1, 10.35pm) Documentary about illegal dog fighting.

WEDNESDAY 25th

PICK OF THE DAY The National Television Awards 2012 (ITV1, 7.30pm) Annual TV awards ceremony, from London's O2 Arena. Presented by Dermot O'Leary.
Sun, Sea & Suspicious Parents (BBC3, 9pm) Series 2 of the show where teenagers take a holiday abroad, unaware their parents are watching.

THURSDAY 26th

Strictly Soulmates (BBC3, 9pm) Documentary series about different faith and their perception of the perfect partner.
PICK OF THE DAY We'll Take Manhattan (BBC4, 9pm) Drama about the relationship between '60s photographer David Bailey and model Jean Shrimpton. Starring Karen Gillan.
Noel Fielding's Luxury Comedy (E4, 10pm) Brand new comedy series from the surreal comedian.

FRIDAY 27th

PICK OF THE DAY How Brits Rocked America (BBC4, 9pm) Documentary series looking at how British music conquered the US in the '60s, beginning with The Beatles.

SATURDAY 28th

Nothing.

SUNDAY 29th

Toughest Place To Be (BBC2, 9pm) Series where British workers travel overseas to see how foreigners do their own job. (1/3)
PICK OF THE DAY God Bless Ozzy Osbourne (BBC2, 10pm) Documentary on the Black Sabbath rocker.

CHUCK, 5.10 & 5.11 – "Chuck Versus Bo" & "Chuck Versus the Bullet Train"

2012-01-22T15:26:00.001Z

Owing to personal events last week, these reviews will be capsule-sized...

"Chuck Versus Bo" started with Sarah (Yvonne Strahovski) deciding to bring her spy career to an end, so she can live happily ever after with husband Chuck (Zachary Levi) and repurpose Carmichael Industries to fight cyber-terrorism, but naturally events went haywire from thereon in. In some ways you could feel this episode straining to reintroduce the Intersect back into the show, together with a new villain in Nicholas Quinn (Angus Macfadyen), the original CIA agent who was destined to become the government's super-spy, but it just about got away with it.

It was actually a fun idea to have Morgan (Joshua Gomez) investigate his own missing memories, realising that he stole and stashed some Intersect glasses while enjoying the high life at a ski resort as the egotistical Intersect version of himself. In some ways this was Chuck's version of The Hangover, with the team trying to piece together what happened with Morgan a few months ago, and there was a fun diversion in the shape of actress Bo Derek (playing herself, which is something that rarely happens with Chuck guest-stars).

The subplot with Jeff (Scott Krinsky) and Lester (Vik Sahay) was also quite funny, as the pair have come close to exposing their friends as spies but keep getting drugged and find themselves waking up halfway to Vegas in a flash car. At first it was very irritating to think the writers weren't going to have those characters realize the truth, but then the episode did a good job making it clear they weren't so easily put off the scent—resulting in a Groundhog Day-style adventure as their efforts kept getting reset to square one thanks to Casey's (Adam Baldwin) Men In Black-style amnesia gas. Unfortunately, this story eventually settled on having Jeff and Lester believing that Chuck and his friends aren't spies after all, which really bothered me until the events of the next episode.

If I'm honest, "... Versus Bo" started to drag after awhile, and I didn't find it a very funny episode (many jokes were ludicrously signposted), but it was entertaining for the most part and had some enjoyable moments. Plus it ended on a great cliffhanger, of sorts, with Chuck kidnapped by Nicholas, forcing Sarah to don the retrieved Intersect-glasses and effectively embrace the spy life she'd almost given up after "one last mission". Incidentally, given the fact Sarah is already physically adept as a character, I thought the stunt coordinators did an incredible job making us realise that "Intersect-Sarah" is practically a martial arts superhero. It certainly won't be easy stopping her from getting her husband back in one piece...

written by Kristin Newman / directed by Jeremiah Chechik / 13 January 2012 / NBC

Indeed, "Chuck Versus The Bullet Train" took less than 10 minutes until Sarah had rescued Chuck from the titular mode of Japanese transport, before Quinn could force him to work on creating another stable version of the Intersect. (I guess he doesn't have a lab in the US?) This was another variation on things we've seen Chuck do before, with most of the adventure taking place in the one location, but it was a really good example of Under Siege 2 in the Chuck universe. They even included unique opening titles, setting the episode up as a cheesy B-movie thriller aboard a high-speed train, and on that level this episode really worked.

Even better, the ongoing subplot with Jeff and Lester finally resolved after so much fooling around, with Casey forced to reveal their secrets when the two Buy More employees became the only hope of getting his daughter Alex (Mekenna Melvin) back safely from two hired goons. I'm relieved the writers have decided to go down this route, if only because it was getting really tiresome having them discover Chuck's secret and almost instantly have their memories erased multiple times.

As an episode showcasing Sarah as the Intersect, it was also a lot of fun seeing her operating on that level, with more very impressive fight sequences, and the inbuilt jeopardy that the Intersect essentially destroys most peoples minds (some people quicker than others, evidently!) gave the episode some welcome stakes. However, one problem with Chuck has always been its reluctance to go through with anything irreversible tragic, so it was hard to really feel that anyone was in danger here—be it Chuck, Sarah, Casey (when he was blackmailed into helping Quinn), or Alex.

As if to combat that fact, I liked how this episode instead ended with Sarah literally splitting from Chuck (in separate parts of the bullet train) and having her memories erased by Quinn, who's now convinced her she's an agent tasked with killing the husband she doesn't remember. While it's still obvious Sarah will get her memories back at some point, it should make for an interesting wrinkle for the young couple... in a season that's been all about them chasing the perfect ending that just doesn't want to come true. Certainly not without a fight, anyway.

written by Nicholas Wootton / directed by Buzz Feitshans IV / 20 January 2012 / NBC

I'm back...

2012-01-22T10:57:00.000Z

... so things around here should hopefully return to relative normality fairly soon. Thanks to everyone who sent me their kind thoughts about my dad and his cancer—either here, on Twitter, or even by e-mail. I didn't reply to everyone individually, but everything was read and I was touched that so many people offered their support and a kind thought.

Blog-wise, things will undoubtedly change for the near-future. I won't be reviewing as many things, certainly not weekly, and anything that airs at weekends will be prone to delay. I may have to either "capsule" review things more (i.e. shorter reviews), or "double-bill" reviews (i.e write two short reviews covering two episodes). A few short-run shows may also get reviewed as a season/series once they're OVER, rather than episodically. My favourite shows will be the ones that suffer least, most likely.

But there's no hard and fast rule. Some weeks I'll be glad of a distraction with DMD, others it'll feel like a burden I'll have to put aside. I'm sure everyone understands, and I was pleased to see that page-hits didn't take a significant fall over my unscheduled break, too! (This does tend to happen, strangely! Maybe I should stop blogging more often?!) Please do keep checking back here, if only to browse my five-year archive.

I plan to catch-up with Chuck, Alcatraz and Being Human USA over the next few days...

FRINGE, 4.8 & 4.9 - "Back To Where You've Never Been" & "Enemy Of My Enemy"

2012-01-21T18:28:00.000Z

Back To Where You've Never Been

Enemy Of My Enemy

Owing to personal events and a sudden backlog, I've decided to turn the two latest episodes of Fringe over to you, dear readers. What did you make of them? Personally, I'm glad season 4 finally has a credible use for Peter (as the "variable" of two universes, neither of which he belongs in), and it was a fantastic idea to bring back David Robert Jones (Jared Harris) because he's probably the best recurring villain Fringe ever had. It also makes some sense that DRJ was the person behind the bio-mechanical shapeshifters, fulfilling my old theory that the two universes will unify over a common enemy. The decision to reveal that Walternate isn't such a terrible person, and that Nina's in cahoots with Jones also worked really well, giving me a good feeling about the rest of this season and its general direction.

