So they've been showing MERLIN again on the BBC. My brother said about it that 'it's not quite as bad as being punched in the face'. Now see, I have to question that particular statement, since it relies on whether or not you're just being punched in the face that one time, or repeatedly throughout the run-length of each episode. Because if it's the first one, I'll take that.
Merlin is the kind of television that makes you question just why you're watching it, while at the same time wondering when the next episode is on. It's really, really, really bad... but I still want to watch the next one. It kind of makes you wonder why people like Anthony Head and Richard Wilson actually do it... except that at the end of the day a job's a job and a paycheck is a paycheck.
Just one point about stupidity that I noticed in the second episode of it, however (entitled Valient and guest starring WHITE VAN MAN and TWO PINTS OF LAGER AND A PACKET OF CRISPS' Will Mellor). Why on earth would you get a magical shield that has the ability to make snakes shoot forwards from it and bite people? Especially to use it in a tournament that's gonna be watched by a king that hates all magic and has made this publically known? Seeing as how it's a bit difficult to hide three magical big-ass snakes... argh... it's just not very well thought through, is it? But then it does stuff like making Mordred's first appearance actually interesting.
And it's got John Hurt in it. Or at least his wonderful, wonderful voice. Oh well, when's the next one up?
JONATHAN CREEK
(Continued)
I don't want to be one of these people who constantly says 'it was better back in the old days', but I can tell you that in terms of the Creek, it was definately better before Maddie left. Carla as a replacement assistant was much more irritating that Maddy with a whole new method of calling Jonathan daft that just didn't really work. Despite being played by the sumptuously gorgeous Julia Sawahla, I never really got on with the character of Carla, especially since it involved dragging Adrien Edmonson around, and I'm pretty sure that he had better things to be doing with his time (like being on the dole).
The series took a decidedly darker note with all the serial killing and illegal immigration that became the focus of several episodes, as well as the brutal revenge murders in Carla's first Christmas special. I can't say as I enjoyed this later stuff as much as I did the more classic Creek, but it's hard to fault the continuity since every single episode of this series has been written by the same pen, that of David Renwick, the creator of the show. I've said this before, but perhaps having a different perspective sometimes may help smooth things along in terms of viewpoint. I've said that before and I'm sure I'll say it again.
With Carla as the assistant, the show lasted only one more season, which was split into two parts of three episodes each. A number of specials followed, with Carla no longer appearing and replaced with Joey (played by TWO PINTS' Sheridan Smith). So far Joey's only been in two specials and both of them suffer from what every Creek special has suffered from, they're just too long, too overly complicated and too elaborate to draw the interest in. The Judas Tree in particular needed a hell of a lot of editing and altering, but didn't recieve it, not even the guest starring of Paul McGann could save it.
The Judas Tree was back in Easter 2010 and I don't really expect to see the series resurface, especially since it was five years in between Carla and Joey's stints. I don't hold great hopes for the future of the series, if there even is one.
Well, that ended on a downer, didn't it?
Next time I talk about: Actually I don't know.
Thursday, 28 April 2011
Friday, 22 April 2011
He lives in a Windmill?
There are times when I frickin' love television and times when it bores the hell out of me. There I am, surfing through all that is available on the iPlayer and find that the thing I really want to watch most of all is last week's episode of Have I Got News For You. The one I've already watched. Twice.
I really don't think I have much to talk about at this point, although the keen followers of my habits will notice that I'm ridiculously behind on posting these things, which is pretty much the norm when it comes to me and blogging. I'm not all that reliable at it when it comes down to it.
Well. Sort of.
So instead I'm going to scan my DVD shelf and find something that I'd like to talk about from the dim distant past of memory. However, since it's much bigger than the series I've been talking about in the past, I'm going to break it into two parts, just so that I don't have to think of something else to write about next time. Because, you know, lazy.
JONATHAN CREEK.
(Part 1)
So to start off with I'm just going to talk about the first three proper seasons, which were the Caroline Quentin years, from 1997 to 2000. Or as I like to think of it, the better part of the show's history.
So, Jonathan Creek... what can I say about it that hasn't been said already? Posted as a detective series that focuses on bizarre methods and even more bizarre explanations for those methods, rather than motive and criminial intention, and with a heavy bent on the craft of the Stage Magician, this series was sort of an alternative to the many, many, many, countless thousands of crime dramas that loited public television like chavs at a job centre. Okay, that was a bit harsh, crime drama is certainly more popular than any other in the history of television, but that to me just means that any particular series has to work extra hard to impress me or even get noticed in the first place. So making one about a nerdy anorak that lives in a windmill and solves crimes because he's a massive mystery buff is a step in the right direction.
