This article was written, by me, and posted, in parts, to the rec.arts.tv newsgroup on September 7, October 16 & 17, 2005.
(Updated with "Over There" review: April 22, 2006.) That original article has been slightly edited by me before being placed on the web on October 17, 2005.
Note: Your best bet is just to pick out the shows you watch, and read those reviews - few people read my whole dang review!
A summary of the grading scheme can be found at:
http://homepage.mac.com/ijball/grading-guide.html
[List of Graded Shows] [List of Ungraded Shows] [The Show Reviews]
Rank TV SERIES GRADE OTHER COMMENTS
---- ----------- ----- --------------
Empire B+
The 4400 B
Beautiful People B
Brat Camp B
Rock Star: INXS B (grade of performance shows only)
The Dead Zone B-
The Inside B-
Over There B-
Wildfire B-
Beach Girls C+
Into the West C+
Battlestar Galactica C- (no "long" review)
Ungraded
TV SERIES COMMENTS
----------- --------
Big Brother 6 Not even worth bothering with...
Dancing With the Stars OK, as "summer entertainment".
But I doubt it's viable beyond that.
Reno 911! I haven't seen enough of this show to
fully judge, but my first impression
is that 3 seasons may have been one
too many for an improv series.
The Scholar A good premise, marred by standard
issue liberal academia 'talking
points'.
Wanted I only saw the pilot of this, but as
I said earlier in rec.arts.tv, "if
it weren't for this show's cast
(esp. Gary Cole), this show
wouldn't have even gotten a 'first
look' from anybody. It's certainly
not breaking any new ground... "
Reviewed shows are listed, starting with Sunday shows, and going all the way through Friday(Saturday) shows.
| BEACH GIRLS (LIFETIME): | |
| Overall Grade for Season: | C+ |
OVERVIEW:
Like "Empire" (see below), "Beach Girls" was a 6-episode 'limited series' (true "miniseries" have much more spectacle than a show like "Beach Girls") that aired on Lifetime.
However, unlike "Empire", "Beach Girls" was a show that never seemed to go anywhere.
Sometimes, even in TV series, it is true that "the journey is more important than the destination." "Beach Girls" was not one of those series.
More vaguely diverting than engaging, I tended to like "Beach Girls" more for the scenery (Nova Scotia, filling in for Maine) and for some of the actors, than for any "dramatic" developments that transpired.
In terms of the trio of actresses who played the three "Beach Girls", I'd seen Chelsea Hobbs before, but Kristen Haeger (who played Skye, and whoseemed to have had her acting debut with "Beach Girls") was a solid find, while Kristin Adams (who played the third beach girl Clare) was pleasing as much for being a "type" that you don't see much on American TV as anything else. Of the other actors, it's always a treat to see Nigel Bennett (here playing an almost "good guy"!), and it's good to see Julia Ormond back doing something.
But, as I said, while the setting was great, and I enjoyed most of the actors, the plot sort of meandered around not going anywhere, culminating in an ending that was far too neat and tidy in tying every loose end up.
So, while watchable, I guess, on balance, I was a little disappointed with "Beach Girls".
Nonetheless, I like the concept of the 6-to-8-episode 'limited series' concept for Summers, and I hope more people(networks) start trying them. Let's just hope that the next set of writers/showrunners put more into their series than was put into "Beach Girls".
WHAT WORKED:
Good cast, esp. veterans Julia Ormond, Cloris Leachman and
Nigel Bennett, and newcomers Chelsea Hobbs, Kristen Haeger and Kristin Adams.
Also good was Janaya Stephens (who also single-handedly saved a good part of "Kevin
Hill" this year) as Rob Lowe's also-ran girlfriend, Francesca.
Nice setting.
WHAT DIDN'T WORK:
Rob Lowe was repressed and restrained to the point of opacity
- I never got into his character, and never understood what all the fuss was
about.
What was the point of all this? That dead spouses can lie?
That, if you wait 20 years, you'll eventually end up with your soulmate?
That no matter how bad things go wrong for three teenage girls, they'll always
be "BFF"? That even frat boys can change from skeevy operators
to "sensitive guys"?
I guess I'm just not sure what this was all about.