My only concern, and it's a big one, is that getting Peter back to his own timeline will likely reset Fringe back to the end of season 3... and if that happens, this entire season will have been nothing but a diversion. And if the show is cancelled by Fox this summer (which is a very real possibility because it's now unprofitable on Friday nights), will the producers regret spending their final season on a storyline that's ultimately unrelated to most of the characters we were following until season 3's finale? I hope there's a twist I'm not seeing which will make me feel better soon, but I can't help feeling very uncertain week by week. In some ways this season reminds me of Lost's fifth—great fun at the time, but in hindsight fairly irrelevant to the story, and the bigger picture wouldn't suffer if it was removed.

So those are my brief thoughts on Fringe's past few episodes. I'd love to hear what you're all making of this season. Sound off below!

written by David Fury & Graham Roland (4.8) & Monica Owusu-Breen & Alison Shapker (4.9) / directed by Jeannot Szwarc (4.8) & Joe Chappelle (4.9) / 13 & 20 January 2012 / Fox

A short break...

2012-01-17T10:30:00.001Z

I'm afraid there's an unscheduled break from today (17 Jan) until Sunday. My dad's very sick, having been fighting cancer for the past four months, and the outlook has taken a turn for the worse a week before a planned operation. In fact, the doctors have said he probably only has months left.

I'm sure everyone will understand that blogging isn't a big priority for me now, although I'm sure it'll be a good way to take my mind off a few things over the difficult months ahead.

I will catch-up with missed shows next week (Alcatraz, Fringe, Mad Dogs, Chuck, etc), but obviously there are going to be erratic periods where I'm unable or unwilling to write anything.

Things have taken on a different perspective. Please remember to appreciate the people in YOUR life.

SHERLOCK, 2.3 – "The Reichenbach Fall"

2012-01-16T12:00:00.001Z

"We're just alike, you and I. Except you're boring." – Moriarty to Sherlock

Considering Steve Thompson wrote the worst of series 1's episodes, "The Blind Banker", and one of the least remarkable Doctor Who's last year, "Curse Of The Black Spot", you could forgive most people from raising eyebrows at the fact he'd been entrusted with writing Sherlock's big finale. However, Thompson acquits himself very well with "The Reichenbach Fall", which was another of the show's elastically-plotted thrills. It helped that this was the first adventure to truly focus on arch-nemesis Jim Moriarty (Andrew Scott), and that the stakes were high for Sherlock (Benedict Cumberbatch) on a personal level, and it all came together brilliantly for a climactic rooftop confrontation and puzzling denouement.

Consulting criminal Moriarty simultaneously opens the Bank of England's vault and Pentonville Prison, while smashing his way into the Crown Jewels at the Tower of London to await his own capture by the alerted police. A quick and easy conviction is expected at the Old Bailey, especially as Moriarty offers no evidence in his defence, yet the jury make the bizarre decision to acquit him... allowing Moriarty to continue the next phase of his masterplan, to solve the "Final Problem" of having a nemesis like Sherlock as a thorn in his side. But it's not really as simple as that, because there's the mutual fascination and respect between the two men, very much opposite sides of the same coin. Moriarty comes across as a super-genius who's become psychotic out of sheer boredom. He's overjoyed that someone like Sherlock exists, yet suspicious that he's not his equal, and in some ways his mind games are just a test to see if Sherlock's worthy of his adversarial status.

The great thing about "The Reichenbach Fall" was realising how Moriarty's plan was going to work, as it became clear he's planting seeds of doubt in people's minds that Sherlock's a totally benevolent genius working for "the angels". After kidnapping boarding school children and feeding them mercury-tainted sweets at an abandoned warehouse, it became less about finding their abductor and more about preventing the police from acting on their suspicions that Sherlock (solving crimes on piffling evidence like a footprint) may actually be the culprit. Throw in the hilariously bizarre moment when Moriarty went to investigative reporter Kitty Riley (Katherine Parkinson) claiming to be children's TV actor Rich Brooke, forced by Sherlock to play the role of Moriarty in a sick fantasy, and the whole episode really started to take on a life of its own. While nothing here was completely plausible, the fact Sherlock exists in only a semi-realistic world really helps, and enables the writers to just have fun with sillier ideas.

As for Moriarty, he's been a divisive figure on the show since he made his entrance in "The Great Game" at the swimming pool, seeing as he's such a departure from most people's idea of that character. This episode definitely helped you see what creators Mark Gatiss and Steven Moffat were after when they devised him (an impish Irish version of The Joker) and Scott gave an engaging performance, but I'm still not completely sure Moriarty should be like this. He's unnerving and obviously intelligent, and a scene where he shared tea with Sherlock while tapping binary digits with his fingers and biting the letters "I O U" into an apple, was absolutely fantastic, but I still find myself wishing he was less of a "character" and more of a "person". It's slightly too cartoonish for me still, although I know others think that works really well against the show's others characters who are played straight.

Similarly to series 1's finale, most people will be discussing the ending over anything else. A marvellous scene with Moriarty and Sherlock on the roof of a hotel (instead of a waterfall in the books), where Sherlock realized the only way to save Watson (Martin Freeman), Mrs Hudson (Una Stubbs) and Molly Hooper (Louise Brealey) is to commit suicide by leaping off the edge—which is the agreed signal to three snipers to lay down their weapons. What's going to puzzle people for many months, is how they've chosen to leave things. Moriarty's seemingly shot himself in the face, after realising he's the weakness in his own plan—but I suppose that's survivable depending on where the bullet went. Or perhaps series 3 will be a prequel to these adventures? More confusing was Sherlock's swan dive off the roof, smashing his skull on the pavement below, ending the show with Watson over his grave... before the last-second reveal of Sherlock watching from afar. How Sherlock cheated death is completely beyond me, and I'm not expecting an explanation that works perfectly when the show returns.

Overall, "The Reichenbach Fall" was a fine resolution of this improved second series. I loved how Sherlock's celebrity status was the summit of the social "fall" Moriarty set him on, and Freeman was given far more opportunities to bring humanity to what can otherwise be a mechanical plot-driven show. In fact, of the three episodes, this was easily the most emotional and human, with Cumberbatch's best performance in the role. Watson's scene at the grave was also genuinely moving, as he struggled to contain his emotions at the death of his most remarkable friend... who's left this world with everyone thinking he was a crazy fraud.

Taken as a whole, series 2 covered some compelling thematic areas (sex, fear, identity), and did a wonderful job updating three of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's stories. It's hard to choose between them, as I've rated them all the same, but I probably prefer "A Scandal In Belgravia" because Moffat's twisty writing is such a perfect fit for the show. But the final two episodes seemed to justify the 90-minutes a lot better, especially this finale, and it would be a crime if various people's careers obstructed a third series next year...

Asides

It delights me how the deerstalker hat has become an icon of Sherlock Holmes in this update, with Sherlock himself hating that fact.
That was The IT Crowd's Katherine Parkinson as the reporter, I'm sure you know.
So how did Sherlock fake his own death? The best theory I've heard is that he threw a doppelganger off the roof, perhaps a corpse provided by Molly the doctor. But wouldn't DNA tests prove that wasn't Sherlock? Wouldn't someone like Watson have identified the body? How would Sherlock have found an exact double that would fool so many people?

written by Steve Thompson / directed by Toby Haynes / 15 January 2012 / BBC One

TV Picks: 16-22 January 2012 (American Idol, Big C, Birdsong, Gadget Geeks, Mad Dogs, Real Hustle, Room 101, Suits, etc.)

