Yes, they would swear like Tony Soprano on a bad day and make nasty suggestions regarding the course of action their rivals should take. No, not Deadwood, silly, the heads of news and current affairs at the country’s television stations. Remember, folks, we’re paying Biffo Ralston to call it as he sees it and he did a fine job of reflecting media attention back onto TVNZ.
It made him sound worried though. If they’re going to watch a current affairs show at all, Aucklanders especially, and young people in general, are surely more likely to watch Campbell Live. It’s certainly doing what it should be doing: setting its own agenda. It looks like a proper show, whereas Paul Holmes looks under-resourced and a little bit sad. Perhaps they’re spending all the money on Paul’s salary. I think they should just run with all the tearjerking interviews Paul's been doing lately and turn it into an antipodean Barbara Walters-type thing.
Meanwhile, Deadwood is looking like goddamn art, don’t you think? EB Farnum’s lone rant about Al Swearengen a couple of episodes ago was straight-out theatre. I swear there’s less swearing now than in the first episode – David Milch knew it would cause a fuss, although he has written in defence of the language. He is quoted in this New York Times opinion piece. I guess we’ve been spoiled by too many Sunday westerns and episodes of Dr Quinn, Medicine Woman. It’s not even The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, although Timothy Olyphant is channelling Clint Eastwood a little in his portrayal of Seth Bullock.
Woo-hoo, Mal finally got laid! And with Julie Cooper too! Although in the best tradition of hero gets the girl-hero loses the girl (see: Starsky & Hutch, Miami Vice et al), she died at the end. Sigh. And are there any more sexy words than "I plan to take things real slow"? Except maybe "Relax, hon, I'll do the dishes" that is. I should point out at this juncture that Firefly fans will know what I’m talking about. There’s only about one ep left, but we will not be totally Whedon-less, as TV3 has scheduled season five of Angel next, which should take us close to September and Serenity the movie. It’s interesting that DVD sales are now beginning to drive the market a little bit. Strong DVD sales resurrected Family Guy. It’s unlikely that will happen with Firefly, because Joss is just too damn busy being a big-shot movie director and all. Hell, between Deadwood and Firefly, I’m beginning to talk like Calamity Jane! Motherwhaka!
Some of you good folks (okay, I’ll stop now) have noticed that The Wire has rolled over into season two. If you start now, you won’t miss too much, as the show tends to unravel like a novel. This time it’s set in working-class Polish culture down on Baltimore’s docks, but there’s Greeks, Russians and the drug dealers from the projects still in the mix.
Meantime, reader Shaun is appalled by:
The Inspectors on Tuesday night. The Marketing Manager or PR consultant for the White House should get a fairly decent bonus this year. In the course of the half-hour show the White House was featured in all three segments of the show, shown as a very "clean" establishment, the manager was able to show the new "features" of the venue including a lovely smoking deck upstairs, and the pool table where one can, if one wishes, play nude pool with one of the establishment’s employees. As someone who works in the marketing industry this, along with all the show promos during the previous week, would have literally been worth thousands of $$ in exposure. I hope they didn't get funding from NZ on Air.
Millsy shares a CSI: Miami drinking game:
You simply drink each time Horatio puts on or takes off his sunglasses. You'll drink more than you expect!
Perhaps there’s a similar one for CSI: NY. Anytime there’s blue lighting perhaps? No, wait, that would be all the time.
Sir Ian McKellan is to appear in Coronation Street. And the new Dr Who is quite good.