Spartacus: Vengeance - First Look

Plot
The series picks up soon after the events depicted in 'Blood and Sand'. Spartacus and his band of rebels are terrorising Capua and so the Roman Republic dispatch Praetor Claudius Glaber to deal with it.


Reasons To Be Excited
+ This is history in it’s rawest form and it seems that the shows makers are keen to shock. There’s certainly no pussy footing around.


+ Liam McIntyre is great as Spartacus having taken the role formaly played by the now deceased Andy Whitfield.


+ From the get go there is action as Spartacus and his men go on rampage after rampage.

Spartacus goes to war!

+ There are a lot of familiar faces from ‘Blood And Sand’. Crixus is back and fighting alongside Spartacus. Oenomaus also makes a very welcome return. He was a big part of Blood and Sand as the trainer of Gladiators at the house of Batiatus. Another shock returnee is Lucretia Batiatus. She was last seen watching her husband die after the rebels masacred everyone at the end of ‘Blood And Sand’. Others due to return are Ashur and Gannicus. Gannicus was the main gladiator in the prequel mini series ‘Gods Of The Arena’.


+ There are signs that the series is going to shock as it continues. In the first episode alone there were 5 truly shocking moments that you won’t see coming.


Things That Might Let It Down
+ There is a lot of sex and at times it got a bit uncomfortable.


+ The gore factor might not be to everyone's tastes. There were times when I grimaced and almost looked away.


+ While attempting to be as realistic as possible, the strange dialogue began to annoy me. Saying that, it did in both ‘Blood And Sand’ and ‘Gods Of The Arena’


+ The native accents of the actors comes through now and again. While Manu Bennett is one of the best things about the show as Crixus, he struggles to hide his New Zealand accent despite the fact that Crixus is a Gaul.


My View

The late Andy Whitfield

When I heard of Andy Whitfields sad death last year I honestly couldn't see how the series could carry on. Spartacus was such a central character to the show that recasting him seemed unthinkable. Could you imagine anyone playing Dexter other than Michael C Hall for example or how about Jack Bauer being portrayed by a different actor besides Kiether Sutherland. It just wouldn't happen. Had Andy played Spartacus for longer than one season then I have no doubt that the show would've ended before the role was recast. It has worked though and although Andy Whitfield made a great Spartacus, Liam McIntyre does the role the justice it deserves. Spartacus has changed since Blood And Sand. He is harder and has a sense of weariness and McIntyre plays those things to perfection.

Spartacus and Crixus are on the same side this time.

     The series has certainly began in the right way. The action is plentiful with 3 big battle sequences in the 1st episode alone. As I said at the beginning of this review though, this is history in it's rawest form. There is flesh aplenty with on big sequence being set at a huge orgy portraying all manner of sexual exploits. 


     It's the scenes with Spartacus and Crixus that are what makes this show what it is. A lot of the supporting cast are easily forgotten aside from the brilliant Oenomaus and I literally cheered when he first came on screen. Spartacus and Crixus are 2 huge characters though and it's great to see them teaming up in battle. Their relationship is a complex one though and it will be interesting to see how it plays out in the coming weeks, especially when Gannicus makes his return to the show. 


First Opinion - 8/10


Potential - 9/10

The Telly Addict Hall Of Fame - Brookside 1982 - 2003

On the 2nd November 1982 the British public got a 4th television channel in the shape of Channel 4. It also got a new soap set on a cul de sac in Liverpool and it is that soap that I am inducting into the Telly Addict Hall Of Fame. Brookside deserves a place in The Hall of Fame for many reasons. It gave us some of the hardest hitting scenes ever seen on a pre-watershed soap opera as well as giving many big names their first break.

     The soap was originally conceived by Phil Redmond and was intended to be called Meadowcroft. It was different from other soaps at the time as it was filmed in real, brand new houses on it's own purpose built set. This was so that the show would look authentic while also giving Redmond total control over his creation. At first there were just 16 characters with the Grant family providing the main focal point. Ricky Tomlinson and Sue Johnston played Bobby and Sheila Grant respectively. At first, viewing figures were far from positive. They stabilised at 1 million before changes were made which ironed out the initial teething problems. The language was toned down and various technical issues were resolved. More humour was introduced with the arrival of Harry Cross. Certain low performing characters were also written out.

