The Daily Beast: "Borgen, The Thick of It, Bond: What to Watch During the Thanksgiving Weekend"

Clear the table, do the dishes, hit the couch—TV is ready for you, with a slew of marathons, miniseries and specials, from Borgen to Bond, from Sherlock to Louie. I offer my take on what to watch on TV and online this weekend.

Over at The Daily Beast, you can read my latest feature, "Borgen, The Thick of It, Bond: What to Watch During the Thanksgiving Weekend," in which I round up some notable television marathons (Borgen! Bond!) as well as selections from Hulu, Netflix, and on linear television, to keep you occupied (or offer you an escape) this holiday weekend.

Thanksgiving isn’t just about gorging yourself on turkey and pumpkin pie--it’s also about getting prostrate on the couch after stuffing yourself … or getting away from your family for a few hours in front of the television.


Fortunately, the television networks have realized that everyone during the long Thanksgiving weekend is in search of escape of some kind, and have gone out of their way to offer a number of marathons during the next few days, from the classic—all Gone With the Wind all the time on AMC!—and the gripping (Borgen) to the tragic (a Here Comes Honey Boo Boo marathon) and the suave (Bond).

But whatever your tastes, The Daily Beast has you covered with a round-up of some of the more interesting, unusual, or compelling programming hitting the airwaves, the Internet, and your Netflix queue over the next few days to sate whatever appetite still remains after the big feast.

Borgen (LinkTV and online at LinkTV.org)

If you haven’t yet fallen under the spell of Danish political thriller Borgen yet, here is the perfect opportunity to watch a marathon of Seasons 1 and 2 as LinkTV will air all 20 episodes of this penetrating and intelligent series over the holiday weekend, from Thursday to Sunday. Revolving around the political, moral, and ideological struggles of Denmark’s first female prime minister, Borgen is hands down the best television show of 2012, and the women at the show’s center—Sidse Babett Knudsen’s sympathetic statsminister Birgitte Nyborg and Birgitte Hjort Sørensen’s ambitious journalist Katrine Fønsmark—deliver two of television’s strongest and most nuanced performances in a show that holds up a microscope to the political and media spheres in Denmark. The result is an unforgettable and insightful drama that will have you forgetting that you’re reading subtitles.

Bonus tip: Don’t worry if you don’t have DirecTV or Dish or if you’re away from your television this weekend: you can watch the episodes online at LinkTV.org for two weeks after the on-air marathon.

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The Daily Beast: Armando Iannucci on "HBO's Superb New Veep"

HBO’s fabulous new political comedy Veep, starring Julia Louis-Dreyfus, premieres Sunday.

At The Daily Beast, you can read my latest feature, "HBO's Superb New Veep," in which I speak to creator Armando Iannucci about the vice presidency’s comic potential, U.S.-U.K. relations, why he didn't enter the civil service, and how Veep compares to The West Wing.

With HBO’s acerbic and dazzling political comedy Veep—which depicts a power-hungry if buffoonish female U.S. vice president and her staffers—Scottish-born creator Armando Iannucci turns his attention to American politics, bringing his deadpan wit, rapid-fire dialogue, and comedy of the uncomfortable to the corridors of power in Washington.

Veep, which premieres Sunday evening, stars Julia Louis-Dreyfus (Seinfeld) as Vice President Selina Meyer, a politician who, although a heartbeat away from becoming the POTUS, spends her days scheming about biodegradable utensils, filibuster reform, and getting the name of a potential future hurricane—Hurricane Selina, naturally—changed so as not to reflect poorly on her.

It’s not the first time Iannucci, 48, has tackled the follies and failures of petty bureaucrats. He was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for his 2009 political feature film, In the Loop, which explored the so-called special relationship between the United States and United Kingdom.

“I always feel that Brits do themselves down when they come to America,” said Iannucci, speaking to The Daily Beast in January. “They always feel that because they’re in America they must just agree to whatever happens to them there, and then they go home feeling a little bit as if they’d done the wrong thing.”

“That’s what was going on in the Blair administration,” he continued. “They were just so star-struck being in the Oval Office that they didn’t quite keep a focus on what they were doing…We’re slightly on more equal terms now because of the economy; no one now is the supreme controller of events.”

