Slings and Arrows. It's surprisingly good.
Michael Burton said...
Why surprising?
There are three seasons of this show. This season, the first, was at least partially inspired by Keanu Reeves being cast to play Hamlet at the summer-long Shakespeare festival at Stratford, Ontario.
The main story thread in the second season is about a performance of Macbeth, and the third season is about a performance of King Lear by a great old actor who's dying of cancer.
Each season tells a complete story, but there's a larger story arc that crosses all three seasons. The show is funny, sad, and thoroughly entertaining throughout.
eolake said:
It's surprising because something that good I would have expected to hear about it from all sides like the Sopranos, but I only found it by accident.
And it's also good in a surprising fashion because I could not imagine a TV show about theatre and actors which was not a bit over-the-top in various ways, but this is very subtle and complex, while still being funny.
Why surprising?
ReplyDeleteThere are three seasons of this show. This season, the first, was at least partially inspired by Keanu Reeves being cast to play Hamlet at the summer-long Shakespeare festival at Stratford, Ontario.
The main story thread in the second season is about a performance of Macbeth, and the third season is about a performance of King Lear by a great old actor who's dying of cancer.
Each season tells a complete story, but there's a larger story arc that crosses all three seasons. The show is funny, sad, and thoroughly entertaining throughout.
It's surprising, because something that good I would have expected to hear about it from all sides like the Sopranos, but I only found it by accident.
ReplyDeleteAnd it's also good in a surprising fashion because I could not imagine a TV show about theatre and actors which was not a bit over-the-top in various ways, but this is very subtle and complex, while still being funny.
ReplyDelete"I would have expected to hear about it from all sides"
ReplyDeleteWell, it is canadian. We do amazing things but usually dont have the budget to advertise it.
Also, check out Twitch City. Another show with Don McKellar.
Ah, it was Canadian. I hadn't realized. Nobody said "eh".
ReplyDeleteThanks, I'll look at Twitch City.
Well, on amazon, Twitch City has very high reviews, it's a sitcom, and it's "subversive". Say no more, I've already ordered it.
ReplyDeleteAnother thing that's surprising, is that the Sopranos videogame (on PlayStation2) is quite good too, breaking the trend of licence adaptation games sucking molten death through a unionized lead straw, see? Capisce?
ReplyDeleteAnd I'm not saying that because from the very start of the game wou can view hot topless strippers pole-dancing in mini-thongs and buy your character a lap dance. Okay, not ONLY because of that!
:-)
Sony have really come a long way since the no-bare-boobies version of BMX XXX.
I have yet to play the Friends game to see and tell you whether it's good as well.
But am I the kind of guy to see and tell?
;-)
A "Friends" game?? Good grief. :-)
ReplyDeleteI seem to remember a lot of good Canadian shows, just they never got much exposure. One of my faves was "Kids in the Hall".
ReplyDeleteA lot of my favourite comics on American TV seem to be Canadian anyway.
Thanks, I've ordered Kids in the Hall too.
ReplyDeleteLiked the series, very Pythonesque, but the film, "Brain Candy", was a little too much.
ReplyDeleteOf, one of the Kidds, think it was Scott Thompson?? wrote a book, edging on the sick and depraved end of a baudy homo-erotic comedy.
Following up on a commitment.
ReplyDeleteI just tried the Friends videogame, so here's a rather brief (yess, DO believe it!) review.
It appeared, from the cover, as focused on dating, so I expected either a Sims-like (a bit like Playboy: the Mansion) or some pure adventure game, a sort of RPG. Well, it's definitely not.
It's a quiz game. (Cue canned laughter.)
You spend 100% of your time answering trivia questions about the Friends series. So, for someone such as me who was abroad on intensive college studies precisely when the series aired and barely watched tiny bits of it by chance... well, I'd be better off discovering the 151 Pokémon names in a game from scratch, because you don't have to already KNOW all about it before having the ghost -the Spectrobe?- of a chance. (The public sighs in compassion.)
Strictly for the hardcore soap-opera loving fans. And I'm not even sure about THAT. Now, if it were about Catherine, my fave series which I've watched ENTIRELY, TWICE, it would probably be fun, courtesy of the many dialogue bits and clips. IT does help you remember the moments of the show. And that's strictly all that it does! (Canned laughter.)
