Chase

Jerry Bruckheimer’s  Chase is a new show about US Marshalls in Texas, it centres around one team of agents and their investigations and operations in catching wanted fugitives. The premise is a good one and the work done by the marshalls probably deserves a show of its own so no complaints there but the idea of a producer getting his name in the title of a show is tawdry and not a little bit stupid in my opinion. The production values are very much allied to his other big success CSI which didnt need his name at the beginning to get it going. The stories while preposterous in their make up are high energy and there is the usual camaraderie on display, the new boy who makes errors the hard bitten old pro who has a heart and her charming partner who is always having problems with the ladies, add to this the ethnic must haves of a black and hispanic officer and youve got US cop show 101 off pat.

The level of violence is deliberately high to get it onto a different level than CSI but its over the top and the idea that the guys they are chasing are all currently on a crime spree while the local cops fail to find them the Marshalls get their man, and he is mostly going to be alive as this is the point of the job, bringing in the bad guys alive and ready for prison they most richly deserve.

The cast is decent, of the main cast I recognised Cole Hauser and Jesse Metcalfe but the others are not new to the game just not household names, yet. The setting in Austin where they are based is not really investigated and the names of the towns they visit all seem familiar which maybe just because I have a decent geographical knowledge of Texas but I dont think so. In all this is decent TV if not ground breaking and you like the main cast but as of yet dont have anything to hang your hat on, there will be back stories, this is a Bruckheimer must have and hopefully it wont interfere too much with the show as it started to do in CSI which I loved by the way. In short its worth a watch and should develop into a decent hours entertainment.

Tv Movies and Music greedy boy

I have been a bit greedy havent I? I mean a blog about movies was all well and good and although I have slowed down on the cinema front its because of a lack of movies and not a loss of interest on my behalf, so I added the TV stuff as there was a wealth of stuff on at the time and I was enjoying my viewing time quite a bit, plus they are a natural fit right, people like both most of the time and I wanted to appeal to as many folks as possible, call me an everyman if you like but it was done with good intent and I feel I managed it quite well, the mix and comment were OK and most folks liked it.

The came the really greedy bit I added in music as a subject, why? well I didnt want to start another Blog about just music as I’m not listening to new stuff very often and didnt want to come across as a aficionado or anything I like what I like and thats about it, there are some very important songs and artists in my life so I thought it would sit well alongside my favourite films and TV shows, besides Ive got five blogs so dont really want to have a sixth just to make a point every now and then do I? well not at the moment. Trying to find something worthwhile to write for five blogs isnt easy and the quality may lack on occasion as I struggle to find subjects that will be interesting to anyone other than myself although when I started this I was only interested in getting my views out there and not really whether anyone else would be reading it or not.

So anyway I have added music to the equation and hopefully this will give me a wider range to write on and ease my job a little, added to this a better range of movies coming out and the autumn TV schedule it should be easy pickings for a while to come, famous last words I guess but we can only wait and see.

Conan the barbarian, a pre post

Im off later to see Conan The Barbarian and I’m not very optimistic to be honest. I have only seen the lead actor Jason Momoa in Game of thrones where he was Khal Drogo the leader of the Dothraki, he just glowered a lot and said a few things in a foreign tongue oh and roughly took his beautiful young wife, all very useful acting exercises I’m sure but does it make him worthy of such a role. The other guys he beat werent exactly house hold names either which surprises me, this is a pivotal role for the right person, it was more important than Terminator to Arnie and whoever does this well could springboard into mega stardom so why the lack of any big players for the role??

Ron Pearlman isnt any indicator of quality either these days, he made season of the witch and it was awful and the last Hellboy film was flat in my opinion, the rest of the cast arent anything to shout about except the lovely laila rouas but shes just sexy and that alone wont make this film good. I may be being overly pessimistic but I am trying to convince myself its not going to be a waste of 1hr 53 mins of my life and I apologise in advance if its great but the omens arent great and I leave the house this evening with a sense of trepidation, no doubt I’ll report back tomorrow and you’ll have an actual opinion to read, speak to you then folks, wish me luck.

Mount Pleasant

Mount Pleasant is the newest offering from Sky TV. It takes its name from the area of Manchester its set in, I believe its a fictional place but dont take my word for it. The cast is according to Sky’s caption box a who’s who of british acting which is a little misleading, a who’s who of northern actors and comedians might be a little nearer the truth and its not bad as a result.

The main thrust is about the couple who anchor the whole thing, Lisa and her hubby whose name escapes me, and the odd people who surround them, theres her boss and her work colleagues as well as her mum and dad, played by the legendary Pauline Collins and Bobby Ball and the randy neighbour who fancies the husband. there is an array of recognisable faces who have been on corrie and the likes over the years and to be fair its quite funny without being laugh out loud hilarious.

as a pilot it lacked a bit of depth and I hope we get to learn more as it progress’ the ditzy office dolly is miscast as she is supposed to be a 9 but in reality is more a 6.5 and Angela Griffin will take some getting used to as a high powered boss, who is married to a road worker?? The setting isnt important enough to give the show its name and there are some typically northern things going on which may not travel well but I hope its given a go, Sky do usually back their products so its got a good chance of being allowed to develop into something worthwhile.

