Wednesday, October 10, 2007

Looks like we've made it to the end

We're going to do that selection box style of update today, but not because we can't find anything we want to write about at length (well, maybe slightly because of that), but more because we noticed a trend in tonight's telly. That's right, folks - lots of things are ending. Because all good things must come to an end, whereas bad things go on forever, which explains why Charmed ran for eight seasons. (Just kidding. We love that show, honestly. Just don't talk to us about season eight, we're still in repression therapy trying to forget it ever happened.)

And so tonight it's time to sing so long, farewell, auf Wiedersehen etc. to three US treats, two of them forever. Bowing out first (chronologically speaking) is Brothers and Sisters on Channel 4 at 10pm as it reaches the end of season one. It hasn't exactly been a ratings grabber for C4, hovering around and occasionally below the one million mark, despite its popularity in the US. Our theory for this is that perhaps the themes of the programme, in terms of its focus on a family at war over US politics and their own boozy, privileged nature, doesn't necessarily travel brilliantly and is perhaps more resonant on its own turf. That said, we actually really enjoyed this show (when we remembered to watch it), and the cast is ridiculously pretty, so we'll be sad if the second season doesn't get picked up by anyone over here.

Behind that is What About Brian on E4 at 11.05pm, which we've only ever caught odd glimpses of, but have also enjoyed in a dripping-with-cheese sort of way. It's bowing out after two seasons, leaving us wondering if the question of Brian will ever be truly resolved. Again, it was kind of hard to sympathise with the problems of a bunch of beautiful rich people, but we'll miss the show, and more surprisingly, we'll miss the trailers, which somehow went from annoying to endearing without us noticing.

And finally it's the swansong of Will & Grace on Channel 4 at 12.05am. In all honesty the show went off the boil years ago so we're not exactly in floods of tears, and if having not one but two live episodes in your final season doesn't scream "look at us, jumping this shark, look!", we don't know what does. But we'll miss the bitchy put downs all the same, and we'll miss trying to be more like Karen in our everyday lives.

So there we go. We're not going to cry, we're just going to focus on the good times and the fond memories. Okay, and maybe cry a little.

Labels: Brothers and Sisters, Channel 4, e4, TV, What About Brian?, Will and Grace

By Steve :: Post link :: ::  
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Wednesday, June 20, 2007

Pump up the volume

FAMILY! Brothers and Sisters, Channel 4, 8.30 & 10.00pm

It's that age-old TV problem, when the premise of a show doesn't really sound that great even if the show itself is actually pretty awesome. It's a problem we had repeatedly when trying to get people to watch Veronica Mars, after our cries of "hey, watch this show about a sassy teenage private eye!" fell on deaf ears. Similarly, when we first heard about this show, our response was along the lines of "well, that sounds boring". But, in a rather canny marketing move, pictures of hot guys making out started appearing on YouTube and we discovered they were actually scenes from this show, which got our interest up. (And only our interest, thank you - we'll have no cheap smutty jokes here.)

We've had the good fortune to have had a preview of the first episode (Channel 4 are actually showing two episodes tonight, using this to bookend Big Brother), and we can honestly say we quite enjoyed it. It's not exactly revolutionary, and there are some of those annoying bits of expository dialogue shorthand that are thrown in at the very beginning (watch for the super-lame bit where Calista Flockhart is on the phone to her gay brother as he makes it very clear indeed to the audience that he is The Gay Brother), but by and large it's interesting and well-written and the cast is extremely strong (Sally Field, Calista Flockhart, Rachel Griffiths, Balthazar Getty, Rob Lowe in later episodes etc etc etc).

As for what it's actually about, you can probably guess most of it: large family, children are all grown-up and have developed very different personalities, lots of interpersonal squabbles and lots of people sighing and looking quite put-upon (Rachel Griffiths does this a lot, but she does it very well so we don't mind). There's also the obligatory Big Secret and Tragic Life-Changing Event that happens in the first episode. It's a bit like Six Feet Under, if we have to compare it to something, but the humour is less black and it's less surreal. And fewer funerals, hopefully, even if they do have a sufficiently large cast to weather a cull or two. At least it's not trying to be bloody Lost, so it merits a quick look-in for that alone.

Labels: Brothers and Sisters, Channel 4, TV

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