Tuesday, February 26, 2008

An immaculate concept(ion)

EUREKA! American Inventor, Virgin 1, 9.00pm

Last week we made the somewhat bold claim that Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles would revolutionise Virgin 1 and finally make it a must-watch channel. We're not planning to make quite such grand claims about this particular American import, but if you're a Dragon's Den fan who finds the series just lacks that necessary cutthroat competitive edge, perhaps this could be the show for you. Yes, you. With the hair.

Essentially the idea here is that a number of would-be inventors are selected by a panel of judges, including the always lean, always mean, occasional fat reducing grilling machine George Foreman and former Dragon Peter Jones, who also acts as producer - and just for the sake of chronology, this series originally hit the air long before the ill-fated Tycoon - and each gets $50,000 to work on their inventions in the hope of becoming a finalist. There were two series of this, and each one played out slightly differently, though we believe this is in fact the second series, so there will be six finalists, later whittled down to three. We're working off a very scanty billing here, though, so don't blame us if that turns out to be wrong.

It's from the producers of American Idol, so we'd advise you to expect similar amounts of hyperbole and bombast, but probably significantly less singing. Although you never know, do you? Also, the fact that we don't recall a UK-based spinoff called British Inventor suggests to us that this probably wasn't that brilliant. Unless Tycoon was to this as The X Factor is to American Idol, in which case you might be better off just switching your TV off for an hour and staring at the blank screen instead. Don't say we never give you options.

Labels: American Inventor, TV, Virgin 1

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Thursday, February 21, 2008

She'll be back. Every week, presumably.

SPINOFF! Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Virgin 1, 10.00pm

We're always, naturally, very excited by the unveiling of a new TV channel since it generally proposes a whole new selection of content for us to preview, mull over, and perhaps snark upon a little. That said, there's been something awfully low-key about Virgin 1 ever since its launch. While it had The Riches on its opening slate, which we quite enjoyed when we remembered to watch it, it didn't really have much else to shout about, unless you count aeons-old reruns of Star Trek or The Fresh Prince of Bel Air. We suspect, however, that Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles might be the one to put it on the map. Or the EPG, whatever.

Fret not if you've never seen the movies, or if you saw them long ago and haven't really had cause to revisit them, since as long as you remember the basic premise (Sarah Connor is a slightly unhinged badass, John Connor is the saviour of mankind, there are a lot of evil machines and a handful of good ones), you'll be fine here. The series is set after the second movie, with Sarah and John trying to stay off the radar in order to stay alive, and finding it unsurprisingly difficult.

Apparently there were quite a lot of disparaging comments made in the press when the series debuted in America regarding the female leads' suitability for battle - Lena Headey, as Sarah, being fairly slim built, and Summer Glau, as John's futuristic protector, being roughly the same, but we thought they both acquitted themselves excellently with all the gun-totin' and severe violence, in this opening episode at least. (There was one moment where if you pause it Summer Glau kind of looks like a murderous Bratz doll, but then we challenge you to find us anyone who continuously and without fail looks flawless in a freeze frame). Thomas Dekker, fresh from allegedly departing Heroes under something of a cloud relating to his character's sexual orientation, and that's the absolute most we're saying on the matter without a lawyer present, is also excellent as John, so the casting director probably deserves to have a big celebratory muffin for his or her fine work. And maybe an extra-large cappuccino.

Given that we wouldn't particularly list "action" as our all-time favourite genre, we were surprised by how much we enjoyed the opening episode. What helps rather a lot is that it's thoroughly well-made in just about every important aspect, with the possible exception of one or two marginally iffy effects (but the strike rate of really good ones to slightly iffy ones is very high). Oh, and those of you who've read The Time Traveler's Wife (which is probably a good 98% of you by now, surely) and who remember one of the unfortunate side effects of time travelling will know what to look forward to near the end of the episode.

Labels: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, TV, Virgin 1

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Monday, October 01, 2007

Virgin birth

NEW! The Riches, Virgin 1, 10.00pm

The arrival of a new TV channel can perhaps be compared to the birth of a new child - while there is undoubted joy and huge relief that it's made it out into the big wide world and it looks healthy and making lots of noise, there's also that faint sense of worry that once you've cleaned off all the blood and gook it might actually be a bit ugly, and you're not a very good liar and you don't know if you'll be able to make the requisite amount of "awww, cute" faces without retching. Perhaps that was a slightly laboured (zing!) metaphor, but you catch our drift.

So, following Richard Branson's almighty spat with the family Murdoch, which left Virgin Media cable customers deprived of Sky One (and aside from the Lost, 24, and Prison Break addicts, they're not really missing a lot), the decision was made to launch a spanking new entertainment channel under the strikingly original name of Virgin 1, which unfortunately means we have to bid farewell to ftn and those amazing teatime repeats of Gladiators.

Upcoming attractions include Terminator spinoff The Sarah Connor Chronicles, but tonight's big noise is the premiere of The Riches, starring Eddie Izzard and Minnie Driver as a pair of crooks posing as a wealthy couple who died in a car accident. Admittedly it does sound slightly like one of those concepts you'd come up with when you're deliberately trying to come up with ludicrous TV show ideas and similarly bonkers casting suggestions, it did great business in the US and was the second-highest rating premiere on FX last year (behind The Shield, but above Dirt, which finishes its run on Five US tonight, coincidentally). And following the show tonight is a "cockumentary" called Penis Envy, which surely requires no further explanation. Welcome to the fold, Virgin 1. Now let's see how you fare...

Labels: The Riches, TV, Virgin 1

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