12 posts tagged “series”

Life on Mars (the US version) has made the news a bit more lately, with a report that David E. Kelley could leave the show if financial arrangements don’t suit.
   Variety reports that October Road executive producers Josh Appelbaum, André Nemec and Scott Rosenberg could join the series as showrunners if Kelley departs.
   The Hollywood Reporter says ABC is close to picking up the US version of the British time-travelling cop show as a series.
   So for those of us without Ashes to Ashes to watch till 2009, this might be the next best thing. And because we know the British ending, there’s always a chance that the US one won’t work out the same way (even if Three’s Company kind of did).

The Murdoch Press—The Times, anyway—is putting forth a contrary viewpoint to all the hype around Ashes to Ashes, by journalist Caitlan Moran.
   And I think she has a point.
   In summary, Moran feels that Ashes to Ashes has reached some level of self-parody. The star is now undeniably Gene Hunt, which, as I put forth in the comments, must be akin to the Fonz getting top billing in Happy Days after Richie left.
   Richie is Sam Tyler in this context.
   Moran, who has seen the première, or pilot, writes:

It’s not Phil Glenister’s fault – he continues to play Hunt with malicious, controlled glee. The problem is with the show itself. It has lost its innocence. It’s gone from being a little bit in love with Hunt – as any rational programme would be – to borderline stalking him. Every Hunt entrance is a “Hero Shot” – slow pans, moody lighting, orchestral upswell. Every scene is waiting for Hunt to enter, or animate, or conclude it. The show will give him anything he wants – machineguns, a speedboat, a ludicrous plot resolution.

   My remaining concern is whether we are as fond of the 1970s as we are of the 1980s. The cop show—what Americans call police procedurals now, in an effort to differentiate from English English*—probably reached a zenith in the 1970s in the UK, with shows such as The Sweeney (the sort-of inspiration for Life on Mars) and The Professionals (which was designed to compete with The Sweeney). In this context, The Sweeney is the Gospel of Matthew, and the last season of Special Branch with George Sewell was the Book of Malachi.
   But I am not sure if we are as fond of the next decade because we missed these dark, gritty shows. Dempsey and Makepeace and Cat’s Eyes are loved only by fans of the genre. Putting Gene Hunt into this world means the show must centre around him and the evolution of his character in a new decade, full of bright colours and later, pastel shades. Ashes to Ashes cannot be a homage to anything actually from the 1980s even if Moonlighting had been cited in an early press release—to all intents and purposes it can only be a homage to Life on Mars.
   Nevertheless, I am looking forward to the new show, because it presents an opportunity for fans to ask a new set of questions. Or at least I hope we can.
   As Life on Mars neared the end of its run in 2007, there were numerous speculations on what actually happened to Sam Tyler. Some argued that 1973 was Purgatory. Another theory was that Sam Tyler leapt into the body of a 1973 cop called Sam Williams while in a coma. He would wake up, someone else said, and find that Annie Cartwright was actually his nurse and they would fall in love and get married. And a lot more pointed out the Wizard of Oz references. 
   Scriptwriter Matthew Graham put that all to rest when he said, yes, Sam’s in a coma and he killed himself to get to his idea of Heaven, which features Gene Hunt, Ray and Chris, and, most importantly, Annie Cartwright. No other explanation is canon.
   Are we to accept that it’s so elegantly simple?
   Maybe yes, since this is just a TV show, but Graham and co-creator Ashley Pharoah say they want to explore the ‘mythology’ of Gene Hunt.
   The press kits are essentially saying that DI Alex Drake has imagined 1981 and the gang because she read Sam Tyler’s case file and developed an obsession over it.
   It just seems too simple, if it is written as cleverly as the original. I can’t imagine watching Ashes to Ashes and not having the same questions about: what is this time period? Who is Gene Hunt? And I would hope that Graham, Pharoah, Chris Chibnall and whomever else is writing would explore the “why” element of all of this than leave us without pondering what has happened to Alex Drake.
   If this is all—if Hunt is a psychological manifestation of a tumour or the bullet in Alex’s head—then we approach Ashes to Ashes backwards. Last time, seven million of us watched the finalé because we wanted answers. This time we approach the show knowing the answer first. And there goes one major element of why we watched the original.

