Keen for Eddie
I'm probably not going to be able to update much for a while here, so I wanted to take the chance to pimp a show while I had it. I'm having a really trauma-filled week, and am working 9-10 hour days right now, and starting tomorrow will be working 10-11 plus about two hours' commute time, and weekends, for the next few weeks. Busiest time I've had in about three years here, and my boss, who's even busier than me, is going on vacation for two weeks. Plus I'm having a hellacious time trying to get the Escapade vid stuff to work for me (and suddenly my iDVD acts up just when I need it most), and on top of that, something's wrong with my left eye, which is now swollen up and red and itchy and nearly closed. I tell ya, I'm loving life.
And for some reason this makes me think of Keen Eddie. Fox ran this summer show last year for a brief time, and then killed it after seven episodes, without airing the last six. Bravo has picked up the rights for it, and beginning next Tuesday, Jan. 20, they'll begin airing the repeats and the new eps. There's even talk about a DVD release. Keen Eddie is a comedy/drama about a NYC cop who screws up a major drug bust with some British dealers, and ends up being assigned to Scotland Yard to find the dealers and manufacturers, in one of those typical, ridiculous setups common to TV. It relies far too heavily on the Guy Richie style of filmmaking in the pilot, and it's got elements lifted from shows as various as Dempsey and Makepeace to Starsky & Hutch. Yet, strangely, all this borrowing and homaging and whatnot worked to make a really funny, quirky, endearing show, with some of the most unusual characters I've come across on TV.
The humor is frequently childish and unsophisticated and often downright vulgar and repulsive, and it's not for everyone, but it's also often very snappy and witty and hilarious. The second episode that aired on the original run, Horse Heir, was unfortunately the first one a lot of folks saw if they missed the delightful pilot episode, and it's probably the series' low point in terms of the vulgarity -- horse-wanking jokes, body function and semen jokes, you name it. But even in that ep there were some really delightful touches, including a Matrix-style spoof on two bickering pub owners. Most of the episodes were less potentially disgusting, I think.
What makes the show work so well is that it has a really interesting mix of American and British humor (this is a world where Eddie can remark on his flatmate's "pants" and no one bats an eye or corrects him to say trousers or jeans), and Yank/Brit speak, and customs, and all of that. It's made by Americans but using a mostly British cast, except for Mark Valley, who plays Eddie, so there's this fascinating and fun mix of Brit and Yank styles that works perfectly to frame Eddie's fish out of water experience. He comes in all guns-blazing and makes an ass of himself, but nobody really holds it against him, and he views his surroundings, with the English tendency towards distance and politeness, with a kind of zen humor.
His partner is one of the most hilarious characters I've ever seen, and the two guys have a wonderful slashy rapport that Monty (Pippin, who is the one dancing in the icon) even remarks on on a couple of occasions. Eddie calls him a walking shell game at one point in the pilot, because he's just so baffled trying to figure out what Monty really is. My long-time fave Colin Salmon plays their boss, and his arched eyebrow, wryly amused delivery makes a perfect foil for Eddie's brashness. I didn't even hate Eddie's flatmate, even though she's the standard icy blonde UST love interest, ostensibly. But truth to tell, the love interest here is Monty and Eddie -- they are a perfect couple.
Nearly everyone on the show is quirky and odd, but the show has a niceness about it -- it never really condemns even the bad guys, and finds humor and sweetness in all but the worst folks. Eddie is often kind and gentle to people he arrests, even while his Scotland Yard compatriots expect him to do some Dirty Harry-style interrogations. They overplay his lack of knowledge about British culture and customs, but once they get settled in to the series, a lot of that becomes more about fitting in than just showing a loud boorish American in London. It's often beautifully filmed, with a rich color palette (one of my favorite episodes took place largely inside a posh stylish hotel, with all these blue and white and purple neons and walls and bar lights, and it was just gorgeous). But most of all, it uses some of the coolest music as background -- it's impossible for me not to love a show that uses Madness's One Step Beyond as chase music.
