In an amazing turn of events, Channel 4 have decided to "rest" Celebrity Big Brother next year! Read more here. The show was rocked by a racism row between Shilpa Shetty and Jade Goody last time, but the channel claim they're giving the format a break because the TV landscape is becoming too "samey" -- so they have to strive for originality.
I couldn't agree more.
So is this is the first indication even the channel's main summer show could take a break one day? Could it become a bi-annual event soon? It would certainly give Channel 4 plenty of vacants slots to fill with more interesting, scripted drama in the meantime.
Maybe we could have some comedy at 9 pm weeknights? E4 may even get a chance to breathe without the Big Brother millstone around its neck every summer/winter! Maybe they'll start building their own brands, as BBC3 did with Little Britain, Torchwood and Gavin And Stacey?
Or... will it all just mean more repeats and imported US reality TV instead? Whatever happens, I can't help thinking it's a significant move when a big network snubs one of its biggest brands. So well done, Channel 4... but you'd better give us a decent alternative to Celeb Big Brother next year...
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Friday, 24 August 2007
SAXONDALE 2.1 - "Episode 1"
Writers: Neil Maclennan & Steve Coogan
Director: John Henderson
Cast: Steve Coogan (Tommy Saxondale), Ruth Jones (Magz), Rasmus Hardiker (Raymond), Morwenna Banks (Vicky), James Bachman (Alistair), Darren Boyd (Jonathan), Greg Davies (Dunc), Simon Greenall (Malcolm), Matt Berry (Geoff), Rosie Cavaliero (Penny), Sebastian Cardinal ("Freddie Mercury"), Dustin Demri-Burns ("Brian May") & Marianne Levy (Caroline)
When one of Tommy's old friends moves into the area, Tommy becomes nostalgic about their hedonistic days, with help from a Queen tribute band...
Steve Coogan's latest creation didn't soar to Alan Partridge heights during its first series last year, but did anyone really expect it to? However, there was no denying Coogan's consumate skill in crafting a three-dimensional character with Tommy Saxondale, a former Roadie still clinging to memories of the 70s, now living in humdrum suburbia as a pest controller.
The first episode of the second series is business as usual. Tommy is again reminded of his former life when Dunc "The Skunk" (Greg Davies) arrives in town, informing Tommy that another of their Roadie mates, Malcolm (Simon Greenall), is living nearby as a media exec.
Needless to say, social worlds collide when Tommy's rose-tinted bravado over the "good ol' days" is met with embarassed politeness by high-flier Malcolm, a businessman who has defiantly moved on from a "ten year period that ended thirty years ago." As always, Tommy can't understand anyone's recluctance to embrace their youth, leading to cringe-making comedy when Tommy offers to help a Queen tribute band ("Ready Freddie") at the local Pantheon Of Rock... not realizing these young men wear wigs and view their gigs as a light-hearted frolic at the weekends.
Last year, the main deficiency in Saxondale was its freewheeling plots and total emphasis on Tommy himself. Morwenna Banks, as poisonous receptionist Vicky, was the only character able to puncture Tommy's bravado and spit out some neat one-liners of her own, while everyone else just became window-dressing to Coogan's admittedly superb performance.
There are signs of a balance here, particularly from a next-door neighbour character called Jonathan (Smack The Pony's Darren Boyd), a man who clearly wants to endear himself to Tommy, but has little musical knowledge of the 70s. Boyd's one scene, where he's tested by Tommy for the name of a Pink Floyd or Genesis album title, is brilliant handled by both actors. I certainly hope we see more from Jonathan.
Unfortunately, Rasmus Hardiker still hangs around like a third wheel as Tommy's pest control assistant Raymond. It was frustrating to watch last year, but is particularly disappointing now as Hardiker seems to have grown into himself and would likely handle some comedy very well. Can't he be thrown a few scraps now and then? For now, he's only required to linger at Tommy's hip and look withdrawn.
The real delight in the episode comes from the wonderfully quirky and witty dialogue, written by Coogan and Neil Maclennan, which is utterly believable, multi-layered and crisply asembled. Coogan clearly delights in characters able to converse in a grandiose or pernickity way, and Tommy's injokes, turns of phrase and verbal mannerisms are all wonderful.
Overall, while Saxondale is mostly unchanged from last year (ignoring Tommy's scruffier appearance), it's certainly helped by including a mix of character actors who aren't overshadowed by Coogan's big performance. Simon Greenall has obviously had years of practice in I'm Alan Partridge (as Geordie Michael), but Greg Davies and Darren Boyd also leave lasting impressions. The excellent fruity-voiced Matt Berry (Garth Marenghi's Darkplace) also appears in this episode's opening anger management meeting, so I hope he returns in a bigger capacity.
It's an entertaining start to the new series, but with no huge shifts in tone, style or humour. If you didn't like Saxondale last year, I doubt this will change your mind. You can't pick fault with Coogan's characterisation, or the beautiful writing (its Jeremy Clarkson-style metaphors are particularly good), but Saxondale still hangs loose when it comes to plot and rarely contains laugh-out-loud moments.
23 August 2007
BBC2, 9.30 pm
Director: John Henderson
Cast: Steve Coogan (Tommy Saxondale), Ruth Jones (Magz), Rasmus Hardiker (Raymond), Morwenna Banks (Vicky), James Bachman (Alistair), Darren Boyd (Jonathan), Greg Davies (Dunc), Simon Greenall (Malcolm), Matt Berry (Geoff), Rosie Cavaliero (Penny), Sebastian Cardinal ("Freddie Mercury"), Dustin Demri-Burns ("Brian May") & Marianne Levy (Caroline)
When one of Tommy's old friends moves into the area, Tommy becomes nostalgic about their hedonistic days, with help from a Queen tribute band...Steve Coogan's latest creation didn't soar to Alan Partridge heights during its first series last year, but did anyone really expect it to? However, there was no denying Coogan's consumate skill in crafting a three-dimensional character with Tommy Saxondale, a former Roadie still clinging to memories of the 70s, now living in humdrum suburbia as a pest controller.
The first episode of the second series is business as usual. Tommy is again reminded of his former life when Dunc "The Skunk" (Greg Davies) arrives in town, informing Tommy that another of their Roadie mates, Malcolm (Simon Greenall), is living nearby as a media exec.
Needless to say, social worlds collide when Tommy's rose-tinted bravado over the "good ol' days" is met with embarassed politeness by high-flier Malcolm, a businessman who has defiantly moved on from a "ten year period that ended thirty years ago." As always, Tommy can't understand anyone's recluctance to embrace their youth, leading to cringe-making comedy when Tommy offers to help a Queen tribute band ("Ready Freddie") at the local Pantheon Of Rock... not realizing these young men wear wigs and view their gigs as a light-hearted frolic at the weekends.
