sons-ofanarchyseason4: February 2011

ThunderCats - Remake "Promo"

Una de mis series preferidas de la infancia vuelve con un remake para Cartoon Network.

Terra Nova - Season 1 "Promo"

Esta es de las que espero con más ganas. A ver si sale algo bueno y decente y remonta el nivel de la series americanas.

Breakout Kings...T-Bag is back!

Estaba cantado, la nueva serie de los productores de Prison Break y que trata sobre delincuentes, pues no podía faltar T-Bag. Se agradece!

Has Kiefer Sutherland Got The ‘Touch’?

The Hollywood Reporter is suggesting that Kiefer Sutherland could be back on our television screens a lot sooner than most people imagined.

Apparently the man who was Jack Bauer on 24 for eight seasons is in early negotiations to return to FOX in the leading role in a pilot from Heroes creator Tim Kring entitled Touch.

Touch reportedly revolves around a father who discovers that his mute, autistic son can predict events before they happen; Sutherland’s role would be that of the father.

Personally I think the whole thing sounds a bit like the sort of box office flop we’ve seen numerous times over the past few years – sort of like a dire amalgamation of the dogshit Next which starred Nicolas Cage and Mercury Rising which featured Bruce Willis and a pre-Jack Donaghy Alec Baldwin.

That said, coming from the pen of Kring could mean that Touch brings something different to this played out narrative, much like Heroes originally did for the superhero genre.

Touch is Kring's first pilot script since Heroes which debuted on NBC in 2006 and had a revelatory first season before solely losing its way and eventually being cancelled last year after four seasons.

A Sutherland-Kring partnership could be very special indeed, but the deal is only in the preliminary stages at present and may not happen due to Sutherland’s still gruelling schedule – he is currently on Broadway and talk of the 24 movie just won’t die down.

One thing is for sure, whether Touch happens with Sutherland or not, the next TV projects for both Kring and Sutherland, if they happen, will be two of the most highly anticipated shows of recent years.

Glee 2.7 'The Substitute'

“Kurt got us a substitute, so I’m buttering the floor…” - Puck

‘The Substitute’ was the most hyped episode of Glee since the Britney Spears/Madonna ‘tribute’ episodes, mainly due to special guest star Gwyneth Paltrow.

Irrespective of Mrs. Chris Martin’s appearance as substitute teacher Holly Holliday, this was one of the stronger episodes of Glee this season. This was mainly because the episode seemed to actually have a flow to it, with not only a beginning, but also a middle and an end, which for Glee is somewhat of an achievement.

The songs in ‘The Substitute’ also felt organic and didn’t feel shoehorned in as many have this season; and in the Singing in the Rain/Umbrella mash-up that closed the show Glee may have another hit single on its hands. I expected to hate that mutation but it actually worked really well and the performance in the water looked very cool.

The episode began with Sue informing Will that Principal Figgins was laid up with flu and that she had, inexplicably been made Principal in his absence. Sue’s ability to influence people and steal power almost at will is becoming an increasingly ridiculous aspect of Glee.

I know that I look far deeper into the mechanics of the show than the average ‘gleek’ does but it really does belittle all the good things about Glee when you have to detach yourself from reality so much to accept some of the devices the writers use just to create conflict.

Surely there is a school board and governors etc. at McKinley High that Sue would need to go through before, as acting Principal no less, she could fire Will just because she liked his substitute better!? Yes I know you’re not supposed to think of things like that and just accept what is before you but it’s poorly thought out developments like that (that will just be reset again next week) and inconsistencies from week to week that make Glee so infuriating at times.

Getting away from the little things that irritate me though and back to ‘The Substitute’ and when Will too got sick he was replaced in Spanish class (had you forgotten that Will is also the Spanish teacher!? You’re forgiven if you have as it’s never mentioned) and then at Glee club by cool substitute teacher Holliday.

Paltrow’s role worked, much like Neil Patrick Harris last season, because it didn’t feel like a piece of stunt casting or a cynical attempt to boost sales like some Glee cameos have (cough, Britney Spears, cough). No, Paltrow’s role genuinely felt like she was a fan of the show and wanted to appear – that role could have been played by anyone, the fact it was Paltrow didn’t distract from the character and that is what could guest appearances should be like.

The message of this episode, the kinds of teachers who really have pupils’ best interests at heart, was good too and probably spoke to a lot of the teenage fans of the show.

