Mistresses isn't quite a relationship drama, although it does focus on the romantic--and often illicit--entanglements affecting four female friends. Rather, it's something more akin to a thriller: sleek and seductive with a hint of menace.
The first volume of British drama series Mistresses, which encapsulates the series' two season run earlier this year on BBC America, is available today for sale as a four-disc set. It tells the story of four very different women who find themselves dealing with complicated and complex relationships as they juggle the dual specters of career and personal fulfillment.
But don't let the title put you off from enjoying this complex and provocative series. Yes, the twelve episodes contain more than a heaping dose of sex and scandal but there's also a perilous throughline that runs beneath the surface, giving Mistresses the feel of a noir thriller that asks questions about coincidence, fate, and manipulation.
Brilliant physician Katie (Blackpool's Sarah Parish) falls for a married patient with a terminal illness and mercy kills him... only to come face to face with his twenty-something son Sam (The Tudors' Max Brown) who knows that his father was having an affair and wants to unmask his father's lover. And, against her better judgment, Katie soon finds herself increasingly drawn to Sam sexually, despite their vast age difference and the burning secret Katie strives to conceal from him.
Kindly Trudi (The Inspector Lynley Mysteries' Sharon Small), widowed after 9/11, keeps receiving strange phone calls that she believes could be her missing husband, whose body was never recovered. When she receives a £1 million check from the 9/11 fund, she also happens to get asked out by divorced dad Richard (The Office's Patrick Baladi). Is this the start of a new era for Trudi? Could be. Or are the two incidences related? Trudi questions whether her relationship with Richard is built on truth or something far more nefarious.
Ambitious attorney Siobhan (Shark's Orla Brady) discovers that her sex life with her husband Hari (Spooks' Raza Jaffrey) has been transformed into a never-ending effort to produce a child. Despite being in love with Hari, she quickly finds herself drawn into a series of sexual escapades with her co-worker Dominic (Sensitive Skin's Adam Rayner). She learns that Hari is infertile but then she becomes pregnant... with Dominic's child. Can she tell her husband the truth? Or will she keep this fact to herself?
Sexually irrepressible Jessica (Party Animals' Shelley Conn) works as a party planner. She's involved in a mindless affair with her married boss Simon (Adam Astill) and is satisfied with her life as the other woman... until she's assigned to plan a wedding for a lesbian couple, Alex (Fringe's Anna Torv) and Lisa. Thrown together with Alex, Jessica feels an instant connection with her, though Jessica is thrown by her attraction to another woman. But she's tempted to give into the spark between them and throw caution to the wind.
Ultimately, Mistresses: Volume 1 is compelling, dark viewing and the perfect addition to the DVD library of any fan of British television, relationship series, or indeed haunting thrilers.
Full disclosure: I wasn't crazy about Alan Ball's HBO vampire series, True Blood, based on a series of novels by Charlaine Harris, when I first saw the pilot early last year. After watching the first few episodes of True Blood, I gave up and moved on to other summer series and didn't really look back.
I had a second chance to fall under True Blood's seductive spell when HBO graciously sent me a copy of the True Blood Season One DVD a few weeks back. I put aside my prejudices against the series and watched it from the beginning... and ultimately ended up devouring the entire first season in about three days' time.
While I still think that it takes way too long for the series to find its feet, finally settling into its tone and breathing a little somewhere about the sixth episode or so. The early episodes, particularly the first three (all scripted by Ball himself) are jarring and the characters somewhat unsympathetic and unlikable. However, by the time the halfway point in the season arrives, the characters have softened somewhat and their dynamics shifted into compelling new directions.
The five-disc set, arriving in stores today, tells the story of telepathic waitress Sookie Stackhouse (Anna Paquin) in the small Louisiana town of Bon Temps, a rural village where the arrival of an actual vampire--in this case the nearly 200-year-old Bill Compton (Stephen Moyer)--throws the town into chaos. Set in the near future, True Blood posits what would happen if vampires finally came out of the coffin and intermingled with the human populace. The Japanese creation of synthetic blood, bottled under the name Tru Blood, means that vamps don't have to kill to survive.
But not all vampires want to "mainstream" as the noble Bill Compton does. Some want to continue feeding on humans and treating them as little more than running, screaming blood bags. Meanwhile, an entire subset of human society nicknamed fangbangers discovers that they are drawn to these dark creatures, offering up their blood and bodies for sustenance and sex. Others become addicted to V, a drug derived from vampire blood that has hallucinatory and physical (not to mention sexual) effects. There are vampire bars, such as the one in Shreveport where several Bon Temps women frequent. Women who, over the course of the first season, keep winding up dead, the victims of an unknown murderer who is striking with impunity.
The identity of the killer becomes a taut throughline running underneath the surface of the first season. But it's not all slashings, hangings, and exsanguinations. There are a number of romantic triangles, including one between Sookie, Bill, and Sookie's boss Sam Merlotte (Sam Trammell), the owner of Merlotte's Bar and Grill, who is concealing a dark secret of his own. And another between Sookie's best friend Tara Thornton (Rutina Wesley), Sookie's brother Jason (Ryan Kwanten), and, well, just about every woman in Bon Temps. There's also a host of compelling supporting characters, including Sookie and Jason's adorable grandmother Adele (Lois Smith), gay short order cook Layfayette (Nelsan Ellis), sassy waitress Arlene Fowler (Carrie Preson), Cajun Rene Lenier (Michael Raymond-James), uppity detective Andy Bellefleur (Chris Bauer), naive manboy Hoyt Fortenberry (Jim Parrack), and steely-nerved sherrif Bud Dearborne (William Sanderson). Plus, Lizzy Caplan gives a star turn as a guest star in the later half of the season as V-obsessed Yankie Amy Burley.
Throw in some vampires, such as Alexander Skarsgard's noble Eric Northman, Kristin Bauer's icy Pam, Raoul Trujillo's frightening Longshadow, and Stephen Root's sadsack Eddie Gautier and you have the makings of a gripping ensemble drama. Yet still, the most terrifying character in all of True Blood's diverse populace as got to be Tara's alcoholic mother Lettie Mae Thornton (Adina Porter), whose cruelty and malice is a match for any of the series' vampiric denizens. An exorcism storyline involving Tara and Lettie Mae is one of the more intriguing storylines in the season and it puts Tara firmly in the crosshairs of the enigmatic Maryann (Michelle Forbes), a mysterious Samaritan who has designs on the wayward Tara and who shares a past with Sam Merlotte himself.
I don't want to give too much away about True Blood's plot but I will say that if you're able to stick through the first few relatively weak episodes (which, in my opinion, trade too heavily on metaphor and obvious subtext), you will be more than rewarded by what comes after. Halfway through its freshman season, True Blood becomes a taut supernatural drama blending together romantic intrigue, over-the-top gore, murder mystery, brusque sexuality, and more twists and turns that you can shake a stick at.
The five-disc set includes a slew of bonus material, including public service announcements for both pro- and anti-vampire rights, six audio commentaries with the cast and crew (including creator/executive producer Alan Ball, Anna Paquin, and Stephen Moyer), a mockumentary about vampires entitled "In Focus: Vampires in America," French and American Tru Blood beverage commercials, and vampire service ads for such services as vampire dating, vampire hotels, and lawyers serving the vampire community.
With the second season of True Blood just around the corner (June 8th, in fact), there's no better time to sink your teeth into this compelling and mesmerizing Southern Gothic series. Just don't forget to hide your fang marks.
