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BBC America's Atlantis returns tomorrow night (November 15th) for its second season, and you may want to add it to your TV list if you are looking for a light dramedy at the end of a long day. Think of it as the Greek version of Once Upon a Time, where the myths and tales come not from Disney but a much older source. You can watch Jason, Pythagoras, and Hercules play the part of an upgraded three stooges, with Medusa as a side-kick, as they stumble from one ancient myth to another. After the seriousness of all our demon and superhero programs, the light touch of this series is welcome.
This storyline from BBC America will bring you up to speed for season two, but don't read it just yet if you want to start from the beginning:
Season one introduced Jason, a young man who went in search of his
missing father and ended up on the shores of the ancient fabled city of
Atlantis – a magical place filled with secrets and deceit to which Jason
seems inexplicably bound. Befriended by Hercules and Pythagoras, Jason
embarked on an epic adventure, battling against some of the most famous
names of Greek legend, often in unexpected guises. Before long Jason
caught the eye and heart of the beautiful Ariadne, the princess of
Atlantis whose family and royal standing restricts who she may love. As a
result, Jason discovered the treachery of Atlantis’ rulers,
particularly Queen Pasiphae. But Jason found guidance and protection
with the revered Oracle (Juliet Stevenson, The Hour). He learned from the soothsayer that it’s no mistake he happened upon the shores of the famed city – it was fate.
The season one finale shockingly revealed that Pasiphae is in fact
Jason’s mother. But as season two begins it’s clear that Pasiphae’s
desire to reign has not abated and rivalry with step daughter Ariadne
has taken her to new depths. Jason’s personal involvement with Ariadne
is surely a complication for Pasiphae, but will the knowledge that Jason
is her flesh and blood weaken her resolve? As the battle for the throne
intensifies loyalties are tested to the limit and the responsibilities
of duty become increasingly unforgiving. These difficult times require
hard choices for all as secrets and lies become the currency of choice
and no one is immune to betrayal. As the kingdom is threatened with
destruction, the time has come for Jason to fulfill his destiny – or
Atlantis will be lost beneath the waves forever.
Try it out. The show grows on you.
Tonight is the 200th episode of Supernatural, and the brothers have a fun show in store for fans. It seems Sam and Dean stumbled upon a school musical portraying their lives as hunters. Will the brothers sing a song? Well, we already heard Dean's voice earlier this season on karaoke night, and that may be enough for a few years. But Sam may want to give it a try. It's good to know that the boys can take a break from heaven and hell to support the arts. For a preview you can click here.
Tonight HBO begins its broadcast of the third and last season of The Newsroom. This controversial program, which started by retelling news story from the past with better informed reporters, by the second season morphed into a drama about one fictional news story that when awry. I am not sure if Aaron Sorkin was tired of the bad press, or wanted to try his hand at a new story altogether. Luckily, whatever approach he used, we were still able to watch Jeff Daniels as the dedicated and over-the-top Will McAvoy. Whether his politics are left or right, he is worth watching in his role as the lonely newsman. Of course, he is surrounded by an excellent cast that shine to the point of brilliance when a topic starts to spin around the newsroom.
You have to watch the opening scene in the 2012 pilot episode to understand how this show enraged parts of America by taking a soft question about "Why is America the Greatest Country in the World?" and turning it on its head. It is riveting television with something for both political parties, though I doubt they were paying attention. Here it is again:
And yeah you, sorority girl, just in case you accidentally
wander into a voting booth one day, there are some things you should
know. And one of them is there is absolutely no evidence to support the
statement that we’re the greatest country in the world. We’re 7th in
literacy, 27th in math, 22nd in science, 49th in life expectancy, 178th
in infant mortality, third in median household income, number four in
labor force and number four in exports.
We lead the world in only three categories. Number of incarcerated
citizens per capita, number of adults who believe angels are real and
defense spending where we spend more than the next 26 countries combined
25 of whom are allies. Now none of this is the fault of a 20 year-old
college student but you nonetheless are without a doubt a member of the
worst period generation period ever period. So when you ask what makes
us the greatest country in the world, I don’t know what the (EXPLETIVE
DELETED) you’re talking about. Yosemite?
It sure used to be. We stood up for what was right. We fought for
moral reasons. We passed laws, struck down laws for moral reasons. We
waged wars on poverty, not poor people. We sacrificed, we cared about
our neighbors, we put our money where our mouths were and we never beat
our chests. We built great big things, made ungodly technological
advances, explored the universe, cured diseases, and cultivated the
world’s greatest artists and the world’s greatest economy. We reached
for the stars, acted like men, we aspired to intelligence, we didn’t
belittle it, it didn’t make us feel inferior.