Last year, the main deficiency in Saxondale was its freewheeling plots and total emphasis on Tommy himself. Morwenna Banks, as poisonous receptionist Vicky, was the only character able to puncture Tommy's bravado and spit out some neat one-liners of her own, while everyone else just became window-dressing to Coogan's admittedly superb performance.
There are signs of a balance here, particularly from a next-door neighbour character called Jonathan (Smack The Pony's Darren Boyd), a man who clearly wants to endear himself to Tommy, but has little musical knowledge of the 70s. Boyd's one scene, where he's tested by Tommy for the name of a Pink Floyd or Genesis album title, is brilliant handled by both actors. I certainly hope we see more from Jonathan.
Unfortunately, Rasmus Hardiker still hangs around like a third wheel as Tommy's pest control assistant Raymond. It was frustrating to watch last year, but is particularly disappointing now as Hardiker seems to have grown into himself and would likely handle some comedy very well. Can't he be thrown a few scraps now and then? For now, he's only required to linger at Tommy's hip and look withdrawn.
The real delight in the episode comes from the wonderfully quirky and witty dialogue, written by Coogan and Neil Maclennan, which is utterly believable, multi-layered and crisply asembled. Coogan clearly delights in characters able to converse in a grandiose or pernickity way, and Tommy's injokes, turns of phrase and verbal mannerisms are all wonderful.
Overall, while Saxondale is mostly unchanged from last year (ignoring Tommy's scruffier appearance), it's certainly helped by including a mix of character actors who aren't overshadowed by Coogan's big performance. Simon Greenall has obviously had years of practice in I'm Alan Partridge (as Geordie Michael), but Greg Davies and Darren Boyd also leave lasting impressions. The excellent fruity-voiced Matt Berry (Garth Marenghi's Darkplace) also appears in this episode's opening anger management meeting, so I hope he returns in a bigger capacity.
It's an entertaining start to the new series, but with no huge shifts in tone, style or humour. If you didn't like Saxondale last year, I doubt this will change your mind. You can't pick fault with Coogan's characterisation, or the beautiful writing (its Jeremy Clarkson-style metaphors are particularly good), but Saxondale still hangs loose when it comes to plot and rarely contains laugh-out-loud moments.
23 August 2007
BBC2, 9.30 pm
Thursday, 23 August 2007
Back To Oz: Follow The Yellow Brick Road...
Spawn creator Todd McFarlane and Josh Olson (A History of Violence) have pitched an idea to Warner Brothers to re-imagine The Wizard Of Oz, the classic novel by L. Frank Baum, famously turned into a 1939 film with Judy Garland as Dorothy, a Kansas girl who is whisked to a magical land by a tornado.
Olson is writing the script, with McFarlane producing. Variety reports that the tone is still being decided, but it's likely to be "Harry Potter dark, not Seven dark." Their new version will be similar to The Lord of the Rings in style, with heroine Dorothy revised as more "Ripley from Alien than some helpless singing girl."
McFarlane has previously created a range of Oz-inspired toys with a dark theme, although Olson is adamant McFarlane's toy line will not inform their intended movie: "I saw those toys, and Dorothy as some bondage queen isn’t something I want to do. The appealing thing about the Baum books to me is how wildly imaginative they are. There are crazy characters from amazing places."
No story specifics are available, but the film is being designed as a loose sequel to The Wizard Of Oz, instead of a remake. Olson: "We still want to take advantage of the first film, which might be the most beloved of all time, and rely on its place in your cultural memory to bubble beneath the surface. A lot of the plot is mine, but the characters are all Baum."
It all sounds very interesting, although you may remember 1985's sequel Return To Oz tapped into darker territory and was met with critical scorn and box office failure. So are audiences finally ready to have cherished memories of Judy Garland subverted like this?
Olson is writing the script, with McFarlane producing. Variety reports that the tone is still being decided, but it's likely to be "Harry Potter dark, not Seven dark." Their new version will be similar to The Lord of the Rings in style, with heroine Dorothy revised as more "Ripley from Alien than some helpless singing girl."
McFarlane has previously created a range of Oz-inspired toys with a dark theme, although Olson is adamant McFarlane's toy line will not inform their intended movie: "I saw those toys, and Dorothy as some bondage queen isn’t something I want to do. The appealing thing about the Baum books to me is how wildly imaginative they are. There are crazy characters from amazing places."
No story specifics are available, but the film is being designed as a loose sequel to The Wizard Of Oz, instead of a remake. Olson: "We still want to take advantage of the first film, which might be the most beloved of all time, and rely on its place in your cultural memory to bubble beneath the surface. A lot of the plot is mine, but the characters are all Baum."
It all sounds very interesting, although you may remember 1985's sequel Return To Oz tapped into darker territory and was met with critical scorn and box office failure. So are audiences finally ready to have cherished memories of Judy Garland subverted like this?
TRAILER PARK: The Nines
You never know when your number's up...Background: The Nines is a mystery drama about a troubled actor, a TV producer and a video-game designer (all played by Ryan Reynolds), whose lives begin to intertwine in mysterious and unsettling ways, particularly regarding the omnipresent number 9...
Review: The trailer is a great deal of fun, although it does reveal a bit too much for those who like to watch movies "untarnished". So be warned! Things begin like a typical haunted house trailer (even including a spooky Ring-style phone call), before hinting at Number 23 territory. But then things take a weirder turn, combining elements of The Matrix with The Truman Show... and computer game The Sims? It's bright, fast-paced and does a decent job of grabbing your interest.
Prediction: Ryan Reynolds is due a breakout hit after years of torment: he was the best thing about Blade Trinity, gave a decent performance in The Amityville Haunting remake and can even do low-brow comedy (Van Wilder). The script has been favourably reviewed online, coming from John August (Go, Big Fish), who also makes his directorial debut here. The trailer doesn't scream originality at me, but it does look to be an enjoyable ride into a paranoid adventure.
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Is British Drama Getting Better?
Ricky Gervais claims American comedy has been the biggest influence on his own work, from Seinfeld to The Larry Sanders Show. I'm sure he enjoys British sitcoms, particularly classics like Fawlty Towers, but his heart sings to the Star-Spangled Banner's style.
I'm the drama equivalent of Gervais. I can appreciate the British classics we've had through the years, particularly the great Dennis Potter's groundbreaking work, but my taste is vehemently American...
You only have to take my blog as evidence of this, with most reviewed shows coming from across the pond (Heroes, 24, Lost, Dirt, Battlestar Galactica, Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip. Prison Break, Dexter, etc.) British product is flagging way behind with Doctor Who, Jekyll, Torchwood, Primeval and Cape Wrath.