Sheila and Bobby following the rape

     In 1983 Brookside played out it's first high profile storyline after George Jackson was wrongly convicted of a robbery. This caused massive media hype with a full on Free George Jackson campaign. Although George Jackson ended up staying in prison, the media coverage helped the soap to record viewing figures. These viewing figures rose again during 1985 when Brookside Close became the setting for a hostage situation when 3 characters were held by gun point. The seige ended, after a 3 episode run, with one of the hostages (Kate Moses) being shot dead before the gun man turned the gun on himself. The controversial storylines continued into 1986 with the rape of Sheila Jackson and the Heroin overdose of Nicholas Black. This made Brookside the first soap to seriously tackle Heroin addiction and it would return to the subject a number of times during it's long run.

Sue and Daniel after they were pushed

     By 1990 most of the original cast had left. These were replaced by families such as the Farnhams and the Dixons. By this time Brookside had reached it's peak in terms of viewers. It was regularly pulling in 7 million and this made it Channel 4's flagship show. This increased viewership led to the construction of a paraded of shops called Brookside Parade as the scope of the soap increased. It was Brookside Parade that played host to the most controversial storyline in the soaps history with the double murder of pregnant Sue Sullivan and baby Daniel. This storyline turned into a grim 'Whodunnit' and ratings soared. 

Trevor is dug up!

     In 1993 Brookside began what would become it's most famous storyline ever with the introduction of the Jordache family. Mandy and daughters Beth and Rachel arrived on the close shrouded in mystery. Soon after their arrival shocking details began to emerge. It turned out that Mandy had been abused by her husband and that even Beth and Rachel had suffered from sexual abuse. The abuser in question eventually arrived in the form of Trevor Jordache and before long he had wormed his way back into the family household. The abuse resumed and Beth and Mandy began a plot to kill Trevor by poisening. After this failed, Mandy stabbed him in the kitchen and the pair buried him in the back garden before having a patio laid over him. His body remained there until early 1995 when it was discovered by Eddie Banks who had been investigating a burst pipe. After going on the run Mandy and Beth were charged with murder and a campaign began similar to that of the one started by George Jacksons wrongful arrest 11 years earlier. This storyline helped the soap gain it's highest ever ratings of 9 million as well as ensuring that the Jordache's became one of the soaps most popular families. As well as the body under the patio, Beth was responsible for British Televisions first pre-watershed lesbian kiss after she shared a kiss with the Farnhams nanny, Margaret Clemence. 

That lesbian kiss!

     After this hugely popular period, the soap began it's decline as it persisted with more and more sensationalist plots. These included a cult brainwashing a number of popular characters before blowing up number 5 and  a mystery virus killing off a number of guest characters. It was the arrival of the Simpson family in 1996 that provided the biggest critiscism though after the brother and sister of the family began an incestuous relationship. This heralded the beginning of the end for Brookside with viewers becoming more and more disillusioned with the unbelievalbe plots and character arcs. An example of this is Lyndsy Corkhills transformation from a single mother working in a chip shop to a formidable bisexual gangster. 

    In it's final years Brookside became synonymos with explosions and guns and it finally came to an end on the 4th November 2003, 21 years after it began. Despite it's sad demise it is still remembered as a great soap in it's day. It gave breaks to people such as Anna Friel, Amanda Redmond, Sue Johnston, Ricky Tomlinson, Jennifer Ellison, Raymond Quinn, Lisa Faulkner, Paul Usher and Claire Sweeney. It also tackled subjects that soaps had rarely dared to tread such as homosexuality, drug addiction and gun crime. 

     Personally, Brookside was a huge part of my child hood. I grew up watching it and it taught me many things with it's hard hitting approach to storylines such as drug abuse and crime. To finish off below is that famous scene when Eddie Banks discovered the body under the patio.

