SHADOWHUNTERS Typical Young Adult Genre Adventure

Article first published as SHADOWHUNTERS Review on Seat42F.

ABC Family’s Freeform’s SHADOWHUNTERS premieres this week. It is based on The Mortal Instruments novels by Cassandra Clare, and ignores the 2013 film based on the first installment of the series entirely, wisely starting fresh, since so few saw that movie anyway. But what is it exactly?

Well, it’s a mystery action-adventure steeped in a world of demon hunters and warlocks. One girl, Clary Fray (Katherine McNamara, Happyland), was kept sheltered from her destiny by her mother, Jocelyn (Maxim Roy, ReGenesis). Because of this, or maybe not, she now seems to be a special bridge between the world of mundanes (regular humans) and those that protect them from the forces of darkness. Which is needed now, for some reason, even though things have gone along centuries without one in that role. (Yes, yes, I get that the artifact everyone is searching for is why things have changed. Just seems arbitrary.)

There are saviors who go around, invisibly slaying the creatures that would do us poor, defenseless mortals harm. Most notably is Jace Wayland (Dominic Sherwood, The Cut), who hunts with sibling pair Alec (Matthew Daddario, Delivery Man) and Isabelle Lightwood (Emeraude Toubia, Tattooed Love), and whom finds Clary in her hour of need. Plus, Jace is easy on Clary’s eyes, so how can she resist someone with good looks and nobility?

If this sounds like the makings of a young adult novel, with the same style of a Twilight or an Insurgent, that’s because it is. The Mortal Instruments is a book series for that age group, and the television adaptation fully embraces its format. Which is right in line with the target audience of Freeform (well, the younger end of the stated demographic), and will likely appeal to a lot of its existing viewers. While it is a more epic tale, and likely has a much bigger special effects budget than most of its peers on the network, it should fit in fine.

The problem is for those of us who aren’t all about the cheesy romance and coming-of-age at the same time as becoming a hero stuff. There is absolutely a market for this, so I’m not knocking SHADOWHUNTERS for being what it is. I’m just saying the appeal is limited, as most adults will see this and roll their eyes at the melodrama existing between the characters. It’s more fantasy-style love than anything real or authentic.

SHADOWHUNTERS does have quite a broad world to explore, which is fitting for such a journey tale. We have the mentor, Luke (Isaiah Mustafa, Horrible Bosses), the best friend, Simon (Alberto Rosende, The Swing of Things), and a High Warlock (Harry Shum Jr., Glee), among others, to pull Clary in divergent directions. This means the plot isn’t likely to grow boring or stale anytime soon.

Yet, there’s nothing of real quality to make SHADOWHUNTERS stretch its genre, either. The cast is serviceable, but no one stands out as being particularly impressive. Some of the monsters look a little goofy because small screen budgets will always lag well behind feature films. The main thrust is relatively standard fare, with no big surprises present, at least not in the first hour.

My verdict isn’t that SHADOWHUNTERS is bad. I even occasionally enjoy a little bit from this genre. But a little bit goes a long way, and since this one has not done anything notable to distinguish itself from the pack or make it rise above the standard mold, I can’t really recommend it to anyone outside of its target demographic. For those this was made for, though, I think it’s a pretty decent example, compared to its peers, and you’re likely to enjoy it quite a bit.

SHADOWHUNTERS premieres Tuesdays at 9 p.m. on Freeform.

SHADES OF BLUE Make Me Blue

Article first published as SHADES OF BLUE Review on Seat42F.

With broadcast networks dying rapidly, NBC (like FOX, ABC, and CBS) doubles down on crime shows, the latest being SHADES OF BLUE, premiering this week. Set in a close-knit unit in Brooklyn, the series finds Harlee Santos (Jennifer Lopez, American Idol) entrapped by the FBI and forced to rat on the people she loves so that she can continue to be present as the sole parent for her daughter (Sarah Jeffery, Rogue).

The cast is quite a good ensemble. Lopez is joined by Ray Liotta (Goodfellas) as boss Matt “Woz” Wozniak, Drea de Matteo (The Sopranos) as fellow detective Tess Nazario, Warren Kole (The Following) as FBI handler Robert Stahl, and others.