"Beach Girls" was too slow to be a "soap",
too restrained to be "melodrama", and too simple-minded to be much
in the way of a straight "drama".
In short, if you're going to do a 6-episode
'limited series', there had better be more going on (and it should move FASTER)
than "Beach Girls".
| THE 4400 (USA): | |
| Overall Grade for Season: | B |
OVERVIEW:
Despite the fact that I was highly dissatisfied with the "revelation" at the end of season #1 of "The 4400", I returned to watch season #2 and, much to my surprise, I enjoyed it more than I thought it would.
It's a general truism with me that the more 'seriously' I take a show, the less I tend to enjoy it (e.g. because more can go "wrong" when you care), while the less seriously I take a show, the more I tend to enjoying (see, for example: "Smallville"). And it's a fact that, in light of the end-of-season-#1 "revelation", I don't take "The 4400" all that seriously anymore. But, whatever the reason, I found this season of the show to be almost "fun".
Not everything is all that great here - while Billy Campbell is his usual
commanding presence as Jordan Collier (but, then again, he's always
good), and some of the guest/recurring stars (e.g. Natasha Gregson Wagner,
Jeffrey Combs, Karina Lombard, and Peter Coyote again!!) are good, several
of the main cast of actors ([cough] [cough] Joel Gretsch & Jacqueline
McKenzie [cough] [cough] Patrick Flueger & Chad Faust [cough] [cough] [cough])
aren't as good.
(To be fair to McKenzie, I think she's improved, and it would be hard
to do much with Skouris if you were an actress...)
But, overall, I enjoyed season #2 of this show. And, really, that's all I ever ask.
WHAT WORKED:
Despite saddling themselves with a pretty ridiculous premise,
the writers at least managed to do some clever things (e.g. baby Isabelle making
Patty McCormack's Rhoda Penmark look like a piker, Kyle Baldwin's lost chunks
of time leading to an assassination, using Summer Glau's patented craziness
and Jeffrey Combs' patented creepiness to good effect, Sherilyn Fenn as a gory
disease carrier, etc.) with what they're given.
Again, great work from Billy Campbell, and also Conchita Campbell
as creepy 'seer' Maia. Also, a lot of great guest stars this season (see above,
and also Lindy Booth, etc.)
WHAT DIDN'T WORK:
As I said last year, some of the other cast performances
(e.g. Joel Gretsch, Patrick Flueger, etc.) are IMO, less than successful.
Also, I really question how far they can take the premise
they have.
| THE DEAD ZONE (USA): | |
| Overall Grade for Season: | B- |
OVERVIEW:
While season #4 (actually, this will be season 4.0, to be followed by season 4.5 in January of 2006) was admittedly down a bit from the level of previous "Dead Zone" seasons, I still love this show, and continue to watch it with gusto.
(Still) Works for me!
Beyond that, there's not much to report, because not all that much happened in season #4.0.
WHAT WORKED:
I even commented on this in rec.arts.tv before, but I was
impressed by a lot of the guest stars in this season of the show (e.g. Jennifer
Finnigan, Dedee Pfeiffer, Patrick Bauchau, Ben Foster (I was perhaps most surprised
by his guest stint...), Lourdes Benedicto, Danny Masterson, Ed Asner, and Laura
Harris).
There were some good to underappreciated episodes this season
("Double Vision" and "Heros and Demons" were the former,
"The Last Goodbye" was the latter).
Anthony Michael Hall just gets better and better in this role.
WHAT DIDN'T WORK:
No really "powerful" episodes, and a number of
clunkers (see, for example: "Still Life", "Grains of Sand"),
this season.
Also, not much movement on the "meta" arc,
and with no real strong episodes this season, there wasn't much to make up for it.
| WILDFIRE (ABC Family): | |
| Overall Grade for Season: | B- |
OVERVIEW:
It's impossible to review this show without comparing & contrasting it to fellow ABC Family Monday night drama, "Beautiful People", so I'm not really going to try.
Of the two, "Wildfire" has always stuck me as about one-half a complete series.