Of course, my tastes lean towards high-concept and fantastical television, which has traditionaly been the domain of American TV because of their bigger budgets. I've always seen television as a form of escapism and fun; letting you break out of maximum security jails, explore mysterious islands, flee humanoid robots across space and stop terrorists armed with nukes... all from the comfort of your sofa.
But good drama is good drama, so I'm not suggesting simple ideas focusing exclusively on characterisation are unnecessary and boring. There have been great performances and fantastic storytelling in character-based British drama, but they're just not my personal preference.
After a hard day at work, do you want to watch a Channel 4 drama about mental illness in a working class northern family, or Courteney Cox manipulating celebrities with paparazzi sex photos in L.A? I'm not ashamed to say that, nine times out of ten, the former-Friend will be getting my leisure time.
American drama is just extremely good at balancing character with concept. The Sopranos, The Wire, Six Feet Under, Nip/Tuck, The Shield, Monk, House, Grey's Anatomy, Ugly Betty, Desperate Housewives, Deadwod, etc. I can't claim to have watched them all (there are only so many hours in the day!), but each show has rabid followers. Why? Simple: they're juicy concepts, brilliantly plotted, well-acted, and balance character with story.
They might not all be to your taste (I've just never liked westerns, for example), but you can't deny they're slick, stylish and attention-grabbing...
Can you truthfully say the same for Casualty, Holby City, The Bill, Doc Martin, Heartbeat, and suchlike? Even typing those titles leaves me cold and unexcited. British TV just seems to pick an overdone genre (the police procedural, the court-room drama, the detective drama, etc) and add to it.
Where are the big ideas? The twist to a concept? We want something fresh and exciting, not another remix. I mean, the recent Holby Blue is just The Bill spliced with Holby City, isn't it? Where's our own anti-hero cop akin to The Shield's or the unflinching grittiness of The Wire? The closest we've come is with Spooks, essentially 24 with the emphasis on real politics.
However, it seems the British TV landscape is finally changing. Albeit slowly than I'd like. Ever since Doctor Who exploded back into livingrooms a few years ago, it's given British producers a precedent to get other other high-concept ideas on our screens.
The critical success of fantasy drama Lost also brought the niche science fiction genre (usually reserved for tea-time BBC2) to the weekend mainstream. Just five years ago, how many British producers would have believed adults would watch a "silly show" about people discovering they have super powers (Heroes)? Post-watershed, too? Not many!
The Eleventh Hour and Primeval were the first UK shows to follow in Who's wake, although the former didn't capture an audience, and the latter was panned by critics as a souless visual spectacle. Ah well.
Life On Mars was probably the first post-Who series to really succeed with audiences. It had an exciting time-travel premise, but used it as a reason to remake 70s cop shows from a contemporary viewpoint. It spoke to fans of police dramas, nostalgia hounds and sci-fi lovers... with each group appreciating seeing something different from the TV spectrum.
Doctor Who's much-trumpeted spin-off Torchwood proved disappointing, but it had a certain goofy appeal and got BBC3 big ratings. The BBC also updated Robin Hood for Saturday nights, hoping to revive another old idea for new audiences, but faced critical scorn for its anachronistic attitude. Robin Hoodie, basically.
A far better example of the old becoming new came from Jekyll, a fun thriller for Saturday summer evenings, which delighted audiences with a compelling mix of humour and drama. Stephen Gallagher's Lifeline was also a decent serial that went ignored through lack of marketing.
Only last week, Cape Wrath came to an end on Channel 4. Sure, it misfired and never lived up to its first episode's potential, but the intention to give audiences something different was there. It was just frustrating its The Prisoner-meets-Twin Peaks premise devolved into Balamory-via-cheese-induced-nightmare.
Perhaps what most irritates me now is that producers are making old mistakes with these new concepts! Just when they've taken some faltering steps away from milking "docs and cops" forever, they've begun to pointlessly remix the new stuff. Doctor Who now has two pointless spin-offs (Torchwood and Sarah Jane Adventures) and Ashes To Ashes is tenuously transplating Life On Mars' concept to the 1980s...
I'm the drama equivalent of Gervais. I can appreciate the British classics we've had through the years, particularly the great Dennis Potter's groundbreaking work, but my taste is vehemently American...
You only have to take my blog as evidence of this, with most reviewed shows coming from across the pond (Heroes, 24, Lost, Dirt, Battlestar Galactica, Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip. Prison Break, Dexter, etc.) British product is flagging way behind with Doctor Who, Jekyll, Torchwood, Primeval and Cape Wrath.
Of course, my tastes lean towards high-concept and fantastical television, which has traditionaly been the domain of American TV because of their bigger budgets. I've always seen television as a form of escapism and fun; letting you break out of maximum security jails, explore mysterious islands, flee humanoid robots across space and stop terrorists armed with nukes... all from the comfort of your sofa.
But good drama is good drama, so I'm not suggesting simple ideas focusing exclusively on characterisation are unnecessary and boring. There have been great performances and fantastic storytelling in character-based British drama, but they're just not my personal preference.
After a hard day at work, do you want to watch a Channel 4 drama about mental illness in a working class northern family, or Courteney Cox manipulating celebrities with paparazzi sex photos in L.A? I'm not ashamed to say that, nine times out of ten, the former-Friend will be getting my leisure time.
American drama is just extremely good at balancing character with concept. The Sopranos, The Wire, Six Feet Under, Nip/Tuck, The Shield, Monk, House, Grey's Anatomy, Ugly Betty, Desperate Housewives, Deadwod, etc. I can't claim to have watched them all (there are only so many hours in the day!), but each show has rabid followers. Why? Simple: they're juicy concepts, brilliantly plotted, well-acted, and balance character with story.
They might not all be to your taste (I've just never liked westerns, for example), but you can't deny they're slick, stylish and attention-grabbing...
Can you truthfully say the same for Casualty, Holby City, The Bill, Doc Martin, Heartbeat, and suchlike? Even typing those titles leaves me cold and unexcited. British TV just seems to pick an overdone genre (the police procedural, the court-room drama, the detective drama, etc) and add to it.
Where are the big ideas? The twist to a concept? We want something fresh and exciting, not another remix. I mean, the recent Holby Blue is just The Bill spliced with Holby City, isn't it? Where's our own anti-hero cop akin to The Shield's or the unflinching grittiness of The Wire? The closest we've come is with Spooks, essentially 24 with the emphasis on real politics.
However, it seems the British TV landscape is finally changing. Albeit slowly than I'd like. Ever since Doctor Who exploded back into livingrooms a few years ago, it's given British producers a precedent to get other other high-concept ideas on our screens.
The critical success of fantasy drama Lost also brought the niche science fiction genre (usually reserved for tea-time BBC2) to the weekend mainstream. Just five years ago, how many British producers would have believed adults would watch a "silly show" about people discovering they have super powers (Heroes)? Post-watershed, too? Not many!