The series was created and written completely by David Renwick, who was responsible for every single episode. Now, I've always felt a little wary about single-writer shows, mainly because as a writer myself I know that there's only so much imagination that goes on in there and every now and again a fresh perspective really helps freshen the show up a little. And lets face it, there were certainly times when this show needed a little freshness. While the characters were quirky and eccentric (the way that Jonathan and Maddy play off each other works brilliantly well) and the plots are all technically clever, there are quite a few that have a sense of being over stodgy and full of technical detail that detracts from the actual sense of story. The supporting character of Adam Klaus, however, is sheer genius throughout.
The problem with crime is that the real stuff is committed through passion. Passion isn't planned, it just happens. So the majority of the crimes within this series are utterly implausible due to the amount of depth within.
In fact, the very best episodes of this series (Time Waits For Norman and The Omega Man in particular) are the ones that don't actually revolve around murder, but instead elaborte con jobs that are designed not to hurt anyone.
Interestingly enough, the role of Adam Klaus was first played by Anthony Stewart Head, who then defected to the States in order to play a librarian in some schloky vampire series or something. Stuart Milligan took over and pretty much improved on the role in the second season onwards, with the majority of the comedy in the series coming from Klaus and his antics. In fact, a number of comedic actors were in the series, only to play straight-faced characters who barely cracked a smile.
So, if they stayed away from murder, the first twenty or so episodes over the first three years were great, they were in-depth, detailed, well-structured, great characters and a sense that the joke, somehow, was on you.
Next up:... more Creek.
I really don't think I have much to talk about at this point, although the keen followers of my habits will notice that I'm ridiculously behind on posting these things, which is pretty much the norm when it comes to me and blogging. I'm not all that reliable at it when it comes down to it.
Well. Sort of.
So instead I'm going to scan my DVD shelf and find something that I'd like to talk about from the dim distant past of memory. However, since it's much bigger than the series I've been talking about in the past, I'm going to break it into two parts, just so that I don't have to think of something else to write about next time. Because, you know, lazy.
JONATHAN CREEK.
(Part 1)
So to start off with I'm just going to talk about the first three proper seasons, which were the Caroline Quentin years, from 1997 to 2000. Or as I like to think of it, the better part of the show's history.
So, Jonathan Creek... what can I say about it that hasn't been said already? Posted as a detective series that focuses on bizarre methods and even more bizarre explanations for those methods, rather than motive and criminial intention, and with a heavy bent on the craft of the Stage Magician, this series was sort of an alternative to the many, many, many, countless thousands of crime dramas that loited public television like chavs at a job centre. Okay, that was a bit harsh, crime drama is certainly more popular than any other in the history of television, but that to me just means that any particular series has to work extra hard to impress me or even get noticed in the first place. So making one about a nerdy anorak that lives in a windmill and solves crimes because he's a massive mystery buff is a step in the right direction.
The series was created and written completely by David Renwick, who was responsible for every single episode. Now, I've always felt a little wary about single-writer shows, mainly because as a writer myself I know that there's only so much imagination that goes on in there and every now and again a fresh perspective really helps freshen the show up a little. And lets face it, there were certainly times when this show needed a little freshness. While the characters were quirky and eccentric (the way that Jonathan and Maddy play off each other works brilliantly well) and the plots are all technically clever, there are quite a few that have a sense of being over stodgy and full of technical detail that detracts from the actual sense of story. The supporting character of Adam Klaus, however, is sheer genius throughout.
The problem with crime is that the real stuff is committed through passion. Passion isn't planned, it just happens. So the majority of the crimes within this series are utterly implausible due to the amount of depth within.
In fact, the very best episodes of this series (Time Waits For Norman and The Omega Man in particular) are the ones that don't actually revolve around murder, but instead elaborte con jobs that are designed not to hurt anyone.
Interestingly enough, the role of Adam Klaus was first played by Anthony Stewart Head, who then defected to the States in order to play a librarian in some schloky vampire series or something. Stuart Milligan took over and pretty much improved on the role in the second season onwards, with the majority of the comedy in the series coming from Klaus and his antics. In fact, a number of comedic actors were in the series, only to play straight-faced characters who barely cracked a smile.
So, if they stayed away from murder, the first twenty or so episodes over the first three years were great, they were in-depth, detailed, well-structured, great characters and a sense that the joke, somehow, was on you.
Next up:... more Creek.
Sunday, 10 April 2011
Innocent Until Proven Guilty
In the television this week... my parents were on the news.
And I missed it. My mum and dad were on the BBC Breakfast show.
