Monday, October 31, 2005
it's good because it's British
I've never really watched The Sopranos. I've seen two episodes in their entirety, bits and pieces of a few others, but for the most part I have very little experience with that show. Of course I know a good deal about it, though, through the miles and miles of reviews and articles that have been written.
The first episode of Viva Blackpool (called simply Blackpool in the UK) aired on BBC America last Monday night, from 10 to 11 pm, and I imagine it to be a great deal like The Sopranos. Ripley Holden may not be a mobster, per se, but he cuts a very Tony-esque figure. He's charismatic yet menacing, a devoted family man stuck in a loveless marriage, a successful businessman who exploits others' vices and built his budding empire through less than legal means, etc., etc. In all, he's a big bundle of cliches, a fact that would normally do irreparable harm to a show.
His main adversary, Carlisle, is similarly something of a stereotype. Like Dale Cooper and Adrian Monk, he's the clever investigator whose skill and brilliance is shrouded, either intentionally or not, by quirkiness and naivete. He disarms his subjects by acting like a child, getting information out of them by belittling himself in their eyes. He's not taken seriously, which helps him out immensely.
So at the center of the show we have two been-there, done-that characters that would normally give little reason to tune back in. There's more to it than that, though. First off, the two lead actors were both really good in the first episode. David Morrissey (Holden) and David Tennant (Carlisle, also the newest Dr. Who) fit their roles perfectly, with the imposing Morrissey as the blustering bully and conservative libertine, and the Tom Kenny-ish Tennant as the purposefully awkward and meek manipulator. Both are engrossing enough as performers to make up for the cliches they're asked to portray.
Also, secondly, there's the little matter of the elaborate musical productions. That's right, the characters bust into song-and-dance routines at seemingly random moments. They're not quite true musical numbers in the South Pacific / Brigadoon sense, as the actors sing along with (usually) original versions of various old pop hits. It's sort of like karaoke, but with the original vocal track still on the tape. You hear the actor sing alongside Elvis, for instance. The dancing obviously isn't by professionals, either, giving the whole thing an even more ridiculous edge than your standard musical. Although they do give the viewer some insight into the character's thoughts and/or actions, these scenes really are mostly just for show, and as such reveal that the producers aren't taking themselves too seriously. When Holden and Carlisle have their first big face-to-face showdown at the end of the first episode, there's a vaguely homo-erotic bit of chest-bumping and dance-threatening set to Nancy Sinatra. It's impossible to take seriously, but far more entertaining than your typical tv showdown between the man with the secrets and the cop trying to get inside his head. So, along with the fine acting, these musical numbers, and their implicit admission that the show is not entirely a drama, help excuse the main characters' similarities to those from other, better tv shows.
Anyway, yeah, hey, it seems like a pretty good show. The first episode was solid, though it did drag here and there. Only five remain, and although I won't go out of my way to catch them, I'll probably watch if I have nothing better to do.
And oh, before Viva Blackpool, from 9 to 10, there's a show called Murphy's Law. It wasn't excellent, or anything, kind of a standard undercover cop show, but James Nesbitt plays Murphy, and ever since I saw Bloody Sunday I've found him to be a pretty awesome bad-ass. The leather jacket and fu manchu he sports as Murphy maybe makes him a little too cartoonish of a bad-ass (it's certainly a downgrade in that department from Ivan Cooper), but still, he's reliably entertaining. Maybe get drunk first, though. It probably helped last week.
I've never really watched The Sopranos. I've seen two episodes in their entirety, bits and pieces of a few others, but for the most part I have very little experience with that show. Of course I know a good deal about it, though, through the miles and miles of reviews and articles that have been written.
The first episode of Viva Blackpool (called simply Blackpool in the UK) aired on BBC America last Monday night, from 10 to 11 pm, and I imagine it to be a great deal like The Sopranos. Ripley Holden may not be a mobster, per se, but he cuts a very Tony-esque figure. He's charismatic yet menacing, a devoted family man stuck in a loveless marriage, a successful businessman who exploits others' vices and built his budding empire through less than legal means, etc., etc. In all, he's a big bundle of cliches, a fact that would normally do irreparable harm to a show.
His main adversary, Carlisle, is similarly something of a stereotype. Like Dale Cooper and Adrian Monk, he's the clever investigator whose skill and brilliance is shrouded, either intentionally or not, by quirkiness and naivete. He disarms his subjects by acting like a child, getting information out of them by belittling himself in their eyes. He's not taken seriously, which helps him out immensely.
So at the center of the show we have two been-there, done-that characters that would normally give little reason to tune back in. There's more to it than that, though. First off, the two lead actors were both really good in the first episode. David Morrissey (Holden) and David Tennant (Carlisle, also the newest Dr. Who) fit their roles perfectly, with the imposing Morrissey as the blustering bully and conservative libertine, and the Tom Kenny-ish Tennant as the purposefully awkward and meek manipulator. Both are engrossing enough as performers to make up for the cliches they're asked to portray.
Also, secondly, there's the little matter of the elaborate musical productions. That's right, the characters bust into song-and-dance routines at seemingly random moments. They're not quite true musical numbers in the South Pacific / Brigadoon sense, as the actors sing along with (usually) original versions of various old pop hits. It's sort of like karaoke, but with the original vocal track still on the tape. You hear the actor sing alongside Elvis, for instance. The dancing obviously isn't by professionals, either, giving the whole thing an even more ridiculous edge than your standard musical. Although they do give the viewer some insight into the character's thoughts and/or actions, these scenes really are mostly just for show, and as such reveal that the producers aren't taking themselves too seriously. When Holden and Carlisle have their first big face-to-face showdown at the end of the first episode, there's a vaguely homo-erotic bit of chest-bumping and dance-threatening set to Nancy Sinatra. It's impossible to take seriously, but far more entertaining than your typical tv showdown between the man with the secrets and the cop trying to get inside his head. So, along with the fine acting, these musical numbers, and their implicit admission that the show is not entirely a drama, help excuse the main characters' similarities to those from other, better tv shows.
Anyway, yeah, hey, it seems like a pretty good show. The first episode was solid, though it did drag here and there. Only five remain, and although I won't go out of my way to catch them, I'll probably watch if I have nothing better to do.
And oh, before Viva Blackpool, from 9 to 10, there's a show called Murphy's Law. It wasn't excellent, or anything, kind of a standard undercover cop show, but James Nesbitt plays Murphy, and ever since I saw Bloody Sunday I've found him to be a pretty awesome bad-ass. The leather jacket and fu manchu he sports as Murphy maybe makes him a little too cartoonish of a bad-ass (it's certainly a downgrade in that department from Ivan Cooper), but still, he's reliably entertaining. Maybe get drunk first, though. It probably helped last week.