The Eleventh Hour and Primeval were the first UK shows to follow in Who's wake, although the former didn't capture an audience, and the latter was panned by critics as a souless visual spectacle. Ah well.
Life On Mars was probably the first post-Who series to really succeed with audiences. It had an exciting time-travel premise, but used it as a reason to remake 70s cop shows from a contemporary viewpoint. It spoke to fans of police dramas, nostalgia hounds and sci-fi lovers... with each group appreciating seeing something different from the TV spectrum.
Doctor Who's much-trumpeted spin-off Torchwood proved disappointing, but it had a certain goofy appeal and got BBC3 big ratings. The BBC also updated Robin Hood for Saturday nights, hoping to revive another old idea for new audiences, but faced critical scorn for its anachronistic attitude. Robin Hoodie, basically.
A far better example of the old becoming new came from Jekyll, a fun thriller for Saturday summer evenings, which delighted audiences with a compelling mix of humour and drama. Stephen Gallagher's Lifeline was also a decent serial that went ignored through lack of marketing.
Only last week, Cape Wrath came to an end on Channel 4. Sure, it misfired and never lived up to its first episode's potential, but the intention to give audiences something different was there. It was just frustrating its The Prisoner-meets-Twin Peaks premise devolved into Balamory-via-cheese-induced-nightmare.
Perhaps what most irritates me now is that producers are making old mistakes with these new concepts! Just when they've taken some faltering steps away from milking "docs and cops" forever, they've begun to pointlessly remix the new stuff. Doctor Who now has two pointless spin-offs (Torchwood and Sarah Jane Adventures) and Ashes To Ashes is tenuously transplating Life On Mars' concept to the 1980s...
Wednesday, 22 August 2007
That Antony Cotton Show
Are you enjoy this? It's so unoriginal and tiresome, it's actually quite extraordinary. It's firmly in the Sharon Osbourne Show pantheon of bad TV.
You can almost imagine the meetings months before this travesty aired...
Cue: Wayne's World diddly-dum-diddly-dum...
INT. ITV MEETING ROOM - DAY
A LACKEY squirms in his seat as his BOSS reclines in a big leather seat...
Boss: Okay, let's do our own Paul O'Grady Show. Obviously it won't be as good as O'Grady, which is why it'll be on during Richard & Judy. It gives viewers a choice of two formats: light-hearted fun and chat with us, or... the book club and... whatever else Richard and Judy do these days.
Lackey: Are you sure, sir? Richard & Judy are an established Channel 4 brand now.
Boss: Nonsense! Judy can hardly string a coherent sentence together these days! They were much better on ITV back in the day. Besides, people watched for You Say We Pay, so we'll be okay now. Cloning O'Grady will knock spots of 'em!
Lackey: Excellent, sir! Only, it'll have to be without dogs and kids, because we don't want to get sued.
Boss: Oh, yes, yes. You handle the small details. Now, who can present it...?
Lackey: Erm, how about Antony Cotton?
Boss: Dot's junkie son in EastEnders?
Lackey: No, the gay one in Coronation Street, with the thinning hair.
Boss: Does he have any presenting experience?
Lackey: No.
Boss: Does he come from a comedy, musical or theatrical background? Butlins Redcoat, anything like that?
Lackey: Ummm, don't think so. He's an actor. He was in Queer As Folk.
Boss: Queer As Folk? Is he gay then?
Lackey: Oh, yes.
Boss: Perfect! Gay men are bred for light entertainment, just look at Larry Greyson, Graham Norton and Vernon Kaye.
Lackey: Vernon's straight. He's married to Tess Daley.
Boss: (laughs) Good one. Anyway, this Cotton bloke: definitely gay?
Lackey: Absolutely. He's the token camp one in Corrie. He won Soapstar Superstar too.
Boss: Ooh, great! That means we can say he's multi-talented! We can even get him to sing on the show... you know, as a hook to catch the idiots who voted for him.
Lackey: Incidentally, sir, I've finished refunding all the Superstar voters, after we spent their ill-gotten money on Primeval's effects budget. Oh, actually, I have the dinosaur glove puppets for the next series if you're--
Boss: I'll look later! Right, this is shaping up nicely. Having a gay man as a host cuts down 90% of the joke writing. If things get too boring, he can just throw in a few double-entendres. You know, "back passages", "big ones", "juicy plums". Cheap laughs like that. Julian Clary swears by it.
Lackey: No problem, sir. Oh, ummm.... what about actual guests?
Boss: Simple! Draw up a list of every ITV show on that same week, then book whoever stars in them.
Lackey: But, we don't actually have any decent shows on at the moment. Not until Harry Hill comes back, anyway.
Boss: Okay... people from old ITV shows then.
Lackey: Ahh, brilliant! I'll contact the cast of TV-AM right away. Not sure we'll get Roland Rat, though -- he's out of our price range. But Rustie Lee and Lizzie will bite my hand off! Anthony's friends from Corrie will come on, obviously... maybe even a few from Heartbeat, to keep the old dears happy. Oh, what happens when Paul O' Grady comes back from holiday?
Boss: Do I have to think of everything? Usual drill: just stick Midsomer Murders on.
The sad thing is... Antony Cotton's beating R&J in the ratings! Is he really that good... or are R&J really that bad now?
DOCTOR WHO - Room For Two?
The Doctor Who marketing team sure know how to keep their brand in the public eye. Season 3 finished weeks ago, but the show refuses to go away! Every day we're confronted with casting rumours and leaks from the set of 2007's Christmas Special.
I dearly love Doctor Who, but even I think it's overkill.
In just over a month we've had the James Nesbitt-to-replace-David-Tennant rumour, the Woody Allen as baddie rumour, the Kylie Minogue appearance (confirmed) and persistance that Ben Kingsley will play Dalek creator Davros in season 4, all mixed with very early promotion for spin-off Torchwood. The long-awaited Sarah Jane Adventures website has even materialized!
So why not add 2007's Children In Need telethon to the mix? A few years ago, Russell T. Davies wrote a short scene that bridged a gap between season 1 and the 2005 Christmas specal, featuring the newly-regenerated Doctor and Rose. Amazingly, it wasn't a disposable piece of guff, but a genuinely fun "missing scene" that fans lapped up as an appetizer for the Christmas special that year.
This year, Steven Moffat will be writing a short Doctor Who story for November's Children In Need, that will find David Tennant's Tenth Doctor catching up with his Fifth incarnation, played by Peter Davison. That's right, for the first time since 1983's The Five Doctors, The Doctor will share the screen with himself!