As it is, that's 5,000 lebanese pounds (US $ 3.33) I'm never getting back. Getting back AT, now that's precisely what I'm doing. (Canned laughter.)
I'm afraid this game is telling us something about the producers' perception of their target audience. (The TV audience boos the producers.) With the increasing number of decent to excellent cinema licence games there are out there today... Look at the care Disney and Pixar put in most of their adaptations. (Cars was pretty good for a driving game aimed at kids.)
Never since Mortal Kombat Mythologies : the Legend of Sub-Zero and its impossible second level end boss was I so let down by a potentially good game. Except maybe for the PS2 version of Lilo and Stich, unplayable solely because of a camera that's stinkin' rotten to the bone marrow like a redneck's blackened teeth stumps feasting on stale possum dried meat in a heatwave. (TV audience starts chanting: "JER-RY! JER-RY! JER-RY!" Credits start rolling.)
Executive producer : Pascal [P-04referent]
Cast : Pascal [P-04referent]
The Critic : Pascal [P-04referent]
Web hosting : Blogger.com
Web host : Eolake Stobblehouse
Typographic mistakes : Micro$oft Inc.
Lights : my home generator
© MMIX, all rights reverted.
Unauthorized duplication will be fine by me, and that's a mighty fine find.
P.S.: We regret to inform you of the passing of our friend Alex's avatar image. It will be dearly missed. Funeral at midnight in the Old Spooky Semetary.
Pascal,
ReplyDeleteI take it you are talking about Cars the one where you race around Radiator Springs - I downloaded the Demo, but when I bought it I ended up with something completely different, Cars Radiator Springs or some such, a game on par with say Putt Putt of Freddy Fish - you may get a kick out of it, but it's better for the 5yr old in your life.
My avatar - can be resurrected, took your time noticing.
New Lego cuties at large.
1) Serving wench in mediaeval village.
2) Pirate chick
3) The non pirate girl in the pirates set with taught boddice
4) The mermaid on who doubles as the figurehead on Brickbeards ship - I like the sea shell bikini.
Captcha is either fornic or fomic
Pascal, you really don't mind writing for a small audience, do ya.
ReplyDeleteI read a review of the Friends game and concluded that despite that I have watched all ten seasons four times, I'd have a pizza's chance of surviving in Joey's apartment of winning even level one.
Well, if the audience was bigger or more motivated, I wouldn't have to resort to canned laughter, would I?
ReplyDelete:-)
Thanks to you, I'm training to be a great novelist. For free. (The training I mean, not the novels!) I also enrich my mind with stimulating company. Quality vs quantity...
I take it Joey likes pizzas more than pizzas like Joey... Poor things. My heart bleeds at the thought of their plight. (chomp-munch-munch)
My verif : "dings"
I kid you not!
Alex,
I'm just a sucker for exploration games. Cars PS2 was OK for me. Simple to handle, challenging to fully master. That's describing the ideal game.
Same could be said about Tomb Raider. I'm hoping to some day play the anniversary PS2 re-edition of the classic first game. "Now with a torso profile that's NOT shaped like a wooden wedge." :-)
I actually found in some obscure magazine an Action Replay code to play with a nekkid Lara on the PS1 version of TR3. Well, sort of. Only works in the training level, she's blonde, with black circles for nipples, and no butt crack.
Still worth it for a short laugh with your mates. (Especially if you get her to crawl and back off into the buttler.) It's vanished from the internet somewhere along the years. I'll blog it some day.
"Well, if the audience was bigger or more motivated, I wouldn't have to resort to canned laughter, would I?"
ReplyDeleteIndeed.
That's the mark of a professional writer: blame the audience.
That code would be hilarious with the pool training section:
ReplyDelete"Ooh! Ah! I need AIR!"
"Right. Well, I'd better get out of these wet clothes now."
I also recently found in my CD archives an audio of Lara in-game sounds that seems exactly as if she's... well, you know.
My verif: "coccu"
Cocu is cuckold in French. Can I help it, with all the subliminal messages I'm bombarded with? "It's all the media's fault, your honour! (sniff!)"
@ Eo: Undoubtedly. The mark of Greatness. :-)