The fall TV season has begun and, as with previous seasons, I’ll try to watch as many new and returning shows as possible and write about them. And if I happen to watch a film in between, comments about it will be made. I’ll try my best no to include spoilers, but I’ll most likely fail. You’ve been warned. Here we go:
Terriers – Pilot
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club – Shuffle Your Feet
A damn good song featured on this episode
Before I begin with this little review, I’d like to say that as I type this blog entry, I’m in an absolute state of delirium, and I probably feel compelled to clear that up because of my delirium. There’s been some hardcore roadwork going on right beside my bed room window for over a week, between 8pm and 1-3 am. And to make things worse, I’ve been waking up at the crack of dawn. Hopefully you won’t realize how this is affecting my mental state in relation to my writing (it’s affecting my mental state in general), but just so you know, everything I’ve written up to this point has no spaces between words, and it’ll probably continue that way all the way through. By the time you read this, it will be corrected. Hopefully. It’s just like being back in film school…
Speaking of film school –and as a very strange segway into Terriers- I fell in love with polarizing filters back in the film school days, mostly because of the way they improve colour saturation. So the very first thought that came to my mind when I began watching Terriers was literally “Yay, polarizer!” because I’m pretty sure that’s what was used to shoot this show. And to get it out of the way, I thought this episode was beautifully photographed.
The second thing that caught my attention was a bit of dialogue right at the beginning of the episode that perfectly illustrates the loopiness of the unemployed, a concept I’m unfortunately very familiar with and that is a big part of who the main characters are at that early stage:
HANK
I tell you about what happened to me last
night, did I? Did I tell you?
BRITT
Tell me.
HANK
I couldn’t sleep. I don’t know why. It wasn’t
some kind of nightmare. I just couldn’t. So I got up
in the middle of the night to get a glass of milk,
and I went to the fridge, and I took the milk carton out,
but it was empty.
BRITT
(beat)
Yeah, for sure <here goes something I didn’t get>
HANK
Senility. Not only do I not remember putting it
back in the fridge empty, I don’t even remember finishing it.
Then there was this shot that I fell in love with:
Low angle track shot around truck, starting at 1:42. Too bad I don’t have video for this one.
That covers the first 5 minutes. As for the rest of the episode, it felt like a very unpretentious mini movie. It didn’t try to be anything other than a show about two guys going through some tough times. It had the right balance of drama and comedy. The one fight sequence was probably one of the most natural looking fights I’ve seen in a long time (neither lead broke into some fancy fight move, which was refreshing). It introduced both leads efficiently without resorting to exposition. And the banter between the two leads completely carries the charm of this show.
It’s great to see Donal Logue in a lead role again. I loved his work in Grounded For Life and I love seeing him in a dramatic role that allows for a bit of humor. Michael Raymond-James also did a great job as manchild Britt (It took me a visit to imdb to remember he used to play psycho Rene in True Blood). And the pairing of Donal Logue and Michael Raymond-James was spot on. Laura Allen’s acting abilities have vastly improved since she appeared in The 4400. And Rachel Miner did great as usual; she might be one of the coolest character actresses working right now.
In conclusion, this is the first new show I’m adding to my roster of must-watch TV. Apparently it premiered to low rating, so I hope through word of mouth people will give it a chance.
Give it a chance , people!
As a bit of a text breaker, here’s a video from The Bumblebeez, an Australian band I used to love back in the days when I inhabited the land of Oz, that I rediscovered yesterday.
Outlaw – Pilot: Micro review
Jimmy Smits is like the latino Jack Nicholson: He’s just so damn cool! And I’m happy to see him in the lead after his stunning turn in Dexter. That being said, I’ve always been unable to connect with law procedurals, and that’s what Outlaw is; and its pilot didn’t make me change my mind. In other words, I won’t be following this show, but kudos to the Jimmy.
The old show I couldn’t force myself to watch: Gossip Girl
I’m sure this show will still satisfy my girly girl needs in the most stereotypical of ways, but I no longer feel the urge to watch it as it airs.
That’s all for now, folks!
In the next installment of Fall Teleshenanigans: Hawaii Five-O, Lonestar, The Event, and maybe some House.