2012-01-16T09:30:00.000Z

Mad Dogs - Thursday, Sky1, 9PM

MONDAY 16th

The Alan Titchmarsh Show (ITV1, 3pm) Return of the weekday chat show.
The Hungry Sailors (ITV1, 4pm) Seafaring cookery series, hosted by Dick and James Strawbridge.
Celebrity Coach Trip (Channel 4, 5pm) Return of the celebrity version of the Euro travelling gameshow. Starring Edwina Curry and her husband John Jones, Cannon & Ball, Derek Martin and John Altman, Nikki Grahame and Aisleyne Horgan-Wallace, and Paul Burrell and Jean Broke Smith.
Richard Wilson: On Hold (Channel 4, 8pm) Special on the widespread use of automated phone systems.
Gadget Geeks (Sky1, 8pm) Brand new gadget and technology show.
The One Griff Rhys Jones (BBC1, 8.30pm) Comedy special with the famous comedian/actor, one half of '80s double-act Smith & Jones.
PICK of the DAY Stargazing Live (BBC2, 8.30pm) Live astronomy special with Dara O'Briain & Professor Brian Cox.
The Rise Of Shoplifters (Channel 4, 10pm) Documentary on shoplifting and kleptomania.

TUESDAY 17th

Masterchef (BBC1, 9pm) Return of the culinary challenge show. Continues tomorrow and Thursday.
15 Kids And Counting (Channel 4, 9pm) Documentary series on some of the country's biggest families. (1/3)
Coming Out Diaries (BBC3, 9pm) Documentary on gay people telling their friends/family about their sexuality.
PICK of the DAY Suits (Dave, 9pm) Season 1 of the US legal drama.
Horizon: Playing God (BBC2, 9.30pm) Documentary on genetic crossbreeds that are being developed by scientists to aide mankind, such as the bizarre-sounding "spider goat".
Crime Scene Forensics (BBC1, 10.35pm) Documentary following police officers of Hertforshire and Bedforshire.

WEDNESDAY 18th

PICK of the DAY Britain In Bed (BBC3, 9pm) Documentary on the nation's changing attitude to sex. Presented by Jessica-Jane Clement.
Jonathan Meades on France (BBC4, 9pm) Documentary on France, particularly the many areas most Brits don't think to visit. (1/3)
The Crusades: Holy War (BBC2, 9.30pm) Documentary on the 200-year long Crusades. (1/3)
My Secret Teens: Kate Thornton – Anorexic (Channel 5, 10pm) Special where the TV presenter shares her experience with anorexia as a teenage girl.

THURSDAY 19th

Putin, Russia & The West (BBC2, 9pm) Documentary series on the Russian President. (1/4)
Pole Dancing Diaries (BBC3, 9pm) Documentary on pole dancing.
PICK of the DAY Mad Dogs (Sky1, 9pm) Series 2 of the comedy-drama about four friends in over their heads abroad. Starring Philip Glenister, John Simm, Max Beesley & Marc Warren. (1/4)
American Idol (ITV2, 9pm) Return of the US singing contest. Hosted by Ryan Seacrest with judges Steven Tyler, Jennifer Lopez & Randy Jackson. Results tomorrow.
Gypsy Blood (Channel 4, 10pm) Documentary about the violent habits some gypsy fathers pass on to their sons.
The Big C (More4, 10pm) Season 2 of the US drama about a woman with terminal cancer. (1/13)

FRIDAY 20th

PICK of the DAY Room 101 (BBC1, 8.30pm) Return of the panel show where guests condemn their pet hates. Hosted by Frank Skinner. This week's guests are Danny Baker, Fern Britton & Robert Webb.
The Real Hustle (BBC3, 8.30pm) Return of the conman drama for a final series.

SATURDAY 21st

Nothing.

SUNDAY 22nd

The Last Explorers (BBC2, 6pm) History series focusing on Scottish adventurers, starting with David Livingstone. Presented by Neil Oliver. (1/4)
Time Team (Channel 4, 7pm) Series 19 of the archaeology show. (1/11)
PICK of the DAY Birdsong (BBC1, 10.25pm) Adaptation of the Sebastian Faulks' novel about two lovers in WWI. Starring Eddie Redmayne, Clemence Poesy, Joseph Mawie & Marie-Josee Croze. (1/2)

Review: MILTON JONES'S HOUSE OF ROOMS

2012-01-15T18:10:00.001Z

I'm not sure if this is technically still part of the Comedy Showcase season last year, which just stopped halfway through its six-episode run. The Angelos Epithemiou Show was resold as a comedy special for Christmas, there's still no sign of The Function Room, but now we have Milton Jones's House Of Rooms. The concept of which feels immediately entertaining and with clear potential, as we're introduced to mummy's boy Milton (Milton Jones), who still live with his mother (Susie Blake) in her guesthouse. One of their tenants is the beautiful but shy Alice (Cordelia Bugeja), whom Milton fancies but is himself too bashful to ask out, and Tony (Alexander Kirk) the middle-aged office worker coping with a painful marital split. Naturally, there's ample opportunity for guests/characters to come and go, revolving around this central quartet of regulars.

Given its simple but enticing premise, slightly reminding me of classic '70s sitcom Rising Damp, and Jones's own reputation as one of the UK's best "one-liner" deadpan comedians, I was eagerly anticipating House Of Rooms. I was rewarded with a sharp and snappy half-hour of nonsense, silliness, a half-dozen laugh-out-loud moments, and a likable way to merge Jones's style of comedy to something quite kinetic and cleverly shot by Ben Palmer (who's echoing the work of Spaced's Edgar Wright in some ways).

What this pilot set out to achieve, it accomplished. The relationships were instantly understood, the jokes flowed quickly, there were some brilliant sight gags, verbal funnies torn straight from Jones's joke book, and some good comic performances. I've never seen Jones as an actor until now, and although this character wasn't a million miles from his on-stage persona of "spaced-out man-child", it was still different enough to have you seeing him in a different light.

There was also great support from Susie Blake (Coronation Street) as his mother, who could have easily been written as an "older battleaxe" type, but they've wisely decided to use the fact Blake's relatively young and attractive. It somehow gave the show a lift, perhaps because it adds a sexual angle to her character. Cordelia Bugeja didn't actually have much to do, beyond make goo goo eyes and be an object of affection, but this could also have been a character who was the opposite of Milton and perhaps found him creepy and strange. But instead, it feels like she's his soul mate and they're well-suited together. Maybe this will cause problems if the show goes to series, because it could become tiring seeing them both get tongue-tied around each other. It made for a fun joke here, but will we still be laughing five episodes later, or screaming for them both to just say what's on their minds?

Let's hope we get the chance to find out. More than any other Comedy Showcase sitcom this year, I'd most like to see House Of Rooms become a full-blown series. Chickens and The Fun Police had merit, particularly the former, but it just feels like British comedy is missing something like House Of Rooms. And we're actually really good at making shows like this: the irreverent, madcap, surreal, twisted, yet likable sitcom.

Aside

Do you recognise Cordelia Bugeja but can't place her? You've probably seen her in adverts, particularly the Yakult campaign. She's also appeared on The IT Crowd and, more recently, two episodes of Sky's Mount Pleasant.

written by Milton Jones & Dan Evans / directed by Ben Palmer / 13 January 2012 / Channel 4

LUTHER series 3 confirmed for 2012/13

2012-01-13T14:48:00.001Z

There's always been doubt Luther will return each year, because The Wire's Idris Elba is becoming such hot property in Hollywood. However, fans of the BBC's stylish crime drama needn't worry for now, because Ben Stephenson—the BBC's Head of Drama, speaking at the Broadcasting Press Guild lunch—has confirmed that a third series of four hour-long episodes is due later this year. (Other reports suggest early-2013.)

It's lucky Elba seems to be so taken by this award-winning series, which he also produces, so hopefully he'll continue to fit four hours of Luther into his annual schedule. He's also keen for the show to become a movie, as we know, and I wouldn't bet against that happening. The British crime thriller is an easy and relatively cheap genre to adapt for the big screen. If the show's 6 million viewers translate into box-office ticket sales (as The Inbetweeners Movie proved it can do), then the BBC will be very happy...

What do you make of this news? Happy Luther's coming back? Still think the show's ghoulish nonsense? Is that a bad thing? And would a movie version work, in your opinion?