* The Brits I hung out with for drinkies last night had never heard of the term police procedural.

My comment on the Journeyman Blog today:

Mike, you are being generous. I’m no longer going to watch American serials that don’t have self-contained episodes as my “default” position, making exceptions for presently unforeseeable situations. I feel that strongly about Journeyman.
   Journeyman was an exception, but I have managed to stay away from all the other so-called hits with “story arcs” anyway (Lost, Heroes, The Nine, Traveler, Prison Break, 24, etc.).
   Like you, I was a Day Break fan and we managed to get, fortunately, all 13 episodes networked here (albeit at a really sucky time). I gave Journeyman a chance on the strength of a fabulous pilot but now, if I hear ‘Made in USA’ along with ‘story arc’, I just won’t bother.

   This cannot be good for the US TV industry, but if it has morons running the networks, then what can it expect? Journeyman was the last straw, especially as I tracked how the show unfolded and how inept NBC had been. This isn’t the first series that I have followed that was cancelled prematurely—but after so many of these, where American networks cannot understand that loyalty to the network brand also depends on overall product quality, I am just fed up.
   This is the Ford Taurus syndrome. The story is this: the Taurus was a huge hit for Ford. Instead of continual improvement, Ford opted to abandon the Taurus, letting it get trampled by the Toyota Camry and Honda Accord, when the SUV boom happened. Toyota and Honda, instead, kept improving their sedans and developed SUVs. By 2006, the Taurus was a joke, sold to rental car fleets. It was only for the 2007 model year that Ford transferred the Taurus name on to its Five Hundred. By that time, Ford lost a lot of customers to the Japanese and there are people who felt their loyalty had been thrown into their face.
   It also had the Ford Contour in the US, which the company refused to market properly, probably because it had been co-developed with its European branch. The claim was that Americans were not interested in the CD-sized market that the Contour occupied. Reality: Dearborn probably wanted to cover its own butt by saying, ‘We are not taking this European stuff because we have to sell domestically designed.’ It’s perhaps all political. Meanwhile, Americans were buying the same-sized car from BMW and Mercedes. Buyers just kept going foreign.
   Ford’s latest refusal to sell the German-designed C307 Focus, and instead facelift the older model for American buyers, is yet another example. Now the Focus is getting trampled by the Honda Civic, and the next Toyota Corolla will beat it even more. History keeps repeating there at Ford.
   In other words, Ford thinks Americans are dumb Yanks.
   NBC has combined these moves, but really, every network is guilty of this. While Journeyman was not a huge hit, NBC knows its poor scheduling and non-existent promotion are to blame. Instead of allowing an audience to build (the numbers were growing), it decided to interrupt Journeyman’s schedule just as the show found its legs. It had a quality product which it intended to kill. And in the meantime, viewers are feeling that the networks are not listening. They will happily go to cable, DVDs and other services. NBC’s remaining offerings—dumbed-down reality fare—will be like the 2005 Ford Taurus.
   In other words, the US networks think Americans are dumb Yanks. 
   No, foreigners do not think Americans are dumb because of George W. Bush. Foreigners think Americans are dumb because that is how American corporations treat American citizens, by making decisions that disrespect the American consumer’s intelligence. Foreigners then make an erroneous presumption that that is what consumers have asked for—when in fact most Americans are as upset about the strange corporate decisions that take place.
   As television globalizes—and it will—the US networks will be like Ford, where perceived quality and loyalty will no longer be there.
   Bad moves against quality products do affect the overall parent brand—something that even brand consultants need to remember.
   And, sadly, the parent brand’s image can often be tied to the national one.