Basically, because of all this Royal Wedding tedium bollocks, various people at the BBC sent out a series of emails to as many people as they know asking if anyone knows any other couples that got married as a result of going to St. Andrews University together (which my parents did, that's where they met and got married) and it just so happens that one of my mum's dog-walking friends was a former BBC News Foriegn Correspondant, so she gets this email and immeadiately shows it to my mum and dad. They get interviewed and it was on the news on saturday morning (09/04/11).
And I missed it. I was in a car.
If you drastically wish to see it, I believe that it's still on the BBC News website, search for 'St. Andrew's Matchmaker' when you get there.
So, new series of HAVE I GOT NEWS FOR YOU. I've always, always loved Have I Got News, it's probably my favourite panel show, ahead of Buzzcocks, Would I Lie To You and any others that I stumble upon. And they got Jon Richardson back for the opening episode of this series, which is great, because I think he's one of this country's brightest young comedians.
Other than that, all I can say is that I'm ridiculously looking forward to the return of a certain madman in a box, and can't really be thinking about other things right now. WHITE VAN MAN is actually getting better, while TWENTY TWELVE seems to be sagging a litte, but comedy is always difficult to do, so I shall reserve judgement until later on, when it's done.
GARROW'S LAW.
So this was another BBC Courtroom Drama that I started avidly watching. In fact I watched the second series before I bought the first, but hey, continuity is flexible enough to allow that. I figured that since I did Silk last time I could get away with doing something that's largely the same show, just set in a period where Sean Bean is quite at home (Which reminds me that I must do one of these on Sharpe).
But of course the main difference is that Garrow's Law is historical in the sense that most of these characters actually existed. William Garrow, John Southouse, Judge Buller and Sir Arthur Hill were all real people and all the cases brought before the court of Old Bailey are indeed real cases straight out of the history files. Obviously some artistic licence has been taken, but I'd only hold that against them if it were a bad show.
And this is no way a bad show.
A stellar cast led by Andrew Buchan (or Sean Bean mk2 as I like to think of him), with the legendary nose of Alun Armstrong, current BBC royalty of Rupert Graves and the multi-talented Lyndsey Marshall who was last seen wasting her time in Being Human.
All I can really say about Garrow's Law is that both seasons have so far impressed me so much that I made sure to recommend it to everyone I know, just in case they missed it. This is a show that will suit many audiences, which I could only hope to match.
So next time, something more retro: JONATHAN CREEK.
And I missed it. My mum and dad were on the BBC Breakfast show.
Basically, because of all this Royal Wedding tedium bollocks, various people at the BBC sent out a series of emails to as many people as they know asking if anyone knows any other couples that got married as a result of going to St. Andrews University together (which my parents did, that's where they met and got married) and it just so happens that one of my mum's dog-walking friends was a former BBC News Foriegn Correspondant, so she gets this email and immeadiately shows it to my mum and dad. They get interviewed and it was on the news on saturday morning (09/04/11).
And I missed it. I was in a car.
If you drastically wish to see it, I believe that it's still on the BBC News website, search for 'St. Andrew's Matchmaker' when you get there.
So, new series of HAVE I GOT NEWS FOR YOU. I've always, always loved Have I Got News, it's probably my favourite panel show, ahead of Buzzcocks, Would I Lie To You and any others that I stumble upon. And they got Jon Richardson back for the opening episode of this series, which is great, because I think he's one of this country's brightest young comedians.
Other than that, all I can say is that I'm ridiculously looking forward to the return of a certain madman in a box, and can't really be thinking about other things right now. WHITE VAN MAN is actually getting better, while TWENTY TWELVE seems to be sagging a litte, but comedy is always difficult to do, so I shall reserve judgement until later on, when it's done.
GARROW'S LAW.
So this was another BBC Courtroom Drama that I started avidly watching. In fact I watched the second series before I bought the first, but hey, continuity is flexible enough to allow that. I figured that since I did Silk last time I could get away with doing something that's largely the same show, just set in a period where Sean Bean is quite at home (Which reminds me that I must do one of these on Sharpe).
But of course the main difference is that Garrow's Law is historical in the sense that most of these characters actually existed. William Garrow, John Southouse, Judge Buller and Sir Arthur Hill were all real people and all the cases brought before the court of Old Bailey are indeed real cases straight out of the history files. Obviously some artistic licence has been taken, but I'd only hold that against them if it were a bad show.
And this is no way a bad show.
A stellar cast led by Andrew Buchan (or Sean Bean mk2 as I like to think of him), with the legendary nose of Alun Armstrong, current BBC royalty of Rupert Graves and the multi-talented Lyndsey Marshall who was last seen wasting her time in Being Human.
All I can really say about Garrow's Law is that both seasons have so far impressed me so much that I made sure to recommend it to everyone I know, just in case they missed it. This is a show that will suit many audiences, which I could only hope to match.
So next time, something more retro: JONATHAN CREEK.
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