Oh, what's occurrin'? If there's one word that comes to mind when thinking of British comedy series Gavin & Stacey it's bittersweet.
Created by James Corden and Ruth Jones, Gavin & Stacey is a comedy series that's just as likely to make you laugh as it is to make you cry. It's a romantic comedy that never turns maudlin or melodramatic and finds humor in the awkwardness and beauty of young love, overbearing families, and national differences.
The first season of Gavin & Stacey, now available on DVD after a run last year on BBC America, tells the story of the romance between Essex lad Gavin (Matthew Horne) and Welsh lass Stacey (Joanna Page), the most adorable duo to hit the small screen since... well, ever. These two lovebirds instantly hit it off over the phone and finally agree to meet face to face in London and bring along their respective best friends Smithy (James Corden) and Nessa (Ruth Jones). Falling head over heels in love, Gavin and Stacey decide to get married as soon as possible, throwing their families into more chaos than usual.
I've written about Gavin & Stacey since it first came to these shores last year on BBC America and I can't say enough wonderful things about this hilarious and heartfelt series. All of the actors from the series' four amazing leads to its dynamo supporting cast--including Alison Steadman, Rob Brydon, Larry Lamb, and Melanie Walters--are not only top-notch but inhabit their roles with a dedication that makes them appear to be actual, off-their-rocker people.
Presented as a whole, Season One of this genuinely touching series depicts the rapid path from first meeting to exchanging of vows, all over the course of six sensational episodes. Unlike most American series, which would have dragged out their courtship over several seasons, Gavin & Stacey accelerate this time with wild abandon and yet it's never anything but clear how perfectly made for each other Gavin and Stacey really are, as they face the trying circumstances facing any young couple. They argue, they misunderstand, they make up, and they face the world together. (My only complaint to this day is that there seems to almost be an episode missing between the fifth and sixth installments as a row between Stacey and Gavin gets paved over with uncharacteristic lack of detail.)
All six episodes of the first season of Gavin & Stacey are presented here along with some fantastic bonus material including audio commentaries with writers/co-stars Ruth Jones and James Corden and director Christine Gernon, outtakes, a behind the scenes featurette on Gavin and Stacey's first meeting in Leicester Square, and "How It Happened," a look at the making of the series.
Ultimately, Gavin & Stacey: Season One is a must-have for any fan of whip-smart British comedy or romantic comedy in general and will undoubtedly become a frequently viewed DVD in your own household. Or as Nessa herself might say, fair play.
Welcome to your Wednesday morning television briefing.
With the 100th episode of Lost set to air tonight on ABC, many are already looking to the series' next milestone: the all-important series finale, set for May, 2010, and viewers are bound to have high expectations when creators Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse wrap up the series. "We can't let those expectations terrify us," said Lindelof in an interview with Variety's Shawn Malcom. "The reality is, we've known what the series finale is going to be for a while now." In fact, the real variable is how the series' characters wind up at the end point charted by Lindelof and Cuse. "The path that we take to the end still has some room for surprises and changes and discoveries along the way (in terms of) the characters' journeys and how their relationships evolve," said Cuse. While the duo wouldn't reveal any specifics about the finale, they did say that fans will be left wanting more. "When we say more, we don't mean answers," said Lindelof, "because hopefully, the show will wrap up in an incredibly satisfying way, both mythologically and emotionally." (Variety)
Wondering if Zachary Quinto will be sticking around NBC's Heroes next season? "Zach [Quinto]'s not done. There's Nathan, there's Sylar, and there's the point of view that you have to factor in. If I look up into the mirror, who would I see?" said Heroes' Adrian Pasdar, who teased an epic battle between Nathan and Sylar in Season Four of the series. "Who's going to be able to control the actions of the body? Like one of those computers that self-teaches, the longer he stays in my body and the longer he assimilates my physical structure and DNA, the more control I get. So it becomes a battle of who's in charge." (TVGuide.com)
Ben Shenkman (Grey's Anatomy) has been cast in at least four episodes of Season Three of USA's Burn Notice. Shenkman will play Tom Strickler, a "smooth-talking, gregarious freelance spy broker who offers to cancel Michael's (Jeffrey Donovan) burn notice in exchange for an unspecified -- and potentially lethal -- job." Look for Shenkman to first turn up about halfway through the season. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)
Sasha Roiz (Unthinkable), who played the brother of Joseph Adama (Esai Morales) in the backdoor pilot for Sci Fi's Caprica as a guest star, has been upgraded to series regular on the series. Elsewhere, Callard Harris (Roommates) has joined the cast of FX's Sons of Anarchy, where he will play an Irish gun trafficker in the second season of the drama series. (Hollywood Reporter)
Former General Hospital actor and "Jesse's Girl" singer Rick Springfield will play himself in four episodes of the upcoming third season of Showtime's Calfornication. Springfield was cast on the series after producers posted a casting call looking for "an actor who experienced huge fame in the 80's to play themselves as a now down-on his-luck-ex-celebrity waiting tables to get by." (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)
Looking for more Lost goodies on the day of the 100th episode? Variety takes you behind the scenes of the writers' room in Burbank, far away from the lush jungles of the series' set in Oahu, Hawaii. The Hollywood Reporter offers a look back at journey of Lost over the last 100 episodes, offering a timeline of the series's real-life history and discussing making the original pilot. ("The fact that no one believed 'Lost' was going to be successful in the beginning was enormously liberating," Cuse says. "So we set out to make 12 episodes of what we thought was the coolest TV show we could come up with and in so doing we violated a lot of the traditional rules of television narrative. We had characters who were murderers and had done very bad things. We had incredibly complex serialized storytelling. We had lots of intentional ambiguity, leaving the audience lots of room for interpretation and those things that sort of violated the rules of television were the very things that the audience ended up responding to.") Variety also talks to script coordinator Gregg Nations, who maintains the series' gargantuan bible.
Stargate Universe co-creator Robert C. Cooper has confirmed that the upcoming Sci Fi series is influenced by Joss Whedon's short-lived FOX drama Firefly. "The concept is that we wanted to shoot this a little bit like a documentary crew would shoot a ride-along to a space ship out in the universe - that maybe we could get audiences to embrace the science fiction elements and the characters in a realistic way if we shot the show using the 'language' of documentary and reality," Cooper told crowds gathered at this weekend's Stargate convention. "It's not intended to be style for style's sake, or to emulate any other show. Although, to be honest with you, one of the shows we love that we did look at and say, 'That's a style we would love to try and approach' is Firefly. That's how Firefly was shot. There's a lot of handheld stuff. Cameras were placed in places that were non-traditional or [not] typical of filmmaking." (Gateworld)
MTV will be continuing docusoap The Hills without Lauren Conrad. The cabler ordered a ninth season of the reality hit, which will air new episodes this fall. While Conrad is departing the series, fans can expect to see more of Heidi, Audrina, Spencer, Brody, Stephanie, Lo, and Justin Bobby this fall. MTV also announced a slew of new series including The Alexa Chung Show, The Buried Life, DJ and the Fro, The Stylist, Ultimate Parkour Challenge, Pranked, Popzilla, Gone Too Far, and Disaster Date. (via press release)
NBC has given a seven-episode series order to Steve Schirripa-hosted reality series Face the Ace, in which contestants--who are found via an online search--battle it out against poker players in Las Vegas. Series, from Poker Prods., will launch on August 1st at 9 pm and, after two airings, will then run during Saturday afternoons in September. (Variety)
Eighteen years after seminal drama series thirtysomething went off the air, fans will finally get to purchase the DVD of the first season of Marshall Herskovitz and Edward Zwick's series. Season One will be available for purchase on August 25th, with a new DVD volume planned for the series every six months after that. The delay was once again caused by expensive music clearances but Garson Foos, president of Shout! Factory, now says, "It doesn't look like we'll be cutting any music from the show." (Los Angeles Times)
RDF USA has hired former E! staffer Jennifer Danska as SVP of development and current, named former Painless Prods. exec Kevin Shinnick as VP of production, promoted Andy Lennon to CFO, and promoted Miranda Wang to VP of business and legal affairs. (Variety)
Elisabeth Murdoch's Shine Group has purchased Nordic production company Metronome Film & Television AB for approximately $88 million. "It has always been my intention to expand the existing Shine Group companies with the finest creative and entrepreneurial minds from the key markets we have identified, and each Metronome company more than meets this criteria," said Murdoch. "Their addition gives us an unrivalled presence in a market with a well-earned reputation as the birthplace of so many successful international formats." (Variety)
When Sci Fi's Battlestar Galactica ended in March, many fans mourned the loss of one of television's most compelling and intelligent series.