Not every ep is perfect, of course, but if you're looking for something fun and sweet and quirky, and you love British actors and British humor mixed in with a nice dose of American humor, I'd really recommend giving the pilot a try next Tuesday. It's not for every taste, I know, but I found it well worth my investment, and it became quite a fandom for me over the limited time Fox aired the eps. They'll be repeating the episodes quite a bit, so you'll have plenty of chances to catch it.
And for some reason this makes me think of Keen Eddie. Fox ran this summer show last year for a brief time, and then killed it after seven episodes, without airing the last six. Bravo has picked up the rights for it, and beginning next Tuesday, Jan. 20, they'll begin airing the repeats and the new eps. There's even talk about a DVD release. Keen Eddie is a comedy/drama about a NYC cop who screws up a major drug bust with some British dealers, and ends up being assigned to Scotland Yard to find the dealers and manufacturers, in one of those typical, ridiculous setups common to TV. It relies far too heavily on the Guy Richie style of filmmaking in the pilot, and it's got elements lifted from shows as various as Dempsey and Makepeace to Starsky & Hutch. Yet, strangely, all this borrowing and homaging and whatnot worked to make a really funny, quirky, endearing show, with some of the most unusual characters I've come across on TV.
The humor is frequently childish and unsophisticated and often downright vulgar and repulsive, and it's not for everyone, but it's also often very snappy and witty and hilarious. The second episode that aired on the original run, Horse Heir, was unfortunately the first one a lot of folks saw if they missed the delightful pilot episode, and it's probably the series' low point in terms of the vulgarity -- horse-wanking jokes, body function and semen jokes, you name it. But even in that ep there were some really delightful touches, including a Matrix-style spoof on two bickering pub owners. Most of the episodes were less potentially disgusting, I think.
What makes the show work so well is that it has a really interesting mix of American and British humor (this is a world where Eddie can remark on his flatmate's "pants" and no one bats an eye or corrects him to say trousers or jeans), and Yank/Brit speak, and customs, and all of that. It's made by Americans but using a mostly British cast, except for Mark Valley, who plays Eddie, so there's this fascinating and fun mix of Brit and Yank styles that works perfectly to frame Eddie's fish out of water experience. He comes in all guns-blazing and makes an ass of himself, but nobody really holds it against him, and he views his surroundings, with the English tendency towards distance and politeness, with a kind of zen humor.
His partner is one of the most hilarious characters I've ever seen, and the two guys have a wonderful slashy rapport that Monty (Pippin, who is the one dancing in the icon) even remarks on on a couple of occasions. Eddie calls him a walking shell game at one point in the pilot, because he's just so baffled trying to figure out what Monty really is. My long-time fave Colin Salmon plays their boss, and his arched eyebrow, wryly amused delivery makes a perfect foil for Eddie's brashness. I didn't even hate Eddie's flatmate, even though she's the standard icy blonde UST love interest, ostensibly. But truth to tell, the love interest here is Monty and Eddie -- they are a perfect couple.
Nearly everyone on the show is quirky and odd, but the show has a niceness about it -- it never really condemns even the bad guys, and finds humor and sweetness in all but the worst folks. Eddie is often kind and gentle to people he arrests, even while his Scotland Yard compatriots expect him to do some Dirty Harry-style interrogations. They overplay his lack of knowledge about British culture and customs, but once they get settled in to the series, a lot of that becomes more about fitting in than just showing a loud boorish American in London. It's often beautifully filmed, with a rich color palette (one of my favorite episodes took place largely inside a posh stylish hotel, with all these blue and white and purple neons and walls and bar lights, and it was just gorgeous). But most of all, it uses some of the coolest music as background -- it's impossible for me not to love a show that uses Madness's One Step Beyond as chase music.
Not every ep is perfect, of course, but if you're looking for something fun and sweet and quirky, and you love British actors and British humor mixed in with a nice dose of American humor, I'd really recommend giving the pilot a try next Tuesday. It's not for every taste, I know, but I found it well worth my investment, and it became quite a fandom for me over the limited time Fox aired the eps. They'll be repeating the episodes quite a bit, so you'll have plenty of chances to catch it.