TV: The Secret of Doctor Who

It’s been an eventful time for Doctor Who, both on and off screen. Russell T Davies, now an OBE, the man who successfully updated Doctor Who after nearly 20 years off our screens, is stepping down from the series runner position. He will be replaced by Steven Moffat, who has written some of the best episodes of the past four seasons (The Girl In The Fireplace, Blink, Silence In The Library/Forest Of The Dead), which bodes well. Catherine Tate, more famous for her ‘comedy’ characters, was a surprise choice for the new companion, especially after being seen as a one-off in the Christmas special, and has been battling fan criticism throughout. And Billie Piper was making cameos throughout this series, suggesting something big was being planned.

This pales, however, compared with what happened at the end of The Stolen Earth, the episode shown on Saturday 28 June 2008. Because, at the end of the programme, there was a genuine, out-of-nowhere cliffhanger [SPOILER ALERT] – David Tennant’s Doctor Who was shot by a Dalek and started to regenerate.

This was completely unexpected – not even the smallest hint that this might occur appeared anywhere; not newspapers, not the web, nothing. To keep this secret in today’s world of exclusives and gossip and insider info is nothing short of amazing. I haven’t felt this energised about a cliffhanger in years – thank you BBC and Russell T Davies for this wonderful feeling.

What does this mean? Are we getting a new Doctor? Wasn’t the gap of three specials next year supposed to allow Tennant to do Hamlet in the theatre and then come back? Is it all a bait and switch to get us excited? Is it to do with alternate timelines and Donna Noble? Was the shot of the Doctor’s hand from his first appearance a hint? Or will he just regenerate back into himself? All I know is that I’m really looking forward to the season finale and hoping that it lives up to the promise. Well played, Russell, well played …

TV: Thoughts On Heroes Season Two (So Far)

Much was made of the apology from Heroes creator Tim Kring for the troubles with the early episodes of season two – although I tried to avoid the discussions because I didn’t want the show spoiled – so I thought I’d talk about my reactions to the first five episodes that have been shown on BBC2 here in the UK.

The show does suffer from what Kring admits – slowness. In a classic case of ‘If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’, it was decided that because people liked the slow build of season one, they’d want exactly the same thing again. Alan Moore said something along the lines of: you don’t give people what they want, you give them what they don’t know they need. Trying to guess what the audience wants is a fool’s game. In this case, trying to replicate the mechanics of the first season simply won’t work – the story has been done, you can’t go back. And, even if you do the first storyline again (have a group of people come together who don’t know each other to fight a threat that will kill millions of people), you should at least set up what the threat is, something that hasn’t happened in the first five episodes …

As season 2 starts, our heroes our displaced. Matt Parkman survives getting shot in the chest at the end of season 1 (although DL Hawkins wasn’t so lucky), and he and Suresh are looking after Molly. The Bennets are in California, hiding themselves away in case The Company finds them. Hiro is in 17th century Japan (and his father is killed, as the start of this season’s mystery – don’t worry, they get another member of the original Star Trek cast, Nichelle Nichols, to be in the series: she’s Micah’s grandmother), Sylar survives being stabbed in the chest with a samurai sword with ‘eight surgeries’, and Peter (looking pumped – Milo Ventimiglia worked out during the break) is suffering the worst: he’s stuck in an embarrassing version of Ireland. He has amnesia – shame he will remember this part, with the bad Irish accents (all different; the girl sounds like she’s doing a Northern Irish accent, even though Cork is on the other side of the island and a different country) and the fantasy blarney (Irish people don’t live in huge loft apartments where there’s enough room to have a bed and a kitchen and massive windows and a huge space to paint on canvas).

The other strand of the mystery of this season is The Company, which Suresh and Bennet are planning to bring down. Suresh is brought into the Company by the character of Bob, played by the ever-watchable Stephen Tobolowsky. The only thing is, all I can think of when I see him (especially after the turning the spoon into gold scene) is the character of Tom Jones from X-Factor vol.1 #41 and other comics, a mutant who can turn other metals into gold, a character created in a Marvel competition if memory serves. This makes me laugh.

Apart from the awfulness of the Oirishness, there are other things that don’t work so well. The Herrera twins from Honduras, with their plague/cure symmetry (although they always seem to manage to split them apart every episode with an implausible plot device in order to show the killing and curing), are quite dull, their story has gone on too long without anything happening, and it was downright silly having them meet Sylar in the middle of nowhere. Micah’s cousin, Monica, with her muscle mimicry (this was after the Echo character created by David Mack in Daredevil, wasn’t it?) is just a little naff for some reason – it may sound cool but it seems ridiculous on screen. And some of the scenes with her have been painful – not her fault, but the fault of the creator. Kring writes some of the most appalling dialogue and bad scenes in the entire show, and his episodes klunk along in an embarrassing fashion. Then there is the ropey CGI when they show Noah Bennet and the Haitian walking in Russia when it is plainly obvious that they are in a sound studio in California in front of a green screen.

When the positives and negatives are combined, the show just about breaks even. It’s enough to keep me interested but not enough to get me excited, in the way the first season did. There is huge potential in the show and I’m still delighted that a show that is comic books in television form is doing so well, but I just want them to do a decent job and deliver the goods. Here’s hoping the rest of season 2 is worth the wait.

Barry Norman Pickled Onions

Coming into work this morning, I noticed a bizarre-looking poster at a bus stop: it was advertising Barry Norman Pickled Onions. I thought it was a joke of some sort, perhaps for a new show or game. But it isn’t. It’s a genuine product: you can find the official website for it here, and you can buy them (if you live in the UK) online here.

I’m still a little freaked out.

What the hell is going on in the world that Barry Norman is selling Pickled Onions? What is the grand man of British television reviewing doing plastering his not-attractive face on a jar of condiments? Are celebrity endorsed-products (Paul Newman’s salad dressings, Lloyd Grossman’s sauces, Frankie bloody Dettori’s pizzas) the only way to purchase food products anymore?

(By the way, if you are an American, it’s the equivalent of Roger Ebert Pickled Gherkins, if that helps.)

