More of The Killing on Netflix

Netflix has resurrected another program slated for the AMC graveyard - The Killing.  Tomorrow night (August 1) you can watch season four of the series, which will contain the final six episodes.  This popular show hit a snag after the first season failed to reveal the murderer of a young woman, but it came back strong in the second season and limped along after being revived for a third season.  Netflix is ensuring the show has some closure.

Just don't expect sunshine and a feel-good ending.  This show has trouble with both.  But if it's excellent acting you are looking for as well as a dark and fascinating tale, then this is your show.

So whether you want to watch all the episodes over the weekend or slowly savor each episode over time, it is available on Netflix whenever you are ready. 

Teen Wolf and the Twins

Three cheers now that MTV'S Teen Wolf has been green-lighted for a fifth season.  This was great news to the cast who were at Comic Con 2014 this week.  And while I was a little worried the series was getting a little too dark and going off in a strange way last season, the fun is back in season four and a new set of characters are being introduced to keep the show fresh, including a werewolf pup.  

The series has a way of going through characters, yet the stars have been successful in finding their way to new shows.  For example, Colton Haynes did well after leaving the show an is now a regular on the CW's Arrow.   And that brings me to another set of characters - twins Max and Charlie Carver who played brothers Aiden and Ethan.  As brothers, they had a unique role playing two parts of a big, bad werewolf.  And while they were on the wrong side most of the time, they had no problems with romantic entanglements with the good guys.  

Well, the twins are gone in season four of Teen Wolf (one died, like Colton, and the other left town).  And now they are starring in season one of HBO's The Leftovers.  I am just starting to get into this new series, but one thing I can say is that the Carver brothers, playing Adam and Scott Frost, are the only bright spot in the first few episodes of the dreary program.  

Most of the teens in The Leftovers are moping and destructive, whereas the adults are damaged and dangerous.  And in comes the Carver twins, smiling and trying to get a date with girls.  It gives you a little bit of hope that some people survived the disappearance of two percent of humanity with a little bit of their soul and humor intact.  

I am not sure how many roles will come up for twins in the future, but they have done well with the openings (I did not even mention their work in Desperate Housewives).  I only hope they stay with The Leftovers as two hopeful characters.  Without them, the series has a bleak future.

The Return of "Turn" and Colonial Times

I was pleased that AMC decided to give the American Revolution spy series Turn a second season.  Unlike NBC's post-electric thriller Revolution, the 10-episode first season of Turn was the real thing as American spies fed information to George Washington about British troop movements.  And the cast, including England's Jamie Bell, did a great job.  It always helps to have a real Brit playing a British colonist with questions about the whole enterprise.  And while the show contained few battle scenes, the ones that were portrayed were small yet bloody affairs of basically brother against brother.  That made it all the more real.  I think we lose context in the bigger battles.

We still have a lack of shows from that period, so Turn is an important step in the right direction.  I suppose you could add WGN America's Salem to the list of colonial shows, but that is less history than sensational expansion on a earlier myth.  Instead of showing the true foibles of a scared colonial town, it turns the table and shows the witches were real and the victims were the towns folks who knew the truth.  It may be good television, but it does nothing to shed light on the period.  

I suppose I could also add Fox's  Sleepy Hollow to the list of shows that discuss the colonial period.  Yet while I would agree the show is great fun, it returns to the colonial period long enough to show the Tea Party in Boston was cover for some diabolic demonic plot and George Washington was a monster slayer.  As I said, great fun, but don't look for these "facts" anywhere in your history books.  

I think one of my favorite quotes from Sleepy Hollow is when the main character, Ichabod Crane, after he comes across a modern day camp trying to recreate the colonial era of his time.  When his asked if he will get rid of his old, ratty coat, he says, "Please, and risk it being worn ironically by perveyors of artisanal marmalade who discovered it at the local thrift shop?  I thank you, no."  Even a modern day perversion of the past was too much for a character on a show continually perverting the past.  Pretty rich. 

Explosive Premiere: Manhattan

The WGN America network that brought you Salem earlier this year has an updated stories about American history that hopefully adheres to the facts a little better.  Consider the new series, Manhattan, premiering July 27th, as Mad Men with a bomb.  And I say this because the visuals of the period are supposed to be as spectacular, though what they are ginning up will literally blow your socks off.  This is the story of America's construction of the atomic bomb in the 1940s in the New Mexico desert, and the people that made it possible.  These trailers will give you some idea of what you can expect.  

So is this a dry retelling of history?  An article in The Hollywood Reporter says this is not the case:

What you might think would work against Manhattan — the fact that the Manhattan Project was successful and relatively short-lived, so how can you sustain a series? — was explained away by the show’s creators, who, at the recent Television Critics Association summer press tour, noted that even though the story is based on facts, only Oppenheimer is a real figure. Everybody else is fictional, and Shaw’s ambition is to create a sense of life at Los Alamos, where secrets, lies and the hardships of being cut off from the rest of the world begin to take their toll.