The Mercedes ‘tots’ tangent was somewhat of a bizarre detour this episode but served its purpose in getting across Kurt’s increasing distance not just from the club but from his best friend as well. Although this storyline served to further reinforce the fact Glee operates in some sort of bizarro high school world where an overweight girl from the glee club can effortlessly bag herself a handsome member of the football team – man, I wish I went to McKinley High…

The only other real ongoing plot arc was Kurt’s ongoing torment at the hands of closeted bully Karofsky, who is now threatening to “kill” Kurt if he reveals that the big bigot is actually gay too.

That threat is obviously an exaggeration because as unhinged as the big oaf is I hardly think he’d actually murder Kurt, which begs the question of why Kurt doesn’t just tell everyone Karofsky’s secret? Sure, people would be sceptical at first but there’s no smoke without fire and a rumour like that in a high school, even if it is the magical land of McKinley High, would do irreparable damage to Karofsky’s social standing.

They’re obviously trying to paint Kurt as a saint, as the writers have an aversion to having the show’s main gay character do anything less than honourable, but they have already shown him to be downright manipulative in the past (specifically twisting it so he ended up sharing a room with his crush Finn back in season one) so for him to just sit there and take this knowing what he knows I personally think is out of character.

Which leads me on to my biggest gripe with Glee, which is the fact that at the end of every episode, save for a few ongoing arcs, the reset button is firmly pushed and everything that happened in the episode is pretty much undone and all you are left with are a few songs to download on iTunes.

Case in point for this is Puck and Artie’s supposed new friendship which was a focal point last week but wasn’t even mentioned this week – I don’t expect much, maybe just a shot of them sat next to each other but something would have been nice to follow up quite a major plot development for two of the show’s main characters.

I know I am often overly critical of Glee, but in a way that’s why I enjoy writing about the show. Because it’s not a show I would probably choose to watch were I single I can almost distance myself from sentiment when writing and be brutally honest.

I by no means hate the show, at times it can be one of the funniest shows around, but it does have a terrible habit of being shockingly poorly written with little to no long term planning which being a fan of the great serial dramas of our time (The Wire, Mad Men, Lost etc.) I find to be one of the greatest crimes a television show can commit.

Still, season 2 up to now has been disappointing; ‘The Substitute’ however was definitely a step in the right direction so here’s hoping this is a sign of things to come rather than an exception to the rule.

A Hail of Bullets:

- I think my two favourite moments of comedy from this episode, other than Puck’s floor-buttering, were the two cutaway flashbacks to Will’s fondness for making the glee club do Journey songs in spite of what they may have suggested themselves – I enjoy comedy flashbacks like that and those two both worked well for a laugh and in context of the more serious storyline going on in this episode.

- I hate it when TV shows include something in the opening recap that happened a while ago and hasn’t really been explored since as this usually indicates that something connected to that event will be occurring in the episode you’re about to watch, usually also spoiling the reappearance of a certain character; here, exactly that happened as Will’s ex-wife turned up again after being featured in the recap preceding the episode.

Not only do these recaps spoil the episode but they also insult your intelligence as it is as if the show is suggesting you’re too stupid to remember what happened last season between Will and his wife. Complex shows like The Wire and Mad Men don’t need these recaps so why do shows that aren’t that intricate at all, like Glee, need to make use of this technique!?

- In a way I’m glad I didn’t have to see it butchered as Start Me Up was last week, but I can’t believe that in an episode titled ‘The Substitute’ they didn’t cover The Who’s Substitute.

- Artie didn’t get much to do in this episode, unless you count his continually ridiculous rapping at the start of the Umbrella mash-up at the end, but his Gin & Juice reference when Will was explaining what made him feel better when he was ill put a smile on my face. A Gin & Juice reference is always good whatever the context, unless of course Hitler used it at The Nuremberg Rallies.

- This episode may have marked the first time I’ve actually seen any of the glee club members in a lesson, as we got to see members of the club in both Holiday’s Spanish and History classes. Up until now I was convinced that all these kids did was go to glee club and cheerleading or football practice, so it’s a little more reassuring to know that they actually are given an education in addition to those life-defining extra-curricular activities they are involved in.

- I may have used the phrase a couple of times above but I have to say that I absolutely loathe the phrase ‘mash-up’. I didn’t until Glee came along as it actually seemed appropriate when used by DJ’s and MC’s but hearing it come out of the mouth’s of some of the whitest people alive (Rachel, Mr Shue) makes me cringe every time.

Glee continues Monday @ 9pm on E4

Crime Squad "Promo"

Crime Squad, un grupo de detectives en la División de Homicidios de Policía de Gangnam de Seúl, quiénes solucionan delitos basados en casos reales con una variedad de habilidades y métodos investigadores.