Fortunately, the folks at Sci Fi (soon to be renamed Syfy) are giving fans a bit of a belated Easter present today, as the network (via Universal Studios Home Video) releases the 90-minute pilot for Caprica on DVD. Caprica, the prequel to Battlestar Galactica, is set approximately 50-odd years prior to the events in the Battlestar Galactica mini-series and is slated to air as a new series on Syfy beginning next year.
However, rather than force fans of Battlestar Galactica to wait at least eight months to see the next (or is it former?) chapter in the BSG saga, Syfy is giving fans the opportunity to watch the backdoor pilot for the series now.
In addition to the gorgeous and lush backdoor pilot for Caprica, written by Ronald D. Moore and Remi Aubuchon and directed by Jeffrey Reiner, the single-disc release features a slew of bonus material, including an illuminating commentary track with director Jeffrey Reiner (Friday Night Lights), writer/executive producer Ron Moore, and executive producer David Eick. (I highly urge BSG fans to watch the pilot episode and then rewatch it with the commentary track.)
The Caprica DVD also contains several deleted scenes, including one that sheds some light on a jettisoned (but immensely intriguing) subplot involving Polly Walker's Sister Clarice Willow and Avan Jogia's Ben Stark (which was in the original pilot script) and other scenes featuring Walker and Alessandra Toreson's Zoe Greystone, Toreson and Magda Apanowicz's Lacy Rand, and Esai Morales' Joseph Adama.
There are also video blogs including "What the Frak is Caprica," which looks to explain the genesis and ideas behind the series, "The Director's Process," a fascinating look into the mind of director Jeffrey Reiner, "The V Club," an exploration with actress Alessandra Toreson into the set of the virtual reality nightclub, and "The Birth of a Cylon," which investigates the physical construction of the Cylon Centurion model seen in the pilot episode. (There's also, rather oddly, an entire episode of Sci Fi's Ghost Hunters included in the extras, which speaks to the channel's efforts at cross-promotion.)
All in all, this is a must-have DVD for any fans of Battlestar Galactica, or indeed for fans of compelling, provocative drama in general. It's an appropriate appetizer for what promises to be a visually and mentally stimulating main course when Syfy launches the series outright in 2010. I have a feeling that, like me, you'll be hungry for more as soon as possible.
Even monosyllabic cynic Effy would agree: the provocative and daring Skins is really unlike anything on American television today.
I've waxed ecstatic enough about the British teen drama since it launched Stateside last year, but I have to say that I enjoyed the series' sensational sophomore season even more the second time around.
Skins: Volume Two, which contains all ten episodes of the series' second season (along with a host of extras), is available for purchase on DVD starting tomorrow and, thanks to the kind folks at Warner Home Video, I was able to get an early look at the DVD box set.
Season Two finds the gang in Bristol reeling from the bus accident at the end of the first season that has left Tony alive but not exactly the same person he was before. Nicholas Hoult turns in an astonishing performance as Tony Stonem as he's forced to relearn everyday activities like tying his shoes or speaking after his accident while remaining staunchly independent; in watching Hoult's performance, it's as if a switch has gone off inside Tony's head and this person is a pale shadow of the manipulative, Svengali-like Tony of the first season. His best friend Sid (Mike Bailey) and girlfriend Michelle (April Pearson), meanwhile, face the challenge of maintaining a friendship with someone who doesn't so much as remember their names, much less share any memories with them, and the two drift into a romantic relationship that's built on loss rather than love. Complicating matters is Sid's own girlfriend, the spacey Cassie (Hannah Murray), who has moved to Scotland and seemingly embarked on a journey of sexual exploration.
Back at home, the friendship between Anwar (Dev Patel) and Maxxie (Mitch Hewer) hits the skids when their camaraderie is invaded by the malevolent presence of stalker Sketch (Aimee-Ffion Edwards), a girl so desperate to claim gay Maxxie for her own that she stalks him and attempts to bed his friend Anwar just to be close to him. Perpetual screw-up Chris (Joseph Dempsie) attempts to get over his love for teacher Angie (Siwan Morris) and falls for the level-headed Jal (Larissa Wilson), in one of the season's most tender stories. And while everyone seems to be falling apart at the seams, Effy (Kaya Scodelario) somehow manages to pick up all the pieces and put everything back together again, in a true Effy fashion.
While Season One established the friendships (and at times enmities) between the characters, Season Two pushes many of them past their breaking point, exploring just what makes these characters tick and forcing them to take a headlong plunge into adulthood when they are faced with the prospect of graduation. Unlike most series which would have kept their cast firmly in their teens and forced them to spend, oh, five seasons or so in high school, Skins does the unthinkable and wraps up their storylines, pushing them out of high school and into the "real" world by the end of the second season and jettisoning the entire cast, save Kaya Scodelario's Effy Stonem.
Which means that Skins: Volume Two is the last we'll be seeing of Tony, Sid, Cassie, and the rest. Series creators Bryan Ensley and Jamie Brittain have maintained that they wanted to remain true to the age group depicted in Skins and have therefore cast an entirely new set of characters around Scodelario's Effy. While it's more than sad to see the original gang go (in fact, as depicted, it's pretty damn heartbreaking), one can't help but be pleased with the notion that these characters' lives will go on... at least in our imaginations. There are no firm endings for these characters, but rather new beginnings, as each begins to take the first steps on the road to adulthood.
Skins: Volume Two contains all ten episodes of Skins' second season, along with the Skins Christmas special (which didn't air on television in the States) and five additional bonus Skins mini-stories including "Tony's Nightmare," "Musical Auditions," "Cassandra," "When Maxxie Met Anwar," and "Anwar & Sketch."
All in all, Skins: Volume Two is a must-have DVD addition to the library of any fan of the titillating teen series. Or indeed for any fan of controversial, thought-provoking, and emotionally resonant dramas.
Buffy fans looking to add one more DVD collectible to their burgeoning collection are in luck.
The Paley Center for Media has announced today that it has released a DVD of PaleyFest: Buffy The Vampire Slayer Reunion, which captures last year's Paley Festival event that reunited creator Joss Whedon and the cast of Buffy the Vampire Slayer a decade after it launched. (Missed the event last year? You can read all about it here.)
The panel, shot last March at the Cinerama Dome at the Arclight Cinema in Hollywood, featured cast members Sarah Michelle Geller, Seth Green, Amber Benson, Nicholas Brendon, Charisma Carpenter, Emma Caulfield, James Marsters, and Michelle Trachtenberg along with creator Joss Whedon and producers David Greenwalt and Marti Noxon. (Sadly, no Anthony Stewart Head, I'm afraid.)
