Mon, Mar 3rd, 2008
07:00 Starsky And Hutch
08:00 Hunter
09:00 Andy Barker PI
09:30 The Evidence
10:30 Seinfeld
Starsky And Hutch. Season 2, Episode 14. Despite some very corny elements (and a lot of improbably coincidences) this is a very strong (very dark) episode of the series. A 19 year old girl (with the mental age of 10) is raped en route to her birthday party. She also happens to be a close friend of Starsky and Hutch (and pretty much all the other cops in the city - sheesh!). Normally, making the cops personally involved in their cases annoys the frak out of me, but this is one of the few times that it is almost justified. Almost. The episode opens with a classic Starsky And Hutch scene. Hutch uses Starsky's clothes in a bundle to enter a laundrymat where hostages have been taken and Starsky is forced to burst in wearing nothing but a towel. It's a funny, silly scene. But it illustrates the appeal of the series: two friends having fun and lots of action. The rape storyline allows the show to pause for several "heartwarming" scenes before (at mid-way point) Starsky And Hutch have captured the rapists. At this point things take a surprising turn and we see how the system fails to protect the girl who was attacked. Our heroes frustration with the system takes up the latter half of the episode and makes for very enjoyable viewing, as they break down doors and cause a fuss until thay have bullied the DA into trying the case on their terms. There's a lovely scene at the end when the girl in question, having overheard lots of stuff about her at the hearing, tries to come to terms for the first time ever with the fact that she is never ever going to grow any older. She laments the cards that fate has dealt her. And it is Starsky who comes to the rescue, making a strong case for the joys of never having to grow up. Starsky is the perfect character to do this. And the scene is a gem. Great performances from Diana Scarwid and Paul Michael Glaser.
Hunter. Season 3, Episode 1. My favourite cop show of all time. Together with Columbo and Kojak (who I think of as being in slightly different genres). The third season premier offers up all that is great about the show: Scenes of banter/chemistry between Hunter and McCall, a well-told story for a case-of-the-week, and scenes with all the best supporting characters.
Michael Wren plays a reporter with a vendetta against Hunter, as a consequence of a run-in at the start of the episode. As the story unfolds, the reporter realises that someone is out to get him. At first he thinks it is Hunter. Hunter and McCall, meanwhile, are more concerned with solving the case they were working on at the start of the episode (as well as dodging the media storm that is new brewing up around Hunter since he started to appear nightly on the 6 o'clock news). There's a wonderful scene where the reporter, having survived a gun attack on his life, shows up at Hunter's home to have it out. As they talk, Hunter figures out that something is really going on and offers the hand of friendship. Only to take it away very quickly when the reporter continues to act like a jerk. The reporter leaves. Then pauses outside. Slowly, coming to the realisation that Hunter is not the enemy after all. It's a great scene. The two characters eventually reach a truce, but the story has a few more very enjoyable twists. Great performance from Alex Courtney at the very end. Hunter at it's best. A+
Andy Barker PI. Episode 6. It started strong, and will always hold a special place in my heart, but this series really faded out at the end. These final two episodes have been very light on laughs.
The Evidence. Episode 6. One of the best cops shows of the last decade. A solid buddy cop show, with great stories week-after-week. Which, of course, sank without trace in the ratings. Anyway, this sixth outing finds the boys on the trail of a stolen bottle of wine. The chemistry between the two male leads is fantasic, the series has a great visual style (lots of wide shots taking in the whole cityscape behind them) and a lot of strong guest stars.
Seinfeld. Season 8, Episode 21. Lots to love here. Mainly Kramer setting up a reality tour of his own life and taking people on a long arduous bus ride to nowhere. George also pretends to be new in the city so he can date a girl.
Highlight? Hunter.
Starsky And Hutch, Hunter, Andy Barker PI, The Evidence, Seinfeld
Doctor Who, Law & Order, Andy Barker PI, Black Scorpion, Son Of The Beach, Blade
Mon, Feb 26th, 2008
08:30 Doctor Who
09:15 Law & Order
10:00 Andy Barker, PI
10:25 Black Scorpion
11:10 Son Of The Beach
11:35 Blade
Doctor Who. Season 28, Episode 6. Although we now have the Cybermen in action, there still seems to be a lot of padding in this second part of a two-parter. The good guys split up into three teams and it takes for ages for them to do their thing (and - in most cases - get killed). The episode gets points for the shock death of Jackie, the sudden departure of Mickey and the general poignancy afforded to the dying Cybermen, but I feel the whole thing would have worked much better as one episode.
Law & Order. Season 18, Episode 2. Lupo's second case is much better than his first. A murder and kidnapping occurs during a city-wide black-out. Consequently it feels like no episode of Law & Order I ever saw back in the 90s. It's also got a few good action scenes, where Lupo comes off as a very determined cop indeed. He and Green work well together.
Andy Barker, PI. Episode 5. Green from Law & Order appears briefly in this odd, somewhat disappointing, episode of Andy Barker. Andy spends most of the episode looking for a toy belonging to his baby. And while he does get mixed up with drug dealers by accident, laughs are thin on the ground.