You see, Barry Norman (no relation) was the face of film reviewing to me (and probably the rest of the country) when I was growing up. He fronted the Film programme from 1973 to 1998 on BBC1, meaning he was the film critic for the nation. He was a former journalist, so he had served an apprenticeship on daily newspapers and treated the job with respect (unlike Jonathan Ross does as current front man for the show – the inclusion of action figures on his desk demonstrates vividly that it’s all a bit of a lark for Wossy, being paid to watch films and tell you his opinions).

Barry had an air of authority on the subject (his father was a film director) but without being poe-faced and aloof (e.g. Brian Sewell on the arts); you could tell he loved film and enjoyed talking about them and to the people who created them (although he found the directors/writers more interesting – he famously didn’t get on with Robert DeNiro, who was providing monosyllabic answers to questions while he begrudgingly went through the interview process).

I always felt that I could trust a Barry Norman review – not only was he spot-on his judgement, but he delivered his critique in a clear, concise and non-condescending manner. He even allowed his sense of humour to show through (although it took him some time to warm to his Spitting Image puppet, which gave Barry the urban myth catchphrase, ‘And why not?’, something he never uttered but eventually used for the title of his autobiography), demonstrating he loved his job, knew it wasn’t the most important job in the world, but treated it with respect and a sense of helping the viewers and hopefully the world of film.

I used to watch Barry Norman religiously; the same can’t be said of Ross’ version. I wanted to BE Barry Norman – who wouldn’t want to be paid to watch films – probably because he made it look so easy (it was only afterwards that I found out that he was reading from an autocue; he even made that look easy). I’ve even read his autobiography, for goodness sake. I missed him when he left for Sky (after the BBC annoyed him with inconsistent scheduling of the programme), but I’m glad that he is still working, still talking about film, still writing about film (he has a column in the Radio Times).

However, I don’t know if I want to eat his pickled onions. Apparently, they are his family’s recipe passed down generations – who persuaded him that the world would not only want to eat them but would want to pay for the privilege? At least Newman sells salad dressing for charity – Barry just wants the money (although he doesn’t make very much, according to this interview). I’m not completely convinced it’s a real product – I think it works better as a surrealist joke – but it goes to show you the strange things that happen to people you used to watch on the telly when you were a young lad.

TV: Pushing Daisies

Pushing Daisies is the latest import from the US that has a British woman in one of the lead roles (see Bionic Woman and The Sarah Conner Chronicles) and which is being shown on ITV (see Bionic Woman and Entourage). However, they are showing it on the main channel, ITV1, at prime time on a Saturday evening. Now that is unusual.

What’s more unusual is the show itself and the fact that it is appearing on the home of comfy, cosy, unchallenging dramas. Pushing Daisies has a delightfully bizarre premise: Ned (Lee Pace) has the ability to bring dead creatures back to life (which he discovers when his dog is run over); however, if he touches them again, they return to their dead state. He brought his mother back to life, only for the father of his neighbour (and his crush, Chuck) to die – it seems that a localised death incidence occurs to balance the reanimation – and then his mother dies when she kisses him good night. This leads him to be distant from the rest of humanity, leading him to become a pie maker with his own shop (he can use his ability to revive ingredients for his pies).

A private investigator (an hilarious turn from Chi McBride) witnesses his ability, and together they use it get the reward money from recently killed people – it’s easier to identify a murderer when you can ask the corpse. Things get complicated for Ned when he revives his former crush, Chuck (Anna Friel), and lets her stay alive. They both still have feelings for each other but can’t touch each other, which obviously gets in the way of a normal relationship.

The charm of this show, and it is utterly charming, is in the specific manner in which it has been made. There is a surreal quality attached to a certain American quaintness, which vibrant primary colours dazzling every scene. This twee feeling is amplified by the narration of the story: Jim Dale, famous here for Carry On films, but famous in the US for reading their version of the Harry Potter audiobooks, tells the tale as an omniscent narrator with a distinct rhythm and word choice that gives it a singular feel. It’s quite delightful.

This is matched by the leads and the playfulness of the characters and the story. Pace is a charming presence as the lead, but it is the chemistry with Anna Friel as Chuck that is the perfect confection. Friel is not a great actress (a quick glance through the resume shows very little of worth) but she always had a sweetly pretty quality that always shone through and makes her perfect for this role. And, with a light-heartedness to the script (such as having a travel agent called Boutique Travel Travel Boutique), it really is an absolute delight. So it’s such a shame that we won’t get the second episode here until they repeat the series – the retarded controllers at ITV have cut it because they don’t want to get in the way of Euro 2008. Unbelievable.

TV Catch-Up: Being Human

A common theme in these last few posts about my recent television viewing is the odd choice of channel that airs the show. Being Human joins this list because BBC3 is not the home of supernatural drama.

Being Human is about two friends who work in menial jobs in a hospital. Their connection is that they are not normal: Mitchell is a vampire and George is a werewolf. All they want is to be normal, which is obviously difficult for them. They decide to share a flat to help them feel more normal – it turns out that it already has a ghost occupant: Annie, the former owner.

When it turns out that both Mitchell and George can see Annie, who is simply a lost soul who doesn’t want to leave the flat where she died, the three of them find a happy medium (no pun intended) where they can co-exist in supernatural harmony.

The hour-long drama has other aspects to it (Mitchell created another vampire at the start of the show, and is approached by the cabal of vampires in the neighbourhood who want to reassert their superiority over the humans and want Mitchell to choose sides; George sees an old girlfriend on whom he walked out after discovery of his curse) but it is more to do with the interplay between the three main characters – the discussion in the pub at the end of which house in Hogwarts they would be in is extremely funny and indicative of the vibe of the programme.

Being Human is an excellent little programme, so I was amazed to discover that it was only a pilot, one of several to be shown on BBC3. It felt so assured, so complete and fully formed, it didn’t feel like a pilot. I would happily watch a full series of this, and I’m not the only one: there is an online petition for the BBC to make a complete series, and there is of course a Facebook page to the same end. I don’t think that either of these will help, but it would be nice if it did persuade the Beeb to do the right thing and continue the series.

TV Catch-Up: Bionic Woman

I don’t understand the way ITV thinks: it puts Dexter on ITV1 (albeit late at night) but puts Entourage and The Office: An American Workplace. It’s a shame that they were able to purchase them in the first place – they are not the usual programmes that people who watch ITV want to see.