The single-disc DVD will feature an introduction by Whedon, behind-the-scenes anecdotes, the full video of the PaleyFest08 Buffy Reunion panel, and backstage photos and videos.
Priced at $19.95 each, PaleyFest: Buffy The Vampire Slayer Reunion is available for purchase exclusively online at the Paley Center and will also be made available at next month’s PaleyFest09 (April 10-23). All proceeds benefit the Paley Center for Media.
THE HIGHLY ANTICIPATED FEATURE-LENGTH PREQUEL TO THE SERIES PHENOMENON, BATTLESTAR GALACTICA PREMIERING EXCLUSIVELY ON DVD AND DIGITAL DOWNLOAD
Universal City, Calif. - Caprica, the highly anticipated prequel to Battlestar Galactica, will enjoy its world premiere exclusively on DVD on April 21, 2009 from Universal Studios Home Entertainment. In a groundbreaking move sure to delight fans of the long-running television phenomenon, the feature-length prequel will be available on DVD as a limited-edition uncut and unrated version before the series’ broadcast premiere on the SCI FI Channel in 2010. Caprica is executive produced by Ronald D. Moore and David Eick (Battlestar Galactica) and Remi Aubuchon (24). Exclusive bonus features that take viewers behind the scenes of the creation of Caprica make this DVD a landmark event for any fan of Battlestar Galactica. The film will also be available at selected online destinations for digital download transactions.
As Battlestar Galactica wraps its gripping final season on SCI FI on March 20, 2009, Caprica begins a brand new epic saga that continues the franchise’s commitment to thought-provoking storytelling and extraordinary characters. Set over 50 years before the events of Battlestar Galactica, Caprica is a world at the peak of its power, grappling with new science and technologies and the issues they create. The series will star Golden Globe nominee Eric Stoltz (Mask, Pulp Fiction), Esai Morales (Jericho, NYPD Blue), Paula Malcomson (Deadwood, ER) and Golden Globe® nominee Polly Walker (Cane, Rome) in a story laced with passion, intrigue and family conflict.
“We are thrilled to take the groundbreaking step of offering the world-premiere of the Caprica feature-length extended pilot episode on DVD prior to the new series’ television debut,” said Hilary Hoffman, Senior Vice President, Brand and Digital Marketing for Universal Studios Home Entertainment. “This innovative distribution model will serve to satisfy Battlestar Galactica fans’ appetites for a new content while building excitement for the franchise’s next great adventure."
“Ever since fans first caught wind of the Battlestar Galactica prequel Caprica, they have been eagerly following its development,” said Mark Stern, Executive Vice President, Original Programming for SCI FI & Co-Head Original Content, Universal Cable Productions. “We wanted to give them a chance to see the pilot in its original form and experience the prequel to the BSG story while that series’ finale was still ringing in their ears. It also affords the creative team an unprecedented chance to get viewers feedback before production on the Caprica series begins this summer.”
“If Battlestar Galactica offered us a way to shatter the conventions of space opera, Caprica will be a show which will challenge the conventions of science fiction storytelling as a whole,” said Ronald D. Moore, Executive Producer/Writer.
“Part sweeping soap, part meditation on the dangerous moral ramifications of artificial intelligence, this is a truly unique opportunity to continue telling stories which will be as daring and shocking as the best of Galactica -- and yet will be altogether different from Galactica,” said David Eick, Executive Producer.
Universal Cable Productions will begin production on the Caprica series in the summer of 2009 in Vancouver for a 2010 television premiere on the SciFi Channel. The DVD of Caprica is priced at $26.98 S.R.P. Preorder close is March 3, 2009.
Technical specs for the DVD release can be found below.
BONUS FEATURES:
· Feature Commentary with Director Jeffrey Reiner and Executive Producer/Writer Ronald D. Moore and Executive Producer David Eick · Deleted Scenes · Video Blogs · What the Frak is Caprica? · The Director’s Process · The V Club · The Birth of a Cylon
SYNOPSIS:
Set 50 years before Battlestar Galactica, Caprica follows two rival families and their patriarchs – Daniel Graystone (Eric Stoltz) and Joseph Adama (Esai Morales) – as they compete and thrive in the vibrant world of the 12 Colonies, a society recognizably close to our own. Enmeshed in the burgeoning technology of artificial intelligence and robotics that will eventually lead to the creation of the Cylons, the two houses go toe-to-toe blending action with corporate conspiracy and sexual politics.
TECHNICAL INFORMATION:
Street Date: April 21, 2009 Pre-Order Close: March 3, 2009 Copyright: 2009 Universal Studios. All Rights Reserved. Price: $26.98 Selection Number: 61109037 Running Time: 1 Hour 33 Minutes Layers: Dual Layer Aspect Ratio: Anamorphic Widescreen 1.78:1 Rating: Not rated. Languages/Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish, French Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1
Every once in a while a series comes along that completely manages to alter your expectations and perceptions of a particular genre.
The last time a teen drama managed to defy its pigeonholing was FOX's The O.C., which offered a series that offered a wink and nudge to the classic tropes of the genre, which is gently tweaked, while also offering engaging storylines for its adult characters, a trend that the CW's Gossip Girl has continued to in its stead.
So when UK digital network E4 launched teen drama Skins, created by Bryan Elsley and Jamie Brittain, in 2007 (US digital cabler BBC America aired it Stateside last year), I was once again blown away by how this series imploded stereotypes about teen dramas and transformed my views on what the genre was capable of. Paradoxically offering both a heightened sense of reality and a grounded look at teen culture today, Skins managed to capture not only an age-appropriate audience who quickly fell under the spell of its characters, but also an adult audience that appreciated the deftness of plotting, emotional depth, and refreshing ease with which the series dealt with the vagaries of teen life: sex, drugs, rivalries, death, morality, pregnancy. In other words, life.
BBC Home Video today releases Skins: Volume One, a DVD set of the first nine episodes of the series, which comprise the first season of this groundbreaking and remarkable series. After watching the second season wrap up last month on BBC America (which featured the departure of nearly the entire cast), it's astonishing to go back and rewatch the series from the beginning.
For those of you who missed the series when it aired last year, Season One introduced a group of Bristol teens whose lives and fates seemed intertwined, with each episode focusing on defining the point-of-view of a single character and allowing the audience to experience the minutae of their lives.
There was Tony (About a Boy's Nicholas Hoult), the swaggering de facto leader of the group with a Svengali-like tendency to manipulate everyone around him, including his geeky best friend Sid (Mike Bailey) who happened to have a thing for Tony's gorgeous if insecure girlfriend Michelle (April Pearson). There was Michelle's musically talented best friend Jal (Larissa Wilson) whose mother abandoned her, Muslim Anwar (Slumdog Millionaire's Dev Patel) who feigned at following his religion's tenets but really just wanted to lose his virginity; gay dancer Maxxie (Mitch Hewer) whose father wanted him to be a builder; happy-go-lucky drug fiend Chris (Joseph Dempsie) whose sunny exterior hid some dark family secrets and who carried a torch for psychology lecturer Angie (Siwan Morris).
And then there was Cassie (Hannah Murray). I first knew that I was watching something incredibly magical and unique when I saw Season One's second episode ("Cassie"), which featured the spacey Cassie as she drifted through a surreal and almost dream-like Bristol, seemingly receiving messages on Post-Its and her mobile phone telling her eat. Dealing with her eating disorder head on, it established Cassie as a sympathetic, if unpredictable, character and established that Skins had well and truly arrived with a unique and previously unheard voice of a generation.
