Every step you take...
Another new season I look forward to, with some trepidation because the first one was so good and I can't know yet whether this will be the type of show who does one perfect season and then flounders or the type of show which builds on its initial success and becomes even better, is s2 of Homeland, and there is a trailer now. I'm morbidly amused that they use the same music as Downton Abbey, i.e. an a capella rendition of I'll be watching you, only Homeland is fully aware the song is supposed to be creepy, not romantic, and uses that to full effect. Also CARRRRIIIEEEE. I don't know who, it might have been abigail_n, when reviewing the show smartly said that while the audience starts empathizing with Brodie and disliking Carrie (whose flaws, and not "heroic" or cutesy flaws but genuinely appalling ones, are if anything highlighted in the pilot), and by the time the show ends, the reverse was true at least for her (and also for me) simply by a) the way we've been getting to know both characters and b) plot developments. Anyway, Damian Lewis is a fabulous actor, no question about, but Claire Danes' Carrie is my main character draw for the second season.
Speaking of Downton Abbey, I had a recent moment where a reviewer you want to agree with is so jerky about it that you instinctively side with the maligned party. Well, I did. This came in the (adoringly positive) review of Parade's End, starring Benedict Cumberbatch, which the reviewer starts by slamming not only Downton Abbey but also anyone who enjoys Downton Abbey: Any diehard Downton fans tuning in to BBC2 on Friday night, hoping for a fun, easy, schmaltzy, pretty, faintly rewarding hour or so, or so-so, of bodiced bitchery, and a bit of intrigue telegraphed only by railway hooters and wobbly cartoon finger-signs pointing to "the bad 'un", will have been royally disappointed. That's the first piece of excellent news about Parade's End.
Now, I wrote a very critical review of Downton Abbey's second second season recently. And if anyone said it's entertaining schlock with class snobbery a mile wide, I'd agree immediately. But reading this particular review (which could have been written without any DA reference at all, since it's about a miniseries based on four legendary novels which have nothing to with with Downton Abbey whatsoever) made me suddenly look forward to yet another season of "bodiced bitchery" while not in a hurry to look for Parade's End because if there's one thing I absolutely can't stand, it's this type of condescension. You know, Euan Ferguson, it's entirely possible to enjoy both "fun, easy schmaltz" and layered tv both. You're not thrown out of the club of the literati because of that.
Then again, maybe Ferguson felt the need for a Downton Abbey slam because Parade's End's star, Benedict Cumberbatch, recently managed the rare feat to diss the show and to behave as Matthew Crawley and the Earl his future father-in-law personified, moaning about the burden of his privilege and threatening to go America where the posh aren't bashed. This resulted in various utterings by other people, the most funny of which was this article (tweeted by Dan Stevens, who plays Matthew, without comment). "Fetch the caviar, it's Rinkydink Curdlesnoot, the great ponce" is what will come to (my) mind when seeing the quondam Sherlock from now on, because it's the best quote ever. This being said, Bimpleswitch Wafflechops (tm article) is a good actor, Tom Stoppard is a great writer, and so was Ford Maddox Ford on whose novels the miniseries is based, so I'll look forward to seeing it regardless. But I'd look forward to it even more if Euan Ferguson hadn't praised it first.
This entry was originally posted at http://selenak.dreamwidth.org/815420.html. Comment there or here, as you wish.
Speaking of Downton Abbey, I had a recent moment where a reviewer you want to agree with is so jerky about it that you instinctively side with the maligned party. Well, I did. This came in the (adoringly positive) review of Parade's End, starring Benedict Cumberbatch, which the reviewer starts by slamming not only Downton Abbey but also anyone who enjoys Downton Abbey: Any diehard Downton fans tuning in to BBC2 on Friday night, hoping for a fun, easy, schmaltzy, pretty, faintly rewarding hour or so, or so-so, of bodiced bitchery, and a bit of intrigue telegraphed only by railway hooters and wobbly cartoon finger-signs pointing to "the bad 'un", will have been royally disappointed. That's the first piece of excellent news about Parade's End.
Now, I wrote a very critical review of Downton Abbey's second second season recently. And if anyone said it's entertaining schlock with class snobbery a mile wide, I'd agree immediately. But reading this particular review (which could have been written without any DA reference at all, since it's about a miniseries based on four legendary novels which have nothing to with with Downton Abbey whatsoever) made me suddenly look forward to yet another season of "bodiced bitchery" while not in a hurry to look for Parade's End because if there's one thing I absolutely can't stand, it's this type of condescension. You know, Euan Ferguson, it's entirely possible to enjoy both "fun, easy schmaltz" and layered tv both. You're not thrown out of the club of the literati because of that.
Then again, maybe Ferguson felt the need for a Downton Abbey slam because Parade's End's star, Benedict Cumberbatch, recently managed the rare feat to diss the show and to behave as Matthew Crawley and the Earl his future father-in-law personified, moaning about the burden of his privilege and threatening to go America where the posh aren't bashed. This resulted in various utterings by other people, the most funny of which was this article (tweeted by Dan Stevens, who plays Matthew, without comment). "Fetch the caviar, it's Rinkydink Curdlesnoot, the great ponce" is what will come to (my) mind when seeing the quondam Sherlock from now on, because it's the best quote ever. This being said, Bimpleswitch Wafflechops (tm article) is a good actor, Tom Stoppard is a great writer, and so was Ford Maddox Ford on whose novels the miniseries is based, so I'll look forward to seeing it regardless. But I'd look forward to it even more if Euan Ferguson hadn't praised it first.
This entry was originally posted at http://selenak.dreamwidth.org/815420.html. Comment there or here, as you wish.