Black Scorpion. Episode 1. Cheap nonsense about a policewoman who does double time as a super-powered crime-fighter. There are occasional sparks of wit in the script, but most of the cast are weak and continual insertion of explosions from other (higher budget) productions is jarring. This opening episode concerns two warring bad guys, with Black Scorpion caught in the middle. Yawn.
Son Of The Beach. Episode 1. Not as good as Timothy Stack's superb Night Stand, but Son Of The Beach (a very exact Baywatch parody) has a lot to recommend it. It sometimes veers uncomfortably close to soft-core porn but the relentless barage of gags cannot fail to raise a smile. It's a pity all the cast can't deliver lines the way Stack can. This opening episode sees Notch Johnson helping sick kids, rescuing kidnapped asian girls, chasing the bad guys and giving advice direct-to-camera on dealing with sundry venereal diseases. What a guy!
Blade. Episode 2. This is an exciting television series. In terms of it's writing. The sleazy cop from episode 1 (the one killed by Krista) is the last character you'd ever expect to see again. Yet, here he is. At the start and the end of this episode. Making his way back to Detroit. Clever. Meanwhile, back in Detroit, Blade and Marcus are both after the same person (while Krista come to terms with being a vampire). The character dynamics between Marcus and the others in his camp are simply superb. Blade gets more screen-time than in Episode 1 and we get a chance to observe his (brutal) work methods. Even cooler is the character of Fritz who makes quite an impression, only to get killed off in very surprising fashion. Brilliant!
Highlight? Blade
Doctor Who, Law & Order, Andy Barker PI, Knight Rider 2008
Mon, Feb 18th, 2008
09:30 Doctor Who
10:30 Law & Order
11:30 Andy Barker, PI
12:00 Knight Rider
Doctor Who. Season 28, Episode 5. One of the strengths of Doctor Who is the characters. Having Micky join the TARDIS crew pays huge dividends in this episode, as we watch the various dynamics between him and Rose, him and The Doctor, and - of course - The Doctor and Rose. It makes for great television, even the story lets you down somewhat. Not that this is a bad story. It's just a painfully padded Part One of a story and - as such - it does tend to drag. The TARDIS takes the gang to a parallel Earth (not the usual story fodder for Doctor Who, althought it has happened before) and while there is certain novelty to the spin that is put on familariar characters, there is also some dreadful over-acting from Roger Lloyd-Pack and a tedious drawn-out climax waiting for the Cybermen to appear.
Law & Order. Season 18, Episode 1. A pedestrian story can't hide the fact that Law & Order has a cool cop again. Jeremy Sisto makes a superb impression in his debut. He's a great screen presence and steals every scene he appears in. I have not watched Law & Order in many, many years, but this might make me want to go back. I hope the second episode has a decent story, not dated rubbish like this.
Andy Barker, PI. Episode 4. A stolen laptop, a tax-filing deadline and a guest shot from Traci Lords make for another great Andy Barker episode. The show just zips along, flinging out some great gags at regular intervals. Andy's father-in-law getting repeatedly beaten up by accident is very funny, showing it to us on security cameras is genius. Andy's confrontation scene with Traci Lords is hilarious and the show ends with another superb chase sequences. This time, as he dodges a gun-wielding thug, Andy is trying to file a tax return on the laptop.
Knight Rider. Pilot. I wasn't a fan of the original series and I won't be a fan of this one (if it goes to series). It aims low, and succeeds! This is Mediocre at it's very best (if you know what I mean). A cool opening sequence shows us that Bruce Davison is a member of the regular cast, and the show then tries to convince us that his character is killed off in the first scene. Right. That illustrates the brain-power behind this little gem. New KITT is introduced and seems to be more pro-active than Old KITT, tracking down and saving a damsel in distress. Deanna Russo (very pretty, but of limited acting talent) is the damsel partnered with KITT for the first half-hour and...it's pretty cool stuff. Watching it, and enjoying it, I did have pause to suspect that Old KITT would have gotten away from the bad guys much easier, but that's neither here nor there. While all this is going on Sydney Tamiia Poitier (very pretty, but of limited acting talent) stars in a sub-plot that serves no purpose. The show returns to her so many times that it's obvious the purpose of all this is... to reveal that the guy with her is a traitor, who will tip off the bad guys when the time comes. Yawn. The producers obviously think we all stopped watching TV when KR went off the air, and that we couldn't possibly see this coming. Justin Bruening (very pretty, but of limited acting talent) enters the story at this point, does some cool action stuff and begins bickering with New KITT. When the pilot created artificial bickering between New Michael and New KITT I immediately felt embarrassed that I was watching it.
And that was it, really. New KITT took ages to get from A to B, while the bad guys took a helicopter and easily out-manoeuvered him. They killed New Michael's mother. Boo Hiss. When New Michael leaned over his mother's dying body Bruening failed to convey any emotion. He looked like he could have been deciding which cheeseburger to order. There was a pointless chase sequence at the end, and - it must be said - a truly cool moment when New KITT stopped the bad guys. A few more moments like that and I might have enjoyed it. But there wasn't and I didn't. Unlike Bionic Woman, which was rubbish and arrogant (seeming to think it was quality dark TV or something) this is merely rubbish and confident. It's bunk and it knows it. And while I hated the old show with a passion, it - too - seemed to know it was crap. And there was a market for it. There's probably a market for this, too. Sadly.
Highlight? Andy Barker, PI