En principio uno de los papeles principales era para el gran Kim Seung Woo pero renunció por problemas personales. Igualmente se le echará un ojo a pesar de la ausencia de éste.

Estreno: 7 Marzo 11

30 Rock 5.3 'Let's Stay Together'

“I need you to get me something called Vagitrax – it’s for… dry knees…” – Jenna

Much like Entourage, which I wrote a piece on the latest episode of yesterday, even when 30 Rock is bad it’s still highly enjoyable. I’m not saying ‘Let’s Stay Together’ was bad, because it wasn’t, I’m just making the point that 30 Rock is a show that can coast by on charm alone and occasionally does just that, but when it’s good you’re looking at one of the funniest shows in years.

Season 4 for example was generally considered to be the show’s weakest, even though season 2 was battered by the writer’s strike, yet I still found so much to like about it. Season 5 thus far has been more of what 30 Rock’s bread and butter is: Alec Baldwin chewing the scenery and acting everyone off the screen, Jane Krakowski’s Jenna stealing most of the best lines and pop culture references, Tracy Morgan hogging every scene he’s in with his bizarre non-sequiturs and Tina Fey making neurotic and lonely look sexy.

‘Let’s Stay Together’ gave us plenty more of the above and then some, as we got an episode of Jenna gold as she schooled Kenneth on how to win the pageant that was the NBC page programme interview.

As I’ve said before, Jenna is the unsung hero of the show and it’s a crime really that she isn’t thought of more highly by the marketing people who always seem to populate posters with just Morgan, Baldwin and Fey.

Since they’ve somewhat toned down Tracy Jordan, Jenna is usually best for the more traditional laughs on the show; I particularly got a kick out of her Mickey Rourke reference in this episode.

The Kenneth storyline this season is annoying me slightly though – it just stinks of them having nothing for him to do. Are we really to believe that NBC would let the one page that would literally do anything for anyone leave and then make him go through the rigours of reapplying?

I felt the same at the end of last season when Kenneth supposedly ‘left’, there was no tension or even speculation created by that move as everyone knew that one way or another he would be back; and here we are, three episodes later, with the reset button having been firmly pressed and Kenneth back in his uniform.

I’m probably overly critical of this angle of the show as I’ve never really been too keen on the Kenneth character, partly I think because I find Jack McBrayer slightly creepy and partly because I do find Kenneth a little one-note. I’d still be critical of a lazy storyline like this though if it was given to Jenna or Tracy but maybe I’m being a little harder on it as its Kenneth-related, thus it may not bother others as much as it does me.

The main focus of this episode was Jack heading to congress where he was blind-sided by a guest-starring Queen Latifah as a congresswoman trying to make a name for herself by grand-standing about NBC’s lack of diversity.

This then led to Toofer being promoted to co-head writer, which inevitably led to the power going to his head and pushed Liz’s nose out of joint as she was already unhappy with the lack of respect she gets from the writers. Jack also then tasked Tracy and Grizz & Dotcom with bringing some diversity to NBC after he couldn’t remember the name of “the black kid on Community”.

Dotcom already had a script ready entitled ‘Let’s Stay Together’ (hence the episode’s title) about a black family in 70’s Detroit. Tracy of course managed to butcher quite a poignant idea by pushing a talking dog into proceedings and Dotcom Productions (“Tracy Jordan spelt backwards”) moved the sitcom into production.

Congresswoman Bookman then paid a visit to Rockefeller Center where events transpired to undo all Jack’s hard work to present NBC as a diverse company, including, brilliantly Tracy grabbing a samurai sword and informing Jack that he was “cutting that fat cracker’s head off” referring to Lutz.

‘Let’s Stay Together’ felt like a more rounded episode of 30 Rock, with most of the individual storylines tying together, which always gives me satisfaction.

Season 5 is off to a good start and hopefully can re-find that spark that was at times missing last year; we’ve established 30 Rock can now get by without much effort but hopefully they won’t just rest on their laurels.

The rapid-fire dialogue on the show is something else entirely – no show can have more gags and one-liners per minute than 30 Rock, it truly is the Airplane! of TV comedy. The one downside to this though is that it does take the show out of reality slightly as no ‘real’ people are that witty and quick – I personally always try and write dialogue I could imagine people actually speaking and although no lines on the show ever feel forced coming out of the mouths of actors and characters of this calibre it does make a show that is taking place in our reality feel distinctly of another world. I’m sure 30 Rock’s writers don’t mind this as they aren’t trying to deliver a show steeped in reality but it would be nice to feel more in tune with some of the characters than their razor-sharp tongues allow.