The Inbetweeners

The Inbetweeners is a movie version of the smash hit comedy series from channel four, it follows the eponymous inbetweeners after they finally leave school and prepare to head out into the real world. just in case you dont know they are not cool and not complete losers they are somewhere inbetween, get it.

Will, Jay, Simon and Neil have decided to go to Malia on a bender before they go their separate ways, Jay is certain its going to be wall to wall clunge and cant wait to get at the girls. Will in his usual annoyingly ironic way tries add some common sense to the situation but falls on deaf ears, Simon is missing his ex and flips out when Neil tells him she is on the island as well, meanwhile the boys have met a group of lovely young girls who dont seem to mind what dickheads they are, Will is taken by the stunner in the gang who is in love with a cliché greek waiter, he’s not in with a shout but persists in trying to convince her she should give him a try.

the end is slightly predictable but it plays out well and the laughs do come thick and fast, usually at the boys expense with Jay getting into numerous scrapes and Will passing comment as they go, the Simon and Carly story wears a bit thin but the pay off is great and could have done with a another five minutes to finish the story properly although the video sequence during the credits is quite good.

In all it is well worth a watch if you enjoyed the show and even if you never saw it you might still be tickled although knowing something about them does seem to be necessary at the start. the boys are not coming back from this one so the story ends here and it does them justice I think

The death knell of TV

Its that time of year where I start to worry about what I’m going to watch in the evenings and unusually I am worried more than  usual, Big Brother is back as is the seat of all evil in the world X Factor. as I write this my wife is laughing along to some demented hong kong resident who is weird and terrible in equal measure and I am shaking with rage at the waste of money this show is.

When I was a kid, back in the day, and yes colour TV was invented back then we had some quality shows, the two ronnies, morecombe and wise the generation games and loads of other stuff that would put this shower to shame, not including the great american Tv shows we had on saturday nights, the A team, CHIPS and knightrider, and yes I am saying the Hoff beats this crap hands down, hell I would take Baywatch back over this drivel and thats saying something. Sky has cornered the big american shows these days, the new Hawaii five O is apparently great and Sky Atlantic is showing everything good that HBO or Showcase has coming out while the beeb throw us lottery related quiz shows and the ITV network rely totally on an out dated premise which died once they let jedward exist if not before.

I may come across as a bitter old meanie who doesnt get new things but I like variety and would welcome back new faces or something like that with real judges and some talented people, get the dross weeded out before the get as far as the live shows the likes of Leona Lewis and Alexandra Burke would have made it anyway with anything like a decent manager so the value of the concept is flawed, lets have some unsigned bands doing something or amateur comedians not the freaks on BGT but talented ones with a likely career to come out of it.

as i sit and listen to the brats and sob stories I get nostalgic for kenny everett and benny hill, and they were by todays standards terrible but compared to whats on they rocked and I would love to watch repeats of that over the tripe being displayed before me, if you dont hear from me again I’ve taken the final step, cut the electricity supply.

Lean Times

The title of this one sounds like a good name for a TV show, and to be honest I could seriously do with a good TV show at the moment as the good stuff has all come to an end at the same time and nothing new seems to be beaming over the horizon. We were kind of spoilt for a while as the new Sky channel Atlantic launched with some stonkingly good stuff but as always it was all dressing and once the channel had bedded in they just started to churn out reruns, albeit good ones but not original shows. The other channels are equally culpable for letting the side down, BBC may have Luther and that is reckoned to be a great show but I never saw the first series so dont really feel like joining half way.

Shows like Game of Thrones, Blue Bloods, The Pacific and Case Histories kept me busy on the nights when the cinema wasnt an option, far too many nights recently but that’s a whole other matter. I know we are ending the current season regarding TV channels and there will be a lull in activity as they garner themselves for the start of the next one, but should they really leave us bereft of anything good for so long, they surely risk the large portion of their viewers deciding to sign up for the myriad of channels that have movies or sport or any one of a hundred different niche audiences. If I am paying for the pleasure of a channel I am gonna make damn sure I get my moneys worth, and as had happened in the past something does start I am invested in too many other things to start a new one, this is sadly why I missed out on Dexter, Luther and the new Hawaii Five 0.