Skins: Volume One features all nine episodes from the first season, with one important caveat. I'm awfully sad to report that, due to music clearance issues, the gorgeously poignant final scene of Episode Nine ("Finale"), in which the cast fractures and goes their separate ways while singing Cat Steven's "Wild World," has been edited out of the DVD release. (Fret not: you can watch the emotionally wrenching scene here.) Providing both an emotional catharsis for several of the characters after the drama of the previous episodes as well as featuring some vital story points necessary to set up Season Two, this is an incredibly intrinsic and important sequence and I'm really very upset that there was clearly too costly to clear this song for the DVD.
The three-disc set features several hours of bonus materials, including character-specific ancillary storylines that fill in the gaps between--and sometimes during--the series' first season episodes. There's a recurring gag involving careers office staffer Josie (remember her from Season Two) and snails, as well as storylines in which Michelle and Cassie steal a wedding dress and tuxedo from a bridal shop, Chris gets the money for the class field trip to Russia from a porn star, a teary Effy tells a heartbreaking story about a sister's love for her brother, Ace and Lynton try to get their demo to a hip-hop radio DJ, and Cassie says goodbye to a friend from the clinic. Additionally, there are numerous in-character video diaries, featuring everyone from Abigail (Georgina Moffat) and Anwar to Cassie and Posh Kenneth (Daniel Kaluuya).
While the absence of the "Wild World" montage is absolutely heartbreaking, Skins: Volume One is just a must-have set for any fan of Skins... and with the third season just around the corner, this release offers the perfect opportunity to take a look back at the original cast or, if you've never seen the series before, start at the very beginning.
I'll admit it. Initially, I was a little concerned with the idea of comedian Catherine Tate's Donna Noble joining the Doctor for the entirety of the series' fourth season... but Tate's winning performance as spunky and headstrong Donna quickly won me over and, if I'm being honest, I have to say that Donna is perhaps my favorite companion now.
While Tate's turn in Season Three's "The Runaway Bride" pegged Donna as a comedic foil for the Doctor, Season Four quickly gives her some much needed character development and transforms the uppity Cockney girl into a tragic figure of pathos. (If that's not a head-turning surprise, I don't know what is.)
If you missed Doctor Who's superlative fourth season (or want the opportunity to relive it all over again, from "Voyage of the Damned" to "Journey's End), fret not as BBC Video releases Doctor Who: The Complete Fourth Series on DVD today in a glorious six-disc set. (Also available today: the animated Doctor Who feature Doctor Who: The Infinite Quest.)
While each of the seasons of Doctor Who have been fantastic thrill rides, this one in particular feels even more revved up in comparison and nicely ties up four season's worth of storylines in a truly satisfying and gripping way. Perhaps it's the appearance of virtually every supporting player from over the last four seasons--including all three companions from the current series--and the casts of Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures, as well as the return of not one but two ancient enemies and a climax that features self-sacrifice, genocide, and humanity's ability to persevere against all odds.
But it's the dynamic and provocative chemistry between David Tennant and Catherine Tate that really give this taut season its power and heft. Their relationship is completely unlike any between the Doctor and a companion that we've seen on this series to date.
Unlike Rose and Martha, who clearly had feelings for the Doctor, Donna and the Doctor seem more like rough and tumble equals or sparring siblings than they do would-be lovers. Given the climax's intriguing storyline that has Donna saving the life of the Doctor through heretofore unseen means, one can't help but feel that these two vastly different people are in fact birds of a feather. Which makes Donna's ultimate fate that much more heartbreaking.
Extras on the six-disc set include the Children in Need charity short "Time Crash," which features a meeting between David Tennant's Tenth Doctor and Peter Davison's Fifth Doctor, written by future head writer Steven Moffat; the full run of behind-the-scenes series Doctor Who Confidential, David Tennant's video diaries, featurette "The Journey (So Far)," BBC trailers, deleted scenes, and more.
There are a few series over the years who have gotten an unfair shakedown by their respective networks, canceled prematurely while still having a significant story potential in their bones. One such series is USA's The 4400, beloved by its small coterie of fans yet largely ignored by the general populace.
CBS Paramount Home Entertainment today releases The 4400: The Complete Series, which wrapped its run last summer on USA, in a handsome box set with a host of extras. I'm hoping that its sheer weight and heft (it's about the size of the last Harry Potter book) will entice some people who missed this smart and sophisticated series when it was on the air.
Conceived by Scott Peters and René Echevarria, The 4400 told the story of a group of people pulled from the timestream at various points in the 20th century who were then returned to the present day in a great ball of light that seemed to fall from the sky. Returned to 2003, these people (4400 in number) began to display a vast array of abilities, from seeing the future and healing to super-strength and empathy. Assigned by the Department of Homeland Security to investigate the cause of the returnees' disappearance and reappearance (and tasked with dealing with any legal issues stemming from their return), Agents Tom Baldwin (Joel Gretsch) and Diana Skouris (Jacqueline McKenzie) find themselves initially at odds with one another as Skouris doesn't trust the returnees and is fearful of the risk they pose to the general populace and Baldwin--aided by the fact that his nephew (himself the key to unlocking what put Tom's teenage son Kyle in a coma) is one of the returnees--is more trustful of these people and their situation.
While at its heart a sci-fi series,The 4400 is distinctly character-based, exploring what it would be like to disappear from your life and return, without having aged a day (and without any knowledge of what happened to you or that any time had passed), and dealing with the fallout from returning to a world and a life that had moved on without. In Season One, this is seen most clearly via the experiences of Lily (Laura Allen), who disappeared six months after the birth of her daughter and returns after twelve years to a family that doesn't include her: a tween daughter with no knowledge that she even existed and a husband who has remarried. It's also etched on the face of Richard (Mahershalalhashbaz Ali), who vanished in the 1950s from Korea while embroiled in a love affair with his white lover (who happens to be Lily's look-a-like grandmother) and discovers a world in which his forbidden affair is far more pedestrian today.
Which isn't to say that there's no sci-fi action going on here, because that's the furthest thing from the truth. Later seasons definitely play up the science fiction elements of the series' premise, introducing various warring factions in the future who are messing with the timestream to either prevent or ensure a catastrophic event and seeding people back into time in order to push civilization's development and achievements in particular directions.
But while sci-fi geeks will admire the series' logic-twisting storyline of time travel, human experimentation, and mutant abilities, drama lovers will appreciate the care with which each of the characters is developed and given its own weight. The cast is especially strong and one can't help but identify with each of the characters as they attempt to find their way in a new world order that is based on fear and mistrust (much like post-9/11 America). Ultimately, The 4400 is about people and their experiences and the series goes on to tackle such issues as government involvement in citizen's lives, religious cults, persecution of minority groups, and ideological war.
Extras on the box set include an introduction from series creator Scott Peters as he thanks the fans for their continued support of the series (a fan-generated effort to save the series sadly didn't pan out); The 4400: The Ghost Season featurette in which Peters discusses the genesis for the concept of The 4400 and takes the viewer through the series' development (including some areas where he thought the series went wrong); deleted scenes; audio commentary by Scott Peters and Joel Gretsch on the pilot episode and commentary by producers Ira Behr and Craig Sweeney on the series' finale; and featurette Promicin: The Moral Choice.