I don’t know how I missed this, but after browsing Rachel’s blog here on Vox I stumbled on it: Late Show Writers on Strike.
   As has been reported in the news, David Letterman is continuing to pay his staff to December 31 out of his own pocket, even though no shows are going out due to the writers’ strike in the US. You know the man’s a good boss when folks have stuck by him for over two decades.
   The blog shows you can’t keep good writers down. They are writing, and you know, someone could pinch this stuff for a great show. Writers like Eric Roberts and Matt Stangel—or whatever their names are, since we don’t always see the credits—are at it, and the whole team is working hard to keep their humour in the public arena so Dave doesn’t outsource new scripts to South Asia.
   If the show comes back on before the strike is resolved, do look out for the following warning signs.

Top 10 signs The Late Show writing staff has been replaced:
10. Jokes relating to Ganguly and Rahul begin appearing.
9. Richard Simmons’ interview goes on for twice as long as usual.
8. Oprah begins asking if she can return as a guest.
7. Comparisons are made between The Late Show and Bosom Buddies.
6. Comparisons are made between The Late Show and The Tonight Show.
5. Michael Richards, in a free appearance, is announced as guest host for Dr Martin Luther King Jr Day.
4. Scripts refer to ‘Johnny’ and ‘Ed’.
3. Dave compliments Regis.
2. Top 10 lists are one item short.

If you do a Google Blog Search, the entries for Journeyman seem to be on the up, with people discovering the show this week. I am not sure why it has taken this long to catch on Stateside, but I hope this late interest will have people tuning in or writing to NBC when they realize it’s for the chop.
   Outside the US, Journeyman is on Channel Ten in Australia and Sky One in the UK, so I expect more chatter about the show globally soon. Maybe NBC (or 20th Century–Fox) will realize it has an international hit on its hands and extra episodes will be worth its while.

NBC has confirmed in its listings that Journeyman will air its 13th episode (12th if you don’t count the pilot) on Wednesday, December 19. In its place in the Monday slot will be The Singing Bee, which has been on hiatus since October.
   We knew this was coming, but it’s sad to see. Who knows? Maybe Journeyman will wind up on another network: JAG did far worse than Journeyman in its first season on NBC before changing networks. The Peacock does it get it wrong.

One American viewer has got his or her act together and written a petition (2,000 signatures so far) to save Journeyman. If you are a fan of the show and the prospect of having reality TV replace great writing and acting upsets you, pop on over to sign it.
   And if you want to vote some more, Journeyman is up for a People’s Choice Award for best new dramatic series, and you can vote online there. Wouldn’t it be ironic if it did get cancelled but take home this award?

The news that Journeyman fans did not want to hear has come: there will be no more after the 12 episodes that have been made. NBC has not asked for more, and the chances of the show’s return in 2008 are tiny.
   I wrote on the unofficial Journeyman Blog today:

This news sucks big time. This is a consistently well written show and what American networks do not realize is that it discourages us foreigners from getting suckered in to US-made series. As a result, I never slavishly followed the US into Lost, Heroes or many of those so-called “hits” after consistent disappointments surrounding premature cancellations or network tinkering. Journeyman managed to break that for me because it truly was excellent.
   I know NBC must look at its domestic market first, but I would have thought the prospect of strong international sales would be considered. In the US, 10 p.m. is probably a tad late, but you can totally have seen this airing at 8.30 p.m. in Britain, Australia or New Zealand. (It probably won’t now, because it’s been labelled a flop and programmers in other countries will be too scared or lazy to determine otherwise.)
   So thanks, NBC, for building an audience for an excellent show despite its lousy timeslot, and for being so daft that you don’t see that this does the network’s credibility some damage. After all, who gets the blame? Fox, for making it, or NBC, for not having the intelligence to see there were other factors at play with the poor ratings?
   The only consolation is that I only have to buy a single season’s worth of DVDs rather than the seven I plan to fork out for Mission: Impossible. Ah, remember those days when networks stuck with shows?