ETERNAL LAW, 1.2 – episode two

2012-01-13T10:10:00.000Z

A catastrophic follow-up to what was already a poor start, Eternal Law confirmed my worst fears. This is another of the UK's genre disasters, perhaps the cosmic balance to Doctor Who and Misfits, but it's so frustrating because the writers have proven they're capable of great work with Life On Mars and Ashes To Ashes. But this show is just awful on every level; an embarrassing production full of clunky direction, horrible editing, hackneyed performances, and dull storytelling.

There isn't anything to focus condemnation on, because everything's infected by a certain ineptitude. The opening titles, now with a redundant and ridiculous voice-over from Orla Brady, make the show feel like a children's drama. In fact, if it wasn't for the dry backdrop of courts and lawyers, Eternal Law might have worked better as one. There are many terrible directorial flourishes, too—the worst being the moment when the camera reversed down a corridor, as actors stepped out on cue to have fake-looking arguments. Or moment that are just so laughable you wonder how they made it to the screen—like head angel Zak (Samuel West) puffing on a fat cigar in his wings, creating fireworks by way of celebration. Or how about when "fallen angel" Pembroke (Tobias Menzies) pushed a homeless man into a river after he'd asked for money a second time? Oooh, evil.

Throw in an awful plinky-plonk soundtrack, general apathy towards the week's case (two parents after custody of the world's worst child actor), and a reveal of Mrs Sheringham's (Brady) back-story that was predictable (she gave up being an angel to be with a human man she loved), and this episode was a resounding flop. It's not even logical that Mrs Sheringham would be so upset by her lover Billy's death, because she's living proof that there is an afterlife! Surely that should bring her peace of mind. And I didn't like the suggestion from Zak that a world without angels would result in death, war, famine and pestilence. We've had plenty of that with these do-gooding angels hanging around...

Overall, I have little to say that's positive after just two episodes. Eternal Law feels cheap, the drama's unearned, the characters are lifeless, the stories are boring, and the setups for an ongoing mytharc (the Zak/Hannah relationship, God sending the angels a doomsday clock from the Cuban Missile Crisis) aren't very interesting—and you have no faith they'll develop into anything worthwhile. I wish I could be more upbeat, because I was hoping for a charming and intelligent legal drama with an added supernatural twist... but something's gone very wrong. Maybe it all works better on the page... but the execution on-screen wobbles from inept to mediocre, at best.

written by Ashley Pharaoh / directed by Adrian Shergold / 12 January 2012 / ITV1

Review: THREE INCHES (Syfy)

2012-01-11T20:50:00.000Z

Developed in tandem with superhero drama Alphas, the similarly-themed Three Inches pilot wasn't taken to series by Syfy, who instead repackaged it as a TV Movie. Having watched the feature-length opener that aired before Christmas in the US, I can't say I'm disappointed we won't be seeing more, as this felt like a waste of a likable cast. It also continues to irritate me that so many US genre shows don't take risks, to give their audience something unexpected and unpredictable. That's what this genre is designed to do! Anyone could have thought up this Three Inches pilot, and it ultimately dies slowly because the characters are boring and the storyline equally so. There's almost nothing here to compel you to watch again, or beg for more episodes to be made, because it's nothing more than a collection of trite ideas—with the makers seemingly uninterested in giving us something fresh, innovative, or even tonally consistent.

Walter Spackman (Noah Reid) is the hero of the show: a 26-year-old still living at home with his mollycoddling mother (Andrea Martin), who makes him breakfast in bed every morning. On the day he plucks up the courage to admit his feelings for childhood inamorata Lily (Alona Tal), Walter's blown out by the girl of his dreams, then blown up by a bolt of lightning. A heavenly discharge that endows him with the seemingly trivial superpower of telekinesis over a three inch distant, which brings him to the attention of "contractor" Troy Hamilton (Buffy's James Marsters), who wants to add Walter to his team of superheroes. The gang include: quiet and sexy Watts (Stephanie Jacobsen), who can manipulate people's emotions; shy Annika (Naoko Mori), who can mimic any sound; outgoing Carlos (Antony Del Rio), who can emit stenches through his skin; scruffy Todd (Craig Eldridge), who can see two-minutes into the future at the risk of a migraine; gaunt Ethan (Julian Richings), who can communicate and control insects; and the team's handsome field leader Brandon (Kyle Schmid), who has no powers to speak of but is a great tactician.

It doesn't help that "superhero fatigue" is in the air, but Three Inches just didn't have enough of a must-see hook. The central joke that the gang's powers are silly doesn't even work, because most of the powers actually aren't that useless/crazy, and it's swiftly proven that Walter's own three inch limitation isn't so restrictive. You can do plenty of interesting things by giving objects a nudge from a short distance.

It's also not very funny, but to make matters worse it puts its funniest character—Walter's best buddy Macklin (Brandon Jay McLaren)—into the background, wasting him as a powerless sous chef! The characters closer to Walter's new life away from mom are unfortunately a rather dull bunch, who don't get a lot to do. Torchwood's Naoko Mori barely spoke a word, and Sarah Connor Chronicles' actress Stephanie Jacobsen is again playing an emotionally shutdown character. It's hard to enjoy this group's dynamic, because there isn't really one. They're just there; misfits thrown together. Admittedly pilots start from a base-level and we'd have hopefully seen progress over its non-existent season, but a good pilot does a better job of letting you want to come back to see that evolution continue. I had little to no interest in any of these people by the end.

But perhaps the biggest problem with Three Inches is the tone, which doesn't feel right. The show starts off being bright and silly as we follow Walter's during a typical sunny morning, only to turn quite dark after he's introduced to Troy and the others. This darkness persists, and nothing permeates it regarding Walter's interactions with his new friends. It just all starts to drag in the darkness, laughs evaporating, and you soon give up seeing this as a comedy (which it what it sounds like on paper), and instead realise it's wasting its own idea. This should have been approached with a lot more skill, panache, vigour, cleverness and wit. If you're going to do something with superheroes, especially in this day and age, you really need to bring a fresh new voice to the genre—as Misfits did a few years ago—otherwise what's the point of reworking the same old tropes? It's ultimately just another drearily executed superhero show with some genre-friendly faces, doing nothing of actual interest.

Three Inches won't be troubling you this year because Alphas was picked up by Syfy instead—and although that show shares some of the same problems, you can see it has a stronger sense of purpose, got a handle on its super-team a lot quicker, and knew how to pitch itself to audiences. Three Inches is comparatively a muddle.

written by Harley Peyton / directed by Jace Alexander / 29 December 2011 / Syfy

Coming Soon: BEING HUMAN, series 4

2012-01-10T19:11:00.004Z

BBC Three's acclaimed supernatural drama Being Human is back for a fourth series later this month, and the rollout of promotional material has begun. First you can visit the BBC Media Centre for a special introduction by creator Toby Whithouse, quelling fears that major cast changes don't mean the show's days are numbered.

More enticingly, above is a photo of the new-look cast: newcomer Damien Molony as resident suave vampire Hal (left); Michael Socha promoted from guest-star to regular as werewolf Tom McNair (right); both joined by original cast member Lenora Crichlow as ghost Annie (centre).

Russell Tovey is still involved as werewolf George, but is given a surprisingly less prominent position in the photo, sitting in the middle-distance with a face like thunder brandishing a wooden stake and crucifix. A sign that Tovey may actually leave the show earlier than we expected, and that his character's going to be very anti-vampire this year? The complete absence of Sinead Kennan, who's also decided to leave, perhaps signifies an even earlier departure for her character Nina.

There are also some little nuggets in the background: ~~Lee Ingleby sat behind Tovey (reprising his role as an "Old One" vampire from the series 3 finale)~~ Oops, it's actually Andrew Gower playing a vampire called Cutler; Mark Williams appears to the far-left reading a book, playing a character called Regus; and there's someone dressed as a policeman behind him. A replacement for dead vampire cop Herrick? Or just a red herring? And why is everyone sitting in a café? Will that be an important setting for the characters this year?