I can already hear fan's heartbeats thumping a little quicker. A multi-Doctor story is a Doctor Who-ism still untapped by the revived series, so it should be a lot of fun. But... I can't help think it's an idea wasted as Children In Need filler material, even if it's shown in bitesize chunks that equal a 20-minute episode (a la Moffat's The Curse Of Fatal Death for Comic Relief 1999).
Surely it would work better as a two-part episode in season 4, or even a Christmas special for 2008? And why stop with Peter Davison? Sylvester McCoy is spritely enough to return to the show and hardcore fans are desperate to see Paul McGann return as the Eighth Doctor, following his one appearance in 1996's TV Movie.
Fans have assumed McGann's Doctor was the one responsible for the Time War that has informed the new series since its 2005 debut, so it would be a great opportunity to expand on that, too. New fans would also get a kick from seeing Christopher Ecclestone's Ninth Doctor partner with his replacement Tennant...
If they wanted to get truly geeky, a vocal appearance from Tom Baker would send Whovians into spasms. It's just a shame Baker couldn't appear on-screen, as he's so physically changed from his 70s heyday -- likewise Colin Baker from his 80s tenure.
I'm sure the Davison-Tennant meeting will be great fun, particularly with Moffat penning the script. I was born in 1979, so Peter Davison was my first Doctor and, consequently, he's fixed in my mind as the defining interpretation... although I'll admit Tom Baker's take is the most iconic.
My first memory of crying at something on TV was when Davison's Doctor died and regenerated (I was five, okay?), so the idea of seeing Davison and Tennant together in the TARDIS gives me great delight... even if it's just plugging gaps in a BBC telethon.
I think they're missing a huge opportunity with the multi-Doctor concept, don't you?
I dearly love Doctor Who, but even I think it's overkill.
In just over a month we've had the James Nesbitt-to-replace-David-Tennant rumour, the Woody Allen as baddie rumour, the Kylie Minogue appearance (confirmed) and persistance that Ben Kingsley will play Dalek creator Davros in season 4, all mixed with very early promotion for spin-off Torchwood. The long-awaited Sarah Jane Adventures website has even materialized!
So why not add 2007's Children In Need telethon to the mix? A few years ago, Russell T. Davies wrote a short scene that bridged a gap between season 1 and the 2005 Christmas specal, featuring the newly-regenerated Doctor and Rose. Amazingly, it wasn't a disposable piece of guff, but a genuinely fun "missing scene" that fans lapped up as an appetizer for the Christmas special that year.
This year, Steven Moffat will be writing a short Doctor Who story for November's Children In Need, that will find David Tennant's Tenth Doctor catching up with his Fifth incarnation, played by Peter Davison. That's right, for the first time since 1983's The Five Doctors, The Doctor will share the screen with himself!
I can already hear fan's heartbeats thumping a little quicker. A multi-Doctor story is a Doctor Who-ism still untapped by the revived series, so it should be a lot of fun. But... I can't help think it's an idea wasted as Children In Need filler material, even if it's shown in bitesize chunks that equal a 20-minute episode (a la Moffat's The Curse Of Fatal Death for Comic Relief 1999).
Surely it would work better as a two-part episode in season 4, or even a Christmas special for 2008? And why stop with Peter Davison? Sylvester McCoy is spritely enough to return to the show and hardcore fans are desperate to see Paul McGann return as the Eighth Doctor, following his one appearance in 1996's TV Movie.
Fans have assumed McGann's Doctor was the one responsible for the Time War that has informed the new series since its 2005 debut, so it would be a great opportunity to expand on that, too. New fans would also get a kick from seeing Christopher Ecclestone's Ninth Doctor partner with his replacement Tennant...
If they wanted to get truly geeky, a vocal appearance from Tom Baker would send Whovians into spasms. It's just a shame Baker couldn't appear on-screen, as he's so physically changed from his 70s heyday -- likewise Colin Baker from his 80s tenure.
I'm sure the Davison-Tennant meeting will be great fun, particularly with Moffat penning the script. I was born in 1979, so Peter Davison was my first Doctor and, consequently, he's fixed in my mind as the defining interpretation... although I'll admit Tom Baker's take is the most iconic.
My first memory of crying at something on TV was when Davison's Doctor died and regenerated (I was five, okay?), so the idea of seeing Davison and Tennant together in the TARDIS gives me great delight... even if it's just plugging gaps in a BBC telethon.
I think they're missing a huge opportunity with the multi-Doctor concept, don't you?
Little Miss Sunshine (2006)
Directors: Jonathan Dayton & Valerie Faris
Writer: Michael Arndt
Cast: Greg Kinnear (Richard Hoover), Steve Carell (Frank Ginsberg), Toni Collette (Sheryl Hoover), Alan Arkin (Edwin Hoover), Paul Dano (Dwayne), Abigail Breslin (Olive Hoover), Marc Turtletaub (Doctor #1), Jill Talley (Cindy), Brenda Canela (Diner Waitress), Julio Oscar Melchoso (Mechanic), Chuck Loring (Convenience Store Proprietor), Justin Shilton (Josh), Gordon Thomson (Larry Sugarman), Bryan Cranston (Stan Grossman), John Walcutt (Doctor #2), Paula Newsome (Linda), Dean Norris (State Trooper McCleary), Beth Grant (Pageant Official Jenkins), Lauren Yee (Pageant Contestant), Wallace Langham (Kirby), Lauren Shiohama (Miss California), Mary Lynn Rajskub (Pageant Assistant Pam), Jerry Giles (Funeral Home Worker), Geoff Meed (Biker Dad), Matt Winston (Pageant M.C), Joan Schneckel (Judge), Cassandra Ashe (Girl In Hallway) & Mel Rodriguez (Officer Martinez)
The eclectic Hoover family travel across state to California, to enter 7-year-old Olive in a Little Miss Sunshine beauty pageant...
The times they are a-changing. Since the 80s, directors of music videos and commercials would eventually make a jump to feature film, bringing their 4-minute attention spans with them. They helped create the so-called "MTV-style", still prevalent today with Michael Bay: all style, little substance.
But since the millennium, things have evolved. Michel Gondry found acclaim with Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind, David Slade just completed psychological drama Hard Candy, and now married couple Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris graduate from working with Oasis and Red Hot Chilli Peppers, to make Little Miss Sunshine... and there isn't a crash-zoom or camera shake anywhere!
Little Miss Sunshine is a simple story about a family from Albuquerque travelling to California so their youngest can compete in a beauty pageant. Greg Kinnear plays Richard Hoover, a motivational speaker; Toni Collette is his overworked wife Sheryl; Steve Carell is Frank, Shery's depressed brother and Proust scholar; Alan Arkin stars as Edwin, Richard's irrascible father; Paul Dano stars as Dwayne, a Nietzsche-reading teen who's taken a vow of silence; and Abigail Breslin plays fun-loving 7-year-old Olive...
Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris craft a solid and entertaining film that focuses on performances. It's very much a character piece, so Dayton and Faris get fine work from their cast and refuse to make the pace slip into tedium. For a "road movie", Little Miss Sunshine isn't confined to its yellow VW camper van, with some nice diversions into a local restaurant, gas station, motel and a hospital, to break up monotony.
Greg Kinnear, as Richard, has played similar egotistical men throughout his career, so he's almost on autopilot here. But the script never manages to make his motivational speaker backstory click, particularly in the middle when he faces bankrupty, and because you don't really care it becomes distracting.
Steve Carell is great as Frank, a depressed homosexual who recently attempted suicide. Carell's natural leaning towards comedy means Frank is never a downbeat character really, just one of life's supposed "losers". Carell may play the same character in everything he does (to varying degree), but he gets away with it. Frank is basically a bearded, Zen-like version of The Office's Michael Scott, but undoubtedly a highlight.
Toni Collette is solid as Sheryl, but she's the most underdeveloped character. Sheryl's a typically fraught mother with very little meat to her character, so Collette just goes through the motions.
Paul Dano is mute son Dwayne, one of the quirkier characters with his aspiration to a be a fighter pilot and love of Nietzsche. Dano copes well with the limitations imposed by Dwayne's introverted nature (I particularly liked his voice-over notebook scribblings), but it comes as blessed relief when he's finally able to converse with the others.
Alan Arkin is always good value in any role, and he proves it again as the film's grandfather, a straight-talking old codger who's begun snorting drugs. It's a small role that comes to a (literal) end too soon for my liking, but Arkin's great while it lasts. But, while it's a good performance, I don't think it deserved an Academy Award for "Best Supporing Actor"!
Of course, the person you'll most remember is young Abigail Breslin as beauty queen wannabe Olive. Breslin's another of those eerily talented youngster in the Haley Joel Osment mould. She exudes spark and innocence and gets most of the film's emotional or high-energy moments; a touching heart-to-heart in a motel bedroom and the film's climactic dance routine.
The film is certainly not without charm and good performances, but there's something naggingly amiss with Little Miss Sunshine... flaws in its make-up that stop it shining. I think it's primarily because the "dysfunctional family" aren't very dysfunctional...
Sure, Frank has attempted suicide (off screen) and Dwayne hasn't spoken in months, but neither character face much difficulty as a result. Frank does have a fraught relationship with Richard (who considers him a big loser), but he's well-liked by everyone else, while Dwayne's silence doesn't aggravate anyone. In fact, his step-dad's proud of the commitment involved! Nobody else is particularly irritating or unlikeable, meaning the Hoover's eventually "coming together" in the finale doesn't feel as cathartic as it should.
Little Miss Sunshine is basically a series of problems (the malfunctioning camper van), embarassments (buying porn) and black comedy (smuggling a dead body out of a hospital), culminating in the glitzy ridiculousness of the titular pageant, wherein toddlers are smothered in mascara and bop around like midget dancers. It's quite distasteful to watch, as the Hoover family themselves realize, prompting a fun retaliation that provides the film's one decent swipe at culture.
The finale's feel-good spirit is almost good enough to gloss over the dawdling build-up... but not quite. I think the real failing of Little Miss Sunshine is with the script, which doesn't have particularly original characters, fails to develop most of them, and doesn't contain many incidents along the way.
The film would have benefitted from a few more rewrites and perhaps 20-minutes adding to it. Yes, I'm aware Michael Arndt won an Academy Award for his work here, but I can't change how I feel. The story didn't hit any big highs for me... and that certainly wasn't due to any bad performances or directorial decisions.
Still, despite its problems, Little Miss Sunshine is a light and breezy adventure, with enough good humour and likeable performances to make the trip worthwhile. It isn't the shining light its awards success would have you believe, but it's entertaining and quirky.
Fox Searchlight Pictures
Budget: $8 million
103 minutes
Writer: Michael Arndt
Cast: Greg Kinnear (Richard Hoover), Steve Carell (Frank Ginsberg), Toni Collette (Sheryl Hoover), Alan Arkin (Edwin Hoover), Paul Dano (Dwayne), Abigail Breslin (Olive Hoover), Marc Turtletaub (Doctor #1), Jill Talley (Cindy), Brenda Canela (Diner Waitress), Julio Oscar Melchoso (Mechanic), Chuck Loring (Convenience Store Proprietor), Justin Shilton (Josh), Gordon Thomson (Larry Sugarman), Bryan Cranston (Stan Grossman), John Walcutt (Doctor #2), Paula Newsome (Linda), Dean Norris (State Trooper McCleary), Beth Grant (Pageant Official Jenkins), Lauren Yee (Pageant Contestant), Wallace Langham (Kirby), Lauren Shiohama (Miss California), Mary Lynn Rajskub (Pageant Assistant Pam), Jerry Giles (Funeral Home Worker), Geoff Meed (Biker Dad), Matt Winston (Pageant M.C), Joan Schneckel (Judge), Cassandra Ashe (Girl In Hallway) & Mel Rodriguez (Officer Martinez)
The eclectic Hoover family travel across state to California, to enter 7-year-old Olive in a Little Miss Sunshine beauty pageant...The times they are a-changing. Since the 80s, directors of music videos and commercials would eventually make a jump to feature film, bringing their 4-minute attention spans with them. They helped create the so-called "MTV-style", still prevalent today with Michael Bay: all style, little substance.
But since the millennium, things have evolved. Michel Gondry found acclaim with Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind, David Slade just completed psychological drama Hard Candy, and now married couple Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris graduate from working with Oasis and Red Hot Chilli Peppers, to make Little Miss Sunshine... and there isn't a crash-zoom or camera shake anywhere!
Little Miss Sunshine is a simple story about a family from Albuquerque travelling to California so their youngest can compete in a beauty pageant. Greg Kinnear plays Richard Hoover, a motivational speaker; Toni Collette is his overworked wife Sheryl; Steve Carell is Frank, Shery's depressed brother and Proust scholar; Alan Arkin stars as Edwin, Richard's irrascible father; Paul Dano stars as Dwayne, a Nietzsche-reading teen who's taken a vow of silence; and Abigail Breslin plays fun-loving 7-year-old Olive...
Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris craft a solid and entertaining film that focuses on performances. It's very much a character piece, so Dayton and Faris get fine work from their cast and refuse to make the pace slip into tedium. For a "road movie", Little Miss Sunshine isn't confined to its yellow VW camper van, with some nice diversions into a local restaurant, gas station, motel and a hospital, to break up monotony.