First, you've got a relatively "thin" premise - girl from the wrong side of the tracks gets out of Juvie (that's pretty much the interesting half) and is assigned to work at a ranch where thoroughbred race horses are raised and trained (that's the much less interesting half).
Second is the relatively thin cast of characters. On the "interesting" side of the ledger is the "ex-Juvie" Kris Furillo (relative newcomer Genevieve Cortese), and her maybe-boyfriend rich kid Junior Davis (Ryan Sypek). In the "potentially interesting" category is Nana Visitor's Jean Ritter and Greg Serano's Pablo Betart (neither of whom the show ever does much with), and Nicole Tubiola's "Dani" Davis (who started boring, but got more interesting as the show progressed through season #1). And in the "absolutely, positively will-never-be interesting" grouping is Matt Ritter (Micah Alberti) who, while apparently the show's main male protagonist/romantic lead is about as interesting as watching paint dry (and even less sympathetic).
It's to the show's credit then that they resisted the obvious 'by formula' pairing of Kris and Matt, and instead allowed Kris to get together with Junior (who's both more interesting, and a million times more sympathetic & charismatic!). (Though there's no telling how long that will last...)
In any case, what it boils down to is I was only engaged by "Wildfire" when Kris was on screen interacting with, variously, Jean, Junior, Pablo, Dani or one of the guest stars, or when Junior or Dani were doing something related to their family.
But the show ground to a halt! for me every time Matt showed up (just kill the guy already!!), and Jean's love life didn't really grab me either.
In general, I like "Wildfire" - enough that I stuck with it through all 12 episodes.
But it's definitely a series that I feel is "missing something". And I'm not sure that it's something that can be "replaced" very easily.
If, as announced, ABC Family brings this show back in January, I won't continue tracking this show against first-run "network fare" - hint to ABC Family: there's probably enough here to float a "summer" series, but certainly not enough to go toe-to-toe with shows like "Veronica Mars", "24", "House" and "Prison Break"!
WHAT WORKED:
I like Kris Furillo, and Genevieve Cortese seemed to improve
playing her as the season progressed.
Kudos for actually letting Kris get together with Junior Davis,
sparing us the by-the-numbers (and boring) potential pairing with Matt Ritter.
I also liked the furtive "mother-daughter"
relationship Kris was developing with Jean Ritter (though, for all that an
interview with Visitor promised a focus on their relationship, there wasn't
nearly as much of it as there could have been).
The show did a good job developing the Davises, Junior,
and especially Dani (who originally came off as a rote "spoiled rich bitch",
but mercifully gained depth starting about half-way through the season).
Nice to see Joe Lando work again, here as (reformed?)
reprobate Ritter dad, Pete. Also pretty good is Jason London (the "thinner"
London twin), playing sleazy bookie Bobby. And it was interesting to see
Amy Jo Johnson in a change of pace playing the guest "bad girl"
in this series...
In general, this show is a pleasant diversion,
and I like it overall.
WHAT DIDN'T WORK:
Skipping Matt for a moment, one of the things that really
irked me was the roster of "disappearing cast members". Chief among
them was Shanna Collins (who played Dani's best pal, Amber) - Collins was fairly
prominently displayed in the show's early episodes, but she totally disappeared
after 5 episodes in). Similar things happened with Dennis Weaver (who played
the Ritter granddad), and Andrew Hoeft (who played the youngest Ritter, Todd),
both of whom disappeared for large stretches of the season. Only a little better
was James Read (best know for being the Halliwell's dad over on "Charmed"!)
who played "Daddy" Davis, Ken, and who at least showed up when most
needed. Memo to the producers: Either sign these people to longer more reliable
contracts, or get rid of 'em.
In fact, I think one of the problems with this show
may be that there aren't enough characters (at least regular ones) to keep
things interesting.
And, it goes without saying - I pretty much hate the
character of Matt Ritter. He's whiny. He's a punk. He's a loser. He's not good
enough for Kris. And he's basically a bore.
All in all, I find this show "thin"
(starting with the show's horse racing premise) - there's just enough to keep
you engaged, but it's all very borderline...
| BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE (ABC Family): | |
| Overall Grade for Season: | B |
OVERVIEW:
"Beautiful People", which at first glance appeared to be a shallower, soapier version of "Gilmore Girls" (a series BP's superficial premise is obviously heavily patterned on), actually is a more multifaceted beast that it might be given credit for.