In the Loop depicted the breakdown of that relationship, the dirty dealings of both parties, and of the need to save face and retain control of public perception, even in the midst of monumental information failures. Before that came Iannucci’s breakthrough BBC comedy The Thick of It, which spawned three additional seasons and two specials, as well as a failed ABC adaptation in 2007, and introduced the world to the sadistic and rabid communications director Malcolm Tucker (Peter Capaldi).

With Veep, Iannucci leaves behind the dreary, utilitarian offices of the Department of Social Affairs and Citizenship of The Thick of It for the pomp of Washington, D.C., and takes a far deeper look into the American political system than he’s attempted before, building on the success of In the Loop. That film displayed the vast differences between the political systems of the U.S. and the U.K., something that’s keenly felt in Veep if you’ve even a cursory knowledge of British politics.

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The Daily Beast: "Happy Birthday, Charles Dickens! Lost, NCIS, Big Love, Veep Writers on His Legacy"

Happy birthday, Mr. Dickens.

Over at The Daily Beast, we're celebrating Charles Dickens’s 200th birthday. You can read my latest feature, entitled "Happy Birthday, Charles Dickens! Lost, NCIS, Big Love, Veep Writers on His Legacy," in which I talk to TV auteurs including Lost's Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof, The Thick of It and Veep creator Armando Iannucci, NCIS's Gary Glasberg, and others as they reflect on how Dickens’s work has influenced storytelling on television.

Today marks the 200th anniversary of the birth of Charles Dickens (1812–1870), but the popularity of the writer of such novels as Great Expectations, Bleak House, A Tale of Two Cities, and David Copperfield—to name but a few of his immortal works—hasn’t diminished in the time since his death.

In the pantheon of great English-language novelists, Dickens reigns supreme for a number of reasons. He was a master storyteller who created unforgettable characters—a menagerie that included the grotesque, the disenfranchised, the saintly, and the avaricious robber barons of his day—who leapt off the page and continue to live on in the imaginations of those who read his words. And his whiplash-inducing plots, with their constant twists, fused populist entertainment and deft societal commentary.

Despite his fame and fortune, Dickens was a champion for social reform, turning his attention to education, the Victorian workhouse, social inequity, and financial speculation, and offering blistering commentary on the failures of legal and governmental institutions to protect those they were designed to defend, themes that continue to resonate sharply today. Looking for his take on Bernie Madoff? Read Little Dorrit. Feel that the educational system is collapsing? Take a look at Nicholas Nickleby. The war on crime? Oliver Twist. Serpentine legal battles? Bleak House.

Additionally, and unbeknownst to him, Dickens also paved the way for the serialized narrative that television viewers have come to enjoy. The majority of his novels were first serialized in monthly or weekly publications, written just a few weeks ahead of time and typically ending with a shocking revelation or cliffhanger that kept readers eagerly awaiting more. This structure is the one clearly embraced by the creators and writers of serialized dramas, parceling out plot and character development in an episodic fashion while having the ability to react to those engaging with the material.

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Pilot Inspektor: ABC's "The Thick of It"

So, okay, you might not end up getting to see the pilot for the US version of The Thick of It, what with ABC passing on the comedy. (Though, as previously reported, several broadcast and cable networks seem interested in reviving the series.)

I couldn't let too long go by without at least taking a look at the pilot, considering that the UK version of The Thick of It is one of my favorite Britcoms of recent years and this project had brought together two of my favorite comedic talents: director Christopher Guest (Waiting for Guffman and Best in Show) and writer Mitch Hurwitz, creator of the much-missed Arrested Development. So it had to be a comedic match worth its weight in gold, right?

Not quite. I had anticipated the savage energy of the original The Thick of It, which follows the travails of a hapless Member of Parliament as he is both saved and doomed by his staff (with a little help from himself, of course) and negotiates the treacherous waters of governmental politics, with its quick-change opinions and quicksand sense of morality. The US version, however, translates the action from London to Washington, D.C. (as expected) but loses the whiplash-fast dialogue and quick-cut camera work of the original, instead giving it the sort of casual looseness of, well, a Christopher Guest movie.

