Pour Some Gravy On Me Just some stuff

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.