3 posts tagged “drama”

First there was Kath & Kim, the US version, for NBC. Now, ABC brings you … from the maker of Veronica Mars … the American version of Outrageous Fortune!
   I can see OF work in the US though no doubt the hard-out Kiwi fans of the show will join all the Brits (who have had their fair share of American remakes), and moan. We will say what an inferior version the American one is and how it misses all our Newzild subtexts.
   The American Outrageous Fortune will join the American Life on Mars and the American Kath & Kim on American TV screens this autumn, I mean the American version of autumn, which is called fall. 
   We are certainly not immune from taking someone else’s concept and running with it, what with the New Zealand version of two British shows, Strictly Come Dancing and Pop Idol, and a Danish show that is now called Sensing Murder here. It’s only notable because aside from Popstars, New Zealand shows have not made it hugely overseas in licensed format.
   And the Dutch can get angry about the British versions of some of their shows like Big Brother and The Generation Game.
   Actually, I welcome our trans-Pacific transplanting and I hope the creators of Outrageous Fortune can bring in some useful royalty income into New Zealand.
   The irony is that this is probably the sort of show TV2 would air here in an effort to beat TV3, which shows the original OF.
   If we are all licensing each other’s shows, then how about a local version of Alarm für Cobra 11 but with a Māori guy and a white guy?

There have been rumours that NBC was planning to cancel Journeyman, but the latest news is that four more episodes have been ordered.
   I hate hearing of these cancellation rumours, especially since the show has only had three episodes aired and the network presumes that it can gauge its popularity from that.
   If networks went with ratings this closely, we would never have had additional seasons of The Dick van Dyke Show, a sitcom which many would agree set the template for its modern counterparts. I am sure readers out there can think of more examples of shows that faltered early but found their feet later.
   But with this interconnected world, it will make those of us outside the United States think twice about watching any American show, for fear of investing our time and finding out that it was all in vain. Or, it will force us back into one-hour shows with no story arcs extending beyond one episode.
   I watched The Pretender for years, but I understand the network concluded it was cheaper to buy football games and cancelled it. Fans of Tru Calling (sorry, I was not one) were also left hanging, even if New Zealand was the first country to get the second season. I have no idea why anyone would watch The Nine on prime-time here in New Zealand, considering it meets an early end. John Doe was another. Mr & Mrs Smith, the series about the two spies who often pose as an undercover married couple, only finished its season in Australia: the Americans saw seven and I think we only got to that number, too. That one where John Stamos played a thief and Ian McShane his Dad—whatever that was—I enjoyed that, too. Day Break was a seven-episode affair on ABC in the States; fortunately, we got to see all 13 of that excellent drama, a sort of Americanized Life on Mars.
   US networks have no need to care about foreign markets, as they can get sufficient business domestically, but it can make us eye their new offerings with suspicion.
   So now we come to one of the best dramas of their new season, from two blokes who had worked on The West Wing. Dan Vasser is a journalist who begins, inexplicably, time-travelling. There are shades of Quantum Leap, but the character development and drive are a lot stronger. Scots actor Kevin McKidd, whom I last saw in a Christmas Father Ted special stuck in the lingerie store, is brilliant. (Moon Bloodgood, ex-Day Break, and Gretchen Egolf, whom I last saw in Martial Law, are welcome returning faces.)
   It is a clever drama and we know the American audience is actually smart and sophisticated: if it can follow the many threads of Heroes, which airs before Journeyman, then this should be a walk in the park.
   This is where the Brits get things right: there is more judgement on merit, not ratings, and a good drama is given a chance to build up loyalty. The US networks, with their knee-jerk reactions and inability to see what forces might be keeping a good series down, are less able to do this—with serious long-term consequences.
   So I applaud NBC for ordering the four extra episodes, and can assure them that Journeyman will be more than able to build an audience domestically and internationally. The opinions of foreigners like us—I am prepared to buy the DVD already on the strength of the three episodes and knowing creator Kevin Falls’s work—must count for something.

A very amazing ending to Life on Mars. I liked it, as it confirmed some of my theories, but the decision Sam makes on top of the building was unexpected. Let’s just say that I wouldn’t have done so in his position, certainly not for someone whom I could not prove existed. You also do not abandon a parent: if they didn’t have the scene where Sam visits his Mum, I might have accepted it more. (I am intentionally vague for those who have not seen the episode yet. The DVD of series two is released Monday in the UK.)
   Despite these niggles, I enjoyed what Matthew Graham cooked up for us. It shows that the Brits still can do quality drama and that a network, if it wishes to create “event TV”, merely has to provide excellent writing, acting and direction.
   That means shows like Big Brother, Survivor and Fear Factor do nothing for a network’s loyalty and simply opens one up to competition from hobbyists on YouTube. Quality is where the battle is going to be if the networks wish to retain any relevance to society.
   Sadly, the short-term profit motive may put paid to that, all while the Emir of Qatar keeps pumping money in to al-Jazeera and reminds the west of what can be done. Sooner or later, someone with that much money might do his own network.
   That sounded pretty implausible 20 years ago before Rupert Murdoch launched Fox as the US’s fourth network.
   Now, how it all ties together with the spin-off, Ashes to Ashes, remains to be seen.
   Fans may be interested in today’s Life of Wylie blog entry, where co-creator and writer Matthew Graham talks about some of the behind-the-scenes thinking to the finalé. Don’t think too deeply about it all for now: it will do your head in.