Because jekesta Asked

[chronographia]

Things BBC America thinks Americans will like, and provides programming accordingly:*

Sex. Violence. Being judgemental. Any combination of the above: sexy sex, violent sex, judgmental sex, sexy violence, violent violence, judgemental violence, violent judging, sexy judging, judgmental judging.

While I understand that living in the shadow of Miss Marple and Jeeves & Wooster can be difficult in unexpected ways, I was always a bit apprehensive about any new lineup BBCAmerica came up with and not particularly sorry to see it disappear from my cable bill. [SEE ALSO: Torchwood; Hex; Van Helsing.]

Which is why I was surprised† to find myself watching Being Human [USA], since I just about broke out in hives watching the trailers for the UK version. Apparently people have been saying good things about the original but- Vampires n' werewolves, man. It's been done. Usually with appalling mediocrity. Does the unsuspecting public actually need more foisted upon us? By Syfy of all people? Hmm.

I don't know that I have an answer for that right now; I've just got a bundle full of pros and cons and things that haven't sorted themselves into either category yet.

Cons:

• Bostonians are techy about their city being misrepresented in the media. Like, really. Why not just call it Quebec, city of, and move on?


• Unconvincing time-passes montage and/or lack of time-passes montage. Boston is not eternally green and leafy, and neither is Quebec for that matter. (For that, you'd want the Pacific Northwest, where they are also slightly more relaxed about Vancouver standing in for Oregon.)


• Unconvincing sibling relationship. Even if Josh or Emily was fostered, accounting for their looking nothing alike, they should at least have body language, posture and speech patterns that mimic each other, if they really were that close. This has kind of been driving me nuts.


• Intrusive interlude music, in the form of popular songs. Way to be heavy-handed, production team, way to be. How about employing a composer? They could use a nice steady stream of work in this economy.
  
  (Also, I am mildly disappointed that you did not jump at the chance to use Fallulah's Only Human which would have been nice and quirkily poignant. But that is just me.)


• Even without having seen the UK series, I get a distinct feeling of cognitive dissonance watching it. I think this is the big criticism that everyone is jumping on-that Being Human [UK] is still going on while an American adaptation is being made, and they're not vastly different in scheme, just in scope? Welcome to the puritanical American tv market; be glad you're not the new version of Skins.
  
  I can't make any good comparisons between the UK and the USA versions, since I no longer have BBC America on my tv. I just get the overtones of cognitive dissonance, like rubbing my stomach and patting my head at the same time. It comes across oddly, but has not been so strange for me that it detracts from the storyline. I'd like to give them the benefit of the doubt until they've got a few more episodes under their belt. By then it should be obvious if they're going to disgrace themselves with a zombie fembot mud wrestling with a pterodactyl or not.
  
  Honestly, having unconvincing siblings bothers me more.

Pros:

• I think the actress who plays Sally, Meaghan Rath, is a gem. I am sad that she has yet to have a storyline all to herself. She could totally handle it.


• The humor is a bit on the subtle side, is there and gone in a flash, and is often tucked away where you don't notice it, but stands up to a second or third viewing. I have missed this in my shows. So. Much.
  
  (This may be more a commentary on the state of American television than anything else. I will take what I can get.)


• The house (and house set, I suppose) makes my architecture-fetishizing heart go squee.


• The disjointed storytelling syntax is interesting, in that it you meet these characters in the middle of conducting their lives, without much context. I don't know that the writers can handle it as masterfully as Moffat does in Doctor Who, for example, but at the same time it is not a Anne Rice Bildungsroman. For which we can all be grateful.


• Sam Witwer's use of the Daniel Craig Acting Technique is endlessly amusing. By which I mean, you could use his method of pursing his lips and fluttering his eyelashes in every scene as the basis for a drinking game. A hilarious drinking game. Probably not the audience response he was after, but he has only himself (and Daniel Craig) to blame.


• Everyone's eyebrow movements are impressive.
  
  . . .
  
  That is not as back-handed a compliment as it sounds, I swear. I am genuinely impressed. If Star Trek was more about Vulcans traveling through space and quirking their eyebrow at the ridiculous things that humans do, I would watch it without end. In some ways my needs are very simple.


• Josh is downright gleeful about foodie things. So far it's the only time his character takes a break from being a tortured-and-broken-soul-who-can-never-look-back, and it's really rather refreshing. More foodie-ism, please, provided it is not used to reinforce how he is an omega male.
  
  In a lot of ways I want to be able to like Josh's character, but he's walking a fine line between adorkable and self-pitying, self-perceived Nice Guy. From a meta point of view, you can see that the writers have left a lot of room for character growth and development. That's as diplomatic as I can put things. Right now, I can really only single out the culinary aspect as positive. In a similar tack . . .


• White male twenty-somethings whining about their first world problems are deliberately countered with a broader, er, life perspective and put in their place. Yay for anyone doing this at all.
  
  . . . Are my standards too low?

* In fairness I am aware that American mass-produced media puts me in something of a glass house here, since what's out there representing me and my country is Dr. Phil, Law & Order and Buffy. Angels and ministers of grace defend us all.

† Actually, not that surprised. I have sat through longer and worse while striving to finish a hat. And I find it preferable to work to something that can partially be ignored, so Being Human fits the bill. Monday nights may be designated hatting!tiem for the next little bit.

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