You see, the show's title is no accident, and it is not apparently thrown in there just so it could be used as a pseudo-hip throwaway line by Gideon Lustig (Ricky Mabe) in the pilot. What has become apparent over the course of the show's eight episode is that it is, in fact, a literal rumination on "Beautiful People" - What makes people beautiful? Is it their physical beauty? Their intelligence? Their talents? Their material wealth? Their soul? And what are the consequences of being beautiful? How does one become "beautiful"? Etc.
(See? Lynn designs clothes; Karen's a model; Sophie's a photographer - Makes "beauty", depicts "beauty", captures "beauty". Get it?!)
OK, so it's a little overly thematic. But this deeper core premise is the first thing that differentiates "Beautiful People" from its antecedent, "Gilmore Girls" - the second is that BP is obviously not aiming for the oh-so-witty, 500-words-a-minute banter/dialog of GG.
With perhaps only one exception, I like all the characters, and the show's set up. And they've established a number of good "soap/drama" elements that will be worth pursuing if/when the show is picked up for a second season.
Regardless, I came to really enjoy this series - ultimately, more than the 'thinner' "Wildfire".
Bottom line: I have come to quite like this show. And I hope it is picked up for a second season.
WHAT WORKED:
First thing? The cast!
I know that some don't like GG-refugee Sarah Foret
(Foret guested in a fifth season episode of "Gilmore Girls") as
the precious younger daughter (with the precious name) Sophie Kerr, but I thought
she was quite good in the role, which is important as she seems to the show's
primary focal character. Also great is Daphne Zuniga (playing a much more
sympathetic character than Jo Reynolds on "Melrose Place") as
Mama Kerr, Lynn.
But, as is often said - it's the 'second leads'
that make or break most shows. Luckily, "Beautiful People" seems
to have drawn a strong hand on that front. First up is newcomer Jackson Rathbone
as 'richy rich' (and Sophie Kerr love interest #1) Nicholas Fiske, who does
a real admirable job at giving likeability to a character that could easily
come off as an opportunistic sleaze in other hands. Also good is long-time
child actor is Ricky Mabe as put-upon-artistic son (and Sophie Kerr love
interest #2) Gideon Lustig who (most of the time) manages a good balance
of sarcastic snarkiness and wounded vulnerability. Even the two "teen"
female character also-rans Annabelle (Kathleen Munroe) and Paisley
(Jordan Madley) are given unexpectedly "deeper" portrayals.
Also good (in a effectively "clichéd" part) is
Arnold Pinnock as Lynn's put-upon boss, Toby Sayles, and James McCaffrey
as Lynn's old flame (and current love interest?) Julian Fiske.
At least this show has "layers".
WHAT DIDN'T WORK:
Probably the weakest link in the bunch is model-turned-actress
Torrey DeVitto as Karen Kerr, but probably the worst thing that can be said
about her is that she's merely "adequate". OTOH, I found most of
the storylines based around Karen to be tedious, and Karen is a significantly
unsympathetic mess.
Several of the actors do not convincingly pass for
their ages - Rathbone, Munroe and Madley would barely be convincing as college-aged,
let alone high school!
Toronto (and back lots) do not convincingly pass for
New York City here. (But, then again, I'm not sure that back lots all that
convincingly pass for Stars Hollow, CT either...)
It was a little dodgy to cast (fellow "Melrose
Place"
alumnus) Grant Show as EVOL ex-husband Daniel Kerr in the season finale.
| ROCK STAR: INXS (CBS): | |
| Overall Grade for Season: | B |
OVERVIEW:
We're halfway there!
I've been saying for years now is that what I really want out of 'reality TV' is show where killer rock BANDS compete for exposure/a record deal. Said contest could certainly involve the band playing covers, as well as playing some of their own stuff. As long as the rock was hard enough (no _Simple Plan_, et al., please!!), I'd be there.
Well, we still haven't gotten that.