Alcatraz–First Look

 

Plot

     The story that we all know is that in 1963 Alcatraz closed. All of the prisoners and guards were transferred to other prisons across America. According to this new show, that’s not what happened. Apparently one rainy night everyone in Alcatraz disappeared. This was all covered up of course with death certificates being forged etc. Now everyone is coming back, un aged and with no idea where they’ve been. They are still as bad as they were and need to be caught. That’s down to a new team that’s been set up.

Reasons To Be Excited

+ JJ Abram's has an impressive track record with the likes of Alias and Lost to his name. He has quickly become a true heavy weight alongside the likes of Steven Spielberg and Jerry Bruckheimer.

+ JJ Abram's isn’t the only one with a Lost background as Jorge Garcia has a starring role. He played Hurley in Lost and his role in Alcatraz is pretty similar. In Lost, Hurley essentially became the voice of the audience by questioning the absurd. He does a similar thing in this and is reason alone to watch.

+ One thing that turned a lot of people off Lost was that you had to start from the beginning. This show looks like it’s going to run along a much more episode led line. There is still the big mystery over where everyone's been and why but each episode should be able to stand on their own. There’s going to be a baddie to catch each week with the bigger mystery taking a back seat.

Things That Might Let It Down

+ It’s always going to draw comparisons with Lost with the mysteries and the island setting, not to mention the involvement of Abram's and Garcia.

+ Some of the cast were a bit miscast and wooden. Rebecca Madsen seemed uncomfortable in the lead role while Sam Neil is a little unconvincing.

My View

I’ve been looking forward to this show for a while and on the whole it didn’t disappoint. It’s got Abram's hallmark all over it and at one point when one of the characters referred to Alcatraz as ‘the island’, I could’ve sworn I was watching Lost. I’m not entirely sure how far they can take it either or if they even have an endgame. That being said, I’m eager to find out all of the mysteries. For those who aren’t bothered about the mythology it’s still worth a watch. The baddie a week thing has been used to good effect in shows like Supernatural and I’ve no doubt it’ll work here too.

     Having seen it, the hype was perhaps a bit over the top but some of it was justified. Garcia is perfect in his role despite it basically being a Hurley Clone. Despite Sam Neil being a tad unconvincing, given time I’m sure he’ll grow into his role. The same can be said about Madsen. Once this show get’s into it’s stride it has a lot of potential and in taking a first look at a new show it’s important to see that.

First Opinion – 6/10

Potential – 8.5/10

The Telly Addict Awards 2011–PART 5

 

The Peoples Choice Telly Addict Show of the Year 2011

So here we are, finally, after nearly 2 months of voting across a number of different websites we have a Show of the Year. I’ll announce the winner shortly as well as those shows that came close before falling at the final hurdle. First though I’ll say a few things about the vote. Overall there were 100 votes exactly with these votes being split over 48 different shows. That gives you some kind of idea over the diversity of the shows we all enjoy. There were shows from all genres ranging from Downton Abbey to the Carling Cup Final that people voted for. There were one or two surprises, the biggest being that none of the soaps received a single vote. Despite the spread of voting the winner received 12% of the vote with the runner up coming in close with 10%. In fact between 1st and 3rd place there were just 4 votes! Anyway it’s time to announce 3rd place which received a respectable 8% of the vote.

3rd Place

DOCTOR WHO

   After David Tenant left, the show experienced a bit of a reboot. All of the old characters we’d grown to love such as Captain Jack, Martha Jones among others were all written out as new show runner Steven Moffat put his own stamp on things. It is fair to say that the show is far different to the one which Russell T Davies left. It’s not just the doctor that changed, it’s the whole show. The episodes are often more confusing with each one moving the series along to it’s thrilling confusion. This series opened spectacularly with an America set episode that saw the doctor die, killed by the impossible astronaut. That set the series up as we followed it on to the conclusion and the answer to the mystery. We knew that the doctor couldn’t die but how could he cheat his own death?

     The doctors death wasn’t the only mystery. We finally found out who River Song was. She had popped up repeatedly over the past 3 or 4 years as hers and the doctors timelines criss-crossed. All in all, this was a good series and hopes are high for the next one.