And now we have the updating of The Bionic Woman, handily now called Bionic Woman, another show that feels out of place on ITV2 (even though the pilot got the best ratings for the channel yet). Coming from one half (David Eick) of the folk responsible for Battlestar Galactica, possibly the greatest updating of a television programme ever, this was a show with some expectation. Which probably makes the disappointment all the sharper.

Michelle Ryan is Jamie Sommers, a bartender who is saved from death by receiving bionic implants in her legs, her right arm, her right eye and her right ear (all because her boyfriend is the man in charge of the procedure, and son of the man who created them in). The first person who comes after her is the first bionic woman, Sarah Corvus (played with gleeful over-the-topness by Battlestar Galactica’s Starbuck, Katie Sackhoff: when she says the line ‘I’m Sarah Corvus. The first bionic woman. Ta-da’, you’d think it was pantomime).

In fact, this seems to be a pension show for Battlestar Galactica alumni: Aaron Douglas (who plays Chief) is a prison guard; Mark Sheppard (who played Gaius’ lawyer) is the original bionic pioneer.

The show doesn’t feel right. Ryan is fairly anaemic in the lead role, especially compared with the more interesting Sackhoff. She also has to put up with the annoying whining teenage sister she is looking after (which is the reason for her dropping out of college, allowing the character to be intelligent). The dialogue doesn’t help – when Miguel Ferrer (the big boss in the organisation that runs the bionics programme) says at the end, ‘Welcome to the game’, you feel sorry for him. Finally, the action itself is nothing special – seeing as this is the primary draw of the show, it needs to look good; no, it needs to look spectacular, and this doesn’t. Television shows don’t have the budget, which is why you can only have the one bionic fight an episode, and this doesn’t cut it (they try to hide it with lots of quick cuts and pouring rain, but it doesn’t work). there might be an interesting programme in the Bionic Woman, but this isn’t it.

TV Catch-Up: Dexter

The idea of a serial killer who only kills other serial killers sounds like it could be a really clichéd B-movie. Instead, the television series Dexter, based on the Dexter novels of Jeff Lindsay (pen name of Jeffry P. Freundlich), is a fascinating and perfectly judged character study as well as an entertaining programme.

Dexter (Michael C Hall) is a blood splatter analyst for the Miami police department who also is a serial killer. However, he only kills people who have killed (and more than once) and haven’t been captured, keeping only a blood sample as a memento. He was taught how to put on a normal façade and exist in normal society by his adoptive father, Harry, who was a celebrated policeman, who recognised what Dexter was but showed him how to channel the impulse against those who deserved it. We see these flashbacks to his youth with his father throughout the show, to give us the development of Dexter.

We meet Dexter as he kills a family man who had killed boys in his youth, before we see him working at the police station, and watch as he becomes involved with what will become known as The Ice Truck Killer, where he helps his adoptive sister, who also works for the police, to get on the case. We also see Dexter in his relationship with a woman (as part of his façade of normality, he must have a girlfriend) who is as damaged in her own way as he – there is no sex, something that Dexter has no interest in.

There are two aspects of the show that make it wonderful viewing. Firstly is the performance by Hall as Dexter – it is mesmerizing and captivating, showing all his flaws and strengths and conflicts. The look he gives straight to the camera at the end of the first episode, where he finds the clue left for him by the Ice Truck Killer, is exquisite – it should throw you out of viewing experience, but it makes you smile and want to watch more. The second aspect is the precision of the balancing act; this could be just awful, but the strength of the setting, the characterisation of the rest of the cast, the decision to show Dexter’s crimes (I’m watching the series on ITV – quite a bold decision for the bland mainstream of their usual output – so there might be watering down of the more gruesome details) as well as his contributions to society all make for a remarkable show.

TV Catch-Up - Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles

When I first heard that this was being made, I really didn’t think it could work. The first two films were fabulous chase films – there was no way they could do that in a television series on a weekly basis. Television can do many interesting things, but it can’t out-action cinema on a regular basis – the budgets alone dictate that. The series seemed to be ignoring the third film, an underrated flick that played the films’ storylines to a logical and satisfying conclusion.

Now that I have finally seen it (they are showing it on Virgin here in the UK, available on Freeview), I can lay aside my prejudiced preconceptions and say, this is actually quite good. I think that a lot of is down to the creators, mostly it would seem Josh Friedman (the main developer), who has created a complex and dynamic storyline, weaving previous and future events and characters.

Taking off after the events of the second Terminator film, Sarah Connor (Lena Headey, doing generic American accent quite well) is a woman with the weight of the world on her shoulders, looking after her teenage son John (Thomas Dekker), the future leader of the human resistance in the war against the Terminators. After moving on from yet another location, they end up in another place where they pretend to be normal and John goes to school again. Only, this time, he is attached by a Terminator, only to be saved by a schoolmate, Cameron (Summer Glau), who turns out to be another Terminator sent to look after him. Instead of always being on the run, they decide to stop the future by making sure Skynet never exists. This involves them jumping forward in time from 1999 to 2007 (but unfortunately taking with them the head of the Terminator chasing them).

Despite the negative reaction to Headey’s take on Sarah Connor (she has to be more complex character for a television series, rather than the one-note film version), she comes across as determined, driven and tormented, which is what the character would be after all she has been through. Dekker is okay as John – he doesn’t have that much to do – but it is Summer Glau who has all the fun, both in the action and the cool lines, as the Terminator in the form of a teenage girl. Admittedly she had practice from Firefly/Serenity of being the oddball who could suddenly turn tough, but she’s still the most interesting character.

The story itself seems to be developing well, taking the opportunity to play with timelines and ideas, bringing in future resistance fighters to set things up in the present, and having other Terminators doing other missions (such as collecting the metal alloy need to make more Terminators after Judgement Day). What could have been rather repetitive and formulaic has turned into an interesting television series.

TV Catch-Up: Reaper

Reaper stars Bret Harrison (who looks a little like a young Craig Berko, who I always remember from The Long Kiss Goodnight) as Sam, a slacker who works at a home improvement store, whose parents sold his soul to the Devil (Ray Wise). On his 21st birthday, he becomes a bounty hunter for Devil, tracking down souls escaped from hell using ‘vessels’ provided by Satan, because the Devil will take his mother’s soul instead if he doesn’t. He does this with the help of his best friend and work colleague, Bert ‘Sock’ Wysocki (Tyler Labine), and another work mate, Ben (Rick Gonzalez). Meanwhile, he pines for Andi (Missy Peregrym), who works at the Work Bench with him (she came back there when her father died and she needed some familiarity to comfort her) as they maintain a ‘good friend’ relationship.

