One of the advantages of getting older is that one realises one simply cannot see everything, so a lot of television goes unseen by me - box sets sit there for a year or two [SOPRANOS, SIX FEET UNDER etc] until I get around to seeing them, some great series I have not seen at all, but it does not matter, anything good will come around again (and again) on all those cable channels. Sometimes a series like MAD MEN comes along which grips one from the start - so it is with two new ones here in England: the U.S. series HOMELAND and the Made-in-Italy INSPECTOR MONTALBANO, both of which I like a lot.
It is early days with HOMELAND, we have so far only seen the first two episodes here ... so I can't say too much about the plot which is gripping stuff. Damian Lewis is excellent, as he usually is, as the soldier returned from 8 years captivity ... and Claire Danes grips too as the obsessed CIA agent watching his every move (literally, almost) as she feels he has been "turned" by the enemy ... so how is it going to play out? Nailbiting stuff then ...
Much more relaxed is the Italian series INSPECTOR MONTALBANO, from a series of successful Italian crime novels by Andrea Camillari. Again, it has only been running a few weeks here in the UK, but there are 10 episodes lined up - each is like a full length movie, almost 2 hours long, with sub-titles, so - unlike those other snappy one hour crime shows - it takes its time to establish plot, characters and ambience as we sit back and enjoy those Italian landscapes and interiors and the teasing stories which amble along.
Salvo Montalbano is a Sicilian police inspector in the beautiful fictional town of Vigata. Montalbano is played by Luca Zingaretti, who has a great screen presence. Montalbano often uses unconventional means to solve a crime, while dodging his superiors and the influence of organized crime. He seems to be avoiding marriage to his long long time girlfriend Livia (Katharina Bohm). He's also a lover of good food and great restaurants and we're treated to long lunches and great home cooked meals in every episode. Is there an Inspector Montalbano cookbook? If not, someone should write one. Roll on episode 3 ...
Sometimes though a series which has a lot of money thrown at it does not quite take off - as seems to be the case with PAN AM, which began in a blaze of pubicity and was o
bviously chasing the MAD MEN audience, but it seems to have been quietly dropped after 14 episodes as we leave our cast seeing in 1964 ... the 4 girls were nicely contrasted as led by Christina Ricci, one got to like them - the guys though seemed too young to be airline pilots and the CIA angle (one of the girls is an undercover agent) a tad ridiculous. There should somehow have been more drama in the air as it re-created the glamour of early '60s flying ... another influence too was obviously that 1963 flick COME FLY WITH ME about 3 stewardesses looking for love...
Now for DOWNTON ABBEY AT SEA - oh, sorry, the new TITANIC as written by Julian Fellowes and due to be aired on the 100th anniversary of the Titanic sinking. A new version of this classic story is always welcome and it will be interesting to see how it compares with those previous versions - I reviewed the 1953 Negulesco film recently (costume drama label), and will it please ther lovers of the 1997 James Cameron behemoth? (which I actually like a lot - once the iceberg arrives!)
It is early days with HOMELAND, we have so far only seen the first two episodes here ... so I can't say too much about the plot which is gripping stuff. Damian Lewis is excellent, as he usually is, as the soldier returned from 8 years captivity ... and Claire Danes grips too as the obsessed CIA agent watching his every move (literally, almost) as she feels he has been "turned" by the enemy ... so how is it going to play out? Nailbiting stuff then ...
Much more relaxed is the Italian series INSPECTOR MONTALBANO, from a series of successful Italian crime novels by Andrea Camillari. Again, it has only been running a few weeks here in the UK, but there are 10 episodes lined up - each is like a full length movie, almost 2 hours long, with sub-titles, so - unlike those other snappy one hour crime shows - it takes its time to establish plot, characters and ambience as we sit back and enjoy those Italian landscapes and interiors and the teasing stories which amble along.
Salvo Montalbano is a Sicilian police inspector in the beautiful fictional town of Vigata. Montalbano is played by Luca Zingaretti, who has a great screen presence. Montalbano often uses unconventional means to solve a crime, while dodging his superiors and the influence of organized crime. He seems to be avoiding marriage to his long long time girlfriend Livia (Katharina Bohm). He's also a lover of good food and great restaurants and we're treated to long lunches and great home cooked meals in every episode. Is there an Inspector Montalbano cookbook? If not, someone should write one. Roll on episode 3 ...
Sometimes though a series which has a lot of money thrown at it does not quite take off - as seems to be the case with PAN AM, which began in a blaze of pubicity and was o
bviously chasing the MAD MEN audience, but it seems to have been quietly dropped after 14 episodes as we leave our cast seeing in 1964 ... the 4 girls were nicely contrasted as led by Christina Ricci, one got to like them - the guys though seemed too young to be airline pilots and the CIA angle (one of the girls is an undercover agent) a tad ridiculous. There should somehow have been more drama in the air as it re-created the glamour of early '60s flying ... another influence too was obviously that 1963 flick COME FLY WITH ME about 3 stewardesses looking for love...Now for DOWNTON ABBEY AT SEA - oh, sorry, the new TITANIC as written by Julian Fellowes and due to be aired on the 100th anniversary of the Titanic sinking. A new version of this classic story is always welcome and it will be interesting to see how it compares with those previous versions - I reviewed the 1953 Negulesco film recently (costume drama label), and will it please ther lovers of the 1997 James Cameron behemoth? (which I actually like a lot - once the iceberg arrives!)
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