They are not as well used as they should be, though. True, the characters end up being pretty believable, for the most part, and there are few glaring missteps that pull viewers out of the moment. But neither is there any chance for a single one of them to shine all that much. Lopez gets the meatiest stuff, but either she isn’t up to showing the necessary layers, or has purposely made the choice to not allow Harlee to express as much as one expects from this type of role. This is usually the type of Emmy bait a performer loves, but Lopez pulls back. Liotta does better when he gets the opportunity, but that doesn’t come until quite late, and I have doubts about how much he’ll be allowed similar moments in the future.

My doubts mainly stem from my opinion that the writing is mediocre. The pilot starts off with some very cheesy dialogue and ridiculous exchanges, which admittedly get better as the hour progresses, but never rises to any level that impresses. There is a compelling narrative within, the cop forced to become a double agent, which starts to come out as the installment goes on. But it’s not examined enough, nor are the implications really dwelt on. I know this is a single episode I’m judging the show on, but the pacing seems to want to rocket ahead instead of linger on the juicy bits.

SHADES OF BLUE is not a typical procedural. At least from the pilot, it doesn’t appear that it will be a case-of-the-week, paint-by-numbers series. Instead, it follows the path of the network’s Chicago Fire and its spin-offs by making it more about personal drama than a crime that needs solved. This switch has worked pretty well for USA, which used to specialize in the procedural format, but has since deepened to more complex dramas.

However, is that a path that will work for parent company NBC, or is this just hastening the decline of the company? I tend to think it’s the latter. Shows that have staying power tend to be those that offer something new to the landscape. SHADES OF BLUE, despite being a step up from the trite, repetitive junk that has been bogging down the non-cable networks of late, is staying too close to those same boundaries to make much of an impact on a broad audience.

SHADES OF BLUE is about par for the network, if not a little bit on the higher end, but at a far lower quality than the same premise would be treated to on FX, AMC, or HBO, the gold standards of networks today, or Netfix or Amazon, the streaming rulers. This means it’s probably a mistake for NBC. It may not be bad; it may even be some of the network’s best fare. But it is not the step in a new direction that the network needs to save itself.

SHADES OF BLUE premieres Thursday, January 7^th on NBC.

THE SHANNARA CHRONICLES Impresses

Article originally published as THE SHANNARA CHRONICLES Review on Seat42F.

MTV becomes a player in the modern television landscape with THE SHANNARA CHRONICLES, premiering this week. Sure, the network has had some modest hits, such as Teen Wolf, and some quality programming, such as the first few seasons of Awkward. But THE SHANNARA CHRONICLES is a turning point because it’s a big budget epic with complex characters (who aren’t all teenagers) in a sweeping, fully developed world. Based on the trilogy by Terry Brooks (well, mainly the middle volume), this is the first show MTV has aired that I could easily see one of the higher quality networks carrying.

THE SHANNARA CHRONICLES is set in a geographically small area on a future Earth in which mankind has died out. Elves control the height of civilization, with trolls and roamers on the fringes, all living in the ruins of once-great cities and technology, now nearly eroded away.

That’s where this main action begins, but it’s not where this story does. There is a lot of backstory revealed in bits throughout the two-hour pilot (from the first book) that set the stage for this world, and plays into the crisis at hand. Magic, thought to have died out with the Druids, is making its return as demons seek to escape their imprisonment and conquer the planet for good. Can they be stopped?

THE SHANNARA CHRONICLES introduces us to a pair of heroes who may or may not be up to the task. Princess Amberle Elessedil (Poppy Drayton, Downton Abbey) is a headstrong young woman who refuses to accept her place in society, and is formidable enough to make waves, earning a position in a male-dominated force. She is joined by naïve Wil Ohmsford (Austin Butler, The Carrie Diaries), a half-elf with heroism and magic in his blood, though Wil is ill-prepared to follow in those footsteps at present.

Were those the only two principal players, this would be a typical MTV series. Instead, there’s actually quite a few others. Allanon (Manu Bennett, Arrow) is a druid awoken from a multi-decade slumber who takes Wil on as his apprentice. King Eventine (John Rhys-Davies, The Lord of the Rings) is the ruler who has swept the horrors of the past under the rug, and now struggles to hold onto his legacy. Heir-to-the-throne Ander (Aaron Jakubenko, Neighbours) has a different idea on how to handle current events. Younger Arion (Daniel MacPherson, Neighbours) enjoys the perks of royalty without the responsibilities. And roamer Eretria (Ivana Baquero, Pan’s Labyrinth) wants freedom from her clan’s leader (James Remar, Dexter).