Since the end of Doctor Who's fourth season, I've been going through a bit of Who withdrawal. I like having the Doctor on my television set each week and the long breaks between seasons (especially since the next batch of episodes will be four feature-length specials rather than a thirteen-episode season) seems especially harsh.
So I was pleasantly surprised to learn that there IS a new episode of Doctor Who available to watch. Sort of, anyway.
Next month, BBC Video will release the animated special Doctor Who: The Infinite Quest, which presents a brand-new story for the Doctor and Martha Jones. Originally broadcast in thirteen segments of three and a half minutes during children's series Totally Doctor Who, The Infinite Quest is a sort of flashback to the days of the Doctor traveling with Martha Jones and if you're a fan of that particular pairing, the special is a rare treat.
David Tennant, Freema Agyeman, and Anthony Head lend their voices to this animated tale which features the Doctor and Martha tangling with an evil villain Baltazar (Head), who is in search of a mythical ship called The Infinite which has the power to grant your heart's greatest desire. Knowing that Baltazar will bring about nothing but destruction if he gets his hands on The Infinite, the Doctor and Martha set out on a quest to reach The Infinite first, unaware that they are playing right into Baltazar's hands the whole time.
While the story--from writer Alan Barnes--lacks some of the nuance of a traditional, live-action Doctor Who episode (it's clearly intended for children rather than adults), there's still the same fun energy and clever banter between the Doctor and Martha that we've come to expect from the series. I put the plot somewhere early in their partnership (right around Season Three's "The Lazarus Experiment") and there's something incredibly nostalgic about watching their story unfold, given what we know now about how things turn out between the Doctor and Martha.
The animation could be a little smoother and less blocky but there's also a certain charm to the animation style, which is a little rougher and choppier than we typically see in traditional hand-drawn animated fare.
Extras on the one-disc DVD include interviews with David Tennant, Freema Agyeman, Anthony Head, Toby Longsworth, and director Gary Russell, animation and voiceover behind-the-scenes video, animatics, photo gallery, character profiles, and a featurette on David Tennant's Animated Test.
For those of us desperate to catch up with the Doctor, this is at least something to tide us over until Sci Fi and BBC America announce when those of us in the States will get to see the Doctor Who Christmas special. Me, I'm just happy to jump back into the TARDIS for a bit.
There are few things guaranteed in this world: death, taxes, and the fact that NBC's 30 Rock will consistently make me laugh more than any other series on television right now, with its winning combination of absurdist humor, off-kilter characters, and brainy throwaway lines. (What other series would have jokes about H. R. Halderman, Bernie Goetz, and Mystic Pizza, I ask you?)
Universal Home Video releases 30 Rock's Emmy Award-winning second season on DVD today and it's easy to see just why 30 Rock works when watching these 15 episodes (save for the shaky "Ludachristmas" and "Episode 210" episodes, filmed during the writers strike without rewrites; hell, the latter doesn't even have a name!), which comprise some of the very best comedy writing to be found on television.
While at its center, 30 Rock appears to be about the deeply dysfunctional cast and crew of a fictional NBC sketch comedy series, it's actually also a delivery system for insightful and cutting humor about political, social, and gender issues and a look at the sacrifices professional women have to make in the workplace. Liz Lemon (Tina Fey) might not be the most put-together woman working in the entertainment industry but you can't help but root for her as she strives to find a balance between her professional and personal lives, which often include fake pregnancies (spurred into a false positive by her beloved Sabor de Soledad Mexican cheese curls), nearly getting thrown under a subway car by ex-boyfriend/Subway Hero Dennis Duffy (Dean Winters), and, well, eating an entire sandwich on camera in order to get past airport security to stop the potential love of her life, Floyd (Jason Sudeikis). Like I said, Liz needs all the help she can get.
She's helped and often hindered by her boss, Jack Donaghy (Alec Baldwin), who this season dates a Democratic Congresswoman from Vermont, Celeste Cunningham (Edie Falco), who is suing NBC parent company Sheinhart Wig Company after they poisoned a river with wig dye that turned many children orange; he also engineers the biggest NBC ratings success story with MILF Island (even after Jerry Seinfeld threatens to buy NBC for $4 million when Jack has him digitally inserted as the series' host) and takes a position with the Bush administration when he's forced out of his job by his longtime rival Devon Banks (Will Arnett), who is engaged to the daughter of Jack's comatose mentor Don Geiss (Rip Torn). Whew.
Fey and Baldwin turn out two of the most memorable comedic performances of recent times; both of their characters can manage to be over the top, complex, and likable, even when they're engaging in some not-so-likable behavior. It's the push and pull of their complicated relationship (dare I say, even friendship) that propels the plot of 30 Rock and keeps us coming back for more. Together, they comprise a paradigm of authority vs. oppression, creative vs. corporate, male vs. female. (It's awe-inspiring to watch them in action, particularly when they are willing to cast aside any boundaries in their performances, such as when Jack channels great black TV performers of the past in Tracy's therapy session in "Rosemary's Baby.")
Equally fantastic is 30 Rock's supporting cast, which truly gets a chance this year to shine as Jenna (Jane Krakowski) gains a massive amount of weight while starring on stage in a musical version of Mystic Pizza, Kenneth (Jack McBrayer) battles evil head page Donnie, Pete (Scott Adsit) tries to reconcile with his estranged wife (while still living with Liz as her roommate), and Tracy (Tracy Morgan) creates the first porn video game, in between other misadventures. Each of them gets more than a few opportunities per episode to shine, and series' writers virtually offer up a manual on how to incorporate a sprawling cast of characters and still make them relevant each week, from ditsy Cerie (Katrina Bowden) and uptight Toofer (Keith Powell) to scumbags Frank (Judah Friedlander) and Lutz (John Lutz).
The second season of 30 Rock, while sadly shortened due to the writers strike, offers up many memorable episodes, including some of my particular favorites in "Cougars," in which Liz dates a much younger coffee boy, Jack and Tracy coach a little league team in Knuckle Beach, the worst neighborhood in New York, and Frank believes he's gay, "Somebody to Love," in which Liz suspects her neighbor may be a terrorist and Jack falls in love with someone of the opposite political persuasion, "Sandwich Day," in which Liz gets a visit from ex-boyfriend Floyd and must consume that aforementioned sandwich (and dipping sauce), "Rosemary's Baby," where Liz teams up with a former old school comedy writer (guest star Carrie Fisher) to take on every possible political target and Jack helps Tracy give up dog fighting (it also coined the now-memorable phrase "Never go with a hippie to a second location"), and "Cooter," in which Jack discovers the sad state of the Bush administration when he takes a job in Washington and strives to get pens for the office... and willingly creates career suicide by creating a "gay bomb."
It's hard to pick one favorite when you've got so many to choose from and that is reason enough to buy 30 Rock on DVD today. I could watch these episodes over and over again (and have on many occasions) but the folks at Universal Home Video have also loaded the two-disc box set with a host of extras, including the 30 Rock staged reading at Uprights Citizen's Brigade in New York (which raised money for the series' out-of-work PAs during the strike), deleted scenes, audio commentary, the Saturday Night Live episode hosted by Tina Fey, and the 30 Rock event at the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. (Sadly, no full-length video for Tracy Jordan's Halloween hit "Werewolf Bar Mitzvah" can be found on here.)
But my absolute favorite extra has got to be the "Cooter" script read-through, which presents not only video of our beloved cast at the read-through but also the original script presented on-screen for viewers to read along with. It's a fantastic bonus feature, giving the audience a peek behind the curtain at 30 Rock and some insight into the comedy writing process to boot.
