(no subject)
Overall the 1st series of Utopia did in fact live up to the promise of the very first episode. The plot was good, with a bunch of quite ordinary people inadvertently caught up in a very powerful conspiracy. But what I really think made the show was the absolutely gorgeous cinematography by Ole Birkland coupled with the perfect surreal and enigmatic music of Cristobel de Veer. Really highly recommended, although it does live up to the number of complaints that it received for excessive violence and swearing in the presence of child actors (who handled their roles with great aplomb). If they do continue the series, I will be looking forward to it. Although I have absolutely no idea what form the sequel will actual take, given what has been revealed so far.
And I quite enjoyed Ripper Street. Even though they did do a "Biggles" [cv Biggles the Movie] and added a gratuitous American character or two. And even how they sort of avoided the temptation presented by directly invoking the Whitechapel/Ripper aspects, and yet tied them back into the series quite well.
Quite liking Kate Bracken as Alex, the new ghost in Being Human, although I do hope this is actually the last season given who their opposition is. It would be hard to trump that or even justify their existence after doing so.
I think they've pushed the joke of Detector Inspector Poole being exiled from home about as far as they can on Death in Paradise. Trying to keep up the pretence that Ben Miller's character hasn't found a new home for the new series would be a definite backwards step. Although they are now left with very few directions to take the backstory. Remains a nice relaxing magical detective story (which means it irritates the heck out of dedicated mystery/detective fans), but I sense the prime draw is the tropical beaches, which is why it airs in winter.
On the other hand, Zero Hour is probably an example of how not to do a hidden Rosicrucian Nazi conspiracy series. Don't start with an entirely self-centred pig-headed and totally uncharismatic protagonist for a start. Making him a skeptic just converts most episodes into unbearable angst-fest as he encounters stuff he professes not to believe in and yet accepts. Very very very lazy writing by committee.
And even though the new series of Yes, Prime Minister was written by the same team, and based off the successful stage play, I think that they have forgotten the fact that almost all the characters in the original series were actually quite intelligent. Jim Hacker wasn't stupid - he was just ignorant, but he learned, and the moment when he did manage to finally put Sir Humphrey in his place was the moment when the show really began to shine. Bernard was also quite intelligent, if a little idealistic, and thus torn between his role as Sir Humphrey's apprentice and his role to actually advise and organise the minister (and later prime minister). The new Jim Hacker is a total wishy-washy idiot. The new Bernard is Sir Humphrey's lap dog. The new Sir Humphrey is not to bad, although he doesn't even begin to present the same formidable and implacable front as Nigel Hawthorne. A lot of the jokes are recycled from the original series and the laugh track (even if it provided by an audience) is obnoxious and simply gets in the way. Really quite pathetic.
And I quite enjoyed Ripper Street. Even though they did do a "Biggles" [cv Biggles the Movie] and added a gratuitous American character or two. And even how they sort of avoided the temptation presented by directly invoking the Whitechapel/Ripper aspects, and yet tied them back into the series quite well.
Quite liking Kate Bracken as Alex, the new ghost in Being Human, although I do hope this is actually the last season given who their opposition is. It would be hard to trump that or even justify their existence after doing so.
I think they've pushed the joke of Detector Inspector Poole being exiled from home about as far as they can on Death in Paradise. Trying to keep up the pretence that Ben Miller's character hasn't found a new home for the new series would be a definite backwards step. Although they are now left with very few directions to take the backstory. Remains a nice relaxing magical detective story (which means it irritates the heck out of dedicated mystery/detective fans), but I sense the prime draw is the tropical beaches, which is why it airs in winter.
On the other hand, Zero Hour is probably an example of how not to do a hidden Rosicrucian Nazi conspiracy series. Don't start with an entirely self-centred pig-headed and totally uncharismatic protagonist for a start. Making him a skeptic just converts most episodes into unbearable angst-fest as he encounters stuff he professes not to believe in and yet accepts. Very very very lazy writing by committee.
And even though the new series of Yes, Prime Minister was written by the same team, and based off the successful stage play, I think that they have forgotten the fact that almost all the characters in the original series were actually quite intelligent. Jim Hacker wasn't stupid - he was just ignorant, but he learned, and the moment when he did manage to finally put Sir Humphrey in his place was the moment when the show really began to shine. Bernard was also quite intelligent, if a little idealistic, and thus torn between his role as Sir Humphrey's apprentice and his role to actually advise and organise the minister (and later prime minister). The new Jim Hacker is a total wishy-washy idiot. The new Bernard is Sir Humphrey's lap dog. The new Sir Humphrey is not to bad, although he doesn't even begin to present the same formidable and implacable front as Nigel Hawthorne. A lot of the jokes are recycled from the original series and the laugh track (even if it provided by an audience) is obnoxious and simply gets in the way. Really quite pathetic.