But we've gotten something close - it's called "Rock Star". Specifically, in its premiere season, it was called "Rock Star: INXS" and it involved the previously lead-singer-less Aussie band _INXS_ holding a competition to fill that empty lead singer slot.
As original conceived, there were 3 parts/weekly episodes to the show - 1) the "Real World-esque" straight 'reality show' Monday episodes with the various contestants for the lead singing job in _INXS_ living (and sometimes bickering) in a house together, 2) the Tuesday "performance" shows, and 3) the results and final competition to stave off elimination show on Wednesdays.
Of the three editions, I only watched most of the Tuesdays ones (and the Wednesday show once). Meanwhile, CBS quickly realized that the people drawn to the Tuesday/Wednesday shows didn't give a hoot about the Monday edition, and it was exiled to VH-1. That left the best part of the show continuing to air on CBS.
All in all, I came to really like the show. It did get a little repetitive at the end, as some of the cover songs began to be recycled by different contestants. But seeing these (generally) talented singers (and the 'house band') give their takes on various rock-&-roll classics was rarely boring, and occasionally quite rewarding.
Memo to CBS: Bring this show back next Summer. I'm sure you can find another decent-to-great rock band out there in the need of a good, new lead signer. If you do bring "Rock Star" back, you've got at least one guaranteed viewer.
WHAT WORKED:
The performances - that was the (main) reason to tune in,
and they were often worth the effort. (Kudos also to The Sentinel, for posting
his appraisals of all of the Tuesday performances - I wouldn't have gotten
into this show without them!)
WHAT DIDN'T WORK:
Though Dave Navarro was often too much of a push-over in
analyzing the various performances, I didn't have a problem with him (or "Our
Band, _INXS's_" often goofy declarations). However, did we really need
Brooke Burke?! I guess Burnett, et al. figured we needed some "T&A" to
keep our interest. Wrong! - the performances were quite enough, thankyouverymuch.
Burke was more of a distraction than anything.
Needless to say, while many of the performances were fair
to excellent, a few went a long toward butchering some rock classics. Unlike
those who watch "American
Idol", I generally don't enjoy seeing favorite (and some non-favorites)
classics massacred by amateurs. But I guess that comes with the territory...
| EMPIRE (ABC): | |
| Overall Grade for Season: | B+ |
OVERVIEW:
A show that took some hits from RAT's Anthony Cerrato (among others) for the 'historical liberties' it took, "Empire" was never a show that was meant to be taken seriously in that way.
Indeed, as I said to Anthony at the time, "'Empire' was escapist entertainment, pure and simple, and it worked [very] well for me on that level. I knew the history was bunk, so I just ignored that."
One of the things that "Empire" excelled at was "spectacle" - this show just plumb looked great, from the beautiful exterior cinematography (beautiful shots of flowing waves of grain never got tiresome!), to the interior sets, to the costuming (which, again, was probably too beautiful (and clean!) to be believable).
In addition, the casting was generally good, from the commanding Jonathan Cake as gladiator-turned mentor/bodyguard Tyrannus, to Vincent Regan as the sneaky-snakey Marc Anthony, to newcomer Emily Blunt as Veastal Virgin Camane (she so impressed me that I plan to rent her recent movie, "My Summer of Love", as soon as it comes out on DVD, just to get a better look at what she can do as an actress in a substantially different role).
Long-story short: I just plum enjoyed this show, and wasn't really let down by any of the six aired episodes. (The weakest episode was probably the 'slave camp' episode, "Arkham", and even that one was saved by a guest appearance from Dennis "Are You In Good Hands?" Haysbert as Gen. Magonius).
I wish more nets would give us fun escapist programming like this during summer.
WHAT WORKED:
Jonathan Cake was given the primary responsibility for carrying
this series, and he did the job admirably, giving the role of Tyrannus a good
mix of charisma, fortitude and vulnerability. As mentioned, Vincent Regan was
pleasingly ambiguous as Marc Antony. Also good were James Frain as the conflicted
Brutus (does Frain ever do a bad job in anything?!), Michael Maloney and
Trudie Styler as the treacherous Cassius and Servilia, and the aforementioned
Emily Blunt as virtuous (but still hot!) Camane.
This show looked great.
It was also a pleasingly diverting show every time it aired.