The only part that scares me is the statement "everyone else is fictional."  If I see witches I will not be happy.  America has enough demons in its closet regarding this program without creating new ones.

Renewal of The Last Ship and Falling Skies

TNT decided to renew two summer hits, The Last Ship (13 new episodes) and Falling Skies (10 new episodes). 

The Last Ship has been a lot of fun with a little bit of character development thrown in.  It is really one long summer blockbuster movie (Navy weapons porn some call it), but it may have legs if they throw in a few more Russian rogue villains, stranded cruise ships, and other surprises.  And the idea of a plague getting out of control is not so unbelievable, with Ebola spreading in Africa.  However, the full downfall of man as in this summer's The Planet of the Apes is a bit too much.  Hence, I will stick with The Last Ship.

As far as Falling Skies, it will be getting it a fifth and final season.  This fourth season has been somewhat confusing and disjointed, so I hope the show finds its footing again.  Two battling alien races with more battling humans thrown in is a lot to follow, especially when the circumstances are a little hard to fathom.  Falling Skies seems to have set up a Warsaw Ghetto for the adult characters and a Young Communist League for the kids.  I get the Ghetto, but would the aliens really set up a secondary school system for the same humans they wiped out earlier?  Maybe not, but I will play along for now.  

I expect Noah Wyle will soon be busy with his new 10-episode Librarian series due later this year.  I am also happy to report Bob Newhart and Jane Curtin will be part of the new Librarian series.

Will Enlisted Return?

The news is encouraging that Yahoo may pick of Fox's de-listed military comedy Enlisted.  Deadline reported the following:

Having just revived NBC’s Community, Yahoo might be looking to do the same with another recently cancelled cult broadcast comedy series, Fox‘s Enlisted. I hear talks are under way between the online giant and Enlisted producer 20th Century Fox TV for a second season of the military series, created by Kevin Biegel, on Yahoo’s streaming service Yahoo Screen. Sources cautioned that the conversations are preliminary and it’s unclear whether they would result in a deal.

This is very encouraging.  Just as Friday Night Lights and Damages were saved by Direct TV, and The Killing was given a fourth season on Netflix, this late save of the show is very welcome.  All three of the shows I mentioned above were quality programs deserving a new home if the old home did not appreciate what they contributed to the television landscape.  I for one have my fingers crossed. 

Prior Enlisted Stories:

- Another Gift This Memorial Day
- Fox:  Good Shows, Dumb Decisions

The Loss of James Garner

Actor James Garner passed away last night at the age of 86.  He will be missed as a great actor on the silver screen and the television screen.  He will always be Jim Rockford to me, the disheveled investigator on The Rockford Files always short on funds yet able to talk his way into any situation with a fake business card and a smile. You can see a clip of a second season episode here.

Here is part of the obituary from The New York Times recounting his life: 

 James Scott Bumgarner was born in Norman, Okla., on April 7, 1928. His paternal grandfather had participated in the Oklahoma land rush of 1889 and was later shot to death by the son of a widow with whom he’d been having an affair. His maternal grandfather was a full-blooded Cherokee. (Mr. Garner would later name his production company Cherokee Productions.)

An understated comic actor, he was especially adept at conveying life’s tiny bedevilments. One of his most memorable roles was as a perpetually flummoxed pitchman for Polaroid cameras in the late 1970s and early 1980s, in droll commercials in which he played a vexed husband and Mariette Hartley played his needling wife. They were so persuasive that Ms. Hartley had a shirt printed with the declaration “I am not Mrs. James Garner.”

Even Rockford, a semi-tough ex-con (he had served five years on a bum rap for armed robbery) who lived in a beat-up trailer in a Malibu beach parking lot, drove a Pontiac Firebird and could handle himself in a fight (though he probably took more punches than he gave), was exasperated most of the time by one thing or another: his money problems, the penchant of his father (Noah Beery Jr.) for getting into trouble or getting in the way, the hustles of his con-artist pal Angel (Stuart Margolin), his dicey relationship with the local police.

Every episode of the show, which ran from 1974 to 1980 and more often than not involved at least one car chase and Rockford’s getting beaten up a time or two, began with a distinctive theme song featuring a synthesizer and a blues harmonica and a message coming in on a newfangled gadget — Rockford’s telephone answering machine — that underscored his unheroic existence: “Jim, this is Norma at the market. It bounced. Do you want us to tear it up, send it back or put it with the others?”

