I can only apologise for the last installment of ‘Stuff I Watched’, it was so half-hearted that I’m almost embarrassed to have published it.  That said, I’m such a whore for hits that I urge you do go read it, by clicking here.  Hopefully this post will be a little more interesting.

How Not To Live Your Life: BBC HD (Recorded 20th Oct Watched 21st Oct)

Sadly, this was the last episode.  The second series has been even better than the enjoyable first, and this episode was possibly the funniest yet.  The plot veered dangerously close to traditional  sitcom territory; Don agreed to be best man for a boorish school friend and persuaded Sam to be his pretend wife (fake name = Garden Danbury).  It’s all credit to them that they managed to pull off this Terry & June storyline.  It was also impressive how they managed to make the episode sweet and romantic, whilst Don stayed largely in character; where did that come from?

Don has definitely become a more sympathetic character over the course of series 2, but it’s been done really naturally; Sam obviously having an effect on him that Abby never did.  The ending was nicely ambiguous (unless I just misunderstood it); did Don finally put his infatuation with Abby to one side, or was he just thinking with his dick?  If it was the latter, you wouldn’t exactly blame him; Garden Danbury is really quite beautiful.

I wonder where they’d go if there was a third series?  Part of me wants to see Don and Sam together, but it wouldn’t make for a very good sitcom.  Either way, fingers crossed for series three.

Stargate Universe: Sky One (R 20th Oct W 21st Oct)

This doesn’t seem to have really got going yet, but I’m starting to suspect that’s just the vibe that they’re going for.  I quite like the idea of the slow pace, but something has to happen occasionally. Robert Carlyle has been reduced little more than shouting irritably; he plays an potentially interesting character, but he seems woefully underutilised.

With the life support systems being fixed in the first three episodes, episode four saw the failure of the power systems.  With death seeming imminent, the crew took turns leaving ‘talking head’ messages, and these were a real mixed bag.  Some were well acted, but others were absolutely appalling; overall, they were the least subtle way possible to introduce some of the supporting cast.

Eli seems to be the heart of the show and it will be interesting to see how he develops over the course of the season.  It’s also refreshing to see someone on US TV who is neither stick thin nor
comically fat.

Flying in to a star is quite a cliffhanger, but I’m guessing that it’s just going to refuel.  Sadly, I don’t feel that I know enough about any of the characters enough to care their fate.

Hung: More 4 (R 15th Oct W 22nd Oct)

Yet another new HBO comedy drama – what are they trying to do to me?  I feel like they’re mounting a campaign to personally rob me of any free time whatsoever.  Insanity by quality programming – the swines!

Hung is the story of a high-school teacher who has loads of bad luck and ends up having to become male prostitute in order to make ends meet.  It sounds such a stereotypical concept for a quirky, ‘adult’ drama that they could well have used the ‘Quirky Adult Drama Concept Generator’.  The first half of the episode felt as though someone had taken the output from that generator and then just gone through the motions.  This might be a little harsh as I spent the first half of the show writing the Sherby57 post, No Rascal Here, so perhaps I wasn’t giving it the due attention.

At this stage, I was preparing to write that I was only going to give it another episode to prove itself, as I’m desperate to avoid another True Blood situation.  But, the last quarter of the episode grew on me more than I thought it would, so I’m prepared to be a little more lenient.

The Flying Car: Daredevils: Channel 4 (R 20th Oct W 22nd Oct)

Channel 4’s excellent ‘Daredevils’ strand continued with the slightly lacklustre story of two blokes driving/flying to Timbuktu in a car.  I was looking forward to it beforehand but perhaps I was expecting too much.

A flying car conjures up the image of some spectacular George Jetson-style vehicle, but the reality is that it is basically a beach buggy with a fan on the back, with a parachute-style wing hanging off the back.  It’s a great achievement by the designer, but it’s not what you think of as a ‘flying car’.

I was slightly puzzled that, since it was billed as the world’s first practical flying car, this was the first time that was hearing about it.  Surely it must have been on the news at the time of the expedition.  Maybe the press were as underwhelmed by the design as I was.  On their second test flight, on a beach, a gust of wind resulted in them ending up in the sea, which potentially ‘ruined the wing’.  Surely it could be fixed with just a big washing line.

Somehow the documentary was really dull and any adventure was sucked out of it.  The last portion of the trip was all on-road as they had crashed in to a tree and couldn’t fly any more.  Considering that they want to sell them, it all seems a bit unreliable.  That said, I do really want one.

They’ve yet to find a buyer.

Life on Mars ‘USA’: FX (R 18th Oct W 22nd Oct)

I wasn’t going to comment on this, but I felt I had to.  I tried to give the first episode the benefit of the doubt (despite my long list of gripes), but I’m happy to now say that it’s an absolute traversty.
I managed to last to the first ad break before deleting.  At least it’s one less thing to watch per week.