WHAT DIDN'T WORK:
Tom Welling knock-off Santiago Cabrera was a little weak
in the pivotal role of Octavius, though in his defense he got better as the
series progressed.
History?! What history?! Hopefully, if you watched
this show, you didn't take it at face value, and it inspired you to look up
the real historical developments of the era.
The budget must have been monstrous, and that led ABC
to cut the episode order down from 8 to 6 - this curtailing of the show did
hurt the dramatic (i.e. story) development of the series (though not as much
as I might have expected).
Ratings - people stayed away from this in droves.
The Tuesdays at 10pm timeslot was surely part of the problem, but mostly
people just avoided this show, for no good reason that I can see...
| THE INSIDE (FOX): | |
| Overall Grade for Season: | B- |
OVERVIEW:
Unlike a number of people around here, I wasn't all that "impressed" with this Tim Minear-led thriller/procedural. Nonetheless, I generally found "The Inside" to be an entertaining (if lurid) show, and I appreciated that they were attempting more with the 'procedural' (e.g. some psychological insight) than is usually attempted.
Also, I found the lead character, Rebecca Locke (Rachel Nichols), and the "boss" character, Virgil "Web" Webster (Peter Coyote), to be fascinating (as well as creepy and disquieting) 'head cases'.
WHAT WORKED:
The whole concept of the Rebecca Locke character was kind
of masterful, and the one thing I'll regret about this series not continuing
is not being able to follow this character to see if/when she was going to
go 'screaming off the rails' into full fledged insanity (assuming the
showrunner/writers/network had enough stones to actually go there - which I am
dubious about). (And, ditto, "Web".)
Peter Coyote, who had disappointed me mightily in
the first season of "The 4400", turned around and put in a great
performance on this show. Also quite good was Jay Harrington as Paul Ryan,
the team's "innocent" (of sorts).
WHAT DIDN'T WORK:
The fictional focus on "serial killers" is something
I've always found, 1) highly unrealistic (i.e. because there aren't enough serial killers out there to keep entire law enforcement units afloat in perpetuity!),
and 2) tedious. To keep this show going, it was inevitable that it would, over
time, degenerate into increasingly lurid, and unrealistic, territory, so that's
at least one thing this show's short shelf-life will spare us.
The other characters, beyond Locke, "Web" and Paul Ryan (e.g. Melody
Sim (Katie Finneran) and Danny Love (Adam Baldwin)) were never developed in any
meaningful way (before the show was pulled), and waiting so long to develop them
may have been a mistake.
While the character of Rebecca Locke was fascinating, I
never thought Rachel Nichols brought enough to the role (in fact, I'm not sure
she brought anythingspecial to the role, besides pretty, soulful eyes...).
'Procedurals'? Did we really need another one?! Esp. during Summer?
| BRAT CAMP (ABC): | |
| Overall Grade for Season: | B |
While knocked by a whole variety of people for being "exploitive" of clearly "troubled" teens (and parents - and that criticism has some validity), "Brat Camp" was a 'reality' show that surprised me with a fair amount (psychological) insight.
During the course of this series we learned something about nearly all of the "characters" (and gained some understanding into why they had initially behaved the way they did). And that's more than I can say about pretty much any 'reality' show airing these days.
In my estimation, "Brat Camp" is basically what 'reality' TV should strive for and should accomplish - something of a sociological field study of the participants.
On this, "Brat Camp" delivered.
WHAT WORKED:
Not only did we learn something about nearly every character
(save maybe Heather, who even at the end came off like an enigma) but, much
to my surprise, we learned that Sagewalk's sort of granola-eco-hippie approach
to these kids appears to have at least a 50% success rate (who knew?!).
In any case, watching the show as these kids developed - for
example, it was clear early on that this program was working wonders for Lexie,
and doing nothing for Jada (who came off as a Class 1 Narcissistic Personality Disorder
or something equally nasty)! And that's a better 'character arc' than many
scripted dramas manage.
WHAT DIDN'T WORK:
Exploitive? I guess.