Greg Kinnear, as Richard, has played similar egotistical men throughout his career, so he's almost on autopilot here. But the script never manages to make his motivational speaker backstory click, particularly in the middle when he faces bankrupty, and because you don't really care it becomes distracting.
Steve Carell is great as Frank, a depressed homosexual who recently attempted suicide. Carell's natural leaning towards comedy means Frank is never a downbeat character really, just one of life's supposed "losers". Carell may play the same character in everything he does (to varying degree), but he gets away with it. Frank is basically a bearded, Zen-like version of The Office's Michael Scott, but undoubtedly a highlight.
Toni Collette is solid as Sheryl, but she's the most underdeveloped character. Sheryl's a typically fraught mother with very little meat to her character, so Collette just goes through the motions.
Paul Dano is mute son Dwayne, one of the quirkier characters with his aspiration to a be a fighter pilot and love of Nietzsche. Dano copes well with the limitations imposed by Dwayne's introverted nature (I particularly liked his voice-over notebook scribblings), but it comes as blessed relief when he's finally able to converse with the others.
Alan Arkin is always good value in any role, and he proves it again as the film's grandfather, a straight-talking old codger who's begun snorting drugs. It's a small role that comes to a (literal) end too soon for my liking, but Arkin's great while it lasts. But, while it's a good performance, I don't think it deserved an Academy Award for "Best Supporing Actor"!
Of course, the person you'll most remember is young Abigail Breslin as beauty queen wannabe Olive. Breslin's another of those eerily talented youngster in the Haley Joel Osment mould. She exudes spark and innocence and gets most of the film's emotional or high-energy moments; a touching heart-to-heart in a motel bedroom and the film's climactic dance routine.
The film is certainly not without charm and good performances, but there's something naggingly amiss with Little Miss Sunshine... flaws in its make-up that stop it shining. I think it's primarily because the "dysfunctional family" aren't very dysfunctional...
Sure, Frank has attempted suicide (off screen) and Dwayne hasn't spoken in months, but neither character face much difficulty as a result. Frank does have a fraught relationship with Richard (who considers him a big loser), but he's well-liked by everyone else, while Dwayne's silence doesn't aggravate anyone. In fact, his step-dad's proud of the commitment involved! Nobody else is particularly irritating or unlikeable, meaning the Hoover's eventually "coming together" in the finale doesn't feel as cathartic as it should.
Little Miss Sunshine is basically a series of problems (the malfunctioning camper van), embarassments (buying porn) and black comedy (smuggling a dead body out of a hospital), culminating in the glitzy ridiculousness of the titular pageant, wherein toddlers are smothered in mascara and bop around like midget dancers. It's quite distasteful to watch, as the Hoover family themselves realize, prompting a fun retaliation that provides the film's one decent swipe at culture.
The finale's feel-good spirit is almost good enough to gloss over the dawdling build-up... but not quite. I think the real failing of Little Miss Sunshine is with the script, which doesn't have particularly original characters, fails to develop most of them, and doesn't contain many incidents along the way.
The film would have benefitted from a few more rewrites and perhaps 20-minutes adding to it. Yes, I'm aware Michael Arndt won an Academy Award for his work here, but I can't change how I feel. The story didn't hit any big highs for me... and that certainly wasn't due to any bad performances or directorial decisions.
Still, despite its problems, Little Miss Sunshine is a light and breezy adventure, with enough good humour and likeable performances to make the trip worthwhile. It isn't the shining light its awards success would have you believe, but it's entertaining and quirky.
Fox Searchlight Pictures
Budget: $8 million
103 minutes
Tuesday, 21 August 2007
HEROES - Season 2 Promo
Obviously, a fair amount of spoilers for people who can deduce things (and clips from season 1's finale), so DO NOT watch if you're just getting into Heroes on BBC2!
But, for those of you who watched on Sci-Fi Channel or (ahem) other means earlier this year, here's a little glimpse of season 2's premiere, due 24 September in the US...
Ooh, late-night updates: another promo, this one very artful and dreamlike...
... and another extended version of the first, here.
But, for those of you who watched on Sci-Fi Channel or (ahem) other means earlier this year, here's a little glimpse of season 2's premiere, due 24 September in the US...
Ooh, late-night updates: another promo, this one very artful and dreamlike...
... and another extended version of the first, here.
DIRT 1.7 - "Come Together"
Writer: Rebecca Dameron
Director: Adam Arkin
Cast: Courteney Cox (Lucy Spiller), Jeffrey Nordling (Brent Barrow), Ian Hart (Don Konkey), Alex Breckenridge (Willa McPherson), Will McCormack (Leo Spiller), Laura Allen (Julia Mallory), Josh Stewart (Holt McLaren), Ankur Bhatt (Kenny), Carly Pope (Garbo), Grant Show (Jack Dawson), Paul Ruebens (Chuck Lafoon), Stephanie Turner (Maddy Sweet) & Tara Summers (Abby)
When her source takes back her story, Willa's excitement over her first cover story fades. Meanwhile, Lucy's relationship with Leo is jeopardized by Jack Dawson's lawsuit and Don becomes involved with a waitress...
Quite against expectation, this episode continues the cheerleader murder storyline from last week, with naive reporter Willa McPherson (Alex Breckenridge) nabbing her first DirtNow cover story... only to discover the murder confession from teen Maddy (Stephanie Turner) was a lie...
It's an interesting turn of events for luckless Willa, particularly as it means yet more strain between human decency and professional ruthlessness; as printing the false confession would land Abby in prison, while ignoring it would lose DirtNow its weekly scoop.
I know which course of action I'd take, but the characters of Dirt are more hollow and soulless in their decisions, particularly Lucy (Courteney Cox), who this week damages her relationship with brother Leo (Will McCormack) over his Jack Dawson mud-slinging. Leo's conscience tells him to stop dragging ex-boyfriend Jack through the gutter press, after he discovers he has a wife and family. Of course, Lucy's sense of moral decency has been in the gutter for years now, so she can't understand her brother's dilemma.
In an interesting new subplot, began in earnest last week, schitzophrenic photographer Don (excellent Ian Hart) takes a shine to English waitress Abby (Tara Summers) and, in an amusing scene, asks Lucy to confirm she's real...
It's here that we're given an intriguing new dynamic to the show, as Abby is aware of Don's mental illness, but views it as a natural downside to Don's natural "artistry", while also being critical about how Lucy's manipulates him. Abby is an intriguing new character; she could turn out to be Don's salvation, or a nutter just looking to exploit a sick man. This "love triangle" should take us into some interesting areas...
Holt McLaren (Josh Stewart) has made a definite move into Lucy's affections, with another sex scene kicking off this episode, although it quickly becomes yucky once Holt vomits more worms into her sink. Disappointingly, his medical complaint is diagnosed by a starstruck doctor very early on, so I'm not sure what purpose it has achieved... beyond providing a few gross-out sequences in past episodes.