The most glaring error in direction is the change in character of brutal enforcer Malcolm Tucker, played here by Oliver Platt. Unlike Peter Capaldi's sinisterly intelligent Malcolm (pictured), whom you believed capable of easily snapping someone's neck out of frustration as he casually flung out expletive-laden bon mots (a force of nature, really), Platt's Malcolm seems a little too chummy, a little too, well, friendly. I understand that Malcom is meant to smile that Cheshire cat grin while stabbing you in the back, but I found it a little hard to believe that the party whip's enforcer would be just so calm and collected. I missed that tempest in a teacup, especially as it infused the original with some genuine spark and humor. Here, Platt adds nothing to the proceedings and weighs down the action with a ho-hum performance with little real depth. It's depressing.

John Michael Higgins is suitable as hapless Congressman Albert Alger, so out of touch with the world that he's never heard of The Daily Show or Jon Stewart (he believes them to be two separate people), whose main goal in life seems to be getting a Vice-Presidential mug to bring home to his wife, following a meeting with Dick Cheney at a secret, undisclosed location. Likewise, I thought casting the dour Alex Borstein as the much put-upon press secretary Hope Mueller was a step in the right direction; Borstein radiates middle-class discontentment and a somber frustration with her lot in life. And Michael McKean is pitch perfect as conniving hanger-on Glen Glahm, who has made sycophantry a verifiable art form. (I'm not quite sure why writers Mitch Hurwitz and Richard Day turned junior speech writer Ollie into a woman and cast Rhea Seehorn, but that's a question for another day.)

It's frustrating that a project with such a stellar cast and such amazing auspices falls so flat. Sure, there are a few laughs, such as the subplot about 80-year-old Congressman Stillman who--following an accident in a bouncy castle--may or may not be faking a coma in order to avoid getting entangled in a political scandal, and the opening five minutes, depicting Henry Winkler as the putative star of the series, a Congressman forced by Malcolm Tucker to resign. But the rest of the pilot feels particularly tedious, despite cribbing liberally from the opening episode of the British series; it feels rather like a reheated episode of Spin City.

Hurwitz tends to work best when he's unfettered by network involvement and when he lets his imagination truly go wild, as with the over the top hijinx of the Bluth family. I was hoping for more than a little of the wit and creativity of his last series and wished that Hurwitz and Guest would have really captured the vicious energy of Washington, throwing their talented cast into the snake pit of politics today and fulfilling the meaning of its very loaded title.

What's On Tonight

8 pm: AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies: 10th Anniversary Edition (CBS; 8-11 pm); Most Outrageous Moments/Most Outrageous Moments (NBC); Hidden Palms (CW); The Next Best Thing: Who is the Greatest Celebrity Impersonator? (ABC); So You Think You Can Dance (FOX; 8-10 pm)

9 pm: Last Comic Standing (NBC); One Tree Hill (CW); American Inventor (ABC);

10 pm: Dateline (NBC); Traveler (ABC)

What I'll Be Watching

8 pm: Hidden Palms.

On the fourth episode of this eight-episode teen thriller/relationship drama ("What Liza Beneath"), Johnny goes to see Eddie's mother for some answers about her son's death, Cliff tries to rid himself of Travis, and Greta makes a confession to Johnny.

10 pm: Top Chef on Bravo.

On tonight's episode of Top Chef ("Sunny Delights"), the chefs are tasked with working with fruit and are judged by guest judge Norman Van Aken, while new regular judge Ted Allen finally deigns to make an appearance.

10 pm: Traveler.

On tonight's episode ("The Tells"), Tyler and Jay uncover a security box with Will's collection of aliases and some evidence about the museum bombing; Will is interrogated by his employers while the FBI make a key arrest.

ABC to Get Stuck in "The Thick of It"

Seems like the oft-rumored US adaptation of The Thick of It will get made after all... at least a pilot, will anyway.

ABC has given a put pilot commitment to a half-hour single-camera US version of BBC4's political comedy The Thick of It. The pilot, which had been shopped around to all the major broadcast networks last month, is from Arrested Development creator Mitch Hurwitz and writer Richard Day.

While the UK version focused on a member of Parliament who is forced to rely on the (usually very bad) advice of his handlers while battling the Prime Minister's maniacal communications chief, the action in the US version will be set in the office of a Congressman. (No word on whether the politician in question will be a Republican or a Democrat or if the US remake will use the same Office-esque mockumentary format as the original.)