But, and this is the key point, it wasn't 'exploitive
for 'exploitive's sake' (see "Big Brother", post-BB1) -
if there was
"exploitation" here, it was a necessary and unwelcome side-effect
of the overall effort at learning something about these kids and the process
involved here.
| OVER THERE (FX): | |
| Overall Grade for Season: | To be Graded |
OVERVIEW:
A series that made a generally good-faith effort to portray life in a "modern" war from the "grunts" point of view, despite seeming to get some details wrong and occasionally degenerating into patented "M*A*S*H" 'talking points'.
All in all, while I felt the series was inaccurate in parts, and slow in parts, I liked it (though I didn't love it), and strongly felt it had earned another season. But addle-brained scheduling from FX (i.e. running the series until it eventually faced regular original programming on the broadcast networks) unfortunately doomed it.
It will be missed.
WHAT WORKED:
Despite being slow in spots, this show generally managed
to be engrossing.
WHAT DIDN'T WORK:
While some characters were extremely 'sketchy' (e.g. Angel,
Tariq, Doublewide, none of whom were very 'fleshed out' in OT's single season),
other promising characters - Sgt. Scream, and esp. Mrs. B - I feel were bungled.
Particularly in the case of Mrs. B - what started out as a promising sketch
of a borderline psychopath pushed to the breaking point under the stress of
war unfortunately devolved into a standard issue "misunderstood 'troubled'
girl", much to my disappointment. The original vision of Mrs. B would
have been a fascinating character study, and I'm still frustrated but the fact
that this show jettisoned that half-way through the season.
The aforementioned patented "M*A*S*H" 'talking points':
several characters, notably the contractor in episode "Situation Normal",
the bleeding heart French woman running the orphanage (Serena Scott Thomas) in
"Orphans", and the second Lt., "Underpants" Hunter
(played by Josh Stamberg), were so completely unbelievable caricatures
that they were virtually cartoons.
In numerous instances, this show portrayed situations,
and interactions, that would never have happened in a real military setting.
| INTO THE WEST (TNT): | |
| Overall Grade for Season: | C |
OVERVIEW:
Before I start, let's review the six episodes of this miniseries, and grade them individually:
EPISODE 1: - c. 1827-1832:
Jacob Wheeler (fictional character) signs up with explorer/scout Jedediah Smith (real historical figure) and journeys all the way to Cali. Lakota Holy Man, Loved By The Buffalo, prophesies doom for his people.
GRADE: C+EPISODE 2 - c. 1832-39:
Wagon Train To Cali.! - Jacob Wheeler's female cousins (including Keri "Felicity" Russell!) meet all manner of mayhem, rape and death on a frontier 'wagon train' to Cali.
GRADE: B+EPISODE 3 - c. 1848-1863:
A confused (not to mention didactic and P.C.) mess of an episode involving Jacob Wheeler's brother, the Gold Rush (and Sean Astin!), Wheeler's photographer daughter Margaret Light Shines, Wheeler's two sons (one a Pony Express rider, the other a scout for the Army), a massacre of a Lakota(?) tribe (including Graham Greene!) by an inexperienced Army officer, and then in, a total non-sequiter! Rachel Leigh Cook and Quantrell raids of Lawrence, KS during the Civil War!!
GRADE: DEPISODE 4 - c. 1863-1869:
Transcontinental Railroad: while Jacob Wheeler's son Abe, and his new Chinese immigrant friend (played by Garrett Wang!!), help build the first transcontinental railroad, Rachel Leigh Cook goes up against mean frontier capitalist (horrors!) Daniel Wheeler (Lance Hendricksen), Margaret Light Shines goes... well, "native", and Jacob, Jr. (fictional character) meets up with a preening General Custer (real historical figure).
GRADE: B-EPISODE 5 - c. 1874-1879:
A new Gold Rush around Deadwood, ND precipitates the slaughter of Custer's men (in a particularly badly staged battle), including Jacob, Jr., in one of the few victories for the Natives. Jacob, Sr. (& wife Thunder Heart Woman) come out to visit Rachel Leigh Cook's Clara Wheeler, and her hubbie Robert, to see where their son fell.
The Native victory is short lived - the tribes are utterly defeated, and the result is many of their youngsters getting shipped off to "residential" schools out East, where Clara & hubbie Robert are appalled at the methods employed on the young natives, and ultimately leave.