Now, while this is not a top-tier cast, it is a group of performers who hold their own in this Lord of the Rings-type fantasy. Together, they make up a varied ensemble who’ll likely face death nearly as often as those on Game of Thrones, though being on basic cable, THE SHANNARA CHRONICLES pulls back slightly on violence, disregards all profanity, and only flirts with nudity. Though it does the latter quite often.

Filmed in New Zealand, THE SHANNARA CHRONICLES feels epic and sweeping, and likely owes a lot of that to the novels it is adapted from. There is no need for the show’s writers to develop a world as they go because one has already been clearly laid out ahead of time. That being said, the source material isn’t enough to keep this show going for more than a couple of years, so the written work is likely to be a jumping off point, rather than the sole inspiration.

I liked THE SHANNARA CHRONICLES a lot. It feels more sophisticated and well-made than the typical MTV fare. It may not win any awards, but it signals that the network isn’t just going to keep churning out sexy teens doing scandalous things as their only programming, and I look forward to seeing if their viewers embrace it, or maybe even earn the channel a new audience.

THE SHANNARA CHRONICLES premieres Tuesday at 10 p.m. on MTV.

IT'S ALWAYS SUNNY IN PHILADELPHIA Remains Bright

Article first published as TV Review: ‘It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia’ – Season 11 Premiere on Blogcritics.

FX’s oldest original sitcom, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, returns this week for its eleventh season on spin-off network FXX. Some shows would start to grow stale after more than a decade on the air, but this one, perhaps in part because of a production schedule that only requires ten fresh episodes per year, has managed to stay inventive and engaging. It pays tribute to long-time fans by keeping the running gags and throwbacks coming, but also finds ways to not make the stories seem repetitive.

Season 11 begins with “Chardee MacDennis 2: Electric Boogaloo,” in which the homemade game the gang competitively tears each other apart playing re-emerges as they try to sell it to an executive. Dee (Kaitlin Olson) and Dennis (Glenn Howerton) defend their title from Charlie (Charlie Day) and Mac (Rob McElhenney), as Frank (Danny DeVito) tries to put his spin on it. As you expect, things get out of hand and go horribly wrong, which our core group of characters seem completely unaffected by.
The chemistry between this ensemble is one of the best on television, finely honed after many years together. While the people they play are almost always trying to get a leg up on the others, the performers themselves mesh together beautifully, each allowed plenty of time to shine, never stepping on top of one another in the name of a good joke. They seem completely at ease and in their element.

“Chardee MacDennis 2: Electric Boogaloo” is enhanced by the presence of Andy (Andy Buckley, The Office), an outsider who participates with the group. For brief moments, viewers might wonder why Andy goes as far as he does in the service of the competition, but usually one is too distracted by the zaniness around him to notice, and I love seeing a fresh outsider tossed into the mess that eventually shocks even him. Plus, the half hour wraps things up nicely with no further explanation needed.

The inside jokes among the gang are communicated well enough that most of the audience at home will feel included, not excluded. When a beer bottle becomes a puzzle, it’s funny because we’re familiar with the characters and how they relate to one another, even if someone who has never seen the show before might be confused. Even if you are a first-time sampler, though, this half hour is plenty humorous enough, providing a nice example of the show’s style, to hook you in and entertain you.

For the deeper fans, there’s a chuckle when we’re reminded that Mac finds Dee disgusting, even though Olson and McElhenney are married in real life. The chemistry of the group only works because of the revulsion, though. If any of the guys ever wanted Dee, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia would fall apart, so Olson plays her just despicable enough to hang with the guys, who each are awful in their own way. Except maybe Charlie. Sort of.

Week two, “Frank Falls Out the Window” is even more for the fans, as the events from several season two episodes are revisited. Frank did not join the cast until season two, and with a somewhat clever twist on a television trope, updated for the raw edginess of It’s Always Sunny, his origin plays out again. I won’t spoil exactly what’s going on,  but it did make me want to pull out my DVD and rewatch some old installments.