 

2nd Place

THE BIG BANG THEORY

     When Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady pitched the idea for The Big Bang Theory there must have been one or two sniggers in the room. By rights, The Big Bang Theory shouldn’t really work these days. Not only does it work though, it works to perfection. Set around the lives of 4 geeks and the ‘hot’ next door neighbour it possibly belongs in the 70’s. To clear it up, I’m actually a huge fan of the show. Although it maybe shouldn’t work, it does and that’s testament to it’s brilliance and the characters. There’s Howard, a Jew with a funny haircut who thinks he’s got the gift of the gab. Sheldon is the ‘brains’ who suffers from a lack of understanding of irony while Rav will only speak to girls if he’s had a drink. Holding it all together is Leonard who has a long running on-off thing going with Penny, the next door neighbour.

 

1st Place

FROZEN PLANET

     In 2004 filming began on what would become one of the biggest shows of 2011, namely Frozen Planet. It was a joint venture by the BBC, the Discovery Channel and the Open University and was huge in scope. Let’s not forget that the Artic is perhaps the most inhospitable place on earth. It’s little wonder that it took so long to film.

     When you watch a show like this though it’s as much for David Attenbourgh than anything else. His name alone virtually guarantees a big audience. It’s quite hard to believe that he’s 85 years old as he still shows such passion for the subject he talks about. The fact that he actually did a bit of filming himself in the Artic is slightly astonishing.

     The series was broadcast in 7 parts from October to November and focused on the changing seasons of the Artic. It also showed whales hunting and the polar bear family unit. All in all it was a fascinating series and worthy winner of the first ever Telly Addict Show of the Year Award.

Notable Mentions

     As I said earlier, there were 48 different shows voted for in this vote. A lot of these only received 1 vote but there were some that I thought should’ve done better. Some of the schedules traditional big hitters such as Out Numbered, X-Factor, Strictly Come Dancing, Curb Your Enthusiasm and Never Mind The Buzzcocks only got 1 mention each. One of my favourite shows, Billy Connelly's Route 66, only received 2 votes which surprised me somewhat.

     At the other end of the scale Downton Abbey narrowly missed out on a place in the top 3 while Spooks, Top Gear and The Walking Dead all got respectable scores. My Transsexual Summer looked like it could gate-crash the medal places before it fell by the wayside. One thing that this vote did show is that despite the influx in American shows on our screens, we still enjoy home-grown with 3/4’s of the shows voted for being British.     

The Telly Addict Awards 2011–PART 4

 

The John Sullivan Comedy of the Year

2011 was a funny year for British Comedy. Long running shows aired their final series such as Ideal, Two Pints of Lager, Lead Balloon, Coming of Age, Psychoville and My Family while an old favourite made a very welcome return in the form of Absolutely Fabulous. All in all it would seem that British Comedy is going through a transitional period with the Panel Show providing the majority of laughs. Have I Got News For You, Never Mind The Buzzcocks, Q.I. and 8 Out of 10 Cats all went from strength to strength. T.V. Burp may be a show deemed by many to be in decline but it still kept me laughing. For the winner of this award it would be all too easy for me to look to America. Shows such as The Office, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Two and A Half Men and How I Met Your Mother all continue strong runs while The Big Bang Theory provides a marker for all other sitcoms to follow. I am instead going to stick British for this award and have decided that the first ever winner of The John Sullivan Comedy of The Year Award shall be………………………………………………………………………………………………….8 Out of 10 Cats. Comedy today comes in many different forms and this award covers all of them, even the comedy panel show. Sure, Have I Got News For You is pretty much an institution while Q.I. has Stephen Fry. In my opinion though, 8 Out of 10 Cats is currently the best. Jimmy Carr is a brilliant presenter, if only for his crazy laugh, while Sean Lock and Jon Richardson are great as team captains. The guests are often brilliant too with the idea of putting JedWard on Sean Locks team in one episode inspired.