GRADE: BEPISODE 6 - c. 1890:
The Massacre at Wounded Knee. As Robert & Clara Wheeler (now played by Joanna Going), along with Jacob & Thunder Heart Woman (who are both, incredibly! still alive at 80+!!), look on, a religious revival among the Natives and some yellow journalism (courtesy of Richard Speight, Jr.!) leads ultimately to the final Massacre of Native Americans (this time, in a brilliantly staged battle) at Wounded Knee. We conclude with some final thoughts from Jacob, Sr. and Loved By The Buffalo (also, amazingly, still alive!!) which amounts to a lot of hooey.
GRADE: C+
Looking at the individual episodes, what I personally liked best were those parts of those episodes that steered closest to actual historical events (e.g. the wagon trains, the building of the railroad, the residential schools, and the massacre at Wounded Knee), and showed me subjects and events I either didn't know about, had forgotten about, or was already fond of.
What I generally liked least were those episodes that exploited historical events to score modern political points (e.g. the Gold Rush sequence of Episode #2 was particularly terrible and cartoonish; the generic anti-military thrust of the entire series; the significant whitewash (if you can forgive the term) of the outrages perpetrated by a number of the Native tribes over the course of these times; the rote anti-Capitalist skewering of Lance Hendricksen's also cartoonish Daniel Wheeler, etc.)
Perhaps my biggest quibble is the choice of an ending - to my way of thinking, the logical end of this series should have been in 1893 (not 1890), with declaration at the Columbian Exposition in Chicago that "the [American] frontier was now closed". (Yeah, I know - the term was actually first used by the superintendent of the U.S. Census, Frederick Jackson Turner, in 1890 (when "Into the West", in fact, ended). But the idea wasn't popularized until 1893 at the Columbian Exposition in Chicago, marking the 400th anniversary of Columbus's discovery of the New World ...) Using this date/event would have given the series (entitled, lest we forget, "Into the West") a logical closing point, and I was a little disappointed that they didn't go with it. But this is, I suppose, a relatively minor quibble.
Ultimately, "Into the West" was an interesting, mostly watchable, though certainly not entirely successful, "miniseries".
WHAT WORKED:
Well, it was... interesting, in places. And it inspired
me (and others, I'm sure) to look up some of the history portrayed.
"Into the West" also, like
"Empire", looked great - you can't go wrong with
the landscape of the American West!
And the Massacre at Wounded Knee was a very, very well
staged depiction of the event. Almost as good was the 'hat throwing' scene
at the meeting of the Transcontinental railroad in Episode #4, and much of
the wagon train sequences in episode #2.
Clearly, Episodes #2 and #5, were the best in my
estimation (the "residential" schools aspect of episode #5
elevated that episode significantly; episode #2 was at least somewhat
exciting, even if we've seen all this before); episodes #4 and #6 were
interesting, but not as successful.
WHAT DIDN'T WORK:
Yikes. Where to start?
The #1 problem was the characterizations - in almost
no case did we get a "real" characterization here. There were
just so many characters (and "history" swept by so fast),
that none of them really got a proper portrayal (and many of them didn't
even come close to anything of the sort!) As a result, I can't really fault
any of the actors - only Lance Hendricksen and David Paymer (and probably
Graham Greene) made any real strong impressions, but all 3 of these are
long-time veterans, so that's no surprise.
Part and parcel with that was keeping track of all
the various characters, esp. among the Lakota and Union Army.
Some sequences just plumb didn't work. The choices
made in filming Custer's slaughter at the Battle of Little Bighorn were
very, very poor, and made the outcome of the battle confusing and, worse,
unexciting.
Of the episodes, while episodes #1, 4 & 6 had
some weak moments, nothing comes close to the disjointed
mess that was episode #3. It wasn't just that the Gold Rush sequence was
such a cartoonish cliché ("greed destroys the
'white man'"! ooo! that's never been done before!!) - it was that
various discordant elements were smashed together in a mismatched
and confusing hodgepodge of history; note to the writers: don't try to cover
15 years in one episode again! It'll end badly!!
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