tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5576632801504816149.post4520255830058289766..comments2023-09-18T20:19:51.867+12:00Comments on Musings without a good name for my blog: It's on America's tortured brow that Mickey Mouse has grown up a cowMatthewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08196372589248892579noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5576632801504816149.post-64151895660350682262008-06-29T17:14:00.000+12:002008-06-29T17:14:00.000+12:00Some of that article is old news - I actually refe...Some of that article is old news - I actually refer to David E Kelly being gone in my post, for example. But a lot of it I hadn't heard.<BR/><BR/>I've actually seen the US pilot, and ... it didn't seem quite that bad to me. It wasn't great, but it wasn't quite the trainwreck I was expecting. <BR/><BR/>I certainly didn't think the cast was too bad. I especially thought Colm Meany did as well with Gene Hunt as would be possible (given the constraints he was under, which I'll get to in a minute). The others weren't great, but they weren't bad, and it's a rare pilot that doesn't feel awkward - especially with a show like this where the show itself is so different to anything else that people would naturally have trouble adjusting. (I'm still amazed at how the original hit the right tone immediately.)<BR/><BR/>Changing the setting? Please - whatever the show's problems were, no-one watching was thinking "this would be a great show if it were only set in NY instead of LA".<BR/><BR/>Fundamentally, the pilot's main problem was that it was on network television. So much of the show's success revolves around the character of Gene Hunt. And while Colm Meany did a good job with what he was given (and I'm hoping against hope he won't be lost in the "recast from scratch"), being on a network limited their ability to show him being violent, sexist, racist, drunken - pretty much everything that makes the character so watchable. Gene Hunt couldn't even swear. The show is about a guy who finds himself in a completely different world, but their ability to really show that difference is constrained because they can't show all the bad parts that create the contrast. Rendering the whole exercise pointless.Matthewhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08196372589248892579noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5576632801504816149.post-14073120608948575592008-06-28T20:19:00.000+12:002008-06-28T20:19:00.000+12:00From Wired News, 28 June: After the ABC pilot rece...From Wired News, 28 June: After the ABC pilot received bad reviews '...it's being rewritten, moved from a Los Angeles setting to New York, and recast from scratch. It's all part of a last-ditch effort to save a series ABC had high hopes for when it worked out the remake rights'<BR/><BR/>http://blog.wired.com/underwire/2008/06/uks-classic-lif.htmlSlightly Intrepidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03863685188013458226noreply@blogger.com