It's also been revealed that James Lance (I'm Alan Partridge) and Mark Gatiss (Doctor Who, Sherlock) have roles on the show this year, and Craig Robinson (Submarine) will return as "teenage" vampire Adam from series 3 (and webseries Becoming Human).

Unusually, the eight-part series' episode titles have also been revealed ahead of time: "Eve Of The War", "Being Human 1955", "The Graveyard Shift", "A Spectre Calls", "Hold The Front Door", "Puppy Love", "Making History" and "The War Child".

Review: THE ONE JASPER CARROTT (BBC1)

2012-01-10T17:10:00.002Z

The second in the BBC's run of The One's, following Lenny Henry's last Friday, saw renowned Birmingham stand-up Jasper Carrott return to our screens for the first time in 13 years. (Ignoring crap BBC sitcom All About Me and unfathomable ITV gameshow Goldenballs.) The format was the same—stand-up comedy interspersed with sketches, with an emphasis on the longevity/age of the performer—and I found this a great deal more entertaining than Lenny Henry's self-tribute. This is simply because I prefer Carrott's comedy to Henry's, and I'll lay my cards on the table by admitting I was a huge fan of the Brummie comic during his "resurgence" in the early-'90s. Carrott's career suddenly peaked during this time, with a popular weekly comedy show (Canned Carrott), which also gave birth to sitcom The Detectives, and pioneering TV format Carrott's Commercial Breakdown, where pre-internet audiences could laugh and gasp at foreign adverts...

So yes, I have a teenage affection for Jasper Carrott and his brand of comedy—which usually takes the form of little digs at the state of the world, leading into bizarre funny stories (that you always knew weren't true, but were just happy to enter a comic storyteller's world). For those reasons alone, I enjoyed seeing Carrott back on-stage again, doing material that actually wasn't half-bad. It began worryingly, with obvious jokes about his advancing years (he's 66), but a middle portion where he tackled current affairs (most notably the banking crisis) was surprisingly fresh and expertly done. (I loved his acronym for Europe's problem nations: Portugal, Ireland, Greece, Spain.) Sure, his style is now quite old-fashioned (when was the last time you saw a comedian sit to tell jokes?) and a few of his punchlines were groaners or signposted, but there was never any doubt he still has a comic touch. It made me mildly upset he vanished from stand-up around the turn-of-the-century—no doubt to spend the millions he earned as a 15% shareholder in Celador, the UK company who created worldwide hit gameshow Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?

The sketches were the weakest element of this special, but I did enjoy the novelty of Carrott appearing alongside his real-life daughter, The Office's Lucy Davis, in a topsy-turvy sketch where she was playing "young mother" to his "old teenager". Plus it was fun to see Carrott reunited with Robert Powell (the spit of Steven Moffat, no?) for another Detectives sketch set in a hospital—although it reminded me why that mid-'90s sitcom isn't so fondly remembered. It was a funny five-minute part of a comedy show, but stretched to half-hour episodes it got quite draining—and Carrott's acting was never much beyond an ability to remember and recite lines. To end the show, there was a rather embarrassing song called "The Old Farts" from Carrott's house band, which included ELO drummer Bev Bevan and Rick Wakeman.

Taken as a whole, The One Jasper certainly wasn't great, but the strength of Carrott's stand-up material was better than I expected without longtime writers Mike Whitehill and Steve Knight (although I missed hearing another of his rambling "true stories", like the one about the vicious cat he had to pickup using a vacuum cleaner, or the infamous garden mole). If the show's intention is to remind you of a British comedy great (who's still alive to appreciate the plaudits), and stir some memories of how much you used to love their work, The One Jasper Carrott achieved that very nicely. I'm almost tempted to seek out DVDs of his gigs from the '80s and '90s...

9 January 2012, BBC One

SHERLOCK, 2.2 - "The Hounds Of Baskerville"

2012-01-09T17:55:00.001Z

"I don't have friends. I've just got one." – Sherlock to Watson

Sherlock Holmes is one of the most popular fictional characters on the planet, but I think it's safe to say the general public aren't as au fait with the plots to "A Study In Scarlet" or "A Scandal In Bohemia", which have been the basis of just two Sherlock episodes in this modern update. Sherlock as a character is better known than his adventures. However, "The Hound Of The Baskervilles" is arguably the one case most people know something about, or would single out as the iconic case for Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's sleuth. It was actually the author's most popular tale, written years after he'd killed Holmes in 1893's "The Final Problem" (an inspiration for next week's finale), although chronologically it took place earlier. Regardless, this story's become a classic of its genre and, for most people, the one they have genuine familiarity with.

Co-creator Mark Gatiss adapts and updates the 1901 story, renaming it "The Hounds Of Baskerville", as the second episode of Sherlock, and it proves to be another rousing success in almost every respect. In the Venn diagram of Gatiss' interests, this story would sit somewhere in the middle, most notably because of its supernatural element and Hammer Horror affiliation (Christopher Lee played Sir Henry in the 1959 horror from that British studio, opposite Peter Cushing's Holmes). So it's no great surprise that Gatiss manages to craft an effective and enjoyable adventure here, cleverly updating the story to involve a secret chemical/biological army test centre in Dartmoor that may have created a genetic chimera known as "The Hound" (which has become a local legend, akin to the real-life Beast Of Bodmin).

It's less dense and complicated than last week's premiere, but that's to its credit. While Steven Moffat favours plot-flips and surprises round every corner, Gatiss is better at sustaining a chilling mood and telling a spooky story. The adventure begins with posh Henry Knight (Russell Tovey) asking for Sherlock (Benedict Cumberbatch) and Watson's (Martin Freeman) help solving the mystery of his father's disappearance 20 years ago—the alleged result of an attack by a beast, or "Hound", with glowing red eyes, which has now returned and is haunting him on the moors. Initially incredulous of the tale, to put it mildly, Sherlock is nevertheless drawn to Devon to investigate this tall tale, and comes to realise there may be something to Henry's wild story—particularly after witnessing the fabled creature himself at the misty Jewer's Hollow, forcing the world's most rational mind to doubt the one thing that's never let him down: his own eyes.

"The Hounds Of Baskerville" was huge fun, and I particularly enjoyed seeing Sherlock and Watson taken out of their London stomping grounds to wander the bleak Devon countryside. It immediately gave the show a very different feel (Agatha Christie-meets-Brotherhood Of The Wolf) and you could tell Gatiss was having great fun making the duo rub shoulders with eccentric country folk: the barman who mistakes them as a gay couple, the enthusiast who owns a plaster footprint of the Hound, or the various members of the Baskerville research centre who are prime suspects for releasing an abomination into the wilderness beyond their barbed wire fences and minefield. It was also the ideal story to take Sherlock out of his comfort zone in other ways—by tackling a seemingly preposterous story, clashing against the otherworldly. It's often claimed, accurately, that Doctor Who is a Sherlock Holmes update in many ways, so it's interesting to note that the two characters have very different belief systems. The Doctor would have no problem accepting something crazy was happening here, even if there was a semi-rational explanation for things. In fact, "Tooth & Claw" is in some ways Who's version of the Baskerville story.

However, there were problems with this episode. While it was a wise decision to ensure this update didn't follow the original story too closely, regarding the fact Watson is essentially alone on the case for a long time, there were still moments when the story had to keep its double-act apart... and it wasn't always successful. But perhaps more problematic was how Henry Knight was used throughout the story, as he slipped into the background too much and was left to have a mental breakdown in a subplot that felt too tangential to the Sherlock/Watson investigation. Tovey was probably cast because he's brilliant at evoking audience sympathy, but Henry was just too much of a weeping wreck to be all that interesting. I'd have preferred him to play a more substantial role in things, but I understand why that would also presented problems in other ways.