Richard Day (Arrested Development, The Larry Sanders Show) will write the pilot script and executive produce with Mitch Hurwitz, the BBC's Paul Telegdy, and The Thick of It's original creator Armando Iannucci for Sony Pictures Television.

Two seasons of The Thick of It, comprised of just six episodes total (yes, you read that right) aired earlier this year Stateside on BBC America.

From Across the Pond: "The Thick of It"

I think I'm in love.

Okay, I'm not in love. But I am totally infatuated--besotted, if you will--with The Thick of It, the brilliant and wickedly funny British comedy that just started airing recently on BBC America. And after two episodes, I am completely smitten. It's best described as The Office on speed or The West Wing viewed through a psychedelic haze if President Bartlett were a lazy, incompetent puppet on strings who's just as baffled as everyone else as to how he managed to land in this office. It's shot in the same faux documentary style as The Office and the result is a rather painfully hilarious political satire.

The Thick of It takes the audience on a funhouse ride through the corridors of power (wow, that's a mixed metaphor), seen through the eyes of Minister of Social Affairs Hugh Abbot (Chris Langham), a sap who's completely dependent upon his often incompetent staffers. Hugh is brought in to fill the MP slot after the prime minister's draconian and abusive enforcer Malcolm Tucker (Peter Capaldi) forces his predecessor to resign following a scandal. Malcolm is a ruthlessly efficient spin doctor and the amount of influence that he wields (the ability to fire ministers, kill news stories, etc.) seems to make him infinitely more powerful than the Prime Minister himself, a rather sobering fact.

Hugh is a completely inept minister, but then so are the people he employs to keep him on track. His advisor Glenn (James Smith) believes himself to be a man of the people but he is so out of touch with reality that his advice is monumentally abysmal. Glenn is often at odds with Hugh's junior policy maker, Oliver (Chris Addison), a recent Cambridge graduate who looks like he's about ten years old. Oliver recently broke up with newspaper reporter Angela (Lucinda Raikes), a fact that Hugh and Glenn make use of to feed her (usually incorrect) stories. Then there's Terri (the hilarious Jo Scanlan), Hugh's press secretary. Terri's a former PR exec for a national supermarket chain, which should make her level-headed and knowledgeable in how to deal with the press. But everyone thinks Terri's rather useless and she often finds herself the scapegoat for whatever hare-brained scheme of Hugh's that has gone wrong. They are all at odds with whatever tirade Malcolm is on at the moment. And, well, Malcolm is rather scary: he seems to have the ability to materialize out of the shadows.

Created by Armando Iannucci and written by some of Britain's top television writers, The Thick of It is cracklingly smart. Much of the dialogue is semi-improvised as well, creating a hyper-realistic look at what goes on behind closed doors in the political arena. The effect is hilarious and also terrifying, particularly in these rather scary times we live in. If Hugh and his cohorts are any examples, I shudder to think of what goes on in private with real policy makers, given the way that they cobble together ridiculous and asinine policies in an attempt to deflect attention from what's actually going on. The spin is so fast that it seems impossible for Hugh not to get whiplash. And while the entire first and second seasons may only add up to six episodes (yes, you read that correctly, six episodes), they are so rewarding that you might forget that they were mere morsels, political petit fours meant to be savoured with every bite.

Ultimately, The Thick of It is intelligent and scathing comedy at its very best, a satire so sharp you could cut yourself on it. So approach with caution.

"The Thick of It" airs Friday evenings at 9 pm EST/10 pm PST on BBC America.

What's On Tonight

8 pm: Ghost Whisperer (CBS); Dateline (NBC); What I Like About You/Twins (WB); Freaky Friday (ABC; 8-10 pm); Mona Lisa Smile (FOX; 8-10 pm); WWE Friday Night Smackdown (UPN)

9 pm: Close to Home (CBS); Las Vegas (NBC); Reba/Living with Fran (WB)

10 pm: NUMB3RS (CBS); Conviction (NBC); 20/20 (ABC)

What I'll Be Watching

10 pm: The Thick of It on BBC America.

See above. The British political series that the Los Angeles Times dubbed "The West Wing meets The Office." On tonight's episode, Hugh gets jealous of the attention a junior minister is receiving for his input on Hugh's housing bill, but tries to shrug it off when he's invited to dine with the Prime Minister.