Josh Stewart looks increasingly bored and two-dimensional as Holt, and I'm not sure this subdued performance is intentional. Sure, it could be a comment on how famous actors are actually fairly mundane guys behind closed doors (a Harrison Ford riff), but it could be that Stewart is incapable of rising above hangdog expressions and laconic drawling.
That said, Stewart's relationship with girlfriend Julia (Laura Allen) is touching and deserving of his understated style. A scene in Come Together, when Holt commits to take drug-addict Julia to rehab, is memorable and sensitively handled. It was also given a typically acidic twist by the presence of Don, again intruding on privacy to grab snapshots for the magazine. One thing Dirt does well is make you cringe at tabloid intrusion, while at the same time get you invested in the search for juicy gossip.
Things certainly get juicy with Brent Barrow (Jeffrey Nordling), a character who has been slowly coming to the fore since his manhood was threatened by gangsters awhile back. As DirtNow's publisher, Barrow is a force for good and bad at the tabloid, always poised to chastize Lucy's tactics, but increasingly presenting a united front against the magazine's detractors -- as exemplified here, when Jack Dawson's stetson-wearing lawyer arrives and threatens them with a lawsuit...
Barrow has earned viewer empathy in recent weeks (certainly from the male demographic), so a subplot with him flirting with Willa and stroking her ego seems innocent enough. Of course, everything in Dirt is... well, dirty... and Barrow's seedier nature is exposed, as he video-tapes himself having sex with Willa (the latest conquest of a huge collection, it seems...) Are half the staff at DirtNow on his tapes, ready to be blackmailed? It's another salacious subplot that will be fun to see developed...
Coming Together earns its title with a neat closing montage of the characters, all caught in various strands of the showbiz spider web: Julia going cold turkey in rehab; innocent murderess Maddy swapping her pink bedroom for the grey of a prison cell, to start another Paris Hilton collage; and Lucy hearing news that the cheerleader murder DirtNow sensationalized is to be turned into a Spike Lee movie...
It's the circle of tabloid life.
20 August 2007
FiveUS, 9.00 pm
Director: Adam Arkin
Cast: Courteney Cox (Lucy Spiller), Jeffrey Nordling (Brent Barrow), Ian Hart (Don Konkey), Alex Breckenridge (Willa McPherson), Will McCormack (Leo Spiller), Laura Allen (Julia Mallory), Josh Stewart (Holt McLaren), Ankur Bhatt (Kenny), Carly Pope (Garbo), Grant Show (Jack Dawson), Paul Ruebens (Chuck Lafoon), Stephanie Turner (Maddy Sweet) & Tara Summers (Abby)
When her source takes back her story, Willa's excitement over her first cover story fades. Meanwhile, Lucy's relationship with Leo is jeopardized by Jack Dawson's lawsuit and Don becomes involved with a waitress...Quite against expectation, this episode continues the cheerleader murder storyline from last week, with naive reporter Willa McPherson (Alex Breckenridge) nabbing her first DirtNow cover story... only to discover the murder confession from teen Maddy (Stephanie Turner) was a lie...
It's an interesting turn of events for luckless Willa, particularly as it means yet more strain between human decency and professional ruthlessness; as printing the false confession would land Abby in prison, while ignoring it would lose DirtNow its weekly scoop.
I know which course of action I'd take, but the characters of Dirt are more hollow and soulless in their decisions, particularly Lucy (Courteney Cox), who this week damages her relationship with brother Leo (Will McCormack) over his Jack Dawson mud-slinging. Leo's conscience tells him to stop dragging ex-boyfriend Jack through the gutter press, after he discovers he has a wife and family. Of course, Lucy's sense of moral decency has been in the gutter for years now, so she can't understand her brother's dilemma.
In an interesting new subplot, began in earnest last week, schitzophrenic photographer Don (excellent Ian Hart) takes a shine to English waitress Abby (Tara Summers) and, in an amusing scene, asks Lucy to confirm she's real...
It's here that we're given an intriguing new dynamic to the show, as Abby is aware of Don's mental illness, but views it as a natural downside to Don's natural "artistry", while also being critical about how Lucy's manipulates him. Abby is an intriguing new character; she could turn out to be Don's salvation, or a nutter just looking to exploit a sick man. This "love triangle" should take us into some interesting areas...
Holt McLaren (Josh Stewart) has made a definite move into Lucy's affections, with another sex scene kicking off this episode, although it quickly becomes yucky once Holt vomits more worms into her sink. Disappointingly, his medical complaint is diagnosed by a starstruck doctor very early on, so I'm not sure what purpose it has achieved... beyond providing a few gross-out sequences in past episodes.
Josh Stewart looks increasingly bored and two-dimensional as Holt, and I'm not sure this subdued performance is intentional. Sure, it could be a comment on how famous actors are actually fairly mundane guys behind closed doors (a Harrison Ford riff), but it could be that Stewart is incapable of rising above hangdog expressions and laconic drawling.
That said, Stewart's relationship with girlfriend Julia (Laura Allen) is touching and deserving of his understated style. A scene in Come Together, when Holt commits to take drug-addict Julia to rehab, is memorable and sensitively handled. It was also given a typically acidic twist by the presence of Don, again intruding on privacy to grab snapshots for the magazine. One thing Dirt does well is make you cringe at tabloid intrusion, while at the same time get you invested in the search for juicy gossip.
Things certainly get juicy with Brent Barrow (Jeffrey Nordling), a character who has been slowly coming to the fore since his manhood was threatened by gangsters awhile back. As DirtNow's publisher, Barrow is a force for good and bad at the tabloid, always poised to chastize Lucy's tactics, but increasingly presenting a united front against the magazine's detractors -- as exemplified here, when Jack Dawson's stetson-wearing lawyer arrives and threatens them with a lawsuit...
Barrow has earned viewer empathy in recent weeks (certainly from the male demographic), so a subplot with him flirting with Willa and stroking her ego seems innocent enough. Of course, everything in Dirt is... well, dirty... and Barrow's seedier nature is exposed, as he video-tapes himself having sex with Willa (the latest conquest of a huge collection, it seems...) Are half the staff at DirtNow on his tapes, ready to be blackmailed? It's another salacious subplot that will be fun to see developed...
Coming Together earns its title with a neat closing montage of the characters, all caught in various strands of the showbiz spider web: Julia going cold turkey in rehab; innocent murderess Maddy swapping her pink bedroom for the grey of a prison cell, to start another Paris Hilton collage; and Lucy hearing news that the cheerleader murder DirtNow sensationalized is to be turned into a Spike Lee movie...
It's the circle of tabloid life.
20 August 2007
FiveUS, 9.00 pm