A Hail of Bullets:

- Cheyenne Jackson’s Danny has yet to be seen this season, has he gone the way of my old favourite Josh or will he be back again as the season progresses?

- I love Reg Cathey, so it was great to see him in a small, but memorable, guest appearance as the host of the black arts show Right On that Liz and Toofer appeared on. I’m looking forward to seeing Cathey in Lights Out, in which he plays a Don King-esque promoter, when it eventually debuts in the UK.

- Rob Reiner’s cameo was very funny and much like Entourage, 30 Rock seems to be a show that celebrities will quite readily send themselves up gloriously on. Reiner’s role had no stench of cynicism to it like some cameos on the show have had previously (step forward Jennifer Aniston) it just came across like he was a fan of the show and wanted to appear on it, which always brings the funny more than some desperate ploy to try and seem cool.

30 Rock continues Thursday @ 10.30pm on Comedy Central UK

Camelot - Season 1 "Promo"

Lo nuevo de canal Starz, Camelot, donde encontramos en el cast a Joseph Fiennes y Eva Green.

Estreno 1 Abril 11.

Entourage 7.4 'Tequila Sunrise'

“It’s gonna be a long day for Uncle Jesse!” – Drama

I always find it difficult to delve too deeply into the philosophical and sociological themes within TV comedy, mainly because very few actually have those sorts of themes, at least on the same level as the likes Mad Men, Sons of Anarchy and The Walking Dead do.

Entourage may mix in drama (no pun intended) with the comedy in a way that Californication does so deftly but really there isn’t much going on underneath the surface of Entourage. That isn’t a negative in my book, as I’ve always been a huge fan of the show; it just means that my coverage of Entourage is probably going to stray more into recap territory rather than analytical review, something that is currently somewhat of a contentious issue amongst internet critics.

‘Tequila Sunrise’ had a lot going for it and seemed to have more direction than some of the episodes that have preceded it this year. The episode was largely Vince-lite as the ‘entourage’ themselves took centre stage and each of their ongoing storylines developed nicely.

The ongoing theme for the show this year has been E’s sense of feeling like he’s losing Vince, both as a friend and as a client, as well as feeling left out of the group activities he used to be so heavily involved in. This was evidenced in the final scene as the gang (sans-Turtle who was down in Mexico, more on that later) headed off to Vegas leaving E behind as he had to meet the wedding planner in the morning.

E does seem genuinely happy with Sloan and being able to go home to a loving fiancé rather than spending the night drinking and having promiscuous sex – he’s always been the most ‘mature’ of the group – but with Lavin getting his claws further into Vince, E seems torn on whether to be the doting fiancé he promised to be at the end of season six or slip back into his old ways for the good of Vince. At the moment he’s choosing the former but as the season progresses I dare say we’re going to see him revert to the latter.

By the episode’s end, E and Lavin had kissed and made up but I have my suspicions about Lavin’s intentions as he appeared to be trying to get E to drink his hostile takeover Kool-Aid.

The main storyline of this episode was Drama’s attempts to woo the “Uncle Jesse” of the opening quote John Stamos (he played that character on Olsen twin sitcom Full House back in the day) into appearing in his sitcom as the ‘better-looking brother’. Drama decided to host a meeting at Vince’s, which immediately backfired as Stamos instantly seemed more interested in Vince, even referring to Drama as “Jimmy”.

That was until Stamos spotted Vince’s ‘cum-stained’ table tennis set-up and ended up challenging Drama to a game. Drama’s competitive streak reared its ugly head almost immediately and he thrashed Stamos who then left in a huff as he had considered himself somewhat of a ping-pong aficionado prior to his match with Drama.

Drama soon received a call from Yagoda informing him to go and kiss Stamos’ ass to save the sitcom, which led to a very funny showdown between Drama and Stamos as they had a rematch which Drama claimed he threw when Stamos annihilated him.

Turtle meanwhile had been lured to Mexico by Alex, who was clearly playing on Turtle’s lust for her to get him out there. I certainly don’t trust Alex but it turned out she wasn’t getting Turtle caught up in anything shady, she merely wanted to get him involved with Avion Tequila, actually she wanted to get Vince involved in the Tequila, but saw an opportunity to do that through Turtle.

Turtle’s storyline is a little tiresome if I’m brutally honest and Dania Ramirez, as she was on Heroes, is actually quite annoying as Alex but it is nice to see Turtle given something meaningful to do on the show rather than just being Vince’s fluffer. This storyline does play into Turtle’s overall psychology of wanting to be independent of Vince, so it must have been a cruel blow to Turtle’s ego for him to learn they didn’t want him for his entrepreneurial skills but rather his connection to Vince.