   An American (I assume) fan called Wes wrote on the official blog and makes an excellent point about Seinfeld:

NBC are you listening (or at least reading)? You have to give Journeyman a chance and give it time to find an audience. This could be a great show for years. It may have been mentioned here already, but several of the past "best TV shows ever" were almost canceled and took time to find an audience. Seinfeld sound familiar? How much money did it make for NBC? It's not just the about the money either. It takes time for word of mouth to spread the news and maybe a little luck for a TV show to jump up to the top 20 in weekly ratings. People will stop watching serial type shows all together if every time one doesn't instantly become a barn burner, you cancel it. And the networks wonder why viewership is down. Maybe you should take cue from HBO and Showtime. Make a good show (you have) and people will come, it just takes time.

   Even the writers’ strike could not save it. The ratings were actually beginning to head north after people stopped watching The Bachelor, but not enough to get NBC to see sense.
   I certainly won’t be in a hurry to start watching any other new American series of this ilk and have successfully stayed away from Heroes and The Nine after disappointments with The Pretender, John Doe and others. I watched maybe 10 episodes of Lost despite the addition of Elizabeth Mitchell, a Lucire interviewee. You just never know when they disappear. The Brits may do fewer shows, but at least they see them through to a natural conclusion more often. The British networks respect their viewers.
   The networks no longer remember how The Dick van Dyke Show was cancelled, was brought back, and lasted for years—and from memory, JAG went through the same thing. If the writing is as good as it is on Journeyman, a second season is all a show needs to become a long-running classic. Killing Journeyman is a way of covering up NBC’s own inadequacies of putting it into a too-late timeslot.
   I will watch the new Life on Mars when or if it starts, based on the goodwill of the British original, and because I know the secret behind Sam Tyler, so I won’t be as hurt if it’s pulled. 

Ride with the Devil gets two snaps from me: a good series première, nice pace, darned good acting (from even the cast members that I do not know) and a multicultural cast that resembles something you might see on the rice burner scene.
   Down side: the thing is over in half an hour, just when you are getting in to it. ‘Next week’ comes up far too early and surprisingly. And need I mention the time slot? Grrr. Even Throng thinks it’s too late.
   At least the Listener had the good sense to call Andy Wong ‘Chinese’ rather than ‘Asian’.

Regular visitors may have noticed two renditions of ‘Avenues and Alleyways’, the theme from The Protectors, by Mitch Murray and Peter Callander and originally sung by Tony Christie, on this blog. One is from jazz singer Rinaldi, and presented here in full, and the other is a shortened version performed by Chris Moyles on The X Factor—Simon Cowell’s other show.
   I’m not sure if non-Brits know of X, but here’s their chance to see Simon being less of a prick—and realize he does heap praise when the performance is good. Moyles sounds like he fudged the shortened chorus a tad (I believe it is meant to be a mixture of the first and second choruses, and the backing vocalists seem to be singing something different toward the end), but I prefer this key to Christie’s original, plus the arrangement is rather nice.
   Rinaldi lacks the oomph, but the visuals—a parody of The Saint, Get Carter and swinging London—more than make up for it. He delivers a more loungey version, which is very pleasant on the ears.
   It shows that a lot of these old Brit themes are still in the public consciousness after all these years—‘Avenues’ was more of a hit for Christie when he revived it in 2000, and it certainly was a hit for Moyles and Rinaldi. I remember when 1969’s ‘We Have All the Time in the World’ from On Her Majesty’s Secret Service caught on again in the 1980s after it was used for UK TV advertising.
   Interestingly, as I discussed with my Brit friends, the Athertons, after they moved down to New Zealand, I seem to have more in common with them than many of the locals, in sense of humour and tastes. The former is down to the similarities between Cantonese and British humour, but the latter could only have come from being brainwashed by Lew Grade and his TV shows in my formative years. And I still carry a wee passport with Dieu et Mon Droit on the front.