Rob Huddleston's Blog - TV

Dr. Syn

Fri, 20 Feb 2009 17:44:00 -0600

One of my favorite shows growing up was "The Scarecrow of Romney Marsh." It was a 3-part mini-series produced by Disney, starring the recently-deceased Patrick McGoohan of "The Prisoner" fame. Originally produced in 1964 under the title "Dr. Syn", it's a kind of Robin Hood tale of a preacher in south-east England who, during the Napoleonic Wars, disguises himself as a scarecrow and runs a smuggling operation, the proceeds of which he gives to down-and-out locals.

You always have to be careful with shows you loved as kids, because frankly, few shows are able to stand the test of time. One of my favorite regular TV series as a kid was "Emergency", which I made the mistake of getting when it came out on DVD a few years ago. To preserve the memory, I've so far avoided getting "Land of the Lost" from Netflix.

I couldn't resist, though, when I saw that Disney had, at long last, release "Scarecrow" on DVD. I actually found it at Disneyland last weekend; I'm sure I could have hunted around and found it somewhere else, but I didn't want to wait.

When I saw it as a kid, I neither knew nor cared that it was already 20 years old. (I assume that I saw it on "Wonderful World of Disney"). I'm not sure precisely when I saw it, either, but I know that, when my family first went to Europe in 1983, one of the places I absolutely wanted to visit was Romney Marsh, where the show supposedly takes place.

We did in fact go to Romney Marsh (which, given the lack of smuggling scarecrows or even a marsh, was quite disappointing) and found in a little bookstore in some village in the area the books upon which the show was based. The seven book series, written by Russell Thorndike and published between 1915 and 1944, is really fairly bad. I've tried reading them several times, and like the Lord of the Rings, it's a series of books that I really want to like but that I just can't.

So back to the show. That series (which I remember being considerably longer than only 3 shows) that made such an impression on my ten, eleven or twelve year old mind is actually just as good today as I remember. I'm surprised, as I watch them now, how much of the show I actually do remember.

Unfortunately, Netflix doesn't appear to have this available: you can find it, but it says that the DVD release date in "unknown". The good news is that the DVD is available on Amazon, and it looks like the books have even been reprinted. If you enjoy action-adventure stories, you should definitely check these out.

288 days...

Fri, 16 Jan 2009 22:08:00 -0600

The wait is almost over.

The new TV season: Knight Rider

Mon, 29 Sep 2008 20:35:00 -0600

I'm not sure if Knight Rider technically counts here, seeing as how it sort of premiered last winter with its TV movie, but I guess it's still considered a "new show" and hey this is my blog and I get to make the rules ...

So I should begin with a disclaimer: I liked the original. I think most boys may age probably did. I mean, a cool dude (and yes, there really was a time with David Hasselhoff was cool) driving around in a fast, black car that freaking talked? That was the bomb. I can still conjure up the theme song, although I try not to since it will usually get lodged in my head for a few days when I do.

The new show is trying hard to stay true to the old, while of course updating things quite a bit. There's the now-required Grand Mythology of the show - something about Michael's past in Iraq and a government conspiracy and maybe the people he works for aren't quite as much on his side as he thinks. And there's a new stronger role for the female lead - in this case, Sarah, who is the daughter of KITT's creator and a once-and-possibly future love interest for Michael. (The first point - the conspiracy - I could do without. The second I have no problem with, just for the record.)

Otherwise, it really does feel a lot like the old show. Each episode will somehow involve Michael saving some lesser-fortunate person in such as way as to require the almost-constant use of his car. The new Michael Knight (who (SPOILER ALERT) is the son of Hasselhoff's character) is about as clueless as was the original.

So then why can't I find myself really liking the show? Well, for starters, there's one unfortunate instance of celebrity stunt casting: Val Kilmer is the voice of KITT. While there's nothing inherently wrong with that - Kilmer actually has just about the right voice and cadence for the job - the relative unknowedness of William Daniels, the original voice, helped bring me into the action. I can't help but picture Kilmer (usually dressed as Batman) whenever KITT talks, and that just kills the suspension of disbelief.

A bigger problem, though, is that the show is just a little too happy with its effects. Don't get me wrong: I'm all about cool special effects. But I prefer my effects to enhance the show, not be the show. So now KITT can, at will, transform from a normal Dodge Charger to some completely pimped-out Charger in "combat mode" to - get this - a Dodge pickup. (Dodge paid handsomely to be sure that KITT was one, or as it turns out, several of their cars.) So is this Knight Rider or Transformers? Then whenever KITT is in his hanger, he sits on a weird platform where several of those robot arms - the ones you see in documentaries that they use to assemble cars - shine bright green lasers all over him. Why? Well, it appears that they do it because it looks cool. And that's enough reason to do something in a show, right? Because it's cool? Never mind that I practically completely ignore the show whenever it happens because I can't help but sit there and wonder why in the hell KITT has these lasers shining on him. Just like every time he transforms, I expect Optimus Prime to come running into the scene.

So while the show does have some good elements, the overdone effects are just too much, and will keep it from becoming a must-see show on my list. I'll watch it if I happen to have the time, but no more than that, at least until the producers decide to spend as much time, energy, and budget on the writing staff as they do for the effects guys.