Famously, the pilot was directed by Kevin Smith – who knows a thing or two about slackers – which probably helped the show get a leg up in the dog-eat-dog world of television pilots. He is listed as a consultant, even though he doesn’t really do anything, but his influence is felt in the relaxed atmosphere and easy-going dialogue. Also, especially in the pilot, he stated that there was a comparison to Simon Pegg and Nick Frost partnership from Shaun of the Dead – this works well, with Sam and Sock recreating the same dynamic (which means that Ben feels like a third wheel at times).

The pilot was a lot of fun and the set up was perfect for the episodic nature of serial television: Devil shows up (Ray Wise has a ball as the Devil, playing it charming, smarmy, oily, and threatening in perfect amounts), Sam gets a vessel and a mission, he and Sock do comedy, and there is the ongoing saga of ‘will they/won’t they’ of him and Andi. This last part could be annoying, but they balance this out very well, and it is one of the elements that keeps me coming back.

An aside – Missy (strange name) is just far too attractive for this show. She is very pretty naturally, but she seems to stand out even more when you watch the programme, as if they are reducing the attractiveness on the rest of the actors and turning up her beauty levels. It’s rather odd.

The show keeps on delivering (even if they have practically eliminated the family as supporting characters) and provides some good stuff on a regular basis – the episode where Gladys, the woman at the DMV who works for the Devil to take the captured souls, makes Sock have a dream about getting it on with her: Labine’s (over)reaction when he wakes up was absolutely priceless. Congratulations all around for an enjoyable show.

TV Catch-Up Week: Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip

My best mate went to the US to work and live before I did. When I went to visit him, he knew the head cue card guy at SNL who got us in – we got to watch the rehearsals (around 2 in the afternoon) and then we were in the green room for the first half of the show, before being allowed to come down to the studio floor for the last third of the show. It was magical. Steve Buscemi was hosting – I had watched him practise his monologue and some sketches about ten feet away – and, as we stood in front of the audience, I could see Willem Dafoe not too far away, just watching the show like we were. (We even went to the after show party, where my mate was next to Buscemi at the urinal – he was still smoking and drinking a beer while he went, Buscemi, not my friend – so probably qualifies as one of the coolest things I have ever done in my life). The point I’m making is that the atmosphere was amazing and the perfect setting for a show, which is what Aaron Sorkin does with Studio 60 (based as it is on SNL).

Even though I know that this was cancelled after one series, I couldn’t wait to see it. I had to wait for the terrestrial airing on Channel 4 (More4 started showing it while I was on holiday) and, despite the fact that they are showing it at midnight (and in double episodes – obviously, this show hasn’t been getting the ratings on More4 that they hoped, which is a crying shame), it is still one of the best shows on television at the moment.

The double episode that begins the show sets things up perfectly – Judd Hirsch does a Network (a point that is referenced) in the middle of a live airing of Studio 60, on the night before Jordan McDeere (Amanda Peet) becomes the president of the National Broadcasting System. To change things and to counter the charges of dumbing down made by Hirsh, she gets Danny Tripp (Bradley Whitford) and Matt Able (Matthew Perry) to run the show – Matt is a hot writer who started on the show but was fired four years ago and Danny was a segment producer who went with him and is now a film director but can’t do a film due to having tested positive for cocaine (they agree to do the show while he gets clean for 18 months which is when he will be bonded to direct a film again).

There is some autobiographical stuff in this – Sorkin is a writer like Matt (writing by himself, ignoring the Room of writers, fired from a show that he made famous) and has a cocaine problem like Danny, and the concept itself is his personal dream for quality entertainment and not dumbing down.

The show is similar to West Wing – both places are high intensity situations where people who are passionate about what they do and have to survive under pressure from the public and people in power; there is a similar vibe, with the fast talking and the intelligent people who have an internet knowledge of trivia and are very funny when they quip, doing the patented ‘walk and talk’ because there is so much to get through in the hour.

The actors are very good – Perry and Whitford are amazingly good, and their chemistry as two old friends in the business is perfect; the cast of the show within the show is spot on (DL Hughley brings his previous experience to the role and Sarah Paulson is fabulous as Harriet, the talented comedienne and star of the show). The only one who seems out of place is Peet, particularly the first episode where she is constantly brought bad news, and the camera lingers on her face as she ponders on it – she looks completely gormless when this happens; she also doesn’t have the same ability with the dialogue that Perry and Whitford do.

What is this show is not is a straight comedy (which seemed to be one of the main criticisms about the later programme) – it is, like The West Wing, a fast-paced drama about a tense workplace with people who can be very funny at appropriate times. The show is moving and smart and interesting and occasionally moving; it makes me feel clever and better about myself just watching it. Yes, it is about a comedy programme, and it can be very funny, but it is not a comedy per se; if you want satirical sketches, watch SNL – this is something else. In my dreams, I am as sharp and funny and quick as the people populating Sorkin’s dramas, let alone be able to write as he does. Studio 60 is a wonderful and entertaining piece of television that makes the airwaves a better place.

TV Catch-Up Week: 30 Rock

I lived and worked in the US between the end of 2000 and 2002, so I finally got to watch film and television shows as they happened, rather than waiting for them for ages in the UK. I could see the Daily Show as Jon Stewart was hitting his stride, for example, and I got to see Saturday Night Live and get most of the jokes (seeing as it satirizes news of the week in the US and not outside it). Being a fan of comedy, I had always wanted to see SNL actually live; I’m strange like that. At that time, Will Ferrell was in his prime on the show. However, there was another reason to watch the show – Tina Fey on the news section. Jimmy Fallon was okay, but Tina didn’t have to resort to funny voices. It was also because she was writing the stuff as well, famously being the first female head writer on the show.