Wallander: BBC4 (Recorded 7th Oct Watched 11th Oct)

After enjoying excellent French drama Spiral, on BBC4,  I thought I’d give their latest foreign-language import, Wallander.  This is the (presumably) original Swedish version of the detective series that starred Ken Branagh over here.

After watching the first episode of Spiral, I wondered how much my  enjoyment was influenced by it appearing better than it was because it was in another language.  Whilst Spiral has clearly proved itself, I soon felt with this that it could be just about any cop show that you might see on ITV.  Now, that’s not necessarily a bad thing, but it’s not really my bag.  I gave up after 25 minutes.

In Treatment: Sky Arts 1 (R 8th & 9th Oct W 11th Oct)

And so the first week comes to an end, starting with Day 4 – Jake & Amy – the least convincing episode so far.  I did’t really understand this couple, and so I failed to connect.  They didn’t just seem totally unsuited as a couple, they didn’t seem like a couple at all.  Also, their storyline is that they’ve had 5 years of fertility treatment, given up, then Amy got pregnant, and now she wants an abortion; it frankly left me a bit baffled.  The acting didn’t seem to be quite up to the standard of the previous episodes.

I followed this up immediately with, Day 5 – Gina.  In a twist, Paul goes to see his own therapist, Gina (Dianne Wiest), and it adds a whole new layer of depth to the series.  I did find it a bit cringey that he only talked about the patients that are part of the series though.  I’m interested to watch the subsequent episodes now to see how the more we learn about Paul affects the way we see him deal with his patients.

Incidentally, the music in this series makes me want to vomit.

Micro Men: BBC4 (R 8th Oct W 11th Oct)

This was a fun and informative one-off drama about the early days of British home computing, and the sort of television that the BBC does better than anyone else.  It’s the story of Clive Sinclair’s (Alexander Armstrong) business rivalry with Chris Curry (Martin Freeman), who ran Acorn computers.  It was somehow not very dramatic and yet utterly entertaining.  This was helped by an excellent cast including some good cameos from well known faces.  The main thing that I learnt from the programme was that if Clive Sinclair really went around behaving like that, then it’s a miracle that he stayed in business as long as he did.

Generation Kill: Channel 4 (R 7th Oct W 13th Oct)

Having watched this already on FX ,earlier in the year, it took me all of a nanosecond to decide that I should watch it all again.  It’s a drama based on the true-life book by Rolling Stone report, Evan Wright, who travelled with a group of US Marines during the invassion of Iraq, in 2003.  It’s also made by the creators of The Wire, which I’ve already proclaimed as the ‘best show ever’, and they prove that it was no fluke.

The cast is lead by two actors who are very different to the other TV shows that I’ve seen them in.  James Ransome plays Corporal Ray Person, an amiable and likeable guy that you’d like to hang about with; compare that to his portrayal of Ziggy Sobotka, in The Wire,  who was maybe the most annoying character in TV history.  Similarly, Alexander Skarsgard plays Sgt. Brad ‘Iceman’ Colbert, the kind of guy that you’d want on your team before anybody else; compare that to his portrayal of vampire poseur, Eric, in True Blood.   Both are startling transformations.

Like its televisual predecessor,  its strength lies in the fact that there are no easy answers.  It would be easy to portray the marines as glorified heroes or as gung ho imbeciles, but, with a few notable, intentional exceptions, the characters are drawn as real, flawed human beings.  Unlike the majority of television, the programme makers are playing with glorious shades of grey.

As nothing is ever spelled out for you, it certainly bears a second viewing; if anything, I would say that it’s designed for multiple viewings.  I really enjoyed the first episode and it may actually be better the second time around as you have a clue as to what’s going on.

Stargate Universe: Sky One (R 13th Oct W 13th Oct)

The third episode of the new sci-fi series finally brings the opening arc to an end; sadly, it was with a largely pointless episode set on a desert planet.  This didn’t really work for me as a stand alone chapter, but maybe it would have made more sense if it had been shown with the other two parts.  I really have no idea where this series is going, and, at this point, that’s not a good thing.

Spiral: BBC4 (R 11th Oct W 14th Oct)

Another gripping episode of the French police drama.  I particularly enjoyed the scene where they used evil lawyer Josephine’s unscrupulous informing on her clients to help set up an undercover operation; it was very cleverly done.  It also contained the understatement of the year; on discovering a young lady killed, and horribly disfigured, by gunfire, Laure informed her boss with the line: ‘Pierre, we’ve found the three bullets…’  The French are très blasé.

The main reason why I’m writing about this episode is that I was hoping that somebody could help me out with a query. When Laure was in her psychiatric review and said she lived with her partner of 10 years, was that true?? And if it was true, has it ever been mentioned before?  I know it’s been 3 years since season one was on telly, but I have no recollection of this at all.

