TV Snark: Videous Interruptus
Last night, I bailed quickly after watching half an hour each of "House of Cards" and "The Americans" (the latter Henry James-free). Suffice it to say that the Southern accent of one and the wigs of the other were obviously obtained on Freecycle. (Spoiler cut!)
I hate voice-over introductions, but in the original, or as I think of it, "real" vs ersatz House of Cards, I make an exception for Francis Urquahart's dryly witty and gleeful soliloquys. It took me only a few minutes to completely not care about anything Kevin Spacey's character was going to do. Also, there is a widely age-disparate relationship in each, but that meant that Spacey's creepy blogger girlfriend had to look like she's 11 to duplicate the age gap. Euwww.
Right! Moving over to Wigstock: Espionage Edition, I had a delirious vision of the show starting each week (until somebody realized how stupid it looked and making them stop) with a voiceover explaining how Keri Russell's character thought she was joining the *real* KGB but actually, manipulated by her American SpyMommy, started out working for the CIA until she switched sides.
The day before, I had watched an entire disk of "Call the Midwife," despite certain reservations about All Creatures Really, Really Small. I mean, it was 1957, they could have handed out diaphragms not to mention Something for the Weekend. Also, I deducted 75,000 points for not only having a VO but having Chummy and PC Plod meet cute when she knocked him down with her bicycle.
I realized that it takes place a little before Call the MidMen...err, sorry, and everybody smokes all the time, including the doctors! Also, slightly before but in a similar physical but different social location than The Hour. And a few years before The Playboy Club, although in each of them is a similar team-bonding scene where the young women get together while one of them sings a pop song into a hairbrush in lieu of a microphone.
I hate voice-over introductions, but in the original, or as I think of it, "real" vs ersatz House of Cards, I make an exception for Francis Urquahart's dryly witty and gleeful soliloquys. It took me only a few minutes to completely not care about anything Kevin Spacey's character was going to do. Also, there is a widely age-disparate relationship in each, but that meant that Spacey's creepy blogger girlfriend had to look like she's 11 to duplicate the age gap. Euwww.
Right! Moving over to Wigstock: Espionage Edition, I had a delirious vision of the show starting each week (until somebody realized how stupid it looked and making them stop) with a voiceover explaining how Keri Russell's character thought she was joining the *real* KGB but actually, manipulated by her American SpyMommy, started out working for the CIA until she switched sides.
The day before, I had watched an entire disk of "Call the Midwife," despite certain reservations about All Creatures Really, Really Small. I mean, it was 1957, they could have handed out diaphragms not to mention Something for the Weekend. Also, I deducted 75,000 points for not only having a VO but having Chummy and PC Plod meet cute when she knocked him down with her bicycle.
I realized that it takes place a little before Call the MidMen...err, sorry, and everybody smokes all the time, including the doctors! Also, slightly before but in a similar physical but different social location than The Hour. And a few years before The Playboy Club, although in each of them is a similar team-bonding scene where the young women get together while one of them sings a pop song into a hairbrush in lieu of a microphone.