Thursday, January 26, 2006

TV OD



The TV shows currently running in Finland that I keep following regularly:

  • Tuesday: The Shield (I relate very much to Vic Mackey ;), Deadwood
  • Wednesday: Starsky and Hutch reruns, Kingdom Hospital (Stephen King's adaptation of Lars von Trier's original Danish series)
  • Thursday: Lost starts in Finland tonight, and about what I've been reading about the show, I think I will keep following it.
  • Friday: Battlestar Galactica (2003 remake): I wasn't quite convinced with the first episode but some people say it will get better. We'll see.
  • Sunday: Firefly

    I'm also a big fan of HBO's other quality series like The Sopranos, Six Feet Under, Carnivàle and The Wire. And I have to check out any sci-fi/space operas they show whether they were quality stuff or not. Firefly (a "space western") is OK, though I think a bit pedestrian. It's a pity Farscape was cancelled and they didn't show any more episodes of Lexx in Finland. And it was nice to see the original Star Trek series again last year.

    I never go to movies these days (tickets are too expensive, and I can't stand the idiots who keep making noise in movie theatres, spoiling it for others). Therefore I wait a couple of years until they show them on TV. For example, of the older films I've never seen before, I was quite impressed with Ang Lee's Ice Storm (1997) which was on local TV some time ago. Then I have to confess I watch old Westerns they show on TV2 on Saturdays: there's something that fascinates me in the 1950s Hollywood's Technicolor vision of the 19th century American west. It's interesting how those films reflect the attitudes of their own period of making (the "clean-cut" Eisenhowerian Cold War era), and the haircuts (pompadours, crewcuts etc.) of actors and actresses are more 50s styles than "actual" 19th century (droopy moustaches, lambchop sideburns etc. we've seen in old photographs), and with their "cleaned-up" Hayes Code depiction of any sex and violence -- in that respect, a series such as Deadwood apparently gives a more "realistic" image of what it was like.

    What I don't watch on TV: I hate reality-TV and most current sitcoms don't excite me. I have also done my best to avoid watching anything connected to the forthcoming Finnish Presidential Election. Talk show is another format I don't have much interest in, though I have to admit I've given now some sidelong glances to Conan O'Brien and even laughed at some of the jokes (there goes my street cred -- if I ever had one).

    A vision for the future: everyone creating their own little TV "shows" with small digicams and releasing them at blogs. Keep watching this space for pHinn's own talk show/(sur)reality-TV...
  • 4 comments:

    Juri said...

    Starsky and Hutch? Talk about street cred...

    But, seriously, I'm pretty sure that Vic Mackey has Finnish ancestors. You only need to look at the guy, but his name: Mackey - Mäki.. get it? It would be nice to know if the screenwriters would've given him background from Minnesota or some other place with lots of Finnish immigrants.

    pHinn said...

    "Starsky and Hutch? Talk about street cred..."

    Hey, you like trashy old dime novels; I like trashy old TV shows! Besides, Starsky and Hutch are the coolest! And there's also another "nudge nudge wink wink" subtext if you can read between the lines:

    From
    http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/S/htmlS/starskyandh/starskyandh.htm -

    "Yet viewed in retrospect, their bond seems at very least a curious one. Putting aside the ubiquitous costumes and leather, or Starsky's Coca-Cola-striped Ford Torino and Hutch's immense .357 Magnum handgun, which McLuhan or Freud might well have had a field day with, the drama always seems built around the specific gravity of their friendship. There is much of what can only be termed flirting--compliments, mutual admiration, sly winks, sidelong glances, knowing smiles. They are constantly touching each other or indulging in excruciating cheek and banter--or else going 'undercover' in various fey disguises. All of the women who pass between them--and their number is considerable, including significant ones from their past--are revealed by the final commercial break as liars or users or criminals or fatal attractions. And should one wind up alone with a woman, the other invariably retreats to a bar and drowns his sorrows. Following the inevitable betrayal, it is not uncommon for the boys to collapse sobbing into each other's arms."

    Maybe
    it was Ang "Brokeback Mountain" Lee who should have made that S & H film version...?

    I've noticed the Mackey/Mäki connection myself: Mäen Vikihän se siinä...

    Juri said...

    Just kiddin', of course. I could be more interested in Starsky & Hutch novelizations, for reasons too obscure for even me to tell...

    Do you remember Kenny Everett's take on Starsky & Hutch?

    pHinn said...

    No, but probably that was not as memorable as Sid The Snot or Cupid Stunt or Captain Kremmen. Or Hot Gossip.