All in all, 30 Rock's second season proves to be one DVD that is a must have for your television collection.
Today's the day. What's that, you're asking? The day for what exactly?
After waiting and moaning and waiting some more, today is the day that loyal US viewers of the supremely hysterical and witty UK series Spaced--written by and starring Simon Pegg and Jessica Hynes (née Stevenson) and directed by Edgar Wright--finally is released on DVD in the States.
For those of us who know and love Spaced with a zeal that knows no bounds, the DVD of Spaced: The Complete Series--which is released today with a suggested retail price of $59.99-- has been a long time coming. We've hoped, prayed, and made Faustian bargains to get those music rights cleared for use so that we can hold that box set in our hands. (Thanks to the good folks at BBC Video, I got mine early and have spent the last few days in Spaced heaven.)
If you aren't familiar with Spaced, I feel for you, I really do. Spaced is the ultimate geek pleasure, a series so laden with pop culture riffs, comic book allusions, quirky characters, in jokes, and filmic homages that, unless you are a veteran member of the geek kingdom (all rise who are), it might be hard to follow the gags without a guidebook.
Ostensibly, Spaced tells the sitcom-ready story of twenty-something slackers Tim (Pegg) and Daisy (Hynes) who both find themselves between housing situations. Meeting in a coffee shop one day and hitting it off, they spy an ad in the newspaper for what seems like an ideal living arrangement. The only catch: the ad specifically says professional couples only. What are two house-hungry, cash-poor kids to do but pretend to be a couple in order to land the place? Of course, they have to fool alternately sullen/optimistic alcoholic landlady Marsha (Julia Deakin) into believing they're a couple... achieved through a brilliant montage in which they reveal details about their pasts, pose for holiday snaps, and construct an elaborate lie that wouldn't really hold up weight if they're questioned.
Tim and Daisy drag their respective best friends into their hastily constructed lie: Tim's best mate is Mike (Nick Frost), a gun-crazy member of the Territorial Army who was suspended after stealing a tank and attempting to invade Paris; Daisy's BFF is the bitchy Twist (Katy Carmichael), who claims to work in "fashion" but really works in a dry cleaner. Quickly, their eccentric artist neighbor Brian (Mark Heap) catches on to Tim and Daisy's true relationship but he nobly decides to cover for them, joining their gang of borderline psychotic personalities.
While Spaced's set up could have quickly descended into Z-grade sitcom buffoonery, Pegg and Hynes--aided by the stunning visual style of Wright--elevate the material considerably, constructing a comedy that is as much about the aforementioned wink-wink-nudge-nudge jokes and sight gags (if you like Scooby Doo visual jokes or worship at the shrine of Buffy, this is the series for you) as it is about the minutiae of life for a twenty-something Londoner at the turn of the millennium. The result is a series which never manages to become cartoonish, characters that never turn cloying, and a concept which could have yielded at least another season.
The DVD set contains all fourteen episodes of Spaced, spread out over two seasons, along with a host of extras, including: episode commentaries with cast members Simon Pegg, Jessica Hynes, Julia Deakin, Mark Heap, Nick Frost, Katy Carmichael, producer Nira Park, and director Edgar Wright; brand-new bonus commentary tracks featuring the likes of Kevin Smith, Diablo Cody, Matt Stone, Bill Hader, Quentin Tarantino, and Patton Oswalt; outtakes; the "Spaced Jam" music video; raw footage; cast and crew bios; footage of the 2007 Spaced stage reunion; and "Skip to the End," a feature-length documentary about Spaced which aired on Channel 4 in the UK and which features at its very conclusion, the absolute perfect ending for Spaced: The Series, featuring a reveal so pitch-perfect that any fan will turn into an absolute puddle of goo. Whew.
I'm happy to say that these episodes have not only held up, but held up magnificently since their original airing, Matrix jokes notwithstanding. (For an example on how not to do brilliant parody, sublime homage, or quirky comedy, check out my review of the pilot for the US version of Spaced, which was outright terrifying in its lack of humor and grace.) The guest stars--from Little Britain creator David Walliams (stunning as Brian's lost love, a transgender performance artist named Vulva) to Black Books' Bill Bailey and a certain Office creator--astound as much today as they did years before; it's as though Spaced caught these luminaries right on the cusp of stardom.
But it's Spaced's regulars who keep us coming back for more. In the hands of gifted writer/actors Hynes and Pegg, Daisy and Tim remain wholly real, picture-perfect snapshots of the late 1990s/early 2000s slacker dissatisfaction, underachievers who--despite our collective will--can barely manage to get up off the sofa, much less change the world. And that's perhaps why we love them so much: that they teeter on a knife's edge between sanity and (relative) madness at any given time.
Together, they face the trials and travails of semi-adult life: looking for jobs, losing jobs (and, in a glorious One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest homage episode, landing the job from hell), getting a dog, falling in love, falling out of love, and figuring out what the bloody hell you're going to do with the rest of your life... while, all along, not realizing that their best, most perfect, partner is right there on the couch with them. Along the way, the duo attend raves, argue, fend off teenage hoodlums and Matrix-like government agents with a combination of pantomimed gunplay and actual high-flying action, battle (imaginary) zombies, attend experimental theatre productions, play video games, and have drunken conversations about the meaning of life. If that doesn't sound like your twenties in a nutshell, I don't know what does.
Ultimately, Spaced: The Complete Series is a three-disc set that any Spaced fan--present or future--should have in their collection and will treasure for years to come. As Marsha might do, why not open a bottle of red wine (or three or four), settle back on the couch, and enjoy? You'll thank me afterward.
What's On Tonight
8 pm: NCIS(CBS); Celebrity Family Feud (NBC); Beauty & the Geek(CW); Wipeout(ABC); Kitchen Nightmares (FOX)
9 pm: Big Brother 10(CBS); America's Got Talent (NBC); Reaper (CW); I Survived a Japanese Game Show (ABC); House (FOX)
10 pm: Without a Trace (CBS); Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (NBC); Primetime: Family Secrets(ABC)
What I'll Be Watching
8-10 pm: Britcoms on BBC America.
I don't know about you but by Tuesday night, I'm usually in need of some comedy in my life. Why not stick around on Tuesday nights for BBC America's new comedy lineup, consisting of classic episodes of Coupling, new comedy Not Going Out, and Absolutely Fabulous?
8 pm: Kitchen Nightmares.
'Cause I miss the softer side of Gordon Ramsay.
10 pm: Flipping Out on Bravo.
Season Two continues tonight with a brand-new episode ("Looks Like New"), Jeff makes Chris take the bus, leading to a teary breakdown; Jeff and Ryan return to work for Courtney but discover that she may only want to employ Jeff and not Ryan.
The reason? I was less than impressed by the original pilot episode I saw about two years ago and then, try though I might, just couldn't get into the series when it launched last year on AMC. Beautiful, yes, though I felt the first few episodes left me absolutely cold. But lest you think that I am a complete philistine, I'm beating myself up now because, having watched the DVD box set for Mad Men, I can see what I had missed out on all along.
Created by Matthew Weiner, Mad Men ostensibly tells the story of ad man Don Draper (Jon Hamm), a brilliant creative director of ad agency Sterling Cooper in the year 1960; while Don may be the focus of much of the series' action, he is arguably the entry point to a complex cast of characters who reflect the era's shifting ideological, socioeconomic, and gender politics during the birth of modern, post-WWII consumerism. It dares ask the eternal question as to whether advertising has created the American Dream... or destroyed it.