If I have one complaint about the show, it’s that only seasons five through eight have been released on Blu-ray. The older and the more recent episodes are sold exclusively in standard definition DVD, which seems a waste when the show airs in HD.

While I have only viewed the first two episodes of season 11, it seems to me that It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia has returned exactly on the level I wanted it to, still lots of fun, and still surprising me when I think I have it all figured out. The show premieres Wednesday on FXX.

DVD Review: ‘Family Guy – Season Thirteen’

Article originally published as DVD Review: ‘Family Guy – Season Thirteen’ on Blogcritics.

Released a little later than most television sets, just before Christmas, months after the following season began, Family Guy – Season Thirteen is available now. The three-disc set contains all eighteen episodes from the fall 2014 through spring 2015 run, now uncensored with a bit of content you couldn’t see when it was broadcast on FOX, along with a handful of special features (mostly audio commentaries). For the Family Guy completionist, this provides the opportunity to bring your collection up to date. 

Season Thirteen kicks off with the double-length installment “The Simpsons Guy.” As you might expect, this episode finds the Griffiths heading to Springfield and meeting The Simpsons family and friends. Long anticipated, the episode isn’t as amazing as I’d hoped, but it’s not bad either.


This follows the trend of Family Guy in general. While South Park has never been better nineteen seasons in, Family Guy peaked somewhere around season five and has never recovered. The Simpsons pretty much did the same thing, albeit a little later, so the Seth MacFarlane show is in good company. What this means is the program is still worth watching, but not appointment television. Most installments elicit a few chuckles, but none shock or wow the audience like the animated series did in its early days. Unlike South Park, Family Guy has not found a way to reinvent itself, at least not yet, and the crossover with The Simpsons does not improve upon their regular format. Yet, I still tune in because Family Guy gives me exactly what I expect from it week in and week out. It’s comfortable.

I do appreciate that there is a “Making of” featurette for this two-parter. Since it is something unique for the series, even if the story doesn’t feel particularly fresh, I am interested in how it came about. The extra doesn’t go all that in-depth, clocking in at a mere thirteen minutes, but it’s the best bonus on this set, which also includes a full-episode animatic, some deleted scenes, and numerous audio commentaries.

Among the other episodes in Family Guy – Season Thirteen are: “Baking Bad,” in which Peter and Lois open a bakery; “The 2000-Year-Old Virgin,” in which Peter tries to help Jesus Christ lose his virginity; “Quagmire’s Mom,” which helps explains some of the supporting character’s personality; “Stewie is Enceinte,” in which Stewie impregnates himself with Brian’s DNA; and “Fighting Irish,” in which Peter learns to fight from Liam Neeson.

If you’ve been collecting Family Guy DVDs for awhile, like I have, you may notice something strange about the title of this release. The first twelve compilations of the show were released as Volumes, not seasons. This is due to the fact that season one was so short it was combined with season two in its initial production. Season four was then split over two volumes, and many subsequent DVDs split seasons into pieces. Thankfully, seasons tens and eleven were kept together, released as Volumes Eleven and Twelve, and then last year, Season Twelve got its own set. This does mean there are two twelves in the run – Volume Twelve and Season Twelve. But now with Season Thirteen out, the show seems to have gotten its act together and fallen more in line with what the public expects.

Now if only FOX would get around to releasing Family Guy on Blu-ray. I know the animation on this DVD set is crisper than most standard definition programming, but the show has aired in HD for years, and looks even better when viewed that way. Why does the studio insist on releasing an inferior product?

Family Guy – Season Thirteen is another batch of mildly amusing episodes from a consistent series at an inexpensive price, and is available now on DVD.

THE WALKING DEAD Messes "Up"

Article originally published as TV Review: 'The Walking Dead' - 'Heads Up' on Blogcritics.

I was wrong.

I have to start my review of this week’s The Walking Dead episode “Heads Up” with that statement because of how vehemently and often I had asserted that Glenn (Steven Yeun) was dead. When last we’d seen the original cast member, he is lying on the ground, seemingly being ripped apart by a huge crowd of Walkers. I was sure he could not have made it out of the alley alive. “Heads Up” reveals that apparently he did.

Now, I’m torn as to how much to go into the way Glenn is brought back, because I run the risk of sounding like sour grapes. I do think, however, that the way The Walking Dead orchestrated his survival is as unrealistic as the show has ever been. Usually, it’s a series that stays as grounded as possible, despite the central, highly unrealistic conceit of a zombie apocalypse. But in this case, they break that trend and go into superhuman territory.