30 Rock is based on her experiences working for SNL (the name is the shorthand for the address of the NBC building, 30 Rockefeller Plaza), where she stars as herself, basically, as the head writer of a weekly sketch show, Liz Lemon. There is a change in who runs things – Alec Baldwin (who is hilarious) as Jack Doherty comes in and shakes things up by hiring Tracey Jordan (Tracey Morgan, an SNL alumni), who is a very thinly veiled version of Martin Lawrence, to be the star of the show. He is borderline insane, but people laugh because he is a film star, and Liz has to keep things under control as well as put up with Jack’s management style.

The set-up is a strong focus for the sit in sit-com, but the comedy is there too. Sharp lines abound, Baldwin is fantastic as the oily yet not evil Doherty, and there is slapstick and stupidity from Morgan as Jordan. There is knowingness (the harking back to the Mary Tyler Moore Show at the beginning of the first episode) and the reality basis of Fey’s SNL experiences. The second show was a little shaky, with the clichéd bit of farce where everyone hears what she is saying by having a live mike, but the third show is right back on track, with the poker game and Fey being set up on a date with a lesbian by Doherty.

I know that I am partial to behind the scenes of film/televison, but this is still a great show. Fey is the comedy nerd’s fantasy come to life – pretty, funny, smart and even makes wearing glasses look good – and it is good to have a show with a strong female lead who isn’t ditzy but still has normal issues. It was great to see it winning an Emmy, despite the low ratings in the US, and I look forward to more quality comedy.

TV Catch-Up Week: Californication

David Duchovny stars in Californication, a new show which trys to make writers look sexy (lots of shows about writers at the moment – 30 Rock, Studio 60; perhaps they should have a number in it?). He plays Hank Moody, a writer of a famous novel that has been turned into a bad but successful film and has moved to the west coast from New York. This has more to do with the fact that his ex-girlfriend lives there with his daughter, only she is living with another man; it is this that is the central and simple backbone to the story – Hank is depressed and can’t write because the woman he loves is with another man.

Of course, that isn’t particularly engrossing, which is why Hank is sufficiently handsome to be able to shag lots of beautiful young woman in LA. As this is a Showtime programme, there has to be lots of breasts – Duchovny has to sleep with plenty of women in the first episode, to make sure people come back for more. Swearing, shagging, breasts – what more do you need?

It helps that Duchovny is charismatic as the central character – although he is a bit of a dick, there are moments of humanity that make him likeable (to a degree). He gets all the good lines (well, he is the fantasy of the male writer – he can write, he’s funny and he gets to have lots of casual sex) and he gets to be sensitive with his daughter. The show has good support, but it is more about Hank and his life; this might make for limited scope, especially as the will he/won’t he aspect of getting back with his ex isn’t sufficiently interesting or novel to keep attention. However, there is a lot of potential there and Duchovny is having a ball, which is translated onto the screen. Mark under ‘possibility’.

TV Catch-Up Week: The IT Crowd/Saxondale

A second series for both these shows. Saxondale returns with Steve Coogan with his own hair blonded and longer. The rest of the cast return to back him up in a very capable manner; however, it seems to have moved away from being a sitcom and into a gentle drama with some humour. The lines can be sharp and the storylines are still of the sitcom variety (small misunderstanding blown into a larger plot and resolved in thirty minutes), but it rolls along softly and all the characters do the same things – Ruth Jones as Magz is understanding as Saxondale’s girlfriend, Morwenna Banks is the common person playing Saxondale’s nemesis, Rasmus Hardiker plays naïve – with the addition of the annoying neighbour representing the worst of suburbia. It isn’t quite as funny as the first series; it makes you wonder if Coogan wasn’t involved, would the BBC still make it?

By contrast, The IT Crowd seems more confident in its second series. The first series was sporadically hilarious but didn’t seem to find its feet completely. The set-up was perfect and the characters good, just a little uneven. This time around, the silliness is left to unfold to its fullest – the brilliant anti-piracy DVD ad, the German cannibal, the Communist smoking story, the stupidity of the new boss laughing at the flies on his window – and is all the more comfortable and funny for it. Graham Linehan has let the show relax into just being funny for the sake of it. I don’t know if its up there with Father Ted or Black Books, but it can be equally funny when it wants to. (The recent news that the US version wasn’t picked up for a series, even with Richard Aoyade as Moss in it, provided a great response by Linehan on his blog, giving insight into how the US version should work, talking about what works in the US and over here).

TV Catch-Up Week: Sketch Shows

There has been a brace of new sketch shows on television recently, trying to capture some Little Britain glory. On digital main channels BBC3 and ITV2, we have It’s Adam and Shelly and Katy Brand’s Big Ass Show respectively. Both are not good. Adam and Shelley do poor characters with silly accents and pointless punchlines; there was even a slightly offensive parody of Monkey, about 20 years too late. Katy Brand is a large lady, so her comedy is mostly shouty, over-the-top comedy, doing lazy versions of famous females (such as Angelina Jolie, who is so sexy she literally sweats sex appeal), but it’s mostly just shouting, as a substitute for actual comedy. The most enjoyable skit was a parody of a Lily Allen video, but that’s not exactly difficult.

Peter Serafinowicz, of Spaced, Darth Maul’s voice, the Tomorrow’s World parody Look Around You, has been given his own show on BBC2. Peter is a good character comedian and is fabulous with voices (he does a great Alan Alda, which is something that doesn’t happen very often) but the sketch show is not good. When you have a sketch where Sherlock Holmes has sex with Dr Watson after solving a case, and nothing else, you are in trouble – doing gay jokes about Holmes? Really? Really? Is that it? According to an interview on Chortle, he seemingly got the show due to a sketch he put on YouTube – he was in the US after doing a pilot and it not being picked up, so decided to do something creative. The only trouble is that the comedy seems to be based on a man who has been doing nothing all day but sitting around watching television and saying how rubbish it is – a robot host for a daytime talk show, a newsreader who is guessing what he is supposed to say, a vacuous E! take-off, Actors Studio parodies, QVC presenters selling tat and knowing it. It is limited and poor to say the least. He does great voices but he needs to find somebody with a sense of humour who has the power to tell him what is funny.