Mad Men's lure comes in part from the naturalistic and moving performances of its talented crew of actors, from Jon Hamm to Elisabeth Moss, January Jones, Christina Hendricks, John Slattery, and the entire cast, all of whom bring an understated elegance to their roles, playing their parts as though they'd lived in them all their lives; you truly believe that these people actually exist and never for a moment doubt their veracity. That in a nutshell is the magic of Mad Men: aided by a painstaking detail to recreating 1960 Madison Avenue (and the era's suburban gilded prison of its housewives) from set design, costume, and hair and makeup--all of which can be learned more about in the DVD set's fantastic bonus features--the actors are allowed to embody their roles in a way that exceptionally rare in television today.
Hamm himself grounds the action in a sophisticated and debonair elegance that's at odds with the way he casually cheats on his loving but naive wife; his is a carefully constructed persona that hides a deeper mystery: the true identity of Donald Draper. In an era where material goods defined a person's status, Don discovers that the biggest product of all is one's own identity and, as an ad man incarnate, sets out to reinvent himself as a commodity, transforming himself from neglected whore's offspring Dick Whitman into the suave man's man we see before us at the start of Mad Men. It's a tough performance to pull off but Hamm manages to play both Don's innate self-loathing and his ambition to obliterate his previous life to fine effect, offering a tour de force performance that should be required viewing for all would-be thespians.
If Draper tries to be the calm at the center of the storm (and, sadly, fails at sublimating his temper, desires, and vices), Sterling Cooper is itself a dangerous sharkpool of activity, which strongly contracts with the sunny, almost upbeat vibe of its offices. Here, recent secretarial school graduate Peggy Olson (Elisabeth Moss) finds herself facing down a pack of hungry sharks in the form of the firm's account executives, copywriters, and, well, anyone having a Y chromosome. For all of their differences in terms of their current status, Peggy and Don are startlingly similar; both come from humble beginnings, are looking to transform their lot in life, and, while Don stumbled into the means to achieve that metamorphosis, poor Peggy slips further and further into self-hatred as the first season continues. Her doughy form and prim nature are a sharp contrast to the curvy, flirtatious Joan Holloway (Christina Hendricks), the only woman at Sterling Cooper with any semblance of power, who tries to take Peggy under her wing. The scene in which Joan offers her advice about her weight--and Peggy realizes that for all of Joan's sharp comments and hurtful criticisms, she is actually trying to help--is a brilliant crystallization of the sometimes-combative relationships between women.
As for the men, they are a boozy, womanizing, and rowdy bunch, each jockeying for power amongst themselves as they look to conquer and humiliate every woman in the office in turn. They are wholly believable in their pursuits and each is brilliantly cast, from the bosses, including John Slattery as womanizer Roger Sterling and Robert Morse as eccentric company founder Bert Cooper (love the touch of him forcing visitors to his office to remove their shoes). Vincent Kartheiser is pitch-perfect as Machiavellian Pete Campbell, so hungry for Don's approval that he seeks to denigrate him at every opportunity in an effort to avenge Don's slights against him. Aaron Staton's Ken Cosgrove is a study in complexity, seemingly charming and smooth, he's a vicious misogynist even as he nurses a desire to become a writer. Rich Sommer's married intellectual Harry Crane victoriously beds another secretary at the office only to realize everything he's thrown away, in a beautiful scene during which Don pitches Kodak their Carousel slide projector. Finally, Michael Gladis' Paul Kinsey tries to rise above his fellow men, putting them down at every opportunity, even trying to humiliate Ken after his story gets published in The Atlantic Monthly. Despite the passage of more than forty years, we all know men like these today.
Much of the first season's action takes place in a series of boardrooms and bedrooms, many of them involving Don Draper. Trapped between beautiful, poised, perfect wife Betty (January Jones)--who develops a case of nerves early on, following the death of her mother--and several other women, Don uses each of his relationships for various means. Betty provides a sanctuary away from Manhattan, from work, and from the professional sphere. She is the consummate housewife even as she begins to come apart at the seams, leading Don to reluctantly agree to her getting psychiatric help, a plot point which plays off brilliantly at the conclusion of the first season when Betty realizes that Don has been cheating on her. Jones plays Betty with such elegance and wide-eyed wonder, that it breaks your heart when she realizes that she's been had by the man she loves so dearly and has no one to turn to, sobbing to a neighbor's child in a parking lot. (That Jones, nor any of Mad Men's talented female cast, didn't snag an Emmy nomination yesterday is a real injustice.) Don's affair with Midge (Rosemary DeWitt), meanwhile, offers the ad man the opportunity to enter the bohemian demimonde of artist Midge, with her anti-materialistic streak (remember how she casually chucked that television out her window?) and beatnik friends. But the real threat to Don's marriage comes in the form of Jewish female executive Rachel Menken (Maggie Siff), a Manhattan woman who not only understands business but thrives in the ultra-competitive environment it fosters; it's to her and her alone that Don unburdens himself, telling her about his secret past, a confession that he can't even bring to tell his wife Betty.
While Mad Men begins on a slow note, it quickly transforms itself into a slow burn series of deft plot maneuvering involving Don's double life, Betty's emotional disintegration, Peggy's awakening resolve, Pete's unquenchable ambition, Roger Sterling's health and his longstanding affair with Joan (more was said in his simple "honey" to Joan in front of a stunned Don and Bert than in some entire seasons of other series), and the quest of all parties for the Good Life, whether that be in the form of money, power, sex, or booze.
I found that by around episode five ("5G") or six ("Babylon"), I had become completely hooked, having fallen under Mad Men's lush spell; not so coincidentally, it's when various story threads begin to pay off in meaningful ways, with Pete pushing his new wife to contact the man to whom she lost her virginity in an effort to get his story published, Roger and Joan's secret affair being revealed, and Peggy being asked to write copy for the agency's Belle Jolie lipstick campaign. The second half of the season moves a relative breakneck speed, as these storylines and several other ones (including a hell of a shocker involving Peggy, if you're not paying careful attention to her burgeoning waistline) pay off in abundance.
With Mad Men's second season about to launch on July 27th, there's no better time to travel back to 1960 with Draper and Co., thanks to this divine DVD box set, which collects all of Season One's thirteen episodes, as well as several fantastic features about the flawless production design, music, hair and makeup, and costumes of the series. My only complaint is that the discs' promised "teaser" for Mad Men Season Two didn't offer a second of any original material, just repurposed scenes from the first season. Any ad man knows that you've got to follow through on the promise of your pitch. But maybe the producers are hoping that Mad Men speaks for itself as a product and a brand, enough that you'll tune in to its sophomore season even without a peek behind the curtain. And, funnily enough, I know I will.
Mad Men's second season kicks off on July 27th at 10 pm ET/PT on AMC.
What's On Tonight 8 pm: Ghost Whisperer (CBS); Most Outrageous Moments/Most Outrageous Moments(NBC;); Friday Night SmackDown! (CW; 8-10 pm); Dance Machine (ABC); The Animal(FOX; 8-10 pm)
Season Four of Doctor Who continues tonight with "Turn Left," in which the established timeline begins to unravel after Donna meets a fortune teller and Rose Tyler (Billie Piper) returns with some dire news about Donna and the fate of the universe. Can Donna and Rose stop the approaching darkness? Find out tonight.
Mistresses isn't quite a relationship drama, although it does focus on the romantic--and often illicit--entanglements affecting four female friends. Rather, it's something more akin to a thriller: sleek and seductive with a hint of menace.