I also found that the resolution to the mystery was perhaps too silly for this show. When it all boiled down to hazy childhood memories, a man in a red-eyed gas mask, a scary wolf T-shirt, a recognisable acronym, and the hallucinogenic gas from Batman Begins... well, it made enough sense to be largely satisfying, but it was also dafter than you expect from Sherlock. I think it's obvious why this story is a relatively rare instance of Sherlock tackling an X File. It can work, just about, but there's more pleasure to be gained from a compelling mystery that takes everyday things and gives them impossible twists that only Sherlock can unknot.

But despite its flaws, Mark Gatiss did probably the best job with pacing on the show since it began. These 90-minute episodes generally sag in the middle, but "The Hounds Of Baskerville" sustained itself like a genuine movie for once. It was still possible to lose 20-minutes from the story, if you gave it a good shake, but it didn't really hit the same "wall" after an hour—where you check your watch and wonder how they're going to keep the story going another 30-minutes. Maybe this is partly because Gatiss's adaptation was more of a direct update to the singular Conan Doyle story, instead of a mere starting point that's joined by elements from other plots, which has been true of the previous adventures.

Overall, "The Hounds Of Baskerville" wasn't as gripping as last week's premiere, but it held my attention better because it didn't feel so desperate to bamboozle the audience. In fact, there were quite a few moments when I was able to play "armchair detective" and managed to spot a few clues that proved relevant to Sherlock's deductions or methodology: like Dr Frankland using the Americanism of "cell number" instead of "mobile number", or the strangeness of him giving Watson sugar with his tea. Maybe this is because we, as an audience, are beginning to pay greater attention to the show's finer details, knowing how this show operates. I'm even starting to make mental notes about the seemingly trivial cases Sherlock dismisses early in episodes (like Bluebell the missing rabbit here) because they're more important than you realise...

Whatever gripes there were, this was highly enjoyable and stylish filmmaking with impressive performances and a real sense of mood, effective chills, and a few jumps along the way. The CGI "Hound" may not have been as convincing as we'd been led to believe it would be, and there were times when this adaptation didn't work perfectly, but overall I had a great time watching "The Hounds Of Baskerville" and it was nowhere close to being a disappointment for me.

Asides

For British audiences, the cast here was full of recognisable TV faces: Clive Mantle (Robin Of Sherwood, Casualty), Amelia Bullmore (Alan Partridge, Big Train), Sasha Behar ("Mad Maya" in Coronation Street), and Russell Tovey from Being Human, of course. Tovey was on the receiving end of a wolf-like creature here, which may have been an added meta-joke!
Don't play Cluedo with Sherlock! "The victim did it."
Mycroft's stolen ID card is essentially this show's version of The Doctor's "psychic paper"? Incidentally, why did the army soldier let Sherlock through after swiping that card, considering it clearly displayed a photo of Mycroft. Simple visual identification should surely have stopped Sherlock getting a foot beyond the check-in gate!
Great to see the embarrassing deerstalker has become a running joke on Sherlock!
I wonder if Sherlock's offer to tell Watson next week's lottery numbers was a nod to Derren Brown, the illusionist who did a famous lottery prediction trick on TV fairly recently. Brown's definitely a Holmesian character himself.
Dr Frankland's mention of the WHO convention obviously wasn't a Doctor Who reference, as it refers to the World Health Organisation, but perhaps it still works as one? Dr Frankland may have been a veiled reference to Dr Frankenstein, too?
The "Mind Palace" moment with Sherlock, as he mentally moves through his memories using hand gestures like Tom Cruise in Minority Report, felt too hokey to me. The idea appears to have been lifted from Thomas Harris' book Hannibal, which even made an appearance on a bookshelf in one scene. I suppose it gave director Paul McGuigan some more visual flourishes to indulge, in a more overtly humorous way.

written by Mark Gatiss / directed by Paul McGuigan / 8 January 2012 / BBC One

TV Picks: 9-15 January 2012 (Above Suspicion, Call The Midwife, Exit List, Good Wife, Shameless, Unforgettable, etc.)

2012-01-09T09:30:00.006Z

The Mystery Of Edwin Drood -- BBC2, Tue & Wed, 9PM

MONDAY 9th

The Career Crashers (BBC3, 7pm) Follow up series to Up For Hire, seeing how the four recruits are doing as theme park employees.
The Great Train Robbery's Missing Mastermind? (Channel 4, 8pm) Documentary on the famous train robbery in 1963 that aims to answer the question of who told the robbers about the millions being transported by rail.
The One Jasper Carrott (BBC1, 8.30pm) Comedy special celebrating the work of comedian Jasper Carrott, with new sketches and stand-up material. Featuring Robert Powell & Lucy Davies.
The Hunt For Higgs: A Horizon Special (BBC2, 9pm) Documentary on CERN, the enormous underground research centre hoping to discover the Higgs-Boson particle: science's Holy Grail.
PICK OF THE DAY Above Suspicion: Silent Scream (ITV1, 9pm) Crime drama from Lynda La Plante. (1/3)
Coppers (Channel 4, 9pm) Documentary following the police force. (1/8)
How Sex Works (BBC3, 9pm) Documentary on the physiological, neurological and psychological changes that occur when people have sex.
Illuminations: The Private Lives Of Medieval Kings (BBC4, 9pm) Documentary on illuminated manuscripts created for kings. (1/3)
America's Next Top Model: All-Stars (Sky Living, 9pm) 14 former contestants return to do battle. Featuring Nicki Minaj. (1/13)
Shameless (Channel 4, 10pm) Series 9 of the comedy-drama. (1/11)
When Paddy Met Sally (Channel 5, 10pm) Reality show where Celebrity Big Brother winner Paddy Doherty swaps lives with fellow contestant Sally Bercow. (1/2)
Bizarre Crime (BBC3, 10.30pm) Documentary about strange true life crimes.

TUESDAY 10th

The Great Sport Relief Bake Off (BBC2, 8pm) Charity run of the cookery series. Starring Sarah Hadland, Joe Swift, James Wong & Angela Griffin. Continues tomorrow, concludes Thursday. (1/3)
The Exit List (ITV1, 8pm) Brand new gameshow where contestants try to escape from a 24 room maze to win £200,000. Hosted by Matt Allwright. (1/7)
DIY SOS: The Big Build (BBC1, 9pm) Return of the building show.
PICK OF THE DAY The Mystery Of Edwin Drood (BBC2, 9pm) Adaptation of Charles Dickens' last unfinished novel. Concludes tomorrow. (1/2)
Inside Nature's Giants (Channel 4, 9pm) Return of the animal dissection documentary, this time featuring Cape Town baboons.
Websex: What's The Harm? (BBC3, 9pm) Documentary about 16-24 year old and their approach to sex online.
Unforgettable (Sky Living, 9pm) Season 1 of the US drama about a female detective with total recall. (1/20)
Burglar In The House (BBC1, 10.35pm) Documentary on burglary in the UK.

WEDNESDAY 11th

The Unforgettable: Leslie Crowther (ITV1, 7.30pm) Profile of the late presenter.
Benidorm (Channel 5, 8pm) Documentary on the Spanish resort.
Confessions Of A Sex Addict (BBC3, 9pm) Documentary on Jeff Leach, a lothario who claimed to have bedded 300 women by the age of 27.
PICK OF THE DAY The Good Wife (More4, 9pm) Season 3 of the US legal drama. Starring Julianna Margulies, Chris North, Alan Cumming, Josh Charles, Christine Baranski & Archie Panjabi. (1/22)
How To Be A Good Mother with Sharon Horgan (Channel 4, 10pm) Documentary on motherhood, presented by the comedy writer-actress.
Kym Marsh: Teen Mums & Me (Channel 5, 10pm) Documentary on teenage mothers in the UK, presented by the ex-popstar/actress.
Film 2012 (BBC1, 11.35pm) Return of the film review show. Co-hosted by Claudia Winkleman & Danny Leigh.