After all this, it was quite a surprise to find myself laughing at a sketch show again. The Armstrong and Miller Show is actually funny – they are a little edgy for BBC1 on a Friday evening, but they still remember that the point of the sketch show is to amuse other people, not just themselves. There are some recurring characters, but there are also comedy ideas played with just for the notion that they are funny, without resorting to mocking easy target celebrities or television parodies. The piece de resistance is the sketch about the chav-talking RAF airmen in World War 2 – the idea itself is sublime but the execution is also funny. Try talking in received pronunciation voice but talking chav – it’s bloody difficult. So three cheers for being funny on the BBC.

Neil Gaiman Week: Neverwhere (Television Series)

I vaguely remember seeing an episode of Neverwhere when it was first shown on the BBC back in the mid 1990s. The unusual yet pretty face of Laura Fraser, with her big eyes and scruffy clothes, are all I can remember of the show – there wasn’t much in that episode that made me decide to keep watching. I was aware of Neil Gaiman by then, which is why I was watching the programme in the first place. Only, it was rather shoddy and a little embarrassing, so I didn’t keep watching.

Having arrived recently on DVD, Neverwhere is fresh for appraisal and for viewing the complete story, especially having read the book and the comic book adaptation (what a strange path).

As the original version, as it were, it is interesting to watch this version of the story. The opening credits by Dave McKean are ethereal and gorgeous, of course. However, it doesn’t bode for what is to follow. The main problem with the television series is that it looks like a sci-fi serial made on the cheap for the BBC in the mid 1980s, rather than ten years later. The closest parallel is Doctor Who, but that’s a little harsh; there is some visual invention within but it doesn’t look very good. The dream sequence, with Richard and the Beast of London, looks very much of the time and the camera work is rather pedestrian, insisting on close-ups of the actors faces, which only highlight the slightly shaky feel. In addition, the supposed use of multiple tunnels to give variety doesn’t work because they all look exactly the same anyway, especially the oft-used closed station that triples up for whatever tube stop is required.

The positive aspect of the visuals is the set design – it seems that where the limited budget was spent, and some of the places look good (such as the Angel Islington’s chambers and the Floating Markets). In particular, the use of London locations is nicely done, using the Battersea power station and the roof tops of London to very good effect.

All of this doesn’t make up for the mismatched tone; the DVD is rated 15, presumably for swearing, but the approach is children’s television. The ‘magic realism’ that is much more acceptable now was ahead of its time back then, and the director doesn’t seem to get it completely. Subsequently, all the actors aren’t really on the same page, each doing their own thing (although that is not to say that everyone is bad), not coming together until near the end of the story.

This certainly doesn’t help the dialogue – what works well on the page (and when the tone is right) doesn’t feel natural or organic on this show. Apart from perhaps Hwyel Bennet as Mr Croup, it doesn’t gel. I don’t know if this is the programme as a whole or a slight imperfection in Neil Gaiman’s dialogue – the dialogue in Mirrormask (as I mentioned in my review) wasn’t the most memorable. Is it heresy of me to say that perhaps Neil, being more bookish, works best in books?

The strangest thing for me watching it now is seeing people on it you recognise from more recent things. The Marquis de Carabas is played by Paterson Joesph, from Peep Show and Green Wing. Angel Islington is Peter Capaldi, the wonderfully swearing spin doctor Malcolm Tucker in The Thick Of It. Mr Vandemar is played by Clive Russell, who I always associate from Spaced series two, and Tasmin Grieg, now more famous from Black Books and Green Wing, has a small role as Lamia.

The most interesting extra of the DVD is a rather odd interview with Neil himself, in a huge leather jacket, staring straight to camera and talking about his experience (with his very English wonky lower teeth and mess of wavy hair). He doesn’t seem completely comfortable talking on camera (I’ve seen him at a book reading, ironically for the launch of the book version of Neverwhere, where he was much more comfortable talking about himself and his work) but he is a natural storyteller and provides some interesting anecdotes – such as the fact that the whole thing came about because Lenny Henry wanted to make a fantasy series about the homeless.

I think the television series might be for completists only – perhaps a film with a higher budget might be the best option? At least we have the book …

TV: Screenwipe

I thought I had written about the unalloyed joy provided by Charlie Brooker before on this blog, but I have been remiss in my expressions of devotion to the vicious and poetic humour and intelligence of this misanthropic television critic.

My knowledge of him started with his painfully funny pastiche of television listings at the website TV Go Home. The next regular fix was the column Screen Burn in The Guide (the entertainment supplement in The Guardian on Saturdays). It is a television review column where Brooker rips into the rubbish that litters the airwaves with precision and profane sarcasm in a wonderfully entertaining read, but he also praises quality television when he sees it (such as The Wire, Deadwood, Battlestar Galactica). There is a collection of the first few years of the column, which is one of the funniest things you will ever read. He now also writes a free-association column for the G2 section of The Guardian on Mondays – archives can be found here. His evisceration of David Cameron is one of the greatest things I have ever read.

He himself is one of the founders and directors of a television company, Zeppotron, which I think shows that he puts his money where his mouth is. He has written for television himself; he wrote for Channel 4’s The Eleven O’Clock Show, co-created and co-wrote Nathan Barley, and wrote for the sketch show Spoons.

However, the funniest thing he is doing on television now is Screenwipe, which is essentially Screen Burn on television but with added swipes at the TV industry itself and the horrors involved. It is the most enjoyable half hour of programming on air at the moment, with Brooker taking the piss out of everything, including himself. In the episode of Tuesday 2 October, he attained a moment of beautiful genius. I had turned over to BBC4 to watch the show, after watching the Stephen Fry documentary about HIV. However, the end credits for Screenwipe were playing – I was completely bemused. Where was the programme? It was 10pm, the Freeview listings showed it was supposed to be on, yet there was a woman in a coat presenting something else. I didn’t understand.

I was looking through the schedules, trying to find out when it was repeated, if we could trust them, so I wasn’t listening to the woman properly. I started to listen more carefully when she said that corners hadn’t been invented until 1839 and that the one she was standing in front of in a street in London was the first invented. It was at this moment that Brooker steps in and shoves her forcefully out of the way – it had all been a joke about the new BBC rules concerning closing credits. The BBC prohibits any ‘content’ to aired during the show’s credits because it would get in the way of the voiceover announcing the next programme (as the credits are squeezed into a small section of the screen and a trailer for the next show takes up half of the space). This was Brooker’s hilarious response to regulations he has to follow on his very own show, and to the marketing pricks who have imposed them. Absolutely inspired.