A popular theory floated on the internet and by friends of mine in the wake of his ‘demise’ is that Glenn is safe under Nicholas’ body and manages to crawl under a dumpster, waiting out the Walkers until they leave. I dismissed that scenario because there are a LOT of Walkers in the alley and there is no realistic way they would only tear at Nicholas. They would have ripped into Glenn as well, if not immediately, as soon as they’d eaten their way through Nicholas. Instead, the crowd isn’t so tight that Glenn can’t slip between their legs and under the dumpster, which makes no sense given what viewers previously witnessed. It also doesn’t make sense that within the very small space, in which Glenn is able to maneuver, Walkers don’t crawl under and get him. He can’t defend all sides at once, and there’s enough of them that he should not be able to fight them off, especially not for the day or two in which he’s hiding.

If The Walking Dead had presented a believable way for Glenn to make it out, I’d readily admit I’d been fooled by the shot of the pocket watch and the set up that left no doubt he should be dead. I’d heap admiration and respect towards The Powers That Be, happy to be proven wrong. That would have been brilliant writing. Instead, I feel a bit let down by the show itself. The series failed to meet the high expectations I’d formed based its past excellence. So I am absolutely wrong, not because I misread the situation as it unfolded on screen, but because I trusted writing that did not live up to that trust, which is kinda depressing.

To make matters worse, shortly after Glenn gets out from under the dumpster, he comes across the Walker body of one of the Alexandrian party. This guy hadn’t even attempted to hide when he was attacked (not that there was any way he could have). He is smashed against a fence where a bunch of Walkers were pressed against him. How is enough intact to be recognizable? This makes no sense for the world of The Walking Dead. He would have surely been devoured or at least completely unrecognizable!

Thankfully, the rest of “Heads Up” is up to the usual standards of the show. Rick (Andrew Lincoln) is starting to realize the Alexandrians are part of his family now, as some of his group, like Tara (Alanna Masterson), already accept. Carol (Melissa McBride) catches Morgan (Lennie James) hiding his prisoner, which is going to result in bad stuff. Morgan boosts the confidence of Dr. Cloyd (Merritt Wever) in a very sweet moment. Ron (Austin Abrams) is so plotting to make an ill-advised move against Rick and/or Carl (Chandler Riggs).

I think Michonne (Danai Gurira) realizes that Deanna (Tovah Feldshuh) doesn’t plan to live long, and I will be surprised if she makes it past next week’s installment. And the moment with Spencer (Austin Nichols) on the wire teases that some of the things in the comic book will probably repeat on screen next week, though likely with some twists. These are all really great scenes that further character development and set up what is sure to be an exciting finale. Almost enough to make me forget the missteps at the start of the hour, and enough to keep The Walking Dead in my “favorite TV show currently airing” slot.

Plus, we get a really sweet plot between Glenn and Enid (Katelyn Nacon), in which our miraculously resurrected hero convinces the girl to come home, saving another soul and reinforcing that the reprieve he has been given is probably temporary, as the moral center of the show never lives long. Glenn’s impending death will right the mistake made, though I still doubt that (SPOILER ALERT!) Glenn will meet his fate the same way he did in the comics, as perfectly moving and disturbing as that is.

The Walking Dead concludes the first half of its sixth season next Sunday at 9 p.m. on AMC.

Marvel's JESSICA JONES

Article originally published as JESSICA JONES Review on Seat42F.

The following review is very light on spoilers, so please read on!

After the success of MARVEL’S DAREDEVIL last spring, many have waited with bated breath for the next installment in the studio’s Netflix universe. It arrives this Friday in the form of JESSICA JONES, a noir detective series that gets a lot darker and a lot scarier than anything Marvel has done before. And, as one might expect, it is excellent.

JESSICA JONES begins with the titular character (Krysten Ritter, Breaking Bad, Don’t Trust the B-) working as a private eye in Hell’s Kitchen. As is familiar to the archetype, Jessica is a hard-drinker, trying to escape demons from her past, while being excellent at her job. This feels a bit like Veronica Mars, a show Ritter did an arc in, and viewers think they know what they’re getting.