THURSDAY 12th

PICK OF THE DAY Unfinished Masterpieces with Alastair Sooke (BBC2, 9pm) Documentary on famous artworks that were left unfinished when their creators died.
Cherry Healy: Like A Virgin (BBC3, 9pm) Documentary on virginity.
My Daughter The Teenage Nudist (Channel 4, 10pm) Documentary on youngsters who are enjoying the nudist lifestyle.

FRIDAY 13th

Maggie: The First Lady (ITV3, 9pm) Documentary on the former Prime Minister.
PICK OF THE DAY Earth: Milton Jones Live Universe Tour (Dave, 9pm) Live stand-up recorded at the Arts Theatre in London.

SATURDAY 14th

PICK OF THE DAY Ken Russell: A Bit Of A Devil (BBC2, 9pm) Profile of the late director, whose work included The Devils, Tommy & The Music Lovers. Presented by Alan Yentob.

SUNDAY 15th

Hugh's Three Hungry Boys (Channel 4, 7pm) Brand new series where Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall challenges three friends to travel from Devon to Cornwall in 5 weeks, with no money, food or transport. (1/4)
PICK OF THE DAY Call The Midwife (BBC1, 8pm) Brand new drama about a London midwife. Starring Jessica Raine, Jenny Agutter, Pam Ferris & Judy Parfitt. (1/6)

CHUCK, 5.9 – "Chuck Versus the Kept Man"

2012-01-08T16:20:00.001Z

The great thing about final seasons is that things rapidly progress and are noticeably reaching crescendos, hopefully with the emotional weight that years of storytelling brings with it. In fact, as a TV show, Chuck's probably been helped by the fact it's threatened with cancellation so often, because the writers have been forced to tinker with the show in creative ways. Would Chuck and Sarah be an item now if the mainstream US audience had really taken to them? Anyway, because this is almost definitely the last season, the writers don't have to rush the ending with a flurry of game-changing ideas to encourage another season, they can implement them in a satisfying way throughout the year. In "Chuck Versus The Kept Man", Casey (Adam Baldwin) admitted his feelings for Gertrud (Carrie-Anne Moss), Sarah (Yvonne Strahovski) had a pregnancy scare (surely a precursor to a happier result in the finale), and Jeff (Scott Krinsky) and Lester (Vik Sahay) finally discovered their Buy More colleagues are secret spies.

The latter is a particular big moment for Chuck, really, as those characters are the only remaining ones who don't realise Chuck has a secret life, with the exception of Big Mike. The way they uncovered the truth even made some sense to me, given that Jeff's no longer mentally incapable and is intelligent enough to have noticed the strange comings and goings. (Although I have no idea how he could have known about the Intersect, according to his board of clues and connections.) But allowing for the usual silliness, this subplot was great fun, as Morgan (Joshua Gomez) realised his employees are getting close to blowing their cover and put them off the scent by getting Devon (Ryan McPartlin) to pose as "the spy" in their midst. (It seems to be a running theme that Devon gets to play a James Bond role this year!) Unfortunately, Morgan's plan didn't quite work, meaning Jeff and Lester have clapped eyes on Castle for themselves, so some explaining needs to be done. Maybe Chuck will manage to convince them they were hallucinating due to paint fumes, now they've been K.O'd by a tranq dart after peering through a fake wall, but I hope not. It could be huge fun to see how these characters will need to be coddled into not sabotaging Carmichael Industries, or wanting to go on missions like eager pups.

The main storyline this week wasn't very interesting, being just another variation on the evil arms dealer who needs to be stopped idea the show's done numerous times before. It was just a template to hang a lot of good character stuff from; particularly the idea that spies can be caring people, which becomes Chuck's new mantra for their business, and fed directly into Casey's story because he's the hard-faced ex-CIA agent who doesn't usually have time for affairs of the heart. But here he came to see that Gretchen's his dream woman (sexy, capable, like-minded), and even mellowed enough to wear a soft cashmere sweater and watch Downton Abbey with his daughter Alex (Mekenna Melvin)... instead of go on a dangerous two-month trip to Dresden.

And while Chuck's already a more emotionally open person, we learned he's not quite as synced to Sarah as he believes himself to be, because he never picked up on the obvious signals that Sarah believes she might be pregnant. Interesting to see this this pregnancy idea raised at last (I've been expecting it for awhile), and even though the test was negative I'm willing to bet the next one won't be. It's just a tricky thing because the writers can't tackle Sarah's pregnancy as realistically, time-wise, as they did for Ellie a few seasons ago. My guess is the show will announce her pregnancy in the next few weeks, and we'll have some kind of jump forward in time during the series finale... to Chuck, Sarah and their baby living together in a beautiful home.

Second of Strahotness: cool at the pool

It was also fun to see some nods to the show's tongue-in-cheek treatment of women on the show, with Casey being the one asked to wear a sexy bathing suit by Gertrude (although we never saw it), and the hilarious sight of Lester undercover as a woman with black wig and high heels. Sarah even vocalised her disdain about always being the one asked to wear saucy costumes on missions, which was a neat touch. But still, it's a shame the episode didn't go further with what it was raising here, because "... Versus The Kept Man" was still an episode where Yvonne Strahovski appeared in a slow-motion pool side sequence, and the boys got away with wearing gowns. Not that I'm complaining, but I do worry the show's less keen to give its female fans some eye-candy moments.

Overall, this was yet another very enjoyable episode that overcame a dull plot with great character development and many amusing sequences focusing on the cast. Carrie-Anne Moss continues to be the show's best recurring guest-star since Scott Bakula, and as the show races towards its climax I feel confident that Chuck will end having produced a season I'd compare favourably to seasons 2 and 3.

Asides

That was British stand-up comedian Jim Tavare playing the bald English villain in the teaser, which was rather strange to see from my perspective. If you're not aware of his work, watch this.
Loved the Downton Abbey shout-outs here. That UK drama really appears to have entered the American consciousness at this point.

written by Craig DiGregorio & Phil Klemmer / directed by Fred Toye / 6 January 2012 / NBC

Review: NEW GIRL, 1.1 – "Pilot"

2012-01-08T11:00:00.002Z

This Fox sitcom drew a bigger audience than the third season premiere of Glee when it debuted in the US, and now it finally reaches UK shores. I disliked it, as you'd probably expect. New Girl is everything I don't like about US comedy in one vivid, nauseating package. The only way it could have been worse would have been to add an unseen American audience to laugh, wolf whistle, and whoop over everything.

Zooey Deschanel (admitting her film career's terminal now she's 31 and still offered parts for 21-year-old ingénues) takes the lead as Jessica "Jess" Day--another character written to be a "quirky twentysomething", it would seem, so all Deschanel's done is switch mediums and chase job security. Or perhaps it's deeper than that and Jess is secretly a woman in her early-30s with learning difficulties? She reminded me of Charlize Theron's Jill from Arrested Development, who came across as disarmingly kooky but was later revealed to be a few sandwiches short of a picnic. Maybe I've stumbled upon New Girl's big season finale twist? Jill's a school teacher, too. I can only assume she's in charge of the potato printing lessons at a kindergarten.

Jill dumps her cheating boyfriend in the opening of the pilot when she arrives home to serenade him naked and finds he's in bed with someone else. Heartbroken, Jess moves into an apartment with three men: affable bartender Nick (Jake Johnson), self-styled ladies man Schmidt (Max Greenfield) and macho athlete "Coach" (Damon Wayans Jr)—a character replaced by Lamorne Morris as Winston hereafter. Who names a character "Coach", anyway?