The rest of the show was the usual mix – indulging in his puerile side in reviewing Billie Piper in The Secret Diary of a Call Girl, an overview of a career in television (from runner through to past-it producer), and his list of The Biggest Cocks and She-Cocks in Advertising (including the annoying Botoxed-woman with her pentapeptides; the winner was the most infuriating advert on television at present for a shampoo product which starts with the line, ‘Everyone knows a bloke like Mickey …’ and features the most smug twat in the universe). Funny, intelligent and, most importantly, passionate about television. It is this that sets Brooker apart; he may be sweary and sarcastic, but it is done with a genuine love for good television and the show reflects the anger when IQ-losing shite is foisted upon the general public.

God bless you, Charlie Brooker.

Comics/Television: In Search of Steve Ditko

I finally got round to watching the Jonathan Ross documentary on BBC4, In Search of Steve Ditko, (I was away when it first aired, and am unable to tape Freeview channels unless at home) and it made me glad I pay my licence fee.

Jonathan Ross is an important personality to the BBC, which is why they pay him so much of that licence fee. I don’t think he’s that special, but what do I know about running a television company? One of the side-effects of this is that he can basically do whatever he wants as in-between projects; for example, there were his enjoyable programmes about Asian (i.e. Hong Kong and Korean) cinema that also aired on BBC4. And now, the Beeb let him make a one-hour programme about a comic book penciller whose last major work was Speedball.

This was an excellent documentary. Ross presented with aplomb – being a comic book fan of old (I used to buy my comics from the shop he co-owned in Soho back in the early ‘90s), he doesn’t resort to the ‘Biff! Bam! Ka-pow!’ of the usually retarded approach to the medium – and the talking heads were intelligent choices who spoke eloquently on the subject and were treated seriously. Ditko’s life and career were covered (although not completely – there was no mention of Shade or Speedball or the bits of work he did in the ‘80s and ‘90s, but that wouldn’t have made for as good a story) and his contributions to the history of comic books were explained.

My favourite bit was probably where Alan Moore told the story of Ditko being told about Watchmen – ah yes, Ditko said, referring to Rorshach, he’s the one like Mr A, only he’s insane – and laughing his head off, much as I was when he told the punchline. Closely following that was the look of sublime happiness on the faces of Ross and Neil Gaiman after they had spent twenty minutes chatting to Ditko (off camera, of course; there exist only a few photographs of him and he doesn't give interview) and holding up the comic books he had given them.

It was a delight to see the medium of comic books (and the costumed superheroics that are the bulk of it) being treated so well. Along with the excellent Comics Britannia series of documentaries, BBC4 has done a great service to the field. Thank you, Auntie Beeb.

TV: Heroes

If there is one disadvantage to the internet, it is the knowing about all the cool stuff in advance that I know won’t be coming for a noticeable length of time. This time, the cool thing was Heroes – reading the comic blogosphere and news sites, I have known about it but haven’t been able to read anything about it.

This is extremely frustrating, because Heroes sounded exactly as if it was made me: a drama told in a serious manner about people with unusual powers who don’t decide to put on spandex and stop bank robbers.

Heroes is finally on terrestrial television, arriving on BBC2 last Wednesday with a double episode (and a strong web presence; BBC seem to want to go for the geek crowd strong, and they want it to be a success – announcing the numbers the next day on their news site to ensure it). And it was worth the wait.

We are introduced to a variety of characters who, for no explained reason, have ‘super powers’: invulnerability, flight, telepathy, seeing the future, time travel and something about a parallel existence in a mirror dimension. Well, there may be a reason: a professor of genetics had some unusual theories, which got him killed, explaining the existence and location of people with extra abilities. His son decides to come to America to find out more, after fleeing a man who was in his father’s apartment (a man who turns out to be the adoptive parent of one of the supers). And our time traveller seems to have jumped to a future where something will destroy New York, something foreseen by the man who can see the future …

The vibe of the programme is very enjoyable – this isn’t tongue in cheek, or mocking – it plays everything straight without being poe-faced. The tone of the show is perfect, evoking the ‘Lost’ vibe nicely, with the mysteries and multiple characters interacting in ways that only we see (the Petrelli election ads on the television in the background). Fortunately, this seems to have a point rather than constantly teasing.

If I have a quibble, it’s about the dialogue. In the early scenes, it is so ‘on the nose’ (ooh, listen to him with the fancy screenwriter lingo, as if he was some sort of expert) that it made my teeth hurt, with the professor’s son and his friend explaining exactly why he was distant from his father. The rest of the dialogue doesn’t feel particularly natural or flowing, which I hope improves in the rest of the series.

The show is heavily influenced by comic books – the feel of Watchmen and the spectre of Rising Stars loom over it (although apparently the latter is a case of convergent evolution, and JMS went for the more comic booky feel of spandex) – and the feel of the Marvel New Universe (does the eclipse logo have the feel of the Star Brand, or is that just me?) but in a good way. Which is all fine with me.

I may have had to wait, but I think I’ll enjoy it nonetheless. I look forward to the rest of the series with tingling anticipation …

Buffy Brings Me Back

No, I’m not dead.

I’ve felt like it sometimes, but that’s just work for you.

So, with a mix of serious work overload, fatigue and a few days off for a break, no blogging for some time now. This regular blogging mularkey is tough.

Enough with the angsting, and get with the writing.

Another reason for lack of blogging inclination has been Buffy the Vampire Slayer. With the Season 8 comics from Joss Whedon hitting stores, I rekindled my relationship with my favourite television series. Ever since my best mate introduced me to the series when I visited him in the US, Buffy was show for me – it was funny, smart and filled with genre, and great characters.

I own the first three seasons of the show on DVD. I’m not in the Noxon-produced-hating camp; I just didn’t connect as much with the later seasons. True, there are some excellent episodes in the later seasons (Hush, The Body, Once More With Feeling) but each of the later seasons as a whole didn’t work for me. This started from Season 4, when Buffy became Whiny Buffy (the only reason to watch season 4 is Anya) and didn’t change much for the last seasons. But still I watched. Because it was Buffy.