Surely the best method of keeping loyal audiences is to never let up on the quality of the shows, as one finishes bring something even more amazing out in the slot, Sky Atlantic have replaced the awesome Pacific with Mildred Pierce, which I’m sure is well acted and worthy but its a melodrama on a saturday night. The idea that we need to be fed crap between the big blockbuster series is not a new one, it happens in the papers every year and is known as the silly season, where parliament is quiet, the football season has ended and nothing really big happens, do you know how they got around this issue? they raised up the spectre of celebrity, they started to follow non entities around and comment on their love lives and wardrobes, the began caring who got what job or at least believed that we had, do we really want this to happen to TV, its already started on Channel Five where they have a daily gossip show, its half an hour of drivel but it appeals to someone and they dont look like reducing its time slot anytime soon. E Entertainment channel , an american channel which appears to be completely run by Ryan Seacrest is the tip of the iceberg when it comes to this sort of entertainment channel, I watch it some afternoons as a guilty pleasure hearing about the inane lives of people who dont even exist in our world but its a daily news show and they have an hour and the manage to fill it every day, scary really.

I wouldnt think that a channel like that could ever exist here but Sky Living isnt too far away from their ethos and its a short trip into the bowels of a full time celebrity driven channel in this country, where the likes of Jordan and Peter Andre fill up hours of prime time slots for bored people who would have gladly watched something better if there had been a choice. There are few things still on for a few more weeks, The Apprentice is nearing its end and Scott and Bailey finishes this weekend, then its banality R us until the channels launch there summer schedule. There nothing to be done I guess, I would spend more time at the cinema but they seem to have gone into stasis waiting for summer as well, I suppose reruns it is and the odd movie, Channel Five are showing some good stuff recently and ITV2 usually have something on most nights but its not movies I want to watch in the evening at home but good old fashioned quality TV, fingers crossed for something  new soon.

Spartacus Gods of the Arena

I missed out on the whole Spartacus thing, on TV anyway and this prequel was my first glimpse at the world of Batiatus and his ludus, the endless politicking, sex and violence that was the basis of the original  series success.

John Hannah is Batiatus and Lucy Lawless his loyal yet insatiable wife Lucretia, they are custodians of the ludus owned by Batiatus’s father. The old Arena is being replaced and there is fierce competition for places in the opening games of the new one. At the same time Crixus an ornery Gaul has recently joined the Gladiators and he is seen as competition for the role of primus which is held by Grannicus. There is lots of competition amongst the gladiators for position and sexual domination as they are put through their paces by Oenomaus, who along with is wife Mellita are the most trusted and loyal of Batiatus’s slaves.

Intrigue and political machinations ensue as Tullius their deadly rival uses his position to block Batiatus and his fighters from the proposed opening games as Selonious his supposed friend brokers peace deals a plenty while the return of Batiatus’s father throws further spanner in the works as do illicit love affairs between the slaves and gladiators.

As Grannicus falls for Mellita he starts to act up and the tension increases as Tullius and Batiatus swap insult and aggression as Selonius watches with glee as they tear each other apart, the series ends with a violent and emphatic finale that sees Batiatus head of his own ludus and Crixus the new champion of Capua.

I have issue with the idea of this series of programmes, after all the Spartacus tag would infer he was involved in some manner or other but he is not, My attitude about the series in which he is the main character I will save for when I write about that program,Spartacus Blood and Sand. The tone of the show is set very early on with almost comical violence, with animated blood-letting and gratuitous sex scenes which do nothing for the story except add titillation. Dont get me wrong, I enjoy the odd sex scene but constant nudity, both male and female loses its appeal and takes the attention away from the other areas of the show which are admirable, the intrigue is very enjoyable with seemingly no morals to reign in the battling romans there is nothing they are not prepared to do to each other houses in order to win through, and the slimy Selonius is trying to benefit from each and steal Lucretia to boot.

The ending , which was obviously written long after the start of the following series, does tie up nicely with the older show and adds some depth to characters who are one-dimensional in the original show. On the whole this is enjoyable stuff and would have been acceptable as a stand alone show, I get the reasons why they tied them together but I feel they missed a trick, the main cast are very good as you would expect from such weighty stars and having started to watch the original series I am glad some of the lesser characters get a look in this time.

Desperate Housewives

Dont watch it its absolutely crap, while Im on the subject of bad TV I will add in Sex and the City, Downton Abbey, Candle rise to Lark hall and Glee, there seems to be no end of really bad stuff on, I get I’m not their niche audience but why are they on at prime times when they only appeal to a certain section of the viewing public. We now have special channels for sports.

I know ITV give over a week night to football and believe me I would gladly admit they shouldnt anymore, if the want to set up a channel for sport, oh yeah they  tried that and brought down an entire format in the process. The many cable channel cater for most tastes, Syfy for the geeks and Living for the bored housewives so why put this stuff onto more comprehensive channels with a supposed broader appeal.

My idea of whats good TV isnt for everyone I know, and even on the regular channels there is stuff that does appeal to the major share of the audience and I may be in the minority sometimes and thats cool, but I really do have to complain about some of the trash out there and I may be pissing in the wind but at least I have voiced it and gotten over it for now at least.