New Girl relies totally on the audience finding Zooey Deschanel adorable (or "adorkable" as the US marketing claims), which goes for almost every character she's ever played. And I just don't find her "adorkable", even if millions do. The older she gets, the creepier her huskily-voiced doe-eyed performances feels to me. I'm sure she's a lovely person in real life, and makes plenty of hipsters swoon with her large eyes and elfin features, but her performances feel indistinguishable to me and I'm not under her spell. She's not so awful that I want to scratch my eyes out whenever I see her, and she has moments of winsomeness here, but this show is written in a way that's unappealing to me.

written by Liz Meriwether / directed by Jake Kasdan / 6 January 2011 / Channel 4

Review: THE ONE LENNY HENRY (BBC1)

2012-01-07T10:00:00.003Z

~~I'm guessing this Friday night slot would have gone to Stephen K. Amos, had his own show not flopped so catastrophically last year.~~ As people have commented below, this is actually a three-part comedy strand with Griff Rhys Jones and Jasper Carrott also being given the spotlight. So instead the BBC have revived their only other black comedian of note: the enduring Lenny Henry, who appears to have stopped ageing since 1995. The One Lenny Henry was a shamelessly old-fashioned mix of sketches and stand-up (practically beamed in from the late-'80s), but seeing as it was intended as a celebration of Henry's 37-year-old career it wasn't such a flaw.

Things began promisingly, with an amusing spoof of The Killing (hearing "Phantom Flan Flinger" spoken in a Danish accent made me giggle anyway), and a wise move to have Henry acknowledge that many people find him irritating. The quality of comedy in this half-hour wasn't great, and it definitely wasn't inspired, but it was functional and sometimes drew laughs from a recess of my brain where a Frank Spencer or Tommy Cooper impression is still a happy event. I have no idea what anyone under the age of 20 would make to the many callbacks to Henry's early career, such as resurrecting '80s character Delbert Wilkins (once a London pirate DJ, now a YouTube "star") or incorrigible ladies man Donovan.

But while there were sketches/jokes that would flop in the eyes of some people, others probably hit their targets: like a sketch with Ronni Ancona poking fun at Twilight (with Birmingham-born Henry as a "Brumpire" and his topless nemesis from "Werewolverhampton"), or the surprisingly funny appearance of Peter Serafinowicz as a white wannabe black man. A joke that may now feel tired, 15 years since Ali G perfected it, but you could tell the unlikely double-act of Henry and Serafinowicz were having good fun together. The show could have used more live studio sketches like that one, really.

British-Iranian comedian Omid Djalili also appeared, in a slapstick sketch where two cooks had an "inappropriate fight" in a kitchen, and I could imagine many children being amused by the live-action cartoon violence of sitting on a red-hot stove or people having food stuffed up their nose.

Henry's own stand-up was the most underwhelming aspect of the show, as it was so middle-of-the-road you could see the white lines. One bit, about being jailed for the petty crime of pirating a DVD, has been done so many times before on-stage, by various comedians, that I'm surprised whoever came up with the routine hasn't started legal proceedings against a half-dozen performers. Still, Henry's been working a crowd for nearly 40 years, and he has enough stage presence and confidence to bulldoze his way through weak or naff material. I don't find him a particularly funny person, but I can appreciate he has a stage craft.

Overall, taken as a bite-sized family-focused half-hour, partly there to celebrate the career of a popular entertainer, who's still a rare black face in his particular field, I can't get angry about The One Lenny Henry's existence. It wasn't there to push boundaries or do anything unique and cutting-edge, it was 30-minutes of easygoing jokes and a few sketches to make you smile. I actually found it warmly nostalgic in a sense, especially because of the way it ended with a reworking of a popular pop song (Cee Lo Green's "Forget You"), which was the formula for every show like this back in the day...

6 January 2011 / BBC1

Review: ETERNAL LAW, 1.1 – episode one

2012-01-06T19:00:00.003Z

Silly concepts need a strong sense of conviction and imagination to see them through; to make an audience suspend their disbelief and enjoy something that might otherwise be too open to ridicule. The idea of two angels arriving on Earth to work as defence lawyers is just such an idea, and Eternal Law lasted about five minutes before cracks appeared. Creators Matthew Graham and Ashley Pharaoh are good writers, as they've proven with Life On Mars and Ashes To Ashes, but their own Gene Hunt-less ideas haven't been very good—an infamous low-point being the BBC archaeological action-mystery Bonekickers. There's the seed of a good idea to everything they do, and heaven knows I prefer something imaginative over a routine cop/doctor drama, but there's also a worrying naivety and ridiculousness to their end results...

Experienced angel Zak Gist (Samuel West) and his novice colleague Tom Greening (Ukweli Roach) descend from Heaven (as shooting stars) one night, appearing in a cornfield just outside York. In the city, they're taken into the care of mysterious Mrs Sherringham (Fringe's Orla Brady), whom I'm guessing is a former angel who gave up divinity to live as a human, and become barristers to help everyday people. It's inferred that their mission on Earth may even have make-or-break consequences for the fate of the world at large, from their boss "Mr Mountjoy" (i.e. God). In this opening episode, Zak and Tom are embroiled in a daytime marketplace shooting, where a sniper was aiming at a nearby wedding party, but after capturing the gunman they're informed they're his defence team. Adding another complication, of sorts, is that the prosecution lawyer is Richard Pembroke (Tobia Menzies), a "fallen angel" with the expected opposing attitude about the condition of humanity and what the world really needs.

On a basic level, I can see Eternal Law working moderately well as a middle-of-the-road drama for the Highway To Heaven or Touched By An Angel crowd, but there are too many stupid and laughable moments for it to be taken seriously. Considering the relative complexity of the average Mars/Ashes storyline from the writers, the case in this episode is laughably simplistic and uninvolving—even allowing for a straightforward story because they're also having to introduce so much information about the characters and show as a whole (like how angels can influence people by showing them the outcomes of their decisions, despite it being against "the rules"). Nobody questions why God allows them to have such a useful power if they can't use it, of course.

The characters are also very thinly drawn, with Tom as the eager young chorister who can't help marvelling at the material world, and Zak as his world-weary counterpoint trying to keep his partner out of trouble—because, rather like Starman, Tom's behaviour and innocent outlook can often cause problems for them with normal people. Pembroke is an uninteresting mixture of demon/villain clichés (superiority complex, sneering expressions, loves to sit surrounded by candles), and it's too early to say if Mrs Sherringham will evolve into anything other than the boy's in-the-know housekeeper. Of mild interest is the fact that Zak is reacquainted with an old flame called Hannah (Hattie Morahan), although she doesn't seem to recognise him in his latest form. There's perhaps potential for a weird love-story to develop here, but there wasn't much sign of chemistry between West and Morahan in their scenes together.

Co-produced by Kudos, arguably the UK's best independent production company (having also done Spooks and Hustle), it looks visually decent as an idyllic interpretation of York, and should help the tourist board attract some custom further up north. The CGI for the angel's wings is also good, although they need to work on an effect to have them "unfurl" during a shot, because one of this episode's biggest unintended laughs happened with an ugly cut of Zak screaming in a hospital room to him suddenly standing with enormous feathered wings splayed out behind him.

Perhaps the biggest problem for Eternal Law is that it doesn't do anything especially well. As a legal drama it's feeble and crude (even the writers lost faith in their climactic "courtroom scene", so they had it interrupted by a preposterous and spatially impossible gunshot); as a fantasy drama it feels pedestrian, unremarkable and quite twee; and there wasn't any heart or emotions being stirred by its supernatural romance component. There's more than enough time for Eternal Law to improve and find its voice, of course, but considering the abundance of problems (which aren't likely to be fixed, based on feedback, till a theoretical second series), and my experiences watching ITV shows like this, the outlook isn't great.

There aren't even any must-see actors or a unique knot in its premise to guarantee I'll be back next week.

Asides

Samuel West is the son of famous actors Timothy West and Prunella Scales. He also played Frankenstein's Monster in 2004's Van Helsing movie.
The Deep reunion! Orla Brady and Tobias Menzes both starred in that BBC1 sci-fi stinker. That's a promising sign, isn't it.

written by Matthew Graham & Ashley Pharoah / directed by Adrian Shergold / 5 January 2011 / ITV1