So, I’ve been reliving the fun Buffy, when it worked on its original principle – high school as horror – which it lost when it moved away from high school. Still, the enjoyable is still enjoyable – the much loved season enders, the double episode of Innocence/Surprise – but there is so much else that can be viewed again and again. Watching it reminded me why it was so fun in the first place, especially an episode like Doppelgangland, a personal favourite, but that could be just me.

Anyway, I hope to be blogging again now that I can only watch Buffy via my DVD rental account, and start talking about recently watched films and comics and books (I just picked up Mike Carey’s The Devil You Know, right before CBR has an interview with him about the release of the novel in the US), so let’s try this ‘regular’ blogging thing again.

TV Round-Up: Peep Show, Get A Grip, Harry & Paul

Even though it’s more television chat, I wanted to compare and contrast three comedy programmes from different terrestrial channels and their relevance to each other. Get A Grip, with Ben Elton, on ITV1; Ruddy Hell! It’s Harry and Paul, with Harry Enfield and Paul Whitehouse, on BBC1; and Peep Show, with David Mitchell and Robert Webb, on Channel 4.

When I was a teenager discovering comedy, Ben Elton was my comedy hero. He co-wrote The Young Ones and made Blackadder funny (two of my top five sitcoms). He was the compere for Saturday Live with his spangly suit. His stand-up spoke to me. I won’t say he was a genius, but he produced a lot of material I liked and still remains with me.

I’m not sure when that changed. Was it when he started writing more novels than anything else? Was it when his only TV output was the ‘Dad’s Army As Police Station’ sitcom The Thin Blue Line? Was it when he started to write the words for We Will Rock You? Or was it when he worked with Andrew Lloyd Webber? Or was it when he had Ronnie Corbett as his regular guest on The Ben Elton Show? I don’t know. All I know is that I can’t believe he’s not funny anymore.

It was this reason that made me watch Get A Grip, his new show on ITV1. Co-hosting with Alexa Chung (a thoroughly annoying and uncharismatic young lass who presents something for ‘yoof’ on Channel 4) but writing it all himself, it is essentially his most recent stand-up tour, also called Get A Grip, but in television form and with someone to bounce his 'jokes' off and do the self-deprecating for him. And it was horrible to watch. Ben uses the same type of routine and style as he did over 10 years ago, only with lots more jokes about babies (as that is all the reference he seems to have now – see, or rather don’t, his recent sitcom with Ardal O’Hanlan, Blessed) and, more embarrassingly, jokes about mother-in-laws. I couldn’t believe my eyes or ears. People have accused him of selling out before, but to do jokes about mother-in-laws? Ben, what’s happened? Entertainers have to adapt to the times, or they get rightly mocked by the new boys on the block, as Ben did before him with his attacks on Benny Hill and Bernard Manning. Ben Elton hasn’t and he seems to have got worse by not realising he is doing the jokes he used to rail against in his youth. Truly sad.

Compare this with Ruddy Hell! It’s Harry and Paul, a new sketch show from Harry Enfield and Paul Whitehouse. Harry Enfield hasn’t really done anything since the sitcom Celeb, which came out exactly the same time as The Osbournes and thus negated its existence. Enfield has never been a particularly gifted comedian, although he does have some small talent for impersonation and accents, and he always looks incredibly smug and like he is about to corpse all the time when performing sketches. He has been more lucky than anything else, getting in on Saturday Live at the right time with his Stavros and Loadsamoney characters, and then turning the comic Viz into a television series (without Viz having anything to do with it) with Harry Enfield’s Television Programme/Harry Enfield and Chums.

Some of his work has been rather good (the Cholmondley-Warner stuff was particularly satisfying), and some of the characters were worthy of the repetition. His best comedy was probably Sir Norbert Smith: A Life, and shows what he can do mimicking styles. He has mostly been supported by the more talented Whitehouse, who was main creator of characters for him, and who had his own success with The Fast Show. So it is quite surprising to see them together after so many years apart.

However, although they haven’t reinvented the sketch show or developed the scope, they have remembered that the point of a comedy show is to be funny. For the most part, they succeed. Starting off mocking of football with Jose Arroganta and Peskowitz, it is just about laughs – Abramovich buying somebody’s son, the very funny piss-take of Bono and The Edge, and the belated-but-still-funny (particularly the bouncing from side-to-side to escape congress) Laurel and Hardy Brokeback Mountain – which makes for a pleasant change. Not all of it works – the Polish girls in the coffee shop and the South African man in the gym are pretty woeful and very London-centric; the Bill Gates/Steve Jobs sketch was rather obvious and easy; and the juxtaposition of enlightened discussion between builders before sexually harassing a women seems to have been done before, if not by themselves – but at least they are giving it a try and not having to succumb to Little Britain-style antics. Anyone who has a sketch with Nelson Mandela selling his own alcopops can’t be all bad. Not brilliant stuff but not bad either.

Compare with the new series of Peep Show and those two programmes are instantly forgotten. I have long been a fan of both Mitchell & Webb and Peep Show and am really happy to see them doing so well (even if they are doing adverts). Their radio show, That Mitchell and Webb Sound, became the most enjoyable sketch show of recent time, That Mitchell and Webb Look, which was a sketch show that was actually funny and not requiring the crutch of the well-known characters; yes, there were some repeated characters, like the snooker commentators and being themselves between takes, but it wasn’t just catchphrases. They even ridiculed catchphrases with the Numberwang sketch. These were smart, well-written and performed sketches to entertain and amuse. It was a breath of fresh air (the two Nazis talking to each other, which admittedly they had done on the radio show: ‘Are we the baddies?’).

Peep Show, back for its fourth series, is still as blisteringly funny and painful as ever. Mark is marrying Sophie, even though he doesn’t love her, so it’s a challenge as they go back to meet her family for her birthday. (She picks out trend things to wear for him. On picking out a t-shirt with Chairman Mao on it, Mark complains: 'He killed 60 million people.' Sophie: 'That’s more than Stalin.' Mark: 'It’s not a contest.') Mark brings Jez with him for moral support, which backfires terribly when Jez sleeps with Sophie’s mum, after helping Sophie’s Dad firebomb the barn of someone he believes is sleeping with his wife. The beauty, as ever, is in the first-person narrative, as we see people’s faces and hear the thoughts we don’t want to. It is funny and real and unreal and it is a crying shame that it only gets just over 1 million viewers.