A Number of Good Shows, But Many Do Not Stick

I have enjoyed watching the premieres of a number of new shows, but I have to say that most of them do not capture my attention for more than a few episodes.  Some of the exceptions, which I have already covered, includes Boss, Borgen, and Hell on Wheels.  However, others such as Pan Am, A Gifted Man, and Grimm, were not quite as interesting or unusual as they pretended to be.  For instance, Pan Am started as a long clip from the movie Catch Me if You Can and went down from there (though I loved the movie itself).  London's The Guardian was not impressed, noting:

 It's Mad Men set in the glamorous world of 60s air travel instead of Manhattan advertising men! Or so we are told. But alas, Pan Am is to Mad Men as an Airfix model assembled by a blindfolded man with 10 fractured fingers and a severe bout of hiccups is to Concorde. Which is to say, Not Very.

And the other two programs were less than gifted or simply grim. 

I think Once Upon a Time comes across as a little more genuine, which may keep me coming back for awhile.  The interplay of past fairy tales and the dreary reality of rural Maine (sorry Maine) makes for an interesting contrast and interesting characters.  It comes across as adults performing a dance in the head of a young boy hoping to find something more than his everyday world, and he just happens to drag us along with him.  It works for me, and I don't live in Maine (sorry again, Maine). 

Hell of a Western on AMC

If you have not had a chance to view AMC's new show Hell on Wheels then you are missing a real treat. Not since HBO's Deadwood have we experienced a good program on the American West, and this program covers much more territory (no pun intended). The focus on the railroad crossing the states allows the show to bring together a large array of characters, from Civil War veterans and roaming Irish to freed slaves and native Americans. Hell on Wheels reminds me more of TNT's drama Into the West in terms of it being a broader based series, though unlike the TNT series it is still focused on one period (post-Civil War) and not multi-generational.

The TV critics to date have nit-picked issues such as the main character Cullen Bohannon freeing his slaves, thereby making him too politically correct, but didn't our first President propose the same thing with is slaves? I enjoy the diversity of characters and unpredictable story lines, most of them involving murder so far. It is also filled with beautiful shots of the western countryside (though this is Canada's west - Alberta to be exact). That said, this is not a program for those looking for a sunny tale of American expansion. It is very gritty.

Popmatters.com makes a good point about the Wild West and it's machines:

If the railroad signifies freedom in Hell on Wheels, it also helps breed and accelerate greed, arrogance, and savagery, aggressions coming so fast and brutally that victims hardly know how to get out of the way. Hell on Wheels raises the inevitable question: at what price progress?

I am hoping AMC can answer this question in the episodes to come, though I am not sure if a truthful answer will leave anyone feeling any better. However, I am hoping it at least produces good acting and story-telling for a full season or two.

PBS Looks for New Audiences

Earlier this month, America's PBS launched a British channel so that its programming can be  broadcast in the European market for the first time.  The PBS program, called PBS UK, will be shared with viewers in the United Kingdom via the subscription-based British Sky Broadcasting Group and Virgin Media.  This venture is jointly owned by Quadra Group and PBS Distribution LLC, and includes top PBS programs such as Nova and Frontline.  Quandra is already considering similar ventures in Europe and Africa should the British adventure be successful.

Of course, the British did this years ago in the United States with BBC America, which includes solid programs such as Being Human, The Inbetweeners, and Torchwood.  So what do the British think of this PBS channel?  One British critic, Benji Wilson writing in The Telegraph, had a few concerns about the first Nova episode, noting

...Smartest Machine on Earth was not perhaps a smart choice for the opening programme of a US channel launch in the UK, because the intricacies of Jeopardy! would have been unfamiliar to many British viewers, including me." 

Mr. Wilson's comments on  Frontline were similarly negative when he noted,

Episode one was called Top Secret America, looking at how 9/11 led to the largest spree of covert action since the Cold War. But the sort of news-literate viewers who PBS want to attract have no doubt been reading about special ops, black sites and extraordinary rendition for aeons. Was Top Secret America still a secret to them?

Moreover, London's The Guardian had this off-putting introduction to the launch of PBS UK:

As home to arguably the most respected public service broadcaster in the world, Britain is perhaps not the most obvious territory for Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), America's smaller, less internationally celebrated BBC equivalent, to launch its first channel outside the US.

It is too early to tell if this new PBS channel will work in Europe. However, it is a new way to increase funding for PBS programs so all of us back here in America can continue to see quality programs, even if they are a little low-brow for the British.

Borgen: A New Series from Denmark

If you enjoyed The Killing (either the American or Danish version), then maybe you want to try Borgen ("Government") from the same creators.  I just watched the pilot online and thoroughly enjoyed the first episode about three dueling Danish political parties sparring over immigration and how to restore Denmark to its rightful place among nations (sound familiar?).  The series first ran on Danish TV last year and season two started broadcasting there in September of this year.  LinkTV fortunately make online viewing very easy, with the series running Saturday nights on that channel starting at 9:30 pm EST.  However, you only have about two weeks after each showing to catch it online.  The pilot was broadcast October 29 on Link TV.

Here is a quick summary of the series from Link TV: 

Like its American cousin The West Wing, Borgen uncovers a world of political gamesmanship, the intricate public and private lives of politicians, media spinners, and the reporters who traffic in their triumphs and failures.  The setting is Borgen, the nickname for Denmark's parliamentary building, ("The Castle" in English). Our hero is the smart and sexy populist Birgitte Nyborg. After scoring her party a landslide victory through her idealism and work ethic, she now faces the biggest dilemma of her life: Will she succumb to pressure to compromise her ideals and maintain her political position?