Not even a full hour in, though, JESSICA JONES takes a twist into new territory. It isn’t that the show abandons the early tone or style; it still infuses what comes after. But while the series begins rooted in a genre we’ve seen before, it expands the horizons of those bearing witness to the proceedings in short order.

Part of this is because JESSICA JONES is kind of a horror show. Kilgrave, a.k.a. The Purple Man (David Tennant, Doctor Who, Broadchurch), is the scariest villain I’ve ever seen in the superhero realm, and what he does is more disturbing than the fare fans are used to. This is not a Marvel series appropriate to watch with the kiddos. Instead, it features what appears to be an unstoppable bad guy who does things far worse than simple violence permits, making for a premise that will send chills up and down and back up your spine. He is terrifying.

Jessica also has a very rich backstory that is barely teased in the initial episode. We know she has undergone some trauma; that’s clear from the way she lives her life, trying to get past something that has scarred her soul. But the more we learn about her, the more it makes sense that she’s this screwed up. Some characters have reasons for doing destructive things and we forgive them for it, but for Jessica to even continue existing in the world as she does makes her far stronger and resilient than your average person.

This means Jessica’s abilities are not limited to the physical. Her superpowers are not the point of JESSICA JONES, and we get them in small doses, not showy sequences. It’s not even immediately clear what she can do, other than lift cars and jump high. Yet, those aren’t the most impressive things about her, which is a departure for a comic book adaptation.

Jessica isn’t alone in her world, much as she usually acts like she wants to be. She has a sort-of boss, Jeryn Hogarth (Carrie-Anne Moss, The Matrix, Vegas), an estranged friend, Trish Walker (Rachael Taylor, Grey’s Anatomy, Crisis), and a neighbor without boundaries, Malcolm (Eka Darville, The Originals). She also (sort of) meets a bartender by the name of Luke Cage (Mike Colter, The Good Wife) who is probably more compatible with her than either expects, and who will be headlining the third Marvel Netflix series next year.

Given the pedigree of the cast, made up almost entirely of actors I already admire and respect, it’s not a surprise that the performances are every bit as excellent as the production. Ritter has needed a vehicle to show her ranger for awhile, and this is it. Tennant completely transforms into a monster unrecognizable, and I’ll never watch him the same way again. The scenes with Colter already have me excited for his turn in the lead. This is high quality television period, not just for its genre or when compared to its peers, but across the entire spectrum. I would posit it is the pinnacle of everything Marvel has done thus far, and a promise of continued greatness.

All thirteen episodes of JESSICA JONES’ freshman run will be live on Netflix this Friday. I recommend you watch as many as you can this weekend, lest you be lost when your friends and co-workers are talking about this on Monday, as they most definitely will be.

Venturing INTO THE BADLANDS

Article originally published as INTO THE BADLANDS Review on Seat42F.

Daniel Wu as Sunny - Into the Badlands _ Season 1, Epsiode 1 - Photo Credit: Patti Perret/AMC

 

AMC’s newest drama, INTO THE BADLANDS, premieres tonight. Set in a future where guns have been eradicated, the territory is broken up into domains runs by Barons, who use teams of assassins to keep their subjects in line. This makes the setting seem more like the past, but don’t think on that too deep. Instead, just enjoy the gratuitous violence.

The description of the series may sound a bit flip, but so is the show itself. There are numerous fight scenes, which have been the focus of much of the promotional materials for the show. Is there ever any reason we need to see extended fight scenes where one supernaturally gifted combatant takes out an entire gang? Nah, but it’s fun, and that’s why this type of material exists.

INTO THE BADLANDS does have substance, too. The characters are interesting, and the political machinations between those who seek to extend their power provide engaging drama. But I’m simply pointing out that by mixing it with light entertainment, it makes INTO THE BADLANDS slightly less than, say, The Walking Dead, which uses fighting for one’s lives to enhance scenes, rather than making it the center of sequences.

At the center of INTO THE BADLANDS is Sunny (Daniel Wu, The Man With the Iron Fists), the lead protector for the land’s most powerful Baron, Quinn (Marton Csokas, Klondike). Sunny is a loyalist who is comfortable with the current system, until he’s not. Mysteries from his past are brought up when he finds a kid, M. K. (Aramis Knight, The Dark Knight Rises), with inexplicable powers and a coincidental symbol. This, combined with news from his secret girlfriend, Veil (Madeleine Mantock, The Tomorrow People), make Sunny question everything he values and believes to be true. He begins a real hero’s journey.