From a Car to a Bench

While Jerry Seinfeld may have corned the market with cars and coffees (see Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee), Steve Buscemi is taking a different route with his new webisodes from AOL Originals titled Park Bench.  Premiering back in May, the first episode included Christ Rock helping Buscemi come up with the concept for the show.  Later guests have included Dick Cavett, Roseanne Cash, Rosie Perez, Fred Armisen, a Buddhist nun, and NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio. 

It's an interesting concept in an age of primarily sofa interviews, and Buscemi doesn't care where he has to place his bench.  The show and its location are pretty fluid, which keeps it lively and fun.  And it was just nominated for a 2014 Emmy in the category of Outstanding Short-Form Nonfiction Program.  

Buscemi put his show together over 5 days between work on HBO's Boardwalk Empire.  It is worth checking out (I find it easier to view on the AOL YouTube channel than on the AOL site) .  Ten episodes have been posted as of earlier this week, and two more are planned for this first season.  I am not sure about a second season, but since Jerry's series may go on forever, you never know about this new venue. 

A Game of Thrones Vacation?

So you still need your fill of Game of Thrones scenery while awaiting the next season?  No worries.  For a few thousand dollars you and yours can jet off to a variety of locations to search for dragons and White Walkers. 

Hopper.com has proposed a number of stand-in cities to satisfy all your desires.  For instance, Dubrovnik (below) can stand in for King's Landing. 

Yes, it is a clever marketing ploy.  But I like the idea of expanding the imagination with real locations.  Not a bad way to spend your summer, wherever you find yourself.

Scandinavian Humor with Amy Poehler's Brother

Tomorrow night (June 10th) on NBC you can watch the new series Welcome to Sweden produced by Amy Poehler and starring her brother Greg.  And as the title suggests, we are no longer in Indiana.  Instead, the new series comically illustrates Greg's adventures in Sweden.  In fact, Greg Poehler moved to Sweden with his wife and his three children awhile back, but I am hoping he had a slightly better experience.

Here is the general plot:

Bruce Evans (Greg Poehler) and Emma Wiik (Josephine Bornebusch, Swedish hit drama "Solsidan") seem to be the perfect couple. He is a successful money manager to the stars, living his life in New York with Emma, the sweet woman from Sweden whom he loves and adores. A rare combination of intelligent, funny, kind and beautiful, Emma believes she has finally found her true soul mate. So when she makes the life-changing decision to move back to her native Stockholm to accept a prestigious banking job after being with Bruce for a year, she is surprised and thrilled that he agrees to move with her to begin a new life together. 

Moving halfway around the world with a new love is a huge step. With no job, friends or real clue about what he is getting himself into, Bruce is quick to face the many unique challenges and culture clashes that living in a foreign land presents. The most notable one is how to win over Emma's strange and very Swedish family, starting with her parents, Viveka (Lena Olin, "Chocolat") and Birger (Claes Månsson), whom they move in with. Viveka, who is a therapist, dearly loves her family but has difficulty showing it, especially to Emma, and much to Bruce's dismay, she harbors a dislike for him from day one. Birger, a retired sea captain, is a typical Swede - tall, kind and silent. Since his spoken English isn't very sharp, it only adds to the communication barriers.

Emma's younger brother, Gustav (Christopher Wagelin), is a 28-year old mega-slacker who, for some reason, can do no wrong in his mother's eyes. Bengt (Per Svensson), Birger's younger brother, is an American-adoring rockabilly type who seems to live his life through Hollywood movies.
As for Bruce's family, his dad, Wayne (Patrick Duffy, "Dallas"), is conservative by nature and resides in a small Midwestern town. Like Wayne, Bruce's adoring mother, Nancy (Illeana Douglas, "Grace of My Heart"), wants nothing but the best for her son, but has no understanding whatsoever of his decision to leave his happy life in New York.
 
The series was broadcast earlier this year in Sweden and the Swedes seemed to like it, with the show already being green-lighted for a second season.  This cross-over series reminds me of Netflix's Lilyhammer where the Norwegians took a liking to a dark American comedy before we even had a chance to see it for ourselves.   And I am happy to hear that Amy will be appearing in some of the episodes, as will  Aubrey Plaza, Will Ferrell, and Gene Simmons. 

The Unexpected Astronaut Mom

CBS airs a new thriller Extant on July 9th starring Halle Berry as an astronaut who returns from a year-long solo mission on a space station only to find she is pregnant.  And once she is back on Earth she has to deal with a skeptical employer, a shocked husband, and a redundant robotic son.  This is no Gravity, though it sounds like quite a show to be launched mid-summer. Here is a trailer to test your interest. 

The 13-part series is brought to you by Steven Spielberg, the same guy who brought you the movie Artificial Intelligence many years back about a robotic boy trying to mix with humanity.  So is this about space aliens or a new brand of artificial humans?  We know that with Spielberg it is always about getting back to mother, so I guess we will just have to see which "child" is the focus and sit back for some fun.