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The Fien Beatso we don't have to call! December 18 "We provide ... leverage."With that line, the pilot of my favorite new show draws to a close. It's TNT's take on The A-Team for the 21st century. A rag-tag group made up of a thief, a hacker, a grifter, a thug and one honest man who go all Robin Hood. Timothy Hutton leads the pack as its straight arrow, ex-insurance investigator Nathan Ford. He was burned by his own company, even after saving it $25 million by busting a fraud racket. But said-same company refused coverage for medical treatments that could have cured his son's mystery ill. He quit. For awhile, he drowned himself in johnny whiskey. But now, he fights the good fight for Joe Meatball.
October 08 "Life" begins anewAnd so it begins. The fall television season, in my opinion, has arrived with the series premiere of our Yankeefied version of the BBC's brilliant cop-out-of-time policer "Life on Mars." It's a rarity because very rarely does Hollywood hand out "do overs." But ABC must have been so high on the idea of a remake that, even after scrapping the lifeless David E. Kelley pilot, it breathed air into the show's lungs and gave it a second chance under the auspices of the young-uns responsible for last year's "October Road." I'm excited because, it seems from the updated previews I've seen, the new team has truly stuck by the original's side (you've heard me say it before, how it drives me crazy that television producers helming remakes of classic shows show such disdain for the original concept they're "reimagining"). But the Ock Road boys look to have gotten it right, much in the same way the folks at "The Office" got it right when they brought Ricky Gervais' gem across the Atlantic. So, here I am, counting down the minutes to the premiere. Let's hope The Curse isn't invoked too early. Yeah, my track record of liking successful television series hasn't been stellar in recent years. I'm proud to say I've liked "30 Rock" since its premiere. I'm even hanging in on "Lost." But anyone remember "Heist," "Smith," "Viva Laughlin"? Anybody? Yeah. Let's hope my excitement for the new "Life on Mars" hasn't doomed it before it's even begun.
June 24 Summer: no longer TV's doldrumsOnce upon a time, network television - like so many school kids - took the summer off. "Rerun season," we used to call it, when there were reruns. Sure, now there's your reality TV fill-ins during the hot months. Your "America's Got Talent," your "I Survived a Japanese Game Show," your "Ice Trucker Guy Show with Guys Driving Trucks on Ice." But you can have 'em. "The Middleman" opening credits sequence: "Everybody Wants You" - Burn Notice season two teaser: February 02 Writer's strike means you just have to dig deeper for good TVSeriously, thank the Lord for cable television. I really wouldn't know what I'd be doing if I had to watch what the networks think we lemmings will watch in place of scripted television. "30 Rock" runs dry, commission two seasons of " 'Celebrity' Apprentice" (please notice my use of double quotes around "celebrity" - who were some of those people???). Only 8 episodes of "Lost"? Get you some more of those "celebrities" and they'll maybe dance for ya! "Heroes," make way for American Gladiators. Yechhhh. That barely worked for me the first time around on a lazy Saturday morning. So, here's what I've found ... a fantastic British sci-fi drama called "Life on Mars." Part "Quantum Leap," part "Starsky & Hutch," LOM stars the outstanding John Simm (a delight as Doctor Who's nemesis, "The Master" in the recently wrapped third season of that equally great show) as Detective Inspector Sam Tyler who's hit by a car and knocked way back to 1973. Is he crazy, in a coma or really back in time? The mystery unfolds over an achingly sparce 16-episode series - yup, that's all ... 16 episodes. But that's how the Brits do it. Quality over quantity. Go out while you're on top. And LOM is captivating, heart-breaking and hilarious both as a time-travel whiz bang of a good time and as an un-PC throwback to the Seventies when lunch was cigarettes and a long drink from the bottle in the bottom desk drawer. Women were broads and you told them so. Nearly stealing the show from Simm is Philip Glenister as the cop in charge, Gene Hunt. A neanderthal in any other time. LOM ended its brief run on BBC America and is currently unavailable on region one DVD - that's the kind we in the States can play. Rectifying the situation was a quick order to a video supply company for a region-free DVD player and another to amazon.co.uk for the LOM box set. Both deliveries arrived just days apart. So while I wait out the writer's strike, at least I'm enjoying the found gold of "Life on Mars." PS - David E. (The Practice/Boston Legal/Ally McBeal) Kelley is currently remaking LOM domestically. October 02 Rejecting this Bionic TransplantSo why is it that remakes of my favorite television shows are being produced by people who admittedly didn't watch them or hold them in such contempt that their "reimagining" rejects everything that made them popular in the first place? Wasn't a fan of the new Battlestar Galactica, so, natch, it follows that I'm not that hot on the gang's recent take on The Bionic Woman. I'm only speaking having seen the pilot episode, but I found it too dark, too depressing, too confusing, and too unlikeable to even think about following it through a whole season - if it lasts that long. Sure, I was only a fan of the original series because I was a bigger fan of Jamie Summers' boyfriend, The Six Million Dollar Man, but still ... when when writing about the "slick, edgy" reboot, critics have called the original show "cheesy" and "campy." And I ask, "So what?" and "Define 'campy.'" You talking about the sound effects, which people to this day imitate? Well, then your "campy" is my "indelible," ol' chum. I dunno. Maybe these Gen-X bones are just getting old, but what's so slick or edgy about two chicks fighting it out in the rain? Saw it on "Alias," like three years ago. What's slick or edgy about a car accident that costs the passenger her legs, an arm, eye and ear, while the driver not only walks away, BUT performs her life-saving, beyond-cutting-edge surgery!!?? I'm still scratching my head over that one. Eh. Yeah, the new Jamie's a tough broad alright, but that cool exterior over a technotronic frame doesn't make for good TV in my book. For those already hooked, hope that NBC ties up the loose ends before the bionic babe's batteries run out. As for me, I'm already pulling the plug. |
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