We didn’t identify ourselves by who we voted for in the last election
and we didn’t scare so easy. We were able to be all these things and do
all these things because we were informed, by great men, men who were
revered. First step in solving any problem is recognizing there is one.
America is not the greatest country in the world anymore. Enough?
As with other loud and proud Sorkin productions, such as The West Wing, I will miss The Newsroom. It may be a soapbox with opinions that rattle the masses, but we need the soapboxes on the street corner. It is too easy to say "good enough," ignore complex issues, and not work to push the country to a better place for everyone. Will a television show make a difference? Well, it is not clear that even an election will make a difference, but we have to try.
Update: The first episode got off with a bang - literally - with the Boston Marathon bombing. Will and team are back to their old tricks of re-spinning old news, but it is fun to watch. And it seems our Bigfoot-hunting friend Neal Sampat (Dev Patel) may have a larger role this year as a new investigation unfolds, while Maggie (Alison Pill) steps up and starts to shine.
You might enjoy this clip of Nick Offerman from Last Week Tonight with John Oliver. Nick
is instrumental in saving a marriage at Home Depot as the video
highlights the advantages of human intervention versus robotic helpers.
I am not sure if robots are truly coming to Lowe's, but my vote is
for more of Offerman and a little less technology. And if you have
watched Nick in Parks and Recreation, you know that he will probably come over to your house and build a table and chairs in an afternoon. He is that kind of guy.
If you missed the first two seasons of Nexflix's Lilyhammer, you have missed out on a creative series where a New York mobster hides out in Norway only to return to his old ways. The show is a joint Norwegian-Netflix product that is shown in both the United States and Norway with subtitles, as appropriate. You do not get a chance to see these cross-Atlantic collaborations very often. We cannot even seem to deal with British shows without remaking them for a US audience.
Steven Van Zandt, guitar player in Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band, is terrific in the role of Frank Tagliano. His facial expressions alone exceed the acting talents of many on television today. The show is mostly comedy with enough drama to keep you on the edge of your seat. And it does not avoid dark scenes when they are required. For instance, in one episode some visiting gangsters were left to freeze to death after falling through the ice. I don't know how many comedies can get away with that dark edge, but Van Zandt brought it from his time with the Sopranos and still found a way to keep the series fresh and funny.
In discussing his show during an interview with IGN, Van Zandt discussed how the US audience took to Lilyhammer:
It is quite different from Sopranos, actually, and they're enjoying the
show. I think the premise that we use, the character understands
Norwegian but doesn't speak it. It turned out to be a godsend in the
sense that he's speaking english, so the American audience is finding
and experiencing Norway in the same way he is. It has that feel to it
where they understand him and soon, people tell me, the subtitles just
go away. You're kind of experiencing the whole thing the way the
character does. I think that was an interesting, real idea that maybe
could be used again in the future in other circumstances. But what it
does is it opens up the entire world content to being seen by the
American audience, which is a radical, radical new idea that Netflix is
now introducing.
Season three returns to Netflix on November 21st with eight new episodes. You may even see Bruce Springsteen pop up over the course of the season. Bundle up and get ready for a great show.
Tonight BBC America broadcasts The Game, a new spy series set in the 1970s London. All I had to hear was that Brian Cox was one of the actors in this miniseries and I was hooked, but here is a little more from BBC America for those who need some convincing:
London: 1972. When a defecting KGB officer, Arkady Malinov, reveals
Operation Glass, a devastating Soviet plot that could change the course
of the cold war, Daddy, the head of MI5, assembles a secret team to
investigate.
As the Soviets awaken a list of sleeper agents all over Britain,
Daddy’s team must move swiftly to gain information about the plot. But
when Joe Lambe, Daddy’s prized agent, becomes obsessed with the
reappearance of a dangerous nemesis, a Soviet agent codenamed ‘Odin’, he
risks letting his personal vendetta jeopardize the operation.
Variety notes:
"The Game” is hardly the James Bond version of British espionage, even
with the nicknames and nerdy sidekicks. But the show does capture an era
when these agents could genuinely worry about a scenario where the
Soviets might engage in a nuclear first strike, which certainly ups the
ante beyond current leader Vladimir Putin’s recent border incursions.
The series was created by Toby Whithouse, who brought us Being Human, a fun combination of horror and drama that was later remade in a lesser form for American viewers. I would not be surprised if the same thing happens with this series. You can view the trailer for the series here.
"I said repeatedly the Iron Throne is huge. It towers over the room like a
great beast. And it's ugly. It's asymmetric. It's put together by
blacksmiths not by craftsmen and experts in furniture manufacturing. You
have to walk the iron steps, and when a king sits on it he's like 10
feet above everybody else ... He's in this raised position looking down
on everyone."
-- George R.R. Martin on the Iron Throne as portrayed in his Game of Thrones book series (quoted in The Business Insider)
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