The new TV season: Do Not Disturb and The Mentalist

Wed, 24 Sep 2008 11:51:00 -0600

I have found the first truly awful show of 2008: Do Not Disturb. It's supposed to be a work-place sitcom about a bunch of people working in a hotel. Instead, it's a run-of-the-mill sitcom where apparently the writers simply rely on the Big Book of Sitcom Clichés to piece together their "scripts". Seriously, either they hired the least talented writers in Hollywood, or the laziest. I usually give a show three episodes to prove itself; with this pile of filth, I could only barely force myself through one.

(To be fair, it is worth noting that the whole work-place sitcom about a hotel staff has already been done in Fawlty Towers, and given that that is what I believe to be one of the two funniest TV shows of all time, it does set the bar pretty high for Do Not Disturb. But I'm pretty sure that Disturb would suck even without the Towers comparison.)

The Mentalist, like Disturb, also provides a strange sense of déjà vu, seeing how the story - a fake psychic uses his real powers of observation to help solve crimes - is eerily similar to Psych, one of USA network's better shows. However, the two have one important difference: Psych is most likely technically classified as a dramedy and refuses to take much of anything seriously, The Mentalist is very dark. It appears that over the course of the season, the story will revolve around the characters (led by Simon Baker and Robin Tunney) solving weekly crimes while being haunted by a serial killer who murdered Baker's character's family years ago. The show isn't one of the best things on TV, but it's not horrible either - it's at least worth watching.

The new TV season, Part 2: Fringe

Thu, 11 Sep 2008 17:19:00 -0600

We watched Fringe last night. It's the new entry from J.J. Abrams, the guy who created Alias and then let it get lost in its own mythology, then want on to Lost (and almost did the same thing there).

Joshua Jackson (Pacey from Dawson's Creek) is the only guy I recognized the show. The lead actress, Anna Torv, is basically new. There are a few somewhat recognizable faces from other Abrams shows, but this has got to have the least star power of any new show this season.

The plot centers around Torv, an FBI agent, and Jackson, a stereotypical "loser/genius", who will apparently be investigating supernatural-type weirdness each week. Huh. The FBI investigating the supernatural ... somehow, that sounds familiar ...

So that's the big mystery to me about Fringe: how is it not going to just be a remake of X-Files? Sure, there are differences: only one of the protagonists is an FBI agent; at least so far, it appears that the gross badness (and the pilot definitely had its share of grossness) will be terrestrial: they set up an Evil Corporation in the pilot; and ... uh ... well, I guess we'll have to wait and see from there.

Overall, I didn't hate Fringe, but I didn't love it, either. I'm willing to give it a chance - Abrams has shown that he can create compelling TV, and as long as he doesn't let the mythology of the show (the first hints of which have already been introduced) overwhelm it, it has a lot of potential.

One last quick note: we watched the second "preview" episode of Hole in the Wall last night as well, and I paid more attention this time (to the clock, not the show) so I can confirm that if you skip the commercials and all of the contestant intros and whatnot, it is about 10 minutes long. It's still far and away the dumbest show on TV, but it is also still entertaining.

The new TV season: True Blood and Hole in the Wall

Mon, 08 Sep 2008 12:13:00 -0600

Those of you that know me know that I'm a bit of a TV junkie. So I always look forward to September and the start of the new season. Each year, I go through Entertainment Weekly's fall season preview and pick out the shows that look interesting. Then I set my DVR to start recording. For most of the shows, my opinion of course won't matter since whether I like it or not, they'll be cancelled. (And it does seem that the more I like a show, the more likely it will be to get cancelled, but that's a different issue.) But a few will actually survive and get added to my list of shows to keep watching. So this year, I'm going to do a quick review of each of the new shows I watch.

True Blood

HBO has been hyping this one for awhile. The premise is interesting: after the development of synthetic blood, vampires have, to quote the show, "come out of the coffin" and now live openly amongst us. In a rural Louisiana town (is "rural Louisiana" redundant?) a young waitress who happens to be able to read minds encounters a man who at least initially appears to be a nice vampire. The main attractions for the show are the aforementioned premise and Anna Paquin, how plays the waitress. Unfortunately, though, last night's premiere episode was extremely slow. I know that they have a lot to introduce and get moving, but nothing much happened. I have a self-imposed three episode rule for new shows: I'll almost always sit through 3 episodes of a show, just to give it a chance to find its legs. So we'll have to see about this one. Normally, I wouldn't be optimistic, but again with its unique premise, I think the show has some promise.

Hole in the Wall

Well, we now have a nominee for the dumbest show of all time. This game show - it's being imported from somewhere, and given the stupid idea, I think the somewhere is Japan, where they specialize in stupid when it comes to game shows - involves two teams of contestants. The contestants are decked out in bright silver jumpsuits, and stand at the end of a platform. The big Styrofoam wall comes at them, and the idea is that they have to contort themselves to fit into holes cut in the wall. If they succeed, they score points; if not, they get pushed into a pool.

Yes, it is every bit as dumb as it sounds. But you know what? It was also entertaining. It's not a show that trys to take itself seriously (obviously), and everyone seems to just be having fun. So why not enjoy the ride? Plus, it's a half hour show. Add in commercials and the usual crap that game shows do to pad the time, and I'll bet that the show has, at most, 10 minutes of actual game time. So am I willing to spend 10 minutes a week watching people try not to break a Styrofoam wall? Yeah.

Jericho Returns!

Mon, 11 Feb 2008 22:32:00 -0600

The single best TV show of last season returns in just over 12 hours! So set your DVRs to CBS tomorrow night at 10pm. And if you missed the first season, then there's still time to get caught up, either on DVD or via the Sci-Fi channel's marathon running today and tomorrow.