While all this was going for the gang, Ari was busy pushing forward with his plan to bring an NFL franchise to L.A. His successful meeting to drum up financial backers was then soured when he discovered, through a nice reappearance by Gary Cole as Andrew Klein, that disgruntled former employee Lizzie (Autumn Reeser) was making moves on a number of his clients.

They’re building up this Lizzie issue into something important so I don’t think I’d be far wrong to speculate that she may end up throwing a spanner in the works for Ari on the NFL deal somehow.

‘Tequila Sunrise’ was a solid episode, heavy on the laughs but still moving along several of the season’s long-running arcs at a nice pace. Entourage may be slightly more style than substance but it continues to attract a plethora of stars willing to send themselves up spectacularly and it clearly has a twisted affection for the town it often lampoons.

It may not require too much critical thought when writing a review but sometimes it’s nice to just switch off your brain for half an hour and enjoy a show that does glossy very, very well.

A Hail of Bullets:

- William Fichtner seems to be getting less and less to do as producer Yagoda, he’s a bizarre booking really for such an inconsequential part; surely a star of his stature could be given more to do. I love Fichtner, but this role just smacks of collecting a pay cheque; I am waiting for him to screw Drama over though, which is inevitably coming.

- Scotty Lavin continues to be a brash, vulgar highlight on a show quite often littered with them and he is brilliantly played by a super-sleazy Scot Caan. Caan seems to be everywhere at the moment thanks to the UK getting this season of Entourage and Hawaii Five-0 at the same time, but I’m glad to see him finally achieving some decent success and, if his Golden Globe nomination is anything to go by, critical acclaim. I’ve always liked Caan’s work and hope to see him stay on top now.

- During Klein’s brief appearance at rehab there were two nice cameos by Tom Sizemore and John Heard, both going unnamed and with barely a line between them they still elicited a hearty laugh from me.

- Stamos’ line at the end to E about marriage was a nice nod to his own marital woes. Stamos was of course married to Rebecca Romijn for a time, hence why she adopted the extremely annoying celebrity double barrel hyphened surname (see Courtney Cox Arquette)

- It really is amazing to think that L.A. doesn’t have an NFL team, of course there are the Oakland Raiders, but for such an important city in America, both historically and contemporarily, I do find it staggering. Thus as preposterous as it is that Ari, super-agent agent he may be, who isn’t a big ‘sports guy’ can be realistically in with a chance of making this happen, it isn’t so far-fetched that this would be something the people of L.A. would embrace quite readily.

Entourage continues Thursday @ 10.15pm on Sky Atlantic

Lisa Gerrard - Best Hits

Con el tema Soundtracks olvidado durante un tiempo, un poco de delicia para los oídos.

The Killing - Season 1 "Promo"

Correrá el mismo papel que Rubicon? Nueva serie para AMC, que trata sobre la narración de un asesinato pero bajo tres puntos de vista diferentes, la policia, los padres de la víctima y los sospechosos. Michelle Forbes en el reparto como madre de la joven asesinada.

State of the Blog Address: Read ‘Tearing Up The Script’ & Normal Service Will Resume Shortly

My script for the BBC sitcom competition is finally done and, in spite of a last minute discovery that I’d actually spelt the title wrong on the first page, is now sat in an envelope waiting to be posted off for its expected rejection.

I’m really pleased with the final draft that is going down to the Beeb, although the idea has morphed somewhat from my initial idea, I’m very happy with the story I’ve ended up telling and I think that I have created a great leading character.

I’ve been banging on about this script now since the turn of the year and discovered that it is actually quite easy to get a PDF online so as promised, by clicking the link below you can read the finished draft of the script. I’d love to know your thoughts so please feel free to comment, either positively or negatively, and if posting my own work on the site gets some good feedback then I may look at posting some of my other stuff on here from time to time.

Read 'Tearing Up The Script'

Now the script is done and dusted I can get back to working on the site and with a veritable smorgasbord of TV on offer right now it shouldn’t be long before the reviews start flooding back on to the site. I’ll try and get more news stories up as well now I should have a little more time on my hands, but as always keep an eye on twitter @garethbunkham for regular updates on what is being posted and you can of course always subscribe for updates so you can get your TV or not TV fix piped straight into your blood stream, so to speak.

This should be the last State of the Blog Address now for a while as normal service will resume shortly…