Heroes
Heroes is an American science fiction series. To tell the truth, after seeing the trailer with the blonde cheerleader jumping from a bridge or whatever it was, dislocating her shoulder, then popping it back again, I had no intention of watching the series.
I thought ‘just another Buffy’. Yawn. Then I discovered that practically all the guys in the show are totally hot, or at least cute or funny and charming. (Guess who’s who. LOL)
Of course the plot is great too. Much more interesting than I thought. I love most of the guys – Mohinder, Peter, Isaac and naturally Hiro. Even the cheerleader’s pal is quite sweet in his geeky way.
I don’t like the females though. They’re just too – I don’t know – yucky. But that’s just me. I’m sure most guys and plenty of female viewers will like them. Even if you don’t, it’s still a good series.
In case you haven’t seen it yet, it’s about a group of people, young for the most part, who suddenly discover they have unusual abilities (‘superpowers’). They try to come to terms with how their lives have changed, and will soon be forced to decide if they want to be a force for good or evil. If that sounds interesting, watch the series when it comes on in your country or on your channel. I think you’ll like it.
Dr Who
Dr Who is a British science fiction series, which is quite new. If you haven’t seen it yet, you might be curious about what it’s about. First of all: it’s quite different from the American tv series. The English have a pretty unusual sense of humor, and it takes a while to get used to it.
Because I’m not completely in tune with it, not just the humor but the style in general, I think the quality is a little mixed. Some episodes are scary and sad, others are a little lame. A few are actually pretty creepy. Now that I’ve seen (almost) the whole series, I’ve grown used to it.
If you get a chance to watch this series, and you’re not sure you want to follow it, I suggest you give it a chance. Watch a few episodes before you make up your mind.
Here’s a brief description of what the series is about:
In the first episode, you get to know an English girl, Rose. She finds out that something odd is gong on at the store where she’s working. The dummies from the window displays are acting a bit out of character, not to mention in a menacing way.
Suddenly, a man in his forties shows up, at least that’s the way he looks. He helps her get away from the scary dummies. She soon learns that the dummies are just a part of a bigger problem.
The man introduces himself as the Doctor. She finds out that he tends to show up when the population of the Earth is in danger. When everything’s ok for the time being, he invites Rose to go away with him on his phone booth-like space ship, the TARDIS. It can travel in space and in time, so Rose accepts. She ends up in many dangerous situations with the Doctor.
I won’t say anything more about the plot. Just remember, give the series a chance. Like all British tv series it’s good quality, like the humor or not.
The series has a cult following in its home country, at least the ‘old’ series, which began in the 1960’s and kept on going all the way until the late 1980’s. For some reason, maybe because the Doctor is pretty ‘gay’, it’s particulary popular with gay men.
Bleak House
This time I’d like to mention Bleak House, based on a Charles Dickens novel. Very nice series. Personally, I love historic series as much as cop series – some of them anyway. For those of you not familiar with the series, Gillian Anderson from the X files stars as Lady Dedlock. There are other famous (and excellent) actors, too, mainly British ones.
This is a sad story about three orphans with a mysterious past, a court case that has been dragging on for generations and unrequited love, to name a few ingredients. It might sound like an ordinary soap, and in a way, that might be what Dickens intended, but I think it’s much better done.
There’s a lot of misery and injustice, but I suppose that’s how Dickens’ time was. Another thing which might surprise modern viewers is the excessive affection between many of the girls in the series. Perhaps people were more demonstrative back then or Dickens simply didn’t know much about young women.
Another thing that might not always come across for modern viewers is the way Dickens humourously named some of the characters. Dedlock – deadlock, Flite – flight (for a woman who keeps a great number of birds). Nemo – an alias for a man with a secret past. The list goes on. Some names might simply have been chosen to sound absurd, others have a meaning behind them.
In any case, if you like historic series, you can’t miss this one. Of course, if you love the classics, even more reason to see Bleak House. Go on, you know you want to.
The Amazing Mrs Pritchard
British tv series are usually very good. Even some comedies can be good, though there’s no guarantee. Some are very strange, looking at them from a Swedish point of view. One that I appreciated a lot while it was still on, was The Vicar of Dibley. It’s about a female vicar in a horrid little village in England. The vicar is played by hysterically funny Dawn French.
That was quite a few years ago, but more recently, there was another, newer series – The Amazing Mrs Pritchard. Here’s another incredibly funny woman. The main character is played by Jane Horrocks who’s been in several other sitcoms. In this one, she plays the manager of a shop, who by accident gets into politics and ends up suddenly becoming the Prime Minister of Britain.
It’s really hard to keep from laughing, but it’s not only a comedy. I think the writers have been able to get in a couple of digs against the political system and all stupid old customs in it.
Unfortunately for Mrs Pritchard, she hadn’t quite realized how thoroughly a politician, and worst of all, her family, get vetted. Her husband has a skeleton in the closet and her eldest daughter screws up too. Among other things, she poses in the nude, which gets blown up out of proportion, literally. One morning there’s a giant image of her projected against the House of Parliament.
Her dad has made a bigger mistake, and unfortunately, he can’t stop himself from telling his daughter, who ends up telling her mother, and that’s the end of a brief success story. Mr Pritchard is played by Steven Mackintosh, who’s been in several tv-series and movies. A very good actor. The girl who plays the youngest daughter is very funny. The older one is pretty funny too, but I can’t help thinking she was picked mainly because of her looks.
Several minor roles are interesting too. You get to see many familiar faces. Mostly women, but there’s also a really cute young man, who has an affair with a considerably older woman.
In any case, this is a short series of few episodes, that most people should be able to follow.