The acting throughout the pilot is superb and the pace is pounding as the underlying motives and foibles of the characters is revealed very early.  It is also educational to see the political squalls in another country.  Of course, the recent battles over debt restructuring in Greece and Italy are in the newspapers daily, so we know that Europe has its problems.  Yet this intimate look is pretty amazing.

I just read that NBC is planning to remake Borgen as an American series.  I think it is perfect just the way it is, and coalition politics in Europe is quite different from our system. That said, NBC is putting the same team that gave us Friday Night Lights onto this project, which is very hopeful given the quality of their previous work.

Given the quality of this latest production, I may go back to the original The Killing (Forbrydelsen) for another take on Danish society.  I think something is lost in translation when we remake another country's story.  Unfortunately, it is hard to get the original Danish version.  Netflix and iTunes show nothing on the series and Amazon is selling it for $100 but it will not run on U.S. DVD players.  Hopefully, the popularity of the series will encourage greater curiosity about its origin and bring the Danish version of the series to American TV sets.

New Programming at YouTube

If you thought you had enough to watch on TV, well the amount of content out there on the computer (and eventually TV) may grow considerably in years to come.  YouTube announced plans to add 100 new channels to its service covering areas such as pop culture, music, sports, entertainment, and health.  Various stars and celebrities, such as Madonna, Ashton Kutcher, and Shaquille O'Neal, are expected to contribute content to this new venture.  YouTube has also committed to 25 hours of new programming each day.

Of course, the owner of YouTube, Google, Inc., is still working to bring this content to TV screens, creating an expanded venue for both YouTube and Google.  I expected much greater competition as the computer screen and TV screen became one.  If it works the way it should, we can have better programs in the years to come, as well as more flexibility concerning where we watch our favorite programs.

For a sample of the new YouTube channels, go here.  I like some of the ideas, many of which build on an already successful brand.  For instance, you will see Slate, The Nerdist, and TED.  And yet, I see some interesting new players, such as:

-- i am OTHER: Brought to you by Pharrell Williams. Championing individuality by giving a creative platform to a generation of game changers: Thinkers, Innovators, Outcasts.  

-- Noisey:  The Noisey Channel will feature performances and behind-the-scenes footage from bands all around the globe, hand-selected by people who know a lot more about music than you. 

-- Stan Lee's World of Heroes:  Every story has a hero; from the legendary Stan Lee come amazing tales about unique characters and extraordinary individuals.

I look forward to the new programming, though the current players on TV may have another impression.

Starz Has a Winner with Boss

Starz new series Boss (Fridays at 10pm EST) is an impressive political drama that profiles a whole new side of Kelsey Grammer, which can be difficult to watch at times.  The pilot starts with a very bleak scene showing Grammer's character, Chicago's Mayor Tom Kane, learning about his pending death.  Think Macbeth on Lake Michigan.  From there we go back to his day-to-day activities, which includes a lot of yelling, slamming of doors, and ear twisting (and even more with ears).  I am not sure if either of Chicago's mayors, be it former Mayor Daley or current Mayor Emanuel, will find much of themselves in this character (at least I hope not).

The intro credits provide a dark entry into Chicago, showing both the well-known spots as well as lesser known underside of the city, thereby preparing you for what is to come.  In addition to Grammer, you have an aspiring politician eying the governor's mansion (played by Jeff Hephner) and a brooding trophy wife (played by Connie Nielson), who together set you up for a roller-coaster of public victories and behind the scene treachery.  However, it is Grammer that surprised me the most with his unsmiling, violent character.  His acting has a gravitas that centers the pilot while keeping you guessing about his next move (and motives).

I expect a lot of soliloquies about the role of Chicago in American history as well as American hearts, but this is something I welcome.  Chicago has been the setting of many new shows over the past few years, including The Beast, The Chicago Code, Shameless, and most recently The Playboy Club.  Of course, all of these but Shameless were either cut mid-season or lasted only one season.  Boss has already been renewed for a second season, so this show may be around for awhile. That's great for TV, but maybe not so great for Mayor Rahm.

First Fall Casualty - Playboy Club

So far I like the way the new fall season is being spread over September through November.  This slow trickle of new shows gives everyone time to digest the new programs and make decisions based on more than the amount of DVR storage space available.  That said, even this approach cannot save every show, as we now see with the canceling of NBC's Playboy Club.  This is now NBC described this new show:

From Academy Award-winning Executive Producer Brian Grazer, "The Playboy Club" is a provocative new NBC drama about a time and place that challenged the existing social mores and transformed American culture forever. It's the early 1960s, and at the center of Chicago lies the legendary and seductive Playboy Club, a living, breathing fantasy world filled with $1.50 cocktails, music, glitter and of course, beautiful Bunnies. The key to the club, which offers the ultimate in beauty, is the most sought-after status symbol of its time. But all that glitters isn't gold, and in the back rooms and alleys behind the club, life happens - both good and bad. 

It sounds a lot like another nostalgic Mad Men-like program set in Chicago with a different type of hustling.  After watching the pilot, I found that Edie Cibrian's Nick Dalton certainly looked and sounded like Don Draper.  In fact, I think he was being too much of a carbon copy.  And the first segment of the show was too much like a cop drama with the death of a club client.  Whatever happened to easing the audience into the setting and characters?  Not a great start, as it appears the rest of the viewing audience has already determined.

I am not sure how ABC's Pan Am, the Mad Men of the skies, will fare in these turbulent TV waters.  But that's another posting for later.

By the way, this shot from Pan Am also brings to mind Don Draper.  Is it only me?