It’s because of this compelling character that I want to watch INTO THE BADLANDS. Sure, it’s entertaining, but that in of itself is not enough these days. Thankfully, this program doesn’t just rely on that, even though that’s the most obvious, flashy thing about it.

There’s also an enticing sexual component. Quinn is married to Lydia (Orla Brady, American Odyssey), and will soon take a second, much younger, wife, Jade (Sarah Bolger, The Tudors). AMC stops short of showing any real nudity, as basic cable usually does, but there’s certainly sexiness in the power wrangling that is just getting started. While this plot doesn’t cover any new ground, at least not yet, it does add another interesting layer to the proceedings.

The Widow (Emily Beecham, The Village) ensures the boys won’t be the only ones having fun. She’s a new Baron who is at odds with Quinn and has her sights set on M. K. When she shows up, she immediately grabs the spotlight, and she clearly has some physical attributes of her own. This character should help ally fears that INTO THE BADLANDS is only set to attract male viewers. She’s beautiful and badass.

All of these characters exist in a fully realized world. Great thought has gone into building this system, incorporating historical context, while twisting it enough to be unfamiliar to students of the past. The result is a setting believable and strange at the same time, and one well-suited to the people who populate it. The product design is excellent. It’s almost a sci-fi / fantasy show, while managing to stay more grounded than what is typical of that genre. It’s hard to strictly categorize it, but I see that as a plus, showing originality.

For all of these reasons, INTO THE BADLANDS is worth checking out, even if you’re not into the martial arts. It airs Sundays at 10 p.m. on AMC.

SPOTLESS Record

Article originally published as SPOTLESS Review on Seat42F.

Esquire is the latest cable network to get into the scripted game, premiering its first original series tonight, SPOTLESS. A Franco-British import, SPOTLESS aired in France last March, and now comes to American television exclusively on Esquire. Honestly, my viewing habits being skewed almost entirely to scripted programming, I am not familiar with Esquire’s slate or how it might fit their audience. But this is a quality show that would be right at home on BBC America, Sundance, or A&E. If that’s the direction Esquire is going in, I’ll be paying more attention to it from now on.

SPOTLESS is a tale of two brothers who went through a traumatic event in childhood, and now, coming together for the first time as adults, find they have very different ways of dealing with things. Jean Bastiere (Marc-Andrew Grondin, C.R.A.Z.Y.) has a wife and two young girls, owning his own business cleaning crime scenes and building a respectable life in London. He struggles financially, ever since the recession, but he has tried to put the past behind him and move on mostly honestly. By contrast, Martin Bastiere (Denis Menochet, Inglourious Basterds) has sunk deeper into the mire, conducting himself as a criminal. Now, their lives have become messily intertwined.

I find Jean a very interesting protagonist because he’s not exactly what one would expect. Usually, the hero is either noble, with a strong moral compass, or is deeply flawed, highly skilled, but not going at using those skills around other people. Jean falls in the middle. He presents himself as an upstanding man, and resists going afoul of the law when mobster Nelson Clay (Brendan Coyle, Downton Abbey) tries to recruit him. Yet, he seems to have little problem cheating on his wife with Claire Wiseman (Tanya Fear, Kick-Ass 2), nor keeping secrets.

Jean also loves Martin. Despite the years they’ve spent apart and the disaster Martin thrusts upon him, there is a bond of love and affection that Jean honors. They went through something together long ago, and it has made their relationship unshakeable, no matter what. For someone going for the life Jean keeps as his public front, one might expect Jean to shun Martin. In SPOTLESS, he does the opposite, which feels strangely authentic, even as viewers may question why Jean would do so.

It’s this complexity that makes SPOTLESS intriguing to me. I can’t easily pin down exactly who Jean is (Martin and Nelson are quite a bit easier to do so), but he seems like a mostly good man, not just a television character archetype.