 

Best New Show of 2011

There were many new shows in 2011, some good, some not so good. Sky 1 perhaps had the pick with Mad Dogs, Trollied Mount Pleasant while Sky Atlantic possibly had the craziest with This Is Jinsy. Simon Cowell brought his brand new show, Red or Black, to ITV while Penn and Teller also joined the station as they asked the British public to fool them. James Nesbitt became the British House in Munroe while more recently David Jason became The Royal Bodyguard. Will Mellor shook off Two Pints of Lager with two brand new sitcoms in White Van Man and In With The Flynns. It is a comedy that wins this award with Channel 4 once again proving to be King of the Comedy. The Best New Show of 2011 is………………………………………………………………………………………………….Friday Night Dinner. Had it been on it’s 2nd series then this show would’ve won the best comedy award. Two grown up brothers return home every Friday Night to attend a family dinner with often hilarious results. Whether it’s the creepy nosey neighbour with his dog showing up or the father who (for reasons never explained) walks around the house bare chested, it’s a genius concept. The Royle Family mastered this kind of family unit concept years ago yet Friday Night Dinner came across so fresh. The cast is genius in itself with Tamsin Greig brilliant as the fiery mother while Paul Ritter is equally as good as the science loving, often shirtless father. The casting of Mark Heap as neighbour Jim Bell is inspired also. All in all a very deserved winner of this award.

 

Next time I’ll finally be announcing the winner of The Peoples Choice Telly Addict Show of the Year. The results are in and let me tell you, it’s extremely close.

The Telly Addict Awards 2011–PART 3

 

Soap of the Year

     All of the soaps have had fairly strong years but there is one that stands out due to it’s Christmas storylines. 3 major storylines have come to a head over the festive period with things also being set up for 2012. I’ll admit to not always being a fan of this soap but in my opinion it’s the best soap at the moment. It is quite remarkable considering the uproar that the soap caused at the beginning of the year. If you hadn’t already guessed, The Telly Addict Soap of the Year is………………………………………………………………………………………………….Eastenders. At the start of 2011, Eastenders became one of the most talked about shows on the telly for it’s baby swap storyline. It came in for a lot of bad press for the storyline which saw Ronnie Mitchell swapping her dead baby for Kat Moons healthy tot. It caused Samantha Womack (the actress who played Ronnie) to quit and also forced the soaps producer to dramatically shorten the storyline. Despite this early setback, the soap has recovered extremely well. It’s various Christmas storylines alone deserve enormous credit. The Masood/Kahn storyline culminated on Christmas Day in the most explosive way while East-End legend Pat Evans was given a fitting end. The various other storylines have also kept us hooked over the year. The Tanya Branning Cancer storyline looks set to be a big part of 2012 while the Phil Stalker storyline looks to be just as big. The recent introduction of Derek Branning has been a masterstroke and the return of David Wicks is very welcome. All in all, Eastenders is currently the soap to follow and is a deserved winner this year.

 

The Lost Award For Best American Show

     America has really pulled out all the stops in 2011. There have been some great shows across the pond, not just established but also new. Terra Nova, Falling Skies and Once Upon A Time have all shown enormous promise in their debut seasons while the likes of House, The Big Bang Theory and The Walking Dead have gone from strength to strength. Two and A Half Men lost it’s main character in Charlie only to bounce back as good as it was before. All in all, there are many shows which would be deserved winners of this award. The winner though is a show which has really turned things around. It was a show that was perhaps becoming tired but instead it’s become truly unmissable telly. The winner of The Lost Award For Best American Show is………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Dexter. Viewers in Britain are a series behind the states and it’s for that season that Dexter wins this award. I’m not going to say too much about Season 6 as to avoid spoilers but I will say this. Season 6 of Dexter is possibly one of the best seasons of any recent show. It’s not since Lost that I’ve found myself desperate to see the next episode of a show and I’ve seen a lot of telly since Lost. In essence, the formula is one that shouldn’t have managed 6 seasons but somehow Dexter keeps going on. The first season is a classic and Season 6 is better. Of course Season 5 is just as good. The introduction of Lumen gave the show a whole new direction while the casting of Johnny Lee Miller as the bad guy was a masterstroke. All in all, Dexter continues to go from strength to strength and, with the recent renewal for 2 more seasons, it promises to keep us hooked for a bit longer yet.

 

Next time I’ll be announcing the Comedy of the Year and the New Show of the Year.