Wednesday, October 03, 2007
Then: Jericho
NUTS! Jericho, ITV4, 8.00pm
It seems unlikely that anybody reading this actively needs another US import in their lives right now. After all, a new season of Prison Break has just kicked off on Sky, while we're halfway through Heroes on BBC2, and nearing the end of Brothers and Sisters on Channel 4. In fact, just looking at this week's lowculture highlights alone offers such treats as The Riches and Flight of the Conchords, and obviously we'll be celebrating the return of Ugly Betty on Friday, so we've all got pretty hectic TV schedules right now. But if you're keen on handing over another 22x60 minutes of your life to the TV machine, ITV4 thinks you might like Jericho, and who are we to argue?
Not to be confused with the 2005 Robert Lindsay detective drama of the same name, this show pitches a scenario wherein the US has been struck by 23 nuclear attacks on major cities, focusing on the small town of Jericho in Kansas, which has been isolated by the bomb in nearby Denver, Colorado and left without communication with the outside world. Coincidentally, a prodigal son is on a flying visit to his folks at the time of the crisis and ends up stranded in his hometown, and eventually having some kind of moral epiphany and emerging as a leader in these uncertain times. That sort of thing happens to us all the time.
It had something of a rocky experience in the States, with ratings tumbling after a long winter hiatus (nearly three months) and leading to cancellation, but in the sort of fabulous example of rebellion that's been made all too possible by the internet, the fans rallied and bombarded CBS with peanuts (apparently in reference to a line from the season finale) and the show got granted a reprieve of eight episodes for next year, ostensibly to tie up loose ends, which is rather nice. So you don't have to worry about getting sucked in and being left high and dry with an unresolved cliffhanger, unless of course ITV chooses not to purchase those extra episodes. Then again, if that is the case, you know what to do: nuts, and plenty of 'em.
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Wednesday, August 01, 2007
Friday night's all right for lightin'
SPORTY! Friday Night Lights, ITV1, 8.00pm Labels: Friday Night Lights, ITV4, TV
We still can't quite get over the fact that 8pm seems like an odd time to be airing your US imports, you know. Almost like you're not really sure where else to put it, so you just whack it in the odd slot. The slot after all the soaps have finished (unless you count The Bill as a soap, but we still like to refer to it as a "serial drama" because we're pretentious like that) but before all the big peaktime shows hit the airwaves. The time when you're fighting against property programmes and lifestyle shows and gameshows and reality shows and whatnot, and no one really knows what's going on any more. It's a right headfuck, we can tell you.
On the odd occasions that we've remembered it's on in the first place, which to be perfectly honest is not very often, we've rather liked Friday Night Lights. It does a nice line in having a high-school focus while dealing with adult issues without doing so patronisingly, which is pretty tricky to pull off. Plus, y'know: buff jocks and pretty cheerleaders, which we will probably have a strange fascination with for the rest of our days.
So we come to the end of the season, and the Panthers prepare to play the state championship. Obviously they've been building up to this for weeks and weeks, and there's a lot riding on it. And in fairness, this sort of thing gets done rather a lot on TV, but it's done notably well here. Also, it's interesting to point out that despite uninspiring ratings in the US, this managed a second-season renewal, which was more than Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip managed, so it must have been doing something right. Go Panthers!
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Wednesday, February 21, 2007
Footballers' lives
SPORT! Friday Night Lights, ITV4, 8.00pm Labels: Friday Night Lights, ITV4, TV
We find ourselves in the rather unfortunate position of actually writing about an American show that we've not seen the merest second of, so we can't be as informative (ha!) and useful (ha ha!) as we often are in situations such as these. So we take full responsibility if this turns out to be rubbish, because largely we're recommending this on the grounds of lots of people who watch it telling us it's really good.
Whether it travels well will be interesting: it's about American football, which obviously puts us tweed-wearing Brits at a disadvantage from the word go, but more specifically it's about a town's obsession with their local sport, and the way it takes over people's lives, and that's probably something we know a thing or two about after all. Unless you were lucky enough to find an underground bunker to live in during the World Cup last year, anyway.
Anyway, the team in question is a high school football team, so hopefully there'll be lots of burly jocks to ogle even if the storylines aren't up to much (and the odd locker room scene would be nice, if anyone's offering). Plus it might even be educational - we can learn a few things about American football to bring us closer to our transatlantic cousins. Or worst case scenario, to give us a headstart when we finally get our hands on the US version of Footballers' Wives.
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