basquille dot net

Last week marked the premiere of the 4th season of ‘Lost‘. In a period of not much new TV from the States (thanks to the WGA strike), anything new would be welcome. But I’m a big fan of ‘Lost’ and am quick to defend it to anyone who bashes it and criticises it. Yes, there are more questions than answers and there’s plenty of unanswered questions but that doesn’t retract from it’s watchability (in my eyes anyways).

The last season started off slowly but hooked me in the latter half of the season. So the much anticipated fourth season (albeit brief at only 8 episodes) started last week in the States. So onto the review of the 4th season premiere.

I absolutely loved it. The third season opener was good.. but this was something special!

Details of the episode discussed below so slight spoiler territory.. so click ‘Show’ below to reveal the discussion.

show

It was an excellent start to the season, far superior to last season’s opener. And kudos to Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof who (despite what a lot of people say) continue to keep us watching anxiously after 3 full seasons (and the key being drastic changes instead of a tired formula) and I respect them for it. And it’s something (in my mind) which a lot of hit shows in recent times has failed to do: ‘Heroes’, ‘Prison Break’ etc.

Roll on episode 2!

Rating:

Maybe it’s the lack of new material coming from the States (due to the WGA Strike) but I absolutely loved this!

It’s basic plotline (from IMDb) is this: “A drama about a high school chemistry teacher who’s suffering from the world’s worst case of mid-life crisis and becomes a criminal.“. That’s an absolutely dreadful synopsis of the show! Firstly, the show is not necessarily a drama (it’s more of a dark comedy drama) and the synopsis is incredibly vague on the plot details. I’d reveal more but it’s better to get a better sense of the synopsis when actually watching the pilot episode.

It stars Bryan Cranston (who we’ll all remember as Hal from ‘Malcolm In The Middle‘) as Walter White (who’s the hero of the show, the high school chemistry teacher as mentioned in IMDb’s synopsis) and he puts in an absolutely fantastic performance in the first 2 episodes. In fact, I’d even say if he continues the series with performances like that, he’ll be up for an Emmy next year without a shadow of a doubt.

The first episode was a nice little opener. It really moved quite slow at the beginning but things soon started to pick up show

The second episode was absolutely fantastic though.. everything from show

to the scene with show

The show really does get it’s tone right. Very funny at times, very dramatic at others.. and it helps to have a good cast (though Bryan Cranston steals the show of course). The scene in the 1st episode with Walt show

And I really enjoy the non-linear timeline in that it hops forward and back in time on numerous occasions in the first few episodes. And how the second episode starts pretty much precisely where the pilot finished. Could possibly be like that for the season I suppose.

Knew I recognised the creator of the series somewhere - Vince Gilligan. Turns out he was a long-time writer and producer on The X-Files. And is also responsible for the script to ‘Hancock‘ (a film I’m really looking forward to this year).

To summarise, I cannot recommend ‘Breaking Bad’ enough. It’s hilarious at times, edge-of-your-seat dramatic at others and the performance of Bryan Cranston makes it just essential viewing.

Rating:

Without a doubt, the “highlight” of last years ‘The Late Late Show‘ (Toy Show) was Jerry Seinfeld’s extremely surreal appearance promoting ‘Bee Movie’. It was odd enough to see as distinguished a celebrity as Jerry Seinfeld make an appearance but even moreso that his appearance be made on the ‘Toy Show’, which although very popular is aimed at kids and no real in-depth interviews do take place on this show.

Jerry Seinfeld was nothing but professional throughout his appearance but it was our own Pat “The Plank” Kenny who just made the brief appearance all that more bizarre. Whether it was:

• Calling him Jerry Seinfield.
• Creeping Jerry out with odd gifts.
• Asking Jerry odd and wholly un-researched questions.

Jerry’s Wikipedia page has the following to say on the appearance:

On November 30, 2007, while promoting Bee Movie, Seinfeld appeared on The Late Late Show in Ireland. However, when Seinfeld came out on stage presenter Pat Kenny seemingly had no clue who Jerry Seinfeld was and engaged in an awkward interview for about five minutes. Kenny would go on to call Seinfeld “Jerry Seinfield” twice before the interview was over and then handed Jerry a cheaply made Superman action figure as a Christmas gift. At first, Seinfeld believed this to be a joke, due to the cheapness of the doll, but soon realized that it was meant to be a genuine gift and seemed somewhat confused. Kenny then asked Seinfeld “what’s next for him?”, a question generally asked to up and coming actors, not renowned stars, such as Seinfeld. Seinfeld later stated that he found the entire incident “highly perplexing.”

The whole appearance was unbearably cringe worthy for those who watching. I don’t think Jerry will be back anytime soon on ‘The Late Late Show’.

Below is the actual video of the incident:

And a remix (watch for Jerry’s facial reactions!):

Only got around to watching ‘Life on Mars‘ before Christmas but watched both seasons of it within a fortnight. Absolutely excellent stuff - and probably the best production I’ve seen from the BBC in years.

And then came the spin-off - ‘Ashes to Ashes‘. And I’m really not quite sure what to make of this. For a spin-off to succeed (which it rarely does - with the exception of ‘Frasier’ and a few others), you need to typically put a new spin on the material in which it has been adapter from. It needs to at least have an air of originality to it but this brief promo doesn’t fill me with a huge amount of confidence. I really hope I’m proven wrong though!

To summarise..

Negatives:

• Looks like a rehash of ‘Life on Mars‘.
• From what I’ve seen of Keeley Hawes, she’s nowhere near as competent an actor as the excellent John Simms (Sam Tyler in ‘Life on Mars‘).
• The 80’s are NOT as interesting as the 70’s - FACT!!
• Ford Cortina’s gone.. and in comes an Audi Quattro?!

Positives:

• Gene Hunt is back (and plenty of fresh new one-liners for us all!).

‘Ashes To Ashes‘ starts on the BBC on February 7th at 9:00 PM.