I’m not sure where the story is going, either. SPOTLESS doesn’t confine itself to Jean’s perspective, but allows individual plots for Martin and Jean’s wife, Julie Greer-Bastiere (Miranda Raison, MI-5), that have nothing to do with Jean. And the paths they go down aren’t what one might expect, especially Martin’s story in the second episode, which feels totally in-character for Martin, but diverges far enough away from the central core that it feels like another narrative entirely. Which is another positive, since most people’s lives aren’t solely focused on one thing for very long.

SPOTLESS is a dark dramedy. Its hour-long episodes contain adult content, including violence and censored nudity and cursing (which probably aired in their full version overseas, but unfortunately we don’t get that on U.S. basic cable). However, it also is humorous in some of the crazy stuff that happens, with bold dialogue and over-the-top danger. Now, none of this is off-the-rails enough to detract from how genuine the program feels, but it does make the material lighter than it seems at first glance, another plus.

I recommend checking out SPOTLESS. It airs Saturdays at 10 p.m. on Esquire.

DONNY! Should Be donny

Article originally published as DONNY Review on Seat42F.

USA has a new comedy series called DONNY!, premiering this week. One might be forgiven for thinking it’s a reality show, considering it airs right after the reality series Chrisley Knows Best and follows TV personality Donny Deutsch (Today) as he hosts a self-help series (think Dr. Phil). But it’s not. DONNY! is a scripted comedy where Donny plays a fictional version of himself that satirizes the very thing he often actually participates in. Does your head hurt yet? (It shouldn’t, because there are gobs of shows right now doing the same thing.)

The Donny in DONNY! is an egotistical player who flirts shamelessly, gives his cell phone number to attractive psychopaths, and needs attention and affection heaped on him at all times. He has hired three attractive woman as his assistants, Jackie (Hailey Giles, Scorned), Zoe (Meera Rohit Kumbhani, Weird Loners), and Violet (Jessica Renee Russell, Fullmetal Alchemist: The Sacred Star of Milos), and works with an attractive female producer, Pam (Emily Tarver, Best Week Ever). While none of these girls seem to fall for his shtick, surrounding himself with them says something about Donny, as does paying more notice to his too-young, greedy girlfriend, Galina (Tina Casciani, Role Models), than to his kids.

DONNY! reminds me a bit of Blunt Talk on Starz. The major difference is that Donny seems to be getting along just fine with his life as it currently is, while Patrick Stewart’s Walter Blunt is falling apart spectacularly. The thing is, with an unlikeable persona, as both Blunt and Donny are, it’s satisfying to watch them fail, so Blunt Talk has the edge there. Plus, Stewart is a far superior performer than Deutsch (or most people, really), so any comparison between the two is not positive for this newer series.

Is there anything redeemable about Donny or DONNY!? Well, that’s debatable. Donny does have charm, or else he wouldn’t get so much attention. I do like that not everyone in DONNY! falls for Donny’s game, and Donny (the person, not the character) has to have some level of humility or redeeming qualities to allow that. My assumption is that Donny (again, the real person) is a pretty nice, interesting person, and it’s just this show and the character of Donny that I don’t like, though I haven’t seen him elsewhere.

It has been said that DONNY! does for Donny Deutsch what Curb Your Enthusiasm does for Larry David, but I think that’s an inaccurate comparison. David is a brilliant writer who created one of the most beloved sitcoms of all time, Seinfeld. Curb is an extension of the Seinfeld world in that it shows a character named Larry who has a personality perfectly suited to write that show. DONNY! tackles a completely different genre, one I would argue takes far less talent to make. Abhorring reality and the fake ‘health’ professionals, I find it hard to hold it anywhere near the same regard.

Now, one could point out that DONNY! pokes fun at the hated genre. Except, because Donny himself is part of that system (or so I’ve read on Wikipedia), not a comedian on the outside, it doesn’t come across as a scathing commentary on it. Instead, it seems like Donny is having fun being self-referential in a way that reinforces the ‘character’ he is playing.

I admit, my bias against reality television in general could definitely be coloring my view of DONNY! But try as I might, it’s very hard to separate that out in this instance, given the show’s content. I get that people like reality for reasons I cannot fathom, but it definitely isn’t quality television, and contributes to the ‘junk that rots your brain’ stereotype some see the medium as being. As a defender of quality programming, this type of thing is a total turn-off and I can’t recommend it.

That being said, if you like reality television or Donny Deutsch, then you might enjoy this.

DONNY! airs Tuesdays at 10:30 on USA.