Life on Mars ‘USA’: FX (R 11th Oct W 14th Oct)

Although I would have watched this for the concept if it was an entirely original show, I did find myself watching this primarily to compare it with the original British series.  And that kind of made it hard to enjoy it.  They kept much of it the same; the opening sequence was very similar (apart from the twin towers), Sam was transferred from Hyde, and, surprisingly, the character names all stayed the same.  Despite this, all I could notice were the differences.  I accept that they had to make changes in order to make their own programme, but the location shift makes for a huge change in tone; 1973 New York seems glamourous and exciting, 1973 Manchester felt mundane and real.  I don’t suppose that US network TV was ever going to make a 1970’s time-travel cop show that was mundane and real though.

In my original notes for this, I made lots of comparisons between the two series, but I’ve decided not to mention them now.  The original Life on Mars is considered a modern TV classic, so it would be incredibly unfair of me to overly judge the US version after only one episode.  There is one thing thing that I would bring up though: the casting of Gene Hunt.  My first thought was, ‘Harvey Keitel, what a great choice’; he’s a well respected actor who has played many tough guy roles.  The reality of the situation is slightly different though, Keitel now just come across as a frail old man and not the kind of blustery ball buster that Philip Glenister portrayed.  A previous pilot was made for this with Star Trek alum, Colm Meaney, in the role, and you can’t help but feel he would have been a better choice.

Anyway, I spent so long comparing it that I couldn’t really tell you what it was actually like.  Hopefully I’ll be able to watch episode 2 on its own merits.

“Slurp! Sloo!” – Gene Hunt, yesterday.

I was fortunate enough to check out some preview material on Life on Mars thanks to Miguel at Reprise Media and I am getting excited about it.

The setting is now New York, which should provide some grit that was missing in the previous pilot episode.  Harvey Keitel looks as if he has nailed the Gene Hunt character (some surprise, huh?), and Michael Imperioli is going to do justice to Ray (what a great look he has).

Overall, the vibe of the show seems much more in tune with the fantastic BBC program and that can’t be a bad thing.  There were some funny bits, some drama, nice attention to 70s details, cool music and wide ties.  I will still be interested to see how they stretch out the concept over a full US TV season, but seeing the preview material I am a little more confident that it can be done.

Life on Mars starts Thursday, October 9 at 10/9c on ABC.

Here are some vids released by Reprise Media to youtube:

Depois do episódio piloto de Fringe vazar na internet, outra grande estréia da temporada “vaza” na internet, estou falando do episódio de Life On Mars versão americana da série homônima inglesa. Que coloquei na lista das promessas para a próxima temporada, principalmente porque a versão britânica é excelente, e pelo primeiro episódio a impressão que fica é muito negativa.

Começando pelas coisas boas da série, a história é muito bem escrita, no ano de 2007 Sam Tyler é um detetive durão que investiga um assassinato, sua vida muda completamente quando sua namorada que é detetive é raptada.
Na melhor cena do episódio vemos Sam se sentindo culpado pelo rapto de sua namorada e tentando descobrir o que aconteceu, depois de quase bater o carro e escutando a bela música de David Bowie “Life on Mars” ele é atropelado.
Sam acorda vestindo um belo terno tipíco dos anos 70, e vê que tudo ao seu redor está diferente, ao longo do episódio descobrimos que ele está no ano de 1972 e se isso já não fosse estranho o bastante, ele está no meio de uma investigação que pode solucionar o caso de 2007!

Grandes elogios aos cenários e roupas, lugares famosos nos EUA nos anos 70 são lembrados, a trilha sonora é muito boa, além de obvias homenagens a filmes clássicos da época como ao fundo o letreiro dizendo que está passando “O Poderoso Chefão”.

Acaba por ai os elogios, o ator que interpreta Sam Tyler, Jason O’ Mara não tem carisma nenhum e e pelas suas participações em várias séries e pequenos filmes não tem o mesmo talento do ator John Simm, que faz o mesmo personagem na versão britânica. O resto do elenco também é fraco e sem carisma.

O primeiro episódio não tem comparação com a versão original, as cenas são longas demais, diálogos chatos, até as cenas que são quase iguais ficaram pior nessa versão.
O episódio não tem dois grandes atrativos da série original, o ritmo acelerado, que mistura bem ação com o mistêrio que envolve Sam, se na versão original é muito bem explorado e deixa aquela pergunta no ar, se ele está sonhando, morreu, está em um coma, resumindo o que aconteceu e como ele foi parar nos anos 70. Na versão americana o mistêrio se tornou um drama chato.

Tanto a critica americana e britânica, como o público em fóruns de discussões também não gostaram do episódio piloto, fato que pode prejudicar muito a série, que só vai estrear no dia 23 de setembro na ABC. Quem sabe até lá mudanças são feitas, mas até